I recently watched a movie called “The Blue Kite,” or “蓝风筝,“ directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang. The movie follows the life of a boy growing up under Mao’s rule during the 1950’s to 1960’s, including the death of Stalin, the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. The movie evokes a brunt viewpoint of a commoner’s life in Beijing. Through the use of emotionally charged and polarizing imagery, Tian reveals certain realities about life around the time of the Cultural Revolution, including the random nature of cruelty and prevelance of violence in all domains of life.

 The movie starts with the main character, 铁头 (meaning iron head), growing up in his little village community of 5-10 families. His name probably reflects the rebellious nature as a child. When growing up from the age of three to maybe 10, 铁头 did not really understand the gravity of the situations he was put into. When his father got sent to the work camps, he said “it is better that way, since he is mean.” The father hit him from a perpective of discipline and in his own way, care and love, which is something 铁头 could not understand at the time. As 铁头 grew up to adolescence, however,

  Another thing that striked me immensely was the seemingly arbitrary nature of violence and assertion of power at many levels of the Communist hierarchy at the time. One young woman named Zhu Ying, whom was originally in a relationship with one of 铁头’s uncles, is sent to prison after leaving the party due to her reluctance to heed to the affairs of the senior party members. She was wrongfully sentenced ultimately because of the assertion of power by a party member in a higher position, deemed as counter-revolutionary.

  The three part structure of the film highlights the reach of influence that the party has on the life of people in China. In all situations, it was father figures to the main character, 铁头. In all three situations, the father figures were in some way wrongfully accused and sentenced by different levels of Communism: Anti-Rightist scapegoating, malnutrition and lack of resources during the Great Leap Foward, and the violence of the red guard during the Communist Revolution. Ultimately, the film aims to portray the cruelty, violence, and prejudice in a chronological sense through the life of an innocent child, his mother, and their lack of happiness.

  In a broader sense, “The Blue Kite” brought the emotion and feeling of this era under Mao into a more firsthand experience, following the life of a family during that time. One can read and learn about the horrors, failures, innovations, and development during China under Mao, but this film has provided a very grounded and intimate feeling towards this point in history.