Review of Summer Palace (2006) by Liam V — 25 Jun 2008
A powerful film, though quite a long one, comming in at 2 hours 20 mins. Beginning in Northern China close to the North Korean border, we follow Country girl Yu Hong on her Journey to Beijing where she is eventually involved with her fellow University students in the Tiananmen Square massacre.
During this time there is a lot of confusion among the young students about the fate of their country and themselves, and Yu Hong is no exception. Over time she goes through all manners of mental break downs and long periods of depression, isolating herself from her friends and lovers.
Eventually moving from place to place (even visiting Berlin during the collapse of the Berlin wall) we never get a feeling that she is comfortable anywhere, and that she longs to feel the way she did a long time ago, before things got complicated.
In many ways Yu Hong is the reflection of a very confused country in which half want to go one way and the other another way with the rest just stuck in the middle.
This review of Summer Palace (2006) was written by Liam V on 25 Jun 2008.
Summer Palace has generally received positive reviews.
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