Review: This is an epic and interesting movie about the famine in a place called Henan during the 1942 Japanese war which took 3 million people's life's. It follows a wealthy family who are forced to flee Henan with the rest of the many families who struggle to reach a better place, which will supply them with food and shelter. The journey takes its toll on the many families and the lack of food and freezing weather takes many of there life's. There's a lot of political issues connected to the reasons why they are forced out Henan, which are addressed in the movie but it's the touching story of the family which really made the movie for me. The acting is great from all of the cast and I really can't imagine how it must have been for the real people that were forced into this gruesome situation. I would have liked it dubbed in English so I could have concentrated on the emotional scenes but thats just me being picky. Although the subject matter is quite deep and the storyline was pretty interesting, I did get bored in some parts and it did seem to drag after a while. With that aside, the true story is amazing and I'm surprised that this epic journey about the people of Henan and there search for a better life, wasn't told earlier. Watchable!
Round-Up: This is another one of those films were they put the big names on the poster and there not really in the film. In this case the people are Adrien Brody and Tim Robbins who only had small parts in the movie. To be honest, they were the reason why I rented the movie because I was wondering how they were involved in this epic tale but they wasn't the main characters in the film. Brody did play a massive role in getting the aid to the starving people who took part in this amazing journey but I didn't really see the point in Tim Robbins role. Anyway, I personally enjoy movies were you actually learn something and in this case, it's a piece of Chinese history which I hadn't heard about before. Its a shame that it didn't get the big Hollywood treatment because I'm sure that a lot of people will be shocked when they see what these individuals had to go through. They ended up thinking that dying was a blessing because the journey became too much for the people of Henan and the ones that survived, had to live with the fact that they lost there families and loved ones in such a terrible way.
I recommend this movie to people who are into their epic dramas about the famine in Henan and there epic journey to find a better life, which took 3 million people's life's. 6/10
Round-Up: This is another one of those films were they put the big names on the poster and there not really in the film. In this case the people are Adrien Brody and Tim Robbins who only had small parts in the movie. To be honest, they were the reason why I rented the movie because I was wondering how they were involved in this epic tale but they wasn't the main characters in the film. Brody did play a massive role in getting the aid to the starving people who took part in this amazing journey but I didn't really see the point in Tim Robbins role. Anyway, I personally enjoy movies were you actually learn something and in this case, it's a piece of Chinese history which I hadn't heard about before. Its a shame that it didn't get the big Hollywood treatment because I'm sure that a lot of people will be shocked when they see what these individuals had to go through. They ended up thinking that dying was a blessing because the journey became too much for the people of Henan and the ones that survived, had to live with the fact that they lost there families and loved ones in such a terrible way.
I recommend this movie to people who are into their epic dramas about the famine in Henan and there epic journey to find a better life, which took 3 million people's life's. 6/10