Back to 1942

I was looking in a DVD rental store, and this movie caught my eye. It was a Chinese movie. "Back to 1942" it said, with a cover that hinted of a good production, with good costumes. The title intrigued me since I did not know what was so good about 1942. Maybe subconsciously I was thinking of the delicious movie "Summer of 42."

In any event I just finished the movie, and it affected me deeply, so much so that I had trouble sleeping afterwards. It is about an unknown event in history, a great famine in 1942 in Henan, China that killed three million people.

The movie was not well reviewed but based on my own reaction I think it was just not well understood in the Western media. One criticism was that it was too Hollywood. What's wrong with that? 1942 is a sprawling epic with a cast of literally thousands, the kind of movie Hollywood cannot make any longer except with computer generated figures. But China still can. Another criticism is that it overdramatizes. Well, how can you overdramatize dying of hunger.

Actually I thought the story was well told, focusing on the vicissitudes of a landlord during the famine. A King Lear-like figure, he has to witness the slow death of his family one by one until he was forced to sell the last member, his beloved and hitherto protected teen-age daughter into prostitution for a few pints of grain. The scene of the daughter on her first day at the brothel was what upset me greatly, maybe cultural resonance (Kim Van Kieu?).

The famine was caused by drought exacerbated like throughout history by war, greed and corruption. The political accusation I thought was muted and the portrayal of Chiang Kai Shek was never disrespectful. (Actually I detect in recent mainland Chinese movies a kind of awe and respect for Chiang). there were actually sympathetic KMT officials. Even the Japanese did not come across too badly. As a result the focus was not on the politics but on the tragedy.

Famine is still a taboo subject both in Hollywood (how many films about that subject matter have you seen?) and in China. So the film can be seen as a breakthrough. The big question that hangs after the taboo has been broken is what about the greatest famine of the 20th century, the one under Mao as a result of the Great Leap Forward. Between 1958 and 1962 more than 40 million (yes!) people died in China of famine as a result of stupid economic policies. Well maybe someone will make a film abut it someday.

In summary, this is a good movie, well made, very educational, but definitely not a pleasant movie.