<<< II

Notes on films about colonialism in Asia (2): Java to China

Early sixteenth century East Asia and Southeast Asia saw numerous kingdoms already prospered, with China as the most powerful empire in the region. China formed tributary system with smaller kingdoms from Korea to Siam. In smaller scale, major powers in Southeast Asia also formed similar tributary system to numerous smaller kingdoms in the region. The arrival of Western powers and their weapons would eventually disrupt these patterns.

Year 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer commanded a flotilla of ships armed by the Crown of Spain in search of an alternative way to the spice islands (Moluccas Islands, present-day Indonesia) via South America, by sailing round the southern tip of the American continent to reach the Pacific Ocean. They will face hostile South American natives, spies, mutinies and hopelessness until they eventually find the passage to the South Sea (Pacific Ocean). Told totally from perspectives of European crews on the ships with Portuguese as villain, this Spanish series Boundless (2022, Spain)** could have been better but instead chose to be Spain's nationalist one. The death of Magellan who was Portuguese, in the island of Cebú (present-day Philippines) while he combated rebellious natives, gives way to glorify heroism of Spanish crew, Juan Sebastián Elcano, who successfully led the fleets to Moluccas Islands, and completed the route around the globe back to Spain for the first time in history in 1522.

The Battle of Mactan in 1521 that killed Magellan was led by Lapu-lapu, who consequently became Philippines national symbol of resistance to colonialism. There are at least two Filipino films about this hero: Lapu-Lapu (1955) and Lapu-Lapu (2002). But unfortunately, I couldn't find any decent copy with English subtitles for these films. I may update later.

In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip II of Castile (Spain). By 1565 Miguel López de Legazpi, a Spanish conquistador led an expedition westward from Mexico to conquer the Philippine islands, and established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. He made Cebu City the capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1565 and later transferred to Manila in 1571.
... On the other side, after establishing trading port in Calicut of India in 1498, the Portuguese empire kept on expanding eastward by conquering Malacca in 1511, establishing trading bases at Macao in 1557 and Nagasaki in 1571.

Since 1192 in Japan, a powerful daimyo (feudal lord) Minamoto Yoritomo established feudal system where the emperor's role was restricted, and the daimyo became the first shogun ruling Japan. But the system was collapsed during civil war (Onin War 1467-1468) creating power vacuum resulting in period of power struggle between daimyos in many regions while shoguns became their puppets (and emperors were still merely spiritual symbol.) By 1568, a daimyo named Oda Nobunaga started the unification of Japan which would be completed later by his successors Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
... Rikyû (1985, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japan)*** [watch part one, two] tells story of the former tea master for Oda Nobunaga and later for Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Nobunaga's death in 1582, Rikyu slowly entered Hideyoshi's circle of confidants, while became highly influencial figure on Japanese culture and tea ceremony. But his independent mind would cause him troubles by the impetuous Hideyoshi. Unable to receive the title of shogun because of his lowly birth, Hideyoshi instead took the position of regent/chancellor. This inferiority complex drove him planning on reckless “conquest of China” to stabilize his status, supported by weapons from the Portuguese in Nagasaki. I find this slow film very beautiful and fascinating, its simplistic cinematography, contrasting to the director's other high concept films, lets beauty of its subjects shine. It also intends to make audience feel like attending actual tea ceremony in a confined room away from chaotic power struggle outside. Rikyu is about beauty and appreciation of beauty during changing time. The film ends with Rikyu's seppuku in 1591, one year before Japan's first invasion of Joseon (Korea) which Rikyu opposed to the idea.

Established after the coup in 1392, Joseon dynasty (ราชวงศ์โชซ็อน) needed justification for its rule given the lack of a royal bloodline. To get recognition by Imperial China, Joseon became the tributary state (รัฐบรรณาการ) that paid tribute to China, in return for access to the huge Chinese market. While Japan suspended tribute missions to China in 1408, China considered the invasion of Joseon in 1592 as a threat to the Imperial Chinese tributary system. China entered into the conflict by sending reinforcements to attack from the north combining with guerrilla warfare by Joseon's civilian-led armies, and successfully prevented Japan to conquer Joseon in 1596.

