Morning Sun | Reviews

MAO-LEVOLENT LEADER

New York Post, Rating: 3 stars

While young revolutionaries in the United States were taking to the streets in the 1960s, their counterparts in China were doing the same. But there was a big difference: In the U.S., the rebels were fighting the government. In China, they were urged on by the nation's leaders, specifically Chairman Mao Zedong.

The documentary "Morning Sun" takes a gripping look at Mao's Cultural Revolution, which began about 1964 to create "a utopian, classless society." But the movement - which, among other things, urged the young to reject their parents in favor of Mao - would soon veer wildly out of control.

"What began as a campaign to transform China's intellectual and artistic culture turned into a frenzy of destruction. Millions would suffer and untold millions would die," the narrator, Margot Adler of National Public Radio, reports.

The chaos, death and Joe McCarthy-like persecution didn't end until Mao's death in 1976. Adler's narration isn't exactly inspiring, but the astonishing newsreel footage, propaganda films and vintage photos save the day. It's scary to see how one man can brainwash a gigantic nation, as Mao did. The young adored him as if he were all four Beatles in one when in fact he was, in the words of one interviewee, "an old guy in an Army suit who has nothing to do with you. He can't even sing or dance." Just watch him stride unannounced into Tiananmen Square in 1966 to mingle freely with throngs of worshippers.

But don't let Mao's grandfatherly demeanor confuse you. He was a nasty old coot who would viciously turn on once-trusted aides - and then convince millions of his followers to do likewise. Public humiliation, and even murder, were commonplace.

V.A. Musetto, New York Post, October 22, 2003