Most helpful customer reviews
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Powerfully and painfully illustrated..........., April 5 2004
I recently saw this movie, Red Cherry, and found this movie to be in one sense, powerful; in another, I found it painful. It is based on a true story about two Chinese children who are taken in to a Russian, what appears to be an orphanage. They are taken care of, educated, and assimilate into the culture.This is a troubled period in history, 1940s. Civil war in China, Germany's military expansion across Europe, Japan's entry into the war. The children, all, are innocent to what is to take place; yet, at the same time, they are inclusive, made a part of the war. The two Chinese children, boy and girl, undergo hardship. The girl, Chuchu, gets taken in by the German army. She undergoes mental, spiritual, and physical torture. Her silent cries go unheard. What this young lady undergoes violates her innocence, her identity, and scars her. The boy embraces the Russian ideology, the way of life, and wants to defend Russian against German occupation. He, too, is young, innocent, and, in the end also endures a tragedy. This movie, in so few words, is worth every minute of its viewing. It was powerful. Diego R. Rodriguez
Chicago, Illinois
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war's youngest victims, Feb 22 2004
This impressive film begins in the early summer of 1941, at the Ivanov International School in Moscow. Luo Xiaoman and Chuchu are two new students who have come to Russia after the brutal revolution in China killed their parents. As kanikuli (summer break) arrives, Chuchu accompanies her class to children's camp in Byelorussia. Xiaoman remains in Moscow. Then, Russia is invaded with the devastating fury of Hitler's "Operation Barbarossa". The western borders of the USSR are struck especially hard. By the end of the onslaught, only 25% of Byelorussia will be left intact. And Chuchu's camp is directly in Hitler's path. Back at the Ivanov School, the faculty and older students, Xiaoman included, rush to enlist in the army. But the Chinese boy is deemed too young for the front. "Red Cherry" is an uncompromising, horrifying story about two children's parallel experience of the war. Chuchu sees her teacher, Miss Vera, and classmates murdered before her eyes. She is spared by the Nazi commander, General von Dietrich, who admires her "perfect golden skin". He takes Chuchu with him, but he has a hideous fate in mind for the little girl. Meanwhile, Xiaoman becomes a bicycle messenger. His unhappy duty is to deliver notices of casualties from the front. One recipient of tragic news is an elderly blind woman who asks Xiaoman to read the letter aloud. He feels such pity for her that he makes up a congratulatory message about her son's heroic service and promotion. From then on, Xiaoman and the orphaned girl Nadya, whom he "adopts", regularly deliver revised notices from the front. But the front is swiftly advancing eastward, toward Moscow. General von Dietrich reveals that he is sick and dying. An amateur tattooist, he hopes to live on through his art. Chuchu's perfect skin will become the living canvas for the Nazi's undying fervor for his Fuhrer. Battle comes to Moscow, and Xiaoman will get his chance to fight for Russia. But his innocent imagination could not have predicted the outcome. Although heartbreaking, "Red Cherry" is haunting, beautiful, and recommended. Moreso, because the story is true. The two child actors are wonderful. The film is in Russian, German, and Mandarin, with English subtitles.
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