... During 1597 Second Japanese invasion of Joseon the legendary Joseon admiral Yi Sun-sin managed to destroy 31 of 133 Japanese warships with only 13 ships remaining in his command, preventing the Japanese to invade the capital. The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014, Han-min Kim, South Korea)** is uncomplicated patriotic war film about national hero in very limited event that unfortunately doesn't provide realistic explanation about how Joseon managed to survive this war. It also completely omitted Chinese role in this conflict.
... With Hideyoshi's death in 1598, while locked in a ten-month-long military stalemate, the remaining Japanese forces in Korea were ordered to withdraw back to Japan. The Hideyoshi regime eventually collapsed in 1600.

Loosely based on a real-life English adventurer William Adams in late sixteenth century Japan, Shogun (1980)*** tells story a fictional English sailor John Blackthorne who arrives in 1600 Japan on a Dutch ship living through the civil war between two daimyo for the title of "Shogun". This TV series begins after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and ends with the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu who is fictionalized here as Lord Yoshi Toranaga. It also addresses the Treaty of Saragossa (1529) where Spain and Portugal divided the world with the blessing of the pope. Here Portuguese Jesuits and Spaniards (Catholics) are villains to the English hero (Protestants) reflecting political climate in Europe at that time which is main point of the series, as well as the political conflict in Japan. Though fictionalized, Shogun made it clear that the threat of European colonialism will be responsible for massacres of Japanese Christians in the years to come.

Driven by crisis of Catholicism in Europe, the Church sought to expand its belief to places outside. The Portuguese Jesuit priest Francis Xavier arrived in Japan by 1549. 30 years later, there were more than 200 churches, 75 priests and 300,000 believers making Japan's rulers worried about the new religion's rapid spread, since it came with the gun. Japan's persecution of Christians started in the late 1500s, and the religion was ultimately banned in 1614, though some Japanese Christians continued to practice their religion in secret. Countless Jesuit priests and believers were killed, tortured and disappeared.
... Silence (1971, Masahiro Shinoda, Japan)*** follows two Portuguese Jesuit priests traveling to Japan in 1630s to spread Christianity and to locate their mentor who was disappeared. Adapting from a novel by a Japanese Catholic writer, the story is about historical battles between politics versus faith. For Japan's authorities Christianity was their political concerns, but for believers faith was irreplaceable. At that time Christianity was embraced by peasants as resistance to rulers who were endorsed by Shinto and Buddhism. But these peasants might have been misunderstood Christianity and mistaken it with animism most of the time. Silence made very good point about this, it romanticizes Christian martyrdom then questions about it in the end.
... While Shinoda's film is better and sharper considering plot structure, Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016)*** is bigger, longer, clearer, and more faithful to the book, which make the endings of these two films feel contrary, showing differences between these two directors from different backgrounds, races and faiths. Scorsese makes a spiritual film about Christian faith, Shinoda criticises it.

Padre, only a Christian would see Buddha simply as a man. Our Buddha is a being, which men can become something greater than himself, if he can overcome all his illusions. But you [Christains] cling to your illusions and call them faith.
- Silence

The Tokugawa Shogunate which would rule Japan for 264 years, viewed Christianity as a threat to the stability of its rule. This religious persecution resulted in the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638), an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics that deepened the shogunate's distrust of foreign influence. When the rebellion was put down, Japan decided to close country from the outside world (known as sakoku policy), except for the Dutch merchants (Protestants) at a small port of Nagasaki who continued supplying technological knowledge that would slowly modernize Japan behind closed border.

To compete with Portugal and Spain, which the Dutch Republic fought against in Europe, Dutch merchants enter the intercontinental spice trade with several expeditions to Malay Archipelago in 1590s fighting with the Portuguese and local rulers, before the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was formed in 1602. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century while expanding over Nusantara (Indonesian archipelago) and enslaving its people.

