Review of The Last Emperor (1987) by I Don't Know W — 28 Oct 2011

There's a beauty and a tragedy to the life of Pu Yi and Bertolucci captures this extremely well with his eye for cinematic richness. Still, it's the kind of film I connect with from afar. I see the themes it's touching on, and those are powerful ones, the character(s) it wants me to care for, but it never quite fully engages me the way I want it to, despite the film using every visual aspect in its arsenal.

Part of that is Bertolucci's style and I've felt this way with some of his other films. I still stay that if you hone it down, then it becomes more of a character piece, and powerful one at that, instead of the sprawling epic that loses a bit of touch with its characters.

It's length, taxing, and imperfect and yet somehow Bertolucci brings forth this idea of one single life mattering, especially ironic given the fact that this man, and his line of ancestry, are somehow included among the immortals.

The beauty of him becoming a gardener is quiet irony; he has made his life matter when his country didn't see the need to recognize him at all. The final scene with him visiting the palace that once housed him, even imprisoned him, was simple and sweet, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't full affect me the way it should have.