In the previous communist propaganda films, eunuchs, especially this Empress Dowager's favorite, who held the highest position, was portrayed as a devil. This film is great in that it breaks free from the traditional communist ideological restriction, describing Li Lianying, the protagonist, as the way he was in real life. In comparison to his earlier films, such as Horse Thief (Dao Ma Zei, 1986), the director moved a step further, but soon he would meet his end in his future work, as in Blue Kite, which was no longer tolerated by the regime and banned in China.
3 Reviews
Standard costume drama
JohnSeal1 August 2002
I saw this film with the title Li Lianying the Imperial Eunuch. It's neither better nor worse than most other Chinese historical epics that I've seen and has a story that is hard for Occidentals to appreciate. There's some lovely photography but the film is very talky and probably of interest mostly to hardcore Chinese film or history buffs.
The reflections of the life of a eunuch
The-Sarkologist20 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was dull, and I basically couldn't wait for it to end. It was not that it was poorly made, though it seemed to jump and at times it was confusing to follow, but more so I simply wanted it to end because the story just did not interest me. I am glad I did not pay money for it, but I did pay time, which in my case is just as expensive.
This movie is about the chief Eunuch during the reign of the last emperor. He was the assistant of the Old Budda, the Emperor's mother and mainly focused on the relationship between him and the Old Budda, and the frustrations of being a Eunuch. It was made as a reflection, with Li Lianyang looking back over his life, as he waited to die. The simple pleasures in life had been taken away from him, and in a way, it is something that many males feel uncomfortable with, for that part of their anatomy define's their masculinity. Without it they are nothing.
The Chinese Eunuch existed to serve, and people would become Eunuchs to serve the emperor. In the end, Li Lianyang realised that it is more pain to be a eunuch, and when approached by somebody to sell his child as a eunuch, Li Lianyang brutally beats him for such atrocities. To him, nothing is worth giving up one's manhood.
I guess this movie explores the frustrations of the eunuch and how they simply exist to serve. It is interesting that the bible discusses about people being a eunuch. I don't think it talks about people being emasculated, but rather how people renounce marriage so that they may live for God's service. As Jesus says, some are eunuch from birth, others are made by man, and others choose to be. Mind you, they did have eunuchs in ancient Rome.
To us, such a practice is deplorable, yet we do it to dogs and cats. The question is, is it any different?
This movie is about the chief Eunuch during the reign of the last emperor. He was the assistant of the Old Budda, the Emperor's mother and mainly focused on the relationship between him and the Old Budda, and the frustrations of being a Eunuch. It was made as a reflection, with Li Lianyang looking back over his life, as he waited to die. The simple pleasures in life had been taken away from him, and in a way, it is something that many males feel uncomfortable with, for that part of their anatomy define's their masculinity. Without it they are nothing.
The Chinese Eunuch existed to serve, and people would become Eunuchs to serve the emperor. In the end, Li Lianyang realised that it is more pain to be a eunuch, and when approached by somebody to sell his child as a eunuch, Li Lianyang brutally beats him for such atrocities. To him, nothing is worth giving up one's manhood.
I guess this movie explores the frustrations of the eunuch and how they simply exist to serve. It is interesting that the bible discusses about people being a eunuch. I don't think it talks about people being emasculated, but rather how people renounce marriage so that they may live for God's service. As Jesus says, some are eunuch from birth, others are made by man, and others choose to be. Mind you, they did have eunuchs in ancient Rome.
To us, such a practice is deplorable, yet we do it to dogs and cats. The question is, is it any different?
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