Sultan Agung (2018, Hanung Bramantyo, Indonesia)** [Netflix Thailand] tells story about Sultan Agung of Mataram in Central Java ruling from 1613 to 1645. He expanded territories and tried to unite all kingdoms on the island of Java under his reign. So it's inevitable that he would face Dutch troops who had conquered Jacatra (now Jakarta) in 1619 and established there a base they named Batavia. This is a fine patriotic movie with large battle scene when Mataram forces attacked Batavia in 1628. Though the attempts failed to drive the Dutch out of Java, Sultan Agung is considered as a national hero in present-day Indonesia. During his reign, arts and cultures were established with combination of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. However the ending of this war-film is quite unexpected with celebration of Islamic values, as Mataram/Indonesia moved toward fundamental Islamic kingdom.
... The Sultanate of Mataram was the last major independent Javanese kingdom on the island of Java before it was colonized by the Dutch in 1749, and later divided into two lesser kingdoms centering on Surakarta and Yogyakarta. The VOC would expand over Nusantara (Indonesian archipelago) and enslave its people for almost 200 years, before being taken over by the Dutch government and ruled as the Dutch East Indies for another 150 years until the Independence in 1949.

Langkasuka 1593, the Great Cannons made by a Dutchman, and its know-how, stir up conflicts between kingdoms in Malay Peninsula. Heavily inspired by Chinese wuxia genre, Queens of Langkasuka (2008, Nonzee Nimibutr, Thailand)** [watch] [Netflix Thailand] is a fantasy film based on some real historical characters involving a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom located in area of present-day Southern Thailand. The film feels too rush to cover the first book of two-volume novel by Win Lyovarin, which its story can be quite unique, but unfortunately Queens of Langkasuka lacks of its own distinctive style resulting in a mediocre action film in the look of faux Waterworld. The message in the end is also not clear after the battle between Western technologies (learned by a Chinese) versus native ancient magic.

China 1620s, the Ming dynasty (ราชวงศ์หมิง) was in declining state while the Manchus conquered Northeastern territory, and the Dutch occupied the island of Taiwan. The imperial government was also exploited by the infamous eunuch, Wei Zhongxian (เว่ย์ จงเสียน) who was considered the most powerful eunuch in Chinese history.
... After the death of his brother in 1627, The Chongzhen emperor (จักรพรรดิฉงเจิน) ascended the throne at the age of 16 and tried to revive the deteriorating Ming government by banishing Wei Zhongxian. Brotherhood of Blades (2014, Yang Lu, China)** [watch] tells story of three blood brothers on the mission to capture the eunuch while facing corruption and conspiracy. This is entertaining and decent action film that interestingly ends with anticipation of the fall of Ming dynasty.
... Since the corruption of previous reigns was so enormous that the government couldn't supply its army fighting the Manchus. In desperation, Chongzhen demanded more taxes which drove people to join the rebel. In 1644 Li Zicheng, a peasant rebel leader dethroned Chongzhen ending the Ming Dynasty. Li proclaimed himself the emperor of the Shun dynasty, but was defeated one month later by the Manchus who finally ruled China as the Qing dynasty (ราชวงศ์ชิง).

In 1636, the Manchus started invading Joseon and were in conflict with Ming China. Joseon's king Injo took refuge in the fortress in Namhan Mountain. Told totally from Joseon perspective, The Fortress (2017, Hwang Dong-hyuk, South Korea)** depicts the failure of Joseon army to resist the barbaric Manchus, that gradually destroys hope of soldiers, people and audience. Joseon's bad governance is demonstrated here intensively and annoyingly. The powerful ending concludes this film as depressive portrayal of a nation losing the war, and the king was painfully subjected to the foreign emperor.
... After its surrender in 1637, Joseon was forced to end relations with Ming China and recognize the Qing (Manchus) as suzerain instead. Over 500,000 Joseon people were taken by the Qing Empire as slaves. Suffered from invasions by Japan and Manchuria respectively, Joseon decided to isolate itself from the outside world and was later known as the "hermit kingdom" in Western literature.

