Mao's Last Dancer Movie Review

<Mao's Last Dancer : Trailer>

The movie, 'Mao's Last Dancer', was a movie I watched for my assignment, movie review. To be honest, I thought it would be boring, but it was pretty good, and I rate it a 8.5 out of 10. It was based on a true story, which made it even better.

http://www.impawards.com/intl/australia/2009/maos_last_dancer_ver2.html

This movie is about a young boy in a rural area of China, being selected and moved to Beijing to learn ballet. This happens as a part of Mao's effort for the Cultural Revolution. Anyways, at Beijing, this young boy, Li Cunxin, is not very enthusiastic about ballet. However, his teacher, Chen, really inspires him and gets him inspired in ballet.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/movie/drama/2011/06/10/305715/Maos-Last.htm

I have a person like Chen, and that is my friend, HeeJoo. HeeJoo is a really good friend, but she and I were almost totally different. She really put in lots of effort to everything she did, she tried to manage her time in a productive manner, and read lots of books, which I didn't do as much as I needed to. Being friends with her really made me think a lot about these kind of things, and encouraged me to read more and become a more productive person.

After years and years of training in Beijing, he is moved to Houston, Texas, where he learns even more about ballet in a company. At first, he is very new to America and is not adapted very well, but he eventually becomes a part of this company, and begins to take roles in the company's productions. His years of effort and hard work really shows, because he begins to take some roles in productions in his company. As he continuously develops and begins taking lead roles in the U.S., the China embassy calls him back into China, probably to make him dance political ballet and all that. Knowing this and the fact that he won't be able to dance in such free conditions, Li struggles to find a way that will let him stay in the U.S., and he comes up with a solution with his attorney; to marry his American girlfriend.

http://www.impulsegamer.com/dvdmaoslastdancer.html

Even when he gets married, China still wants him back; and to do this, they lock him up at the Chinese consulate for nearly a full day. This becomes a big issue, and a lot of people get included in this, including President Bush and the FBI. After 21 hours, Li is finally freed and given the choice to decide whether he'd stay in America or go back to China, but the conditions are that if he doesn't go back to China, he'll never be able to - meaning he'd never be able to meet nor contact his parents. Even though there are bad parts to this, Li decides to stay in America, and that's what I'd do as well, because I wouldn't want to go back to a place where I can't freely do what I wanted to do, especially it was deeply related with my job and dreams.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/maoslastdancer.php

Lastly, I want to talk about the frog in the well story that is told in this movie. This frog, in the well, is not told about the world outside the well, because he wouldn't be able to leap out of the well anyways. Thus, the frog blindly thinks that the well is the whole world. This is kind of like the story that I know about frogs in a well, because Koreans refer to people who blindly believe that they are the best in their small little world as a 'frog in a well'. However, I think that Li, who may have been this frog, leaped out of the well into the world, and still was able to become a big frog out in the world as well. I do hope that I can be like Li, motivated and on his way for success.

To sum up, I think this was a good movie, because it showed Li and all of the hardships he went through on his way to success, and it portrayed this through various episodes that Li has. Although I shouldn't tell the ending (because guess what, spoilers) I'll just tell you one thing; the ending's really good. It was one of those movies that 'fill your heart up' at the end.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Maos-Last-Dancer-Blu-ray/19876/