This might be the best Chinese movie I have ever seen. Although I was a bit skeptical to see it, it was so highly recommended to me, that I finally gave it a try. I wish I had seen it when it was first released on DVD, as this would have been one of my favorite movies of 2010. The earthquake scenes at the beginning of the film were so realistic and so upsetting to me that I had to remind myself that this was a dramatization rather than a documentary...I rarely have to calm myself down like that when watching a film. It's powerful, sad and heartbreaking, and my wife and I had both shed tears by the end of the film. I was a little worried that I would get bored because it was about 2 hours and 15 minutes long, but honestly, when something was this good, it could have gone on even longer.

Wow, what to even say about this film. The story was long, yet every scene was so poignant and so well paced that it was hardly noticeable that the running time was over 2 hours (2:15 to be exact). What makes this an even more touching film, is that was made to honor the 243,000 people who lost their lives during the Tangshan earthquake in 1976.Cinematically, I thought all aspects came together nicely. The acting is wonderful, the cinematography is beautiful, and the music is well placed. I also thought this film offers a wonderful view into the culture of China (as also interesting to see how it changes throughout the 32 years the film covers). Very sad, very moving, and all in all a beautiful film.

This film reminds me of Slumdog Millionaire, in that it is an overwhelming emotionally-driven drama of a commoner losing out a great deal in life, but unfortunately the plot was not sustainable and gets flat and utterly ridiculous towards the end.Well I would probably remember this film for the unique local accent it adopts, the traditional mindsets of Chinese families and the fact that it is made to honour the sacrifices and the memorials of the underlying incidents. The setting seems believable too.However, why put so much bombastic drama in such a film where it is actually better to rewrite a more natural script?

As an old white guy I have this knee jerk reaction to resist all things not American. Darn. That said, and considering all the dribble that comes out of Hollywood these days, juxtaposed against this truly wonderful film from China, all I can say is... if this is the kind of stuff they are capable of, "Hollywood, look out". One of the things that makes this movie so compelling is that it is not a "Chinese" story, its a "human" story. While the production and graphics are stellar, its the STORY that steals the show. How many times have we all sat through an hour and a half of incredible (and often gratuitous) graphics with a mediocre story sandwiched in between stuff being blown up. Here the graphics are truly great, but take second place to whats important... the story.