From 1569 to 1584, Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam/Thailand) was a vassal state of Toungoo Dynasty (Burma/Myanmar), but quickly regained independence by King Naresuan the Great (r. 1590-1605). While in Japan, power struggle between warlords after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, and persecutions of Japanese Christians by the Tokugawa Shogunate had driven Japanese people to leave Japan for other countries, so as Yamada Nagamasa who arrived at Ayutthaya in early 17th century.
... Yamada: Samurai of Ayothaya (2010, Nopporn Watin, Thailand)** tells story of the Japanese who seeks refuge from his own countrymen in Siam and becomes one of King Naresuan's personal bodyguards. The film romanticizes Japanese honour and Thai kindness, and villainizes Burma as usual. But the story doesn't make much sense just being a platform to show action scenes of Thai martial artists and Japanese samurai. Mediocre patriotic film with some fine martial arts scenes, however, the film is vastly different from what I had expected it to be since the film ends before it reaches the most famous part of his life.

The Japanese colony in Siam at that time was highly valued for its military expertise, and was organized as Japanese volunteer army serving the King of Ayutthaya. Yamada Nagamasa who was the head of the colony would later become the influential governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat province. But after the death of King Songtham in 1628, Ayutthaya descended into bloody succession war. Nagamasa led the Japanese troops to crush the rebels. But after the coup by who would reign as King Prasat Thong, the new king ordered to kill Nagamasa in 1630, and then expelled the remaining Japanese out of the kingdom. Informed by the news, the Tokugawa Shogunate terminated relationship with Ayutthaya, just before its sakoku policy.

The Dutch took advantage of the Japanese withdrawal, increasing their trade and offering naval support. Ayutthaya soon emerged as an entrepôt of international trade and its cultures flourished. Forty-five years later, a Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon arrived at Ayutthaya during its golden age in 1675 after working for England's East India Company. He would climb up to be King Narai's favourite consultant. When the Dutch used force to exact a treaty granting them extraterritorial rights, Phaulkon advised the king to turn to France for assistance. His special status, and his alleged conspiracy with Louis XIV of France to conquer Ayutthaya, would stir the kingdom leading to rebels and assassinations. When pro-Western King Narai was on his deathbed in 1688, Phetracha (พระเพทราชา) staged a coup, killed designated heirs, executed Phaulkon, exiled French troops and missionaries, and closed the kingdom from the Western world.
... Pantai Norasingha (2015, Chatrichalerm Yukol, Thailand)** begins in 1693 in the reign of King Sua (พระเจ้าเสือ) , an adopted son of Phetracha, who was considered as the most cruel monarch in Siamese history, he once helped his father plotted the coup and took the throne from King Narai the Great. In this film, King Sua disguises as commoner to enjoy a festival in a village and finds out that everybody there is bullied by the royal guards in the name of the king. These royal guards are actually led by Minister of War who also served in the old regime and was a friend who betrayed Phaulkon. Intending to portray King Sua as rude but kind, this apologist film twists some part in well-known history to serve its purpose but fails to make sense of the main storyline and might inevitably support information about his brutality instead. Too long, too slow with too many unnecessary parts but still interesting to watch for what have been changed from history recorded, the basis of this revisionist film also coincides with the period when Ayutthaya expelled Westerners and looked inward.

Except for the Dutch that was allowed to trade in the kingdom, Ayutthaya then saw the significantly rise in Chinese trade. It would enjoy its golden age into 18th century, and slowly declined until its fall by invasion of the Burmese Konbaung dynasty in 1767, ending the 417-year-old Ayutthaya Kingdom.

The Qing Empire conquered most of the territory of the fallen Ming dynasty, chased Ming loyalist regimes deep into the southwestern provinces. In 1645 they issued an edict ordering all Chinese men to shape the upper part of their scalps and braid their remaining hair into a queue (ผมเปีย) resembling that of the Manchus to show their loyalty to the Qing Emperor. In the 1650s, the Qing Empire faced a resurgence of Ming loyalist resistance, leading by Zheng Cheng-Gong.
... The Hero Zheng Chengong (2001, Ziniu Wu, China)** [watch] is decent historical film about Ming loyalist Zheng Cheng-Gong (เจิ้งเฉิงกง) from after the fall of Ming in 1644 to The Sino-Dutch War in 1661 when he led an army to take over the island of Taiwan (Formosa) from the Dutch. Zheng established anti-Qing Kingdom of Tungning there, but after his death in 1662, his grandson pledged allegiance to the Qing Empire in 1683. However the timing of this film made it a propagandistic film about present-day China's policy for reclaiming Taiwan.

