The Beginning of a Great Revival (2011)
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25% of critics liked it
(8 reviews) -
30% of users liked it
(246 ratings)
Beginning of the Great Revival, known as The Founding of a Party in China and a companion piece to 2009's blockbuster The Founding of a Republic, details the historic events surrounding what is referred to as the Chinese Revolution, the period from 1911 to 1921, when Sun Yat-sen overthrew the… More Beginning of the Great Revival, known as The Founding of a Party in China and a companion piece to 2009's blockbuster The Founding of a Republic, details the historic events surrounding what is referred to as the Chinese Revolution, the period from 1911 to 1921, when Sun Yat-sen overthrew the Qing Dynasty and planted the roots of what has become today's Chinese Communist government. The story shows the beginnings of the country's most influential first-generation leaders, including Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai. Just as The Founding of a Republic did, the film, co-directed by Jianxin Huang and Sanping Han, features a cast of China's biggest box office names such as Liu Ye, Chang Chen, Chen Kun, Andy Lau, Daniel Wu and John Woo. -- (C) Official Site
- Directed By
- Sanping Han, Jianxin Huang
- Genres
- Documentary, Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jun 24, 2011 Limited
- Studio
- China Lion Film
Critic Reviews
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Andy Webster, New York Times
"Revival" is a proud statement by an ascendant society. But it demonstrates that mainstream Chinese cinema can be as guilty of self-indulgent overstatement as anything out of the West.
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Maggie Lee, Hollywood Reporter
The highly-charged crowd scenes in which dissidents clash with authorities are staged with visual flair, conveying an exhilarating sense of self-empowerment which is the essence of revolution.
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Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
"Great Revival" is in many ways the very definition of propaganda - it even ends with an image of a waving flag - but "Revival" is too harmlessly flabby to be taken quite that seriously.
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John Hartl, Seattle Times
Perhaps the translation is at fault here, but why does the dialogue consistently do so little to flesh out the characters?
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Marsha McCreadie, Film Journal International
History of Chinese Communism drowns in data.
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Cast
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Ye Liu
as Mao Zedong
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Yuanzheng Feng
as Chen Duxiu
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Yun-Fat Chow
as Yuan Shikai
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Chen Chang
as Chiang Kai-Shek
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Li Qin
as Yang Kaihui
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Kun Chen
as Zhou Enlai
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Andy Lau
as Cai E
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Chen Daoming
as Vi Kyuin koo
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Zhao Benshan
as Duan Chi-Jui
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Daniel Wu
as Hu Shi
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Wang Lee Hom
as Luo Jialun
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Nick Cheung Ka-Fai
as Liang Qichao
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Xun Zhou
as Wang Huiwu
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Dong Jie
as Soong Chingling
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Ying Yang
as Xiao Fengxian
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John Woo
as Lin Sen
- Chen Li
- Angela Baby
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Daoming Chen
as Vi Kyuin koo
- Wei Tang
- Leehom Wang
- Bingbing Fan
