Morning Sun | Screenings
| Reviews
Morning Sun is a compelling and exciting documentary film about
the history of the Cultural Revolution in China that demonstrates the
inseparable connection of political movements in the twentieth century
to issues of spectacle, representation, and cinematic culture itself.
Morning Sun narrates the development of revolutionary
thinking in China from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s and its link to visual
narratives. The film does not just use these images as "illustrations."
Instead, the filmmakers deftly demonstrate the importance and power
of images in advancing the revolutions of the twentieth century.
American Historical Association, 2004
John E. O'Connor Film Award
The creators of Morning Sun "make
a huge contribution to our understanding of what was going on in the
minds of those teenage Red Guards. They trace the impulse to rebel back
to various pop-culture favourites... They show previously unseen documentary
footage of Red Guards destroying 'feudal' relics shot by Zhao Likui.
They interview people who have never spoken on the record before, such
as Liu Shaoqi's widow and daughter and the Red Guard leader Luo Xiaohai.
And they assemble all of this material with such intelligence and precision
that they illuminate an entire period in modern Chinese history with
a clarity never seen before."
Tony Rayns,
Sight and Sound (Full Review)
Eastward to the World
The directors of Morning Sun "sift through the official truths
and unofficial conjectures for this gripping, relentlessly tragic retelling
of life in revolutionary times... Morning Sun's elegiac tone and
bottom-up perspectives humanize events that are often described through
faceless masses. Through key interviews and extended looks at the culture
around the revolution (film, music, theater, fashion, etc.), one gets
a taste of utopian mania."
Hua
Hsu, Village Voice, October 22 - 28, 2003 (Full Review)
Morning Sun : The bizarre and
colorful nightmare world of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution comes
alive in an extraordinary new documentary. Smash the Old World!
At moments, watching the superb new documentary Morning Sun
suggests what it might be like to see atrocities rendered as oil paintings
on black velvet...It would be enough if Hinton, Barmé and Gordon
had made a movie that is consistently lucid, one that supplies all the
information you need at any given moment. They are also among the most
humane of documentarians, never pushing their interviewees, allowing
them the space to present themselves, extending them the empathy of
understanding how easy it was to get caught up in Mao’s crusade.
And they manage the trick of making their films aesthetically pleasing
without blunting their force as historical, human or political documents.
There’s a brilliant section here intercutting a scene from "The
East Is Red" with the same incident dramatized in a propaganda
film. It's the most concise expression of this film's sensibility --
the sense that real life, real history, has gone into hiding, and only
representations can be compared.
Morning Sun ends abruptly, with a few lines of narration
setting out the paradox Mao represents for China: He is an ever-present
image who stands for past tyranny but also for the possibility of rebellion.
Whether that rebellion will be for good or another outburst of the nightmare
of the Cultural Revolution, the filmmakers cannot say. The story they
are telling here is still in the process of being written. It's as good
a sign as any of how absorbing Morning Sun is that
the film's sudden ending makes you greedy for more, for the balance
of discernment and empathy that is their gift to contemporary documentary
filmmaking.
Charles
Taylor, Salon.com, Oct. 22, 2003 (Full Review)
Morning Sun's "coherent use of visual material
provides a fresh and convincing examination of the dynamics that paved
the way for the Cultural Revolution.
"Morning Sun's major contribution consists in focusing on
contemporary images and foregrounding their importance in molding the
collective mindset... Clips from The East Is Red and other contemporary
films punctuate the initial exuberance and multiple disenchantments
of the Red Guard recounted by prominent members of the generation...
Their personal anecdotes capture the absurdity of the Cultural Revolution
better than dry accounts... The combination of oral history and visual
materials provides a palpable exposition of revolutionary culture.
"Morning Sun, together with the superb accompanying
website (www.morningsun.org), are welcome teaching tools. High school,
college, and graduate students alike stand to gain insights into the
dissonances of the culture of revolution and the dilemmas of the Red
Guard generation."
Yomi
Braester, American Historical Review, June 2004 (Full Review)
'Sun' An Illuminating Look at China's
Dark Time (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)
Morning Sun "is the first
film to stand back and take a good, hard look at the [Cultural Revolution]
era... an astonishing archival mix of propaganda and news footage, as
well as firsthand accounts of those who were there...