Canton (Guangzhou), Qing China. A student fled from Qing soldiers to Shaolin temple expecting to learn martial skills there to fight the occupying Manchus. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978, Liu Chia-Liang, Hong Kong)** is a classic kung-fu flick from British occupied Hong Kong, treating China as a Han Chinese country colonized by the Manchus. The story is basic revenge tale with realistic kung-fu scenes that take over most of its running time. Understandably recognized as iconic movie of the genre.

In 19th century, tea was the British East India Company's most valuable export to Europe, traded from Guangzhou and paid for by the sale of Indian goods to China. But China did not want much of those the British had offered, however the British found their luck in opium shipped from Calcutta, Bengal, where the Company acquired it from the Mughal empire after the 1757 Battle of Plassey and established a monopoly on opium cultivation in the region. By 1830s, it was estimated that around 4 to 12 million Chinese men were addicted to opium.

Released in 1997, the year Hong Kong returned to China, The Opium War (1997, Jin Xie, China)** [watch] opens in 1838 when Lin Zexu (หลินเจ๋อสวี) was given a task from the emperor to end illegal opium trading in Guangzhou, through the First Opium War, and ends with the ceding of Hong Kong to the British Empire in 1842. This film is surprisingly balanced between foreigners who interested only on money and power, and Chinese officers who blindly focused on honour and dignity - apart from bribe. Again bad governance is intensively demonstrated here in the film about the fall of the Middle Kingdom who once had esteemed itself as the center of the universe. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking opened the ports of Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai, ended China's isolationist policies (Haijin) enforced since Ming dynasty. This war is the beginning of what later known as China's century of humiliation (1839-1940s) that marks period China was exploited by foreign powers, and it also is the war that started series of conflicts forced other Asian kingdoms to submissively adopt their so-called free trade.

At that time, I, like a frog in a well didn't know much about world affairs. Not until today did I understand that there are many powerful countries in the world... and I'm aware of the approaching calamity.
- The Opium War

From the writer of Shogun, Tai-Pan (1986, Daryl Duke, USA)** fictionalizes the life of a British opium trader who was evicted out of Guangzhou by Lin Zexu in 1839, relocated to Macao and later to British Hong Kong in 1841. This expensive soap opera revolves around relationship between the protagonist and his son, his clichéd Chinese concubine, and his stereotypical archenemies during the foundation of Hong Kong. Tai-Pan is fairly entertaining but almost has nothing to do with China, including the last shot that cleverly symbolizes Hong Kong as the spirit of oversea British merchants.

Due to corruption and bad management, Dutch East India Company (VOC) went bankrupt and was taken over by the Dutch government in 1799. In order to increase revenue, the Dutch colonial government implemented the Cultivation System and a tax collection system that caused widespread abuse of colonial power, especially on the islands of Java and Sumatra, resulting in abject poverty and widespread starvation of the farmers.

Lebak 1850, Java, Dutch East Indies. Naive and reckless but with good intentions, a newly transferred idealistic Dutch officer tries to help poverty-stricken natives while surrounded by his brutal countrymen and corrupted native ruler (bupati). Adapting from an autobiographical book released in the Netherlands in 1860 that shook the Dutch Empire, Max Havelaar (1976, Fons Rademakers, Indonesia)*** is good historical film from perspective of the outcast of the Dutch. The real villain of the story is the joined bureaucratic system of the Dutch and local customs that acted as tyrannical oppression. The book raised the awareness of Europeans living in Europe at the time that the wealth they enjoyed was the result of suffering in other parts of the world. The story ends as a plea to King William III to take action about this abusive corruption in his colony.

Born in British India, the British adventurer James Brooke arrived at the sultanate of Brunei on Borneo Island in 1839, and helped the sultan crushed the rebellion of Dayak tribes in Sarawak (present-day Malaysia). He was offered the governorship of Sarawak in return for his help. Unhappy with the white man, Malay nobles in Brunei plotted the murder of the prince who's closed to Brooke. With assistance from Britain's China Squadron, Brooke took over Brunei and restored its sultan to the throne. He was crowned the rajah of Sarawak in 1841 and ruled for 26 years successfully suppressing piracy, slavery and headhunting in the region.
... Edge of the World (2021, Michael Haussman, USA)** starts when James Brooke landed in Sarawak during the revolts of indigenous tribes, and (fictional) conflicts between two princes who are candidates for the Sultan of Brunei. Apart from beautiful cinematography, interpretations of history are sometimes interesting (the homoerotic part) and sometimes head-scratching (the last 30 minutes), unfortunately the film feels like a discount Terrence Malick's work.

Brooke's dynasty had reigned until 1941 when Japan invaded Sarawak. After WWII, Charles Vyner Brooke decided that Sarawak should be ceded to Great Britain, he formally terminated Brooke rule on July 1, 1946. James Brooke's fascinating life inspired Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King (1888) and Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1900).

More than 200 years of Japan's isolationist foreign policy, on July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world. After Perry threatened to bring 100 ships to war on Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate agreed to open a port at Yokohama on March 1854 under unequal treaties.

Opens with the arrival of a Black Ship at the same time as Obon festival, John Huston's The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)** tells story of the first US diplomat in Japan in 1856, and a geisha who was sent to live with him as a spy. When cholera (brought there by Westerners) attacks a village, the Americans decide to burn down the village to kill the disease, while Japanese try to protect their belongings holding on to their past. The film makes good arguments about modernization, though the reason to force opening of Japan described here still doesn't make sense to me.

Affected by the arrival of the Black Ships, the Gunboat diplomacy and unequal treaties, the Tokugawa Shogunate faced backlash while the Emperor gained momentum. This ideological-political divide escalated into major conflicts between the shogunate forces which including the elite Shinsengumi swordsmen, versus the pro-imperial nationalists. The latter was the leaders of the Meiji Restoration aiming to restore imperial rule to strengthen Japan against the threat of being colonized. This civil war ended in 1868 restoring practical rule to 14-year-old Emperor Meiji, and officially eliminating the shogun, daimyos, and later, samurai.
... Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai (2021, Masato Harada, Japan)*** humanized Toshizo Hijikata of the Shinsengumi from 1860 before he joined the force protecting the shogun, fought against the Meiji Restoration, to the end of samurai era. This realistic samurai film has too much information told by words making it a bit boring and confusing for foreigner. However Baragaki is very ambitious to illustrate complicated picture on a very large canvas about era changes of feudal Japan, the film concludes with the termination of shogun, the last days of samurai, and the beginning of the modern warfare. Very well-made film but it would be better for local audience who're already familiar with history. And as a Japanese answer to Hollywood's "The Last Samurai", it also features "real" Last Samurai, Jules Brunet, a French military officer who served the Tokugawa Shogunate, in the last part.

Immortalized by modern technology like photography, these handsome samurai of Shinsengumi has been constantly romanticized in Japanese pop culture to present day. In a weird way, Taboo (1999, Nagisa Ôshima, Japan)** turns these historical poster boys into a bunch of queer samurai enchanted by the dangerous beauty of a pretty boy who might symbolize some dangerous ideas, new era, greed, or just death itself, threatening the elite squad which will soon be perished from history.

As the Empire of Japan continued modernizing after the Meiji Restoration, the creation of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1873 by enlisting ordinary people made samurai force obsolete, combining with the prohibition on wearing swords in public in 1876 that destroyed status of the samurai, leading to the Satsuma Rebellion. The revolt was crushed in 1877 and effectively ended the samurai class. It was the last civil war fought in Japan.
... Inspired by a French military officer during the Meiji Restoration, The Last Samurai (2003, Edward Zwick, USA)*** fictionalizes an American soldier who had fought the Cheyenne tribe in Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), he was hired by Japan's authorities to teach modern warfare to their forces in order to beat the samurai rebellion. But the protagonist was captured by the rebels and spent time in their homeland learning about the way of samurai. There is something that doesn't feel right and ninja is a bit too much, but the film is still very good. Refusing modernity is not a clever idea as shown on the rebel side, The Last Samurai romanticizes the death of old ideologies which is beautiful and heartbreaking as it has been reproduced several times in several Japanese art forms. While Japan continued moving forward to the modern world, nostalgia still lingers and never fades away. The film also suggests the rise of militarism that would soon turn Japan into another colonial power.

