This is an interesting film for some Westerners, but a much more interesting film for Chinese moviegoers. The Cultural Revolution was both a comic and tragic occurrence that resulted in the loss of tens of millions of Chinese lives. Students were put in charge of hospitals and tried to operate on patients while reading medical books. College students had no idea how to run a hospital, or a collective farm. Crops were wasted by the ton, millions starved to death. It was a national nightmare that lasted for ten years until Mao's death. Only the quick action of Deng Xiaoping saved China from total disaster in the late 1970s. Yu Xia is a very talented actor, and the film is a bit reminiscent of Stand By Me and Summer of 42 in some scenes, but ultimately, despite the very fine musical score, the film is poorly edited, and the director fell in love with his footage, as the film is overly long. Chinese audiences will forgive these minor problems, but Western audiences will find the film to be overly long.
Review of In the Heat of the Sun
