The Last Emperor (Blu-ray Disc, 2008, Criterion Collection)

Excellent, excellent excellent!

Bernardo Bertolucci's film is a story about the claustrophobic upbringing of Pu Yi (John Lone), the last Manchurian Emperor of China. Taken from his mother when he was only 3 years of age, in 1908, the boy emperor becomes a virutal prisoner who must remain inside the walled off grounds of the Forbidden Palace over which he rules.

Outside of the Forbidden Palace, governing power changes from ruler to rule by way of various coups d'etat. It's interesting that the emperor isn't schooled until Pu Yi reaches early manhood. At that stage of his life, he is tutored by an Englishman (Peter O'Toole), who becomes his life guide for many years.

As the Emperior, Pu Yi doesn't have the freedom to choose who he marries, either. Fortunately, his princess (Joan Chen), turns out to be more mature than he is & beautiful.

From the film's beginning, John Lone is narrating & seen being interrogated for an unknown reason until his story unfolds. Once Pu Yi becomes an adult, he's captured & sent to a communist Chinese "re-education camp." He truly becomes a prisoner in squaller & for the first time is separated from the household he's become accustomed to.

I want to leave the most important shift in the film unreviewed, except to say that Bertolucci seizes upon the opportunities that history provides to show how fleeting power can be. Both Lone & O'Toole deliver superb performances. The settings are ethnically enrichening, as is the music. Although the film's runtime is 160 minutes the time seems to fly by.

This is truly a priceless film. Obviously, I am not the only person who believes that given the long list of Oscars it was deservedly awarded:

1987's Best Picture; Best Director, Bernardo Bertolucci; Best Adapted Screenplay, Bernardo Bertolucci & Mark Peploe; Best Original Score, Cong Su, David Byrne, Ryuichi Sakamoto; Best Sound; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Cinematography, Vittorio Storaro; Best Costume Design, James Acheson; Best Film Editing~

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