To Live

Fugui gambles away his house, and his story runs from the 1940s to the Cultural Revolution. Every disaster the family suffers arrives with a political period. The film does not narrate history so much as show what history does to one household. Zhang Yimou adapted Yu Hua's 1993 novel. He had planned to film a different Yu Hua book and changed his mind after reading this one. At Cannes, Ge You won Best Actor and the film shared the Grand Prix with Burnt by the Sun. Gong Li plays the lead, her fifth film with the director. In China the cost was heavy. It was denied a theatrical release on the mainland and the ban held until late 2008. Zhang and Gong Li were each barred from filmmaking for two years, in part because the film had been submitted to Cannes without authorisation. Even so it circulated widely on video in China and was shown in some cinemas. Who it is for: viewers who like historical epics and political eras told through a family. Who it is not for: anyone looking for hope. The title is To Live and what it offers is survival, with the losses never stopping.