We must resist the Western powers by becoming powerful ourselves.
- The Last Samurai

Burma had been at war with the British since 1824. France invaded Vietnam in 1858. China lost the Second Opium War to the British and the French in 1860. In the reign of King Mongkut (1851–1868) of Chakri dynasty, Siam recognized the potential threat of Western powers, so his court contacted the British government directly to defuse tensions. The Bowring Treaty which was the first of many unequal treaties with Western countries, was signed in 1855. This, however, brought trade and economic development to Siam.
... Siam 1862, Anna Owens arrived in the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV). The king hired this English woman to teach his children and wives English and Scientific knowledge aiming to modernize his country. When the king was criticized by Governor of British Singapore as a barbarian who doesn't fit to rule and Siam should better be under British protectorate, he asks for Owens' help to dress his wives as Westerners for the meeting with British ambassador. But mimicking European manner doesn't make them civilized. It's the English woman who will show this semi-barbaric country how to properly modernize. Because of her courage to speak the truth she will become his most trusted consultant and kind of a mother to Prince Chulalongkorn who will reign as King Rama V modernizing Siam and abolishing slavery. Loosely based on memoir of Anna Leonowens, Anna and the King of Siam (1946, John Cromwell, USA)*** turns into platonic love story in the end which is quite fine. Though the story is heavily fabricated, the conclusion of the film is not far from the truth where Siam combines knowledge of two different worlds to prosper in the modern era.

God created the world in seven days as Anna Leonowens transforms the royal court of Siam in a week to impress the British ambassador and diplomats in the musical film The King and I (1956, Walter Lang, USA)**. While the 1946 film was made just after WWII and focuses on modernization of semi-barbarian country helped by a White woman in style of white savior narrative, the 1956 version was made ten years later and focuses on unconditional love and slavery as USA facing racial violence and the rise of civil rights movement in 1950s, at the beginning of the Cold War. Anna Leonowens stayed in Siam for 5 years during 1862-1867 which happened to be the same period as the American Civil War (1861-1865). The King and I deliberately adds the book of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) into the story and makes this film, which happens in Siam, being actually about the United States, and how they use their lessons to teach the world. Blatantly exaggerated to suit musical genre making the film a bit more offensive than the previous version, I find the 1946 film far superior, but this 1956 musical is much merrier.

Filmed mostly in Malaysia and banned in Thailand as other versions, Anna and the King (1999, Andy Tennant, USA)** is much more realistic though still far from authentic. It excludes many jokes used in those previous films making it more serious, and deliberately adds subplot about Siamese traitors who plans to a stage a coup against the peaceful King Mongkut, aiming to aggressively militarize Siam in the time of Western colonialism. Leonowens openly criticizes Western colonizers for the first time in this film and even makes some excuses for Siamese barbaric customs, reflecting how Hollywood's perception about the world has changed. While The King and I universally appeals as love story about a lady who finally tames a brutal guy who has many mistresses, Anna and the King is realistic Cinderella story of a single mom from Bombay and a wise king of a Buddhist country. In the end, she will literally save his life and his kingdom. The film is fairly okay, however, most Siamese characters speak pretty bad Thai language considering it was shot in Malaysia, the neighbor of Thailand, I guess this was intended to suit the way Chow Yun-fat speaks Thai.

In response to Anna Leonowens' exaggerated memoir, a Thai writer Tommayanti wrote a fantasy novel named Tawiphop (1986), literally meaning two worlds, about a Western-educated and self-centered Thai woman who could transport back to feudal Siam through an ancient mirror. She will fall in love with a Thai aristocrat (wisdom of the past), he will love her back (modernization) and forced her to stay with him, because she is destined to help Siam during the threat of colonialism as translator and consultant since she knows about the future. The book ends beautifully with mother(s)-daughter relationship in both worlds symbolizing motherland.
... Loosely adapted from the book, The Siam Renaissance (2004, Surapong Pinijkhar, Thailand)*** changes many details, even the mirror almost doesn't exist. The transportation of the protagonist sometimes feels more like the recall of her past life than actual time travel. She would be in the reign of King Mongkut and helps Siamese authorities during the Bowring Treaty