Search - Yang Ban Xi on DVD


Yang Ban Xi
Yang Ban Xi
Director: Yan Ting Yuen
Genres: Indie & Art House, Documentary
NR     2007     1hr 30min

Yang Ban Xi was a series of propaganda productions (movie musicals, ballets, operas) made during China's Cultural Revolution and overseen by Madame Mao. These gorgeous Technicolor extravaganzas of rifle-toting, dancing p...  more »

     
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Movie Details

Director: Yan Ting Yuen
Creators: Edwin Verstegen, Yan Ting Yuen, Barbie Tung, Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmich, Ilse Ronteltap, Meike Zandvoort van
Genres: Indie & Art House, Documentary
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Documentary
Studio: Homevision
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 04/10/2007
Original Release Date: 01/01/2005
Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/2005
Release Year: 2007
Run Time: 1hr 30min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 0
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: Chinese
Subtitles: English

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Member Movie Reviews

Karen S. (BoysMom) from GRAND PRAIRIE, TX
Reviewed on 6/28/2011...
Beautiful and exciting dancing. Interesting stories from performers. Modern dance routines very nice.

Movie Reviews

Fascinating Glimpse
Randy Buck | Brooklyn, NY USA | 10/29/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)

"That ultimate failed actress, Madame Mao, got revenge on more successful artists when she came to power: she decreed that only Yang Ban Xi, an uber-nationalist form of opera, could be performed. The glimpses from filmed versions of these operas included here are fascinating, if all too brief; talented performers selling incredibly banal patriotic drivel (while the melodies are frequently lovely, the lyrics have to be heard to be disbelieved). The film also includes contemporary interviews with the artists whose lives and careers were both made and wrecked by their association with these operas. Once the trials of the Gang of Four began, the writers, directors and performers who'd created these works were suddenly persona non grata, and their stories are frequently heartbreaking. They've lived long enough, however, to be embraced by a new generation of fans, and sequences with people who've loved these movies since childhood (sometimes finding their first erotic stirrings aroused by on-screen images that look beyond prim today), as well as with artists whose work responds to this material, make for very interesting viewing. Perhaps, as students of the form have written, this film's only a superficial overview of a more complex subject, but for the vast majority of Western audiences who are unfamiliar with the form, it makes for enthralling, stimulating viewing. Recommended."
Very disappointing
Frederik Green | NY | 03/26/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is not an objective, educational documentary, but one that judges and provides a lot of misleading and simply wrong information. A fictional voice-over by Jiang Qing, Mao's voice, puts words into her mouth that are so ridiculously silly that I wonder if the makers really knew what they were doing. This movie does very little (if anything) to place Yangbanxi into the complex context of socialist realism and art in Socialist totalitarian regimes. Not to be recommended to use in classrooms! Better to show a real Yangbamxi and let it speak for itself."