Yapian zhanzheng (1997)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jin Xie

Writers:

Ann Hui (writer)
Zhu Sujin (writer)

Release Date:

18 October 1997 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

Historical Drama starting in 1839 in Guangzhou where British merchants dealing with opium are to be...

Plot Keywords:

Opium | British | Chinese | England | British Empire

Awards:

6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Guoan Bao	...	Lin Zexu
Debra Beaumont	...	Queen Victoria
Oliver Cotton
Nigel Davenport
Rob Freeman	...	Hill
Xiangting Ge	...	Yi Shan
Emma Griffiths Malin	...	Mary Denton
Garrick Hagon	...	Missionary
Shao Hsin	...	Shanzhi
Jiang Hua	...	Guan Tianpei
Philip Jackson	...	Captain White
Dominic Jephcott	...	M.P.
Liankun Lin	...	Qi Shan
Weixin Li	...	Deng Tingzhen
Sihung Lung	...	He Jingrong (as Xiong Lang)
Bob Peck	...	Denton
Li Shilong	...	Han Zhaoqing
Min Su	...	Daoguang
Simon Williams	...	Captain Charles Elliot
Jamie Wilson	...	Paul Artuard captin of Artillery
Gao Yuan	...	Rong'er

Also Known As:

The Opium War (USA)

Runtime:

153 min | Finland:106 min (TV version) | Spain:113 min | Germany:105 min

Country:

Japan | China

Language:

Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:All | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

Emei Film Studio

nationalistic anti-western propaganda

Using thousands of extras, great vistas, panoramic view-scopes of harbors filled with ships, lavish costumes, the motion picture describes the Opium War events that led to the british occupation of what is now Honk Kong. Ironic how exactly those lavish emperors and lifestyles that were once the target from Communist China are now used by the same Communist China to instill nationalistic feelings. While the motion picture is a big budget endeavor, it is not artistic. Some of the text captions are too educative, as if the audience were in kindergarden (for example, a slow view of an opium smoking den was indeed capioned with bright while lettering "Opium Den" as if the audience couldn't figure that out). That is what I meant as not being artistic: stating too evidently what is already too obvious. Everything is spelled out. But to its credit, I really appreciated its authenticity in regards of languages spoken, where two languages were spoken. The english tongues were precise, including an american tongue. Couldn't verify wether the chinese characters in the movie spoke Mandarin or Cantonese, nor can I comment on wether at the time (1839) which one was spoken in the regions where the story takes place.