Tragic Hero

Farewell My Concubine was on my bucket list since it was released and caused such a stir. I watched it a few weeks ago and found myself thinking about it for days after. The details of the story and what it means in a very different time and place from where it is set. There was the obvious killing of a child's spirit to the point they no longer have an anchoring sense of who they are. The movie shows this unfold in ways that are specific to the era and the characters but there is a certain universality to the idea. If you want guarantees of performance and compliance then no better way than to subsume the child's mind into whatever those objectives are until they are no longer able to separate what they want and what is wanted of them. As parents, we are all likely guilty of this to some extent. We pass on our hopes and dreams to our kids. Sometimes, with that comes a tactic obligation to fulfill them and guilt is a natural byproduct of failing to do so. 

The loss of agency of the protagonist Cheng Dieyi is depicted in a raw, unvarnished manner. He simply cannot escape his fate because even resolving to escape requires agency he does not have. You wonder who or what he might been in other circumstances. Those are infact the questions anyone could ask about themselves. While not in nearly as tragic or barbaric conditions as he had to be grow up in, most people are victims of the hand they were dealt as children. The movie is visually gorgeous, every scene a work of art. It is long but flows at a pace that keeps the viewer engaged and interested. I found it hard to decide wish character I empathized with most - all three were tragic in their own way, even if Cheng Dieyi's sufferings were the worst.