 Irini Markogiannakis, 27-8-2016 |
Starting on Thursday, August 25th 2016 the Greek audience has the opportunity to enjoy once more on the big screen the movie “The Last Emperor” by Bernardo Bertolucci. The epic film tells the story of the last emperor of China Pu Yi (溥儀), who rised to the emperor’s throne in 1908 when he was only 2 years and 10 months old and remained in power until 1912, when he was forced to abdicate after the success of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 (辛亥革命).
“The Last Emperor”, produced in 1987 from the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, was awarded 9 Academy Awards (Oscars): Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound, Film Editing and Original Score. It is a true audiovisual spectacle, a gorgeous movie that combines art and history. Bertolucci balances in a unique way the sensitivity of Pu Yi’s personal story with the gravity of the historic circumstances of the time.
The production of the movie was supported by the Chinese government and is the first western production that was ever allowed to film inside the Forbidden City of Beijing. In addition, the Chinese army gave more than 2.000 soldiers to Bertolucci so that he could use them in the glorious crowd scenes.
“The Last Emperor” is an extremely important movie for the history of China and also for world cinema in general and it deserves to be admired on the big screen. The movie is currently being shown in two open air cinemas in Athens (“Dexameni” and “Zefyros”) reissued by the distribution company “New Star”.
