If you only know David Cronenberg from the likes of "The Dead Zone", "The Fly", "Naked Lunch", "Crash" and "A History of Violence", then his "M. Butterfly" will come as a shock to you. This movie depicts the romance between a French diplomat and a Beijing opera singer in 1960s China as the Cultural Revolution is setting in.
Watching the movie, I wondered how much the outside world knew about mainland China. After the revolution, a lot of countries - namely the US - refused to recognize the People's Republic, considering Taiwan the only China. This movie makes clear that some non-communist countries were willing to maintain diplomatic relations with the PRC. The question in my mind is how much people knew about Red China, or even thought about it (especially considering that the US government acted as if it didn't exist).
OK, that was tangential. While it's not any sort of great movie, it's still worth seeing. Jeremy Irons and John Lone put in some impressive performances.
Watching the movie, I wondered how much the outside world knew about mainland China. After the revolution, a lot of countries - namely the US - refused to recognize the People's Republic, considering Taiwan the only China. This movie makes clear that some non-communist countries were willing to maintain diplomatic relations with the PRC. The question in my mind is how much people knew about Red China, or even thought about it (especially considering that the US government acted as if it didn't exist).
OK, that was tangential. While it's not any sort of great movie, it's still worth seeing. Jeremy Irons and John Lone put in some impressive performances.