Beijing, September 08: There has never been a movie quite like Jiangguo Daye. The blockbuster features nearly 200 of China’s top movie stars, including action heroes Jackie Chan and Jet Li plus a host of directors, comedy stars and even journalists.
There is Zhang Ziyi of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Stephen Chow of Kung Fu Hustle, and Hong Kong heartthrob Andy Lau. Imagine a Hollywood film featuring the entire celebrity audience at the Oscars and you get the idea.
But The Founding of a Republic – the title in English – is not just an A-list extravaganza. It is a stirring propaganda epic, a tale of how 60 years ago, when Chairman Mao’s scruffy band of revolutionary warriors overcame Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Kuomintang in the civil war to establish the world’s most enduring Communist revolution.
The film is a key component in celebrations to mark six decades since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. It is also tipped to be one of the biggest hits in China in years. Younger Chinese cinema-goers typically give a wide berth to state-sponsored propaganda. As an example of the genre, this one is up alongside Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will or Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day. But by peppering the picture with stars, its producers hoped to update patriotic cinema for a new generation. If the audience at a preview screening yesterday were anything to go by, they succeeded. They cheered loudly and chuckled when their favourite actors or pop stars appeared on screen.
–Agencies