"Morning Sun gives us voices from across the spectrum,
including one of the founders of the Red Guards, his face in shadow
and his words filled with regret. We hear from the brother of a student
newspaper editor who was executed when the Cultural Revolution started
consuming its critics. The widow and daughter of scapegoated President
Liu Shaoqi are interviewed; so are Li Rui, a Communist Party veteran
who was exiled by the Red Guards, and his daughter Li Nanyang. The latter
speaks of her rejection of her father -- of her being too rigid to even
call him 'dad' -- and how saying that word ultimately helped break her
doctrinal fever.
"Perhaps the most telling quote -- the one that underscores why
this upheaval was different from all the others of its time -- comes
from former student Zhu Danian. 'Why did we fight for the right to make
revolution and not some other right?' he asks. 'Because there were no
other rights.'"
Ty
Burr, Boston Globe, 10/17/2003 (Full Review)
The Loss of Relationships Under Mao's Rough
Revolutionary Hand
The documentary "Morning Sun" does a thoughtful job of streamlining
the bloody realities - both literal and psychological - of China's Cultural
Revolution into roughly two hours of film. The movie begins with clips
from a 1964 "musical extravaganza" - as the narrator, Margot Adler,
puts it - called "The East Is Red." "In dark, old China, the earth was
dark, the sky was dark," we hear in a scene from "The East Is Red,"
and we see a production that looks like a Chinese high school combination
of "The Good Earth" and "Porgy and Bess." "The East Is Red," photographed
in volcanic color, splashes its propaganda in terms so simple that the
scenes become almost Brechtian; more specifically, it's a crude Minnelli
musical essentially produced by Mao, the Arthur Freed of Communism.
The pieces of this musical shown in "Morning Sun" are so fulsomely straightforward
that being denied a chance to see it in its entirety feels like a form
of deprivation. That is, until the directors - Carma Hinton, Geremie
R. Barmé and Richard Gordon - focus on the adults who were indoctrinated
under the firm, unambiguous hand of Mao. Then deprivation is defined
in truly horrific terms. One describes the Revolution in grimly elegant
fashion: "It was an age ruled by both the poet and the executioner;
poets scattered roses everywhere, while the executioner cast a long
shadow of terror."
One particularly transfixing interview comes from a former Red Guard
member whose features are obscured by shadow; his recollections of violence
inflicted in Mao's name are darkened by shame. He, like many others,
can never quite forgive himself for being sucked into the stream of
propaganda.
Elvis
Mitchell, The New York Times, Oct. 22, 2003 (Full Review)
The Cultural Revolution is "vividly recalled in
this illuminating documentary, which looks at a period of sweeping change,
with special attention to the casualties: the ostracized 'bourgeois'
families, the publicly beaten teachers, the exiles banished to remote
provinces, the victims of mass execution...The filmmakers (who also
gave us the Tiananmen Square documentary The Gate of Heavenly Peace)
have done an admirably thorough job of rounding up the period's key
survivors, from high party officials who suddenly found themselves out
of favor to founding members of the radical student-activist Red Guard
group. Accompanied by rare, fascinating footage from newsreels, propaganda
films and old documentaries, these talking heads tell a story of ideals
that hardened into unbending ideologies, passions that mutated into
violent urges, and loyalties that ran zealously rampant. Most of all,
this film, expertly knit together by documentarians who are not just
learned historians but also born storytellers, re-created the irresistible
momentum of a movement that became a true revolution of awesome, often
terrible scope."
Michael
Sauter, Time Out New York, Oct. 23-30, 2003 (Full Review)
This fascinating and comprehensive analysis of the Chinese
Cultural Revolution is enlivened by extraordinary archive footage and
compelling testimony from key individuals involved in one of the last
century's most extreme manifestations of revolutionary fundamentalism...
[Morning Sun] is always telling on the processes by
which legitimate demands, extreme propaganda and, most importantly,
overwhelming peer pressures conspire to destroy families and generational
relations, finally turning a whole society against itself.
Gareth
Evans, Time Out UK, July 23-30, 2003 (Full Review)
Compelling and illuminating... Astounding interviews
with witnesses to history. Rare documentary footage (both stage-managed
propaganda events and newsreel reportage) and the 'proletariat art'
of party-approved films show the gap between the fantasy and reality
of Mao's China, but it's the experiences of those swept up in and swept
away by the runaway revolution that illuminate the forces behind the
crusades and purges.
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, June 6, 2003 (Full Review)
By deftly juxtaposing first-person accounts, archival
documentary footage, and scenes from once popular movies, Morning
Sun weaves a dense tapestry that is, at once, particular to
its time and place, and universal. The documentary's exploration of
the sources of revolutionary conviction and the heady appeal of utopian
promises reverberates far beyond China's borders. Having culled and
collated a vast quantity of footage, the film's directors achieve a
cinematic pluralism that ably elucidates the reciprocity between cultural
myth making and political ideology. In its presentation of history as
a nexus of recorded events, personal recollections, and cultural artifacts,
Morning Sun is a suitably manifold rumination on one
of the twentieth century's most momentous upheavals.
Julie
Levinson, Art New England, February/March 2004 (Full Review)
Morning Sun is a social history of
the Cultural Revolution. It relies on the words of the historical actors
to explain the psychology of revolution… Viewers are treated to
a vibrant personal history, one from which they can gain a greater understanding
of post-Communist Revolution China… Going well beyond the familiar
cast of talking heads, the so-called experts in the field, the producers
of Morning Sun have allowed the historical actors to
tell their own stories… These interviews are sincere and leave
a lasting impression.
Historical images complement the interviews and provide historical background…
The producers have utilized a fresh set of historical images that go
beyond what have become the standard post-Communist Revolution photo
and film montage.
Morning Sun is a welcome addition to the classroom
because of its in-depth analysis of the Cultural Revolution and surrounding
events… An additional feature that makes this film especially
student/classroom-friendly is its companion Web site that contains a
host of additional material.
David
G. Wittner, Asian Educational Media Service, News and Reviews,
Vol. 7, No. 3, Fall 2004, pp. 1-3 (Full Review)
Bravo for Morning Sun, a densely packed documentary
that is about as comprehensive a look at the Cultural Revolution as
can be imagined in a two-hour work.
G.
Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, April 2, 2004 (Full Review)
A stunning new documentary film.
Adam
Piore, Newsweek, Nov. 10, 2003 (Full Review)
A powerful, ambitious and absorbing film about China's
least-understood revolutionary movement.
Marilyn Young, Professor of History, New
York University
Morning Sun is "not just one of
the best studies of Maoism but also a strong contender for the award
of most significant documentary about contemporary history."
Nick Fraser, BBC
Morning Sun provides "an unprecedented
look inside China's cultural revolution. The filmmakers, who have a
lifelong relationship with China, have recovered footage thought to
be lost, found period films and convinced key interview subjects to
talk. It's a rich historical tale, with the filmmakers as interpreters
of an experience even the subjects can sometimes not quite believe really
happened."
Pat
Aufderheide, International Documentary, Nov. 2003 (Full Review)
Morning Sun mixes fascinating, archival-based
history — including some astounding footage of Maoist operatic
spectacle, student re-enactments of The Long March, and rare footage
of Mao speaking at the Ninth Party Congress in 1969 — with ruefully
revealing interviews with people who were both persecuted and persecutors...
Morning Sun is remarkably measured in its approach,
aiming not to condemn the actions of the Red Guard — who, to a
person, condemn themselves anyway — but to understand the mechanisms
whereby idealism turns into totalitarianism. A valuable contribution
not only to the understanding of recent Chinese history, but to the
tumult of a globally unsettled age.
Geoff
Pevere, Toronto Star, Nov. 12, 2003 (Full Review)
Absorbing look at China's Cultural Revolution focuses
on individuals and families that came of age during the controversial,
brutal period. ... Valuable archival footage as well as an intriguing
look at the rarely discussed "cultural" artifacts —
music, plays, and rhetoric — of the Revolution.
