I had to add a review of this movie, mainly because of certain reviewers choosing to criticize the politics instead of the actual film. To all of you budding western Mao-apologists...before you debate the merits of this story and the veracity of its presentation of life, you should consider learning Chinese, going to China, and talking to people. You will learn two things: 1)this period of time was hidden from an entire generation and is only now being discussed, re-examined and virtually condemned by China. 2)The culture of fear, paranoia and brutality among ordinary citizens is very real and its memory, and vestiges of it, still exist in those old enough to remember that era. Understanding this film is key to understanding the century of virtual trauma that China underwent, at the hands of others and then at the hands of its corrupt, megalomaniacal leaders and even its own people. And if one finds the tone a bit dark, remember: at the time of this film, the Tianamen square crackdown (that still is largely unknown in China...none of my college or high school students had ever heard about it...) was only 4 years old. China today is full of hope and looking forward, but still afraid to speak about the past.

I use movies for teaching, i.e. I show movies from different parts of the world to my students in a remote rural part of India. Last year I showed the Blue Kite but found it was a bit too slow moving and unrelentingly grim. Then I showed To Live, which covers a similar part of history in a similar plot, and found it much easier to watch. I'm not saying that this movie is not great, just that for teenagers, the Blue Kite is a bit too slow.With both of these movies I think it is essential to know background information about the periods of history covered. The things that were done in China of those decades are so hard to believe and fathom. If you are interested in China of the 20th century, this movie is essential.

and consequently, this movie was banned in its homeland. The director has always being the master of contemporary critic, and from his cautious beginning of subtle approach of masking the problems under similar circumstance in earlier history, finally matured into directly confronting the problem. Unfortunately, such bold approach is not tolerated by the regime and the film met its sad fate which is inevitable.

According to some sort of reason, I didn't know this movie until these days. After watching it, I cannot stop thinking this might not be true, but I know it is a real story. Or I'd rather say "they are real" because this kind of story almost happened in every Chinese family.It might be fortunate that I'v got a complete family, but I can imagine what would happen if they, my parents, were not so lucky.Everything in the story are as real as they might be. To stigmatize and to be stigmatized, to live and to die, to resist and to be resisted, to beat and to be beaten while life was still going on. Attacking the rightists, perish the four vermins, big lunge, making steel, disasters of 3 years... all these things were filled in the daily conversations of Chinese nowadays.but I don't think we'v paid enough attention to this period of Chinese history. Especially young people do not even know it. This movie is still forbidden in China. Willing to see its public show.