Bilge
Ebiri and Logan Hill, New York Magazine, Oct. 20, 2003 (Full
Review)
To this day, the eccentric cruelty of [Mao Zedong's]
regime remains fogged over by a lingering haze of nostalgic Marxist
mythology. So it's an eye-opening experience to see Morning
Sun, a documentary that chronicles China's descent into the
stony-eyed cult of purity and violence known as the Cultural Revolution.
Using newsreel footage, clips of artistic propaganda, and interviews
with survivors, the movie draws us into the annihilating fervor of an
era in which purge followed upon purge, in escalating waves of terror
and control... It's chilling and enraging to take in this portrait of
revolution gone mad.
Owen
Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly, Nov. 5, 2003 (Full Review)
Morning Sun is a timely look back at
the so-called Cultural Revolution... Directed by the team that wrought
emotionally powerful The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995),
about the 1989 Tiananmen demonstration, docu is a cooler but admirably
balanced production.
Derek
Elley, Variety, March 27, 2003 (Full Review)
Morning Sun "fashions a compelling
arc via the roller-coaster experience of its idealistic teenagers...
The directors unspool an awesome collection of vintage propaganda, from
footage of the massive performance The East Is Red to placards
and radio speeches... Morning Sun's interviewees provide a
more nuanced (and nightmarish) picture of thinking participants motivated
by romantic idealism, heady power, and revenge."
Terri
Sutton, City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Jan. 28, 2004 (Full Review)
Morning Sun blends interviews with
participants, eyewitnesses and victims with footage and commentary that
give insights to the background scenery of the Cultural Revolution.
...[T]he directors of Morning Sun instead of so much
feeding us details of different turns of events set upon trying to convey
the mindset of those young people seen as that beginning of a bright
new day the title speaks of.
Charlotte
Sjöholm, "The Berlinale 2003, take 1,"
Film International, March 2003 (Full Review)
Red Dawn:
Mao Spins the Cultural Revolution
'You young people are like the morning sun,' Mao said, playing
to the egos of high-schoolers and college kids. 'Our hope is pinned
on you.' When he appeared among them in Tiananmen Square 1964, walking
through the youthful crowds, they giggled and screamed as if it were
the Beatles at Shea Stadium. He took their side when they rebelled against
their teachers and administrators, saying how he disapproved of pop
quizzes and how, if an instructor were boring, he too would sleep in
class! What a great guy, Chairman Mao! When anti-authority students
formed what they called 'Red Guard' units, he allowed it. And when the
Red Guards turned violent, he approved. Soon there were Red Guard groups
all over Beijing, and with Little Red Books clutched in hand, they were
chomping at the bit to do Mao's bidding.
Heart-wrenching... Become about a thousand times better informed: see
Morning Sun.
Gerald
Peary, Boston Phoenix, October 17 - 23, 2003 (Full Review)
[I]nformative and richly illustrated documentary surveys
China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution... Replete with powerful
first-person accounts from various sectors of Chinese society, the film
brilliantly mixes footage of the Revolution's Commie-kitsch propaganda
with the reality of contemporary photographs.
Ken
Fox, tvguide.com, October 2003 (Full Review)
The documentary Morning Sun takes a gripping
look at Mao's Cultural Revolution, which began about 1964 to create
'a utopian, classless society.'... Astonishing newsreel footage, propaganda
films and vintage photos.
V.A.
Musetto, New York Post, October 22, 2003 (Full Review)
In Morning Sun, [the filmmakers] tell
the dizzying story of revolution and counter-revolution in Mao Zedong's
China. Through narration, archival footage of Communist Party congresses
and newsreels, we learn the high points of the Cultural Revolution and
see many of the players... Interviews with Red Guard founders and members,
a Chinese artist, Mao’s former secretary and relatives of "counterrevolutionaries"
humanize the historical events depicted in the film.
Maria
Garcia, Film Journal International, Oct. 27, 2003 (Full Review)
Morning Sun "does a wonderful
job of recreating the aura of the [Cultural Revolution]. When students
in Paris and California were smoking pot and talking about a revolution,
the teenagers in Beijing were -- at least in their minds -- actually
making one."
Alistair
Highet, Hartford Advocate, March 18, 2004 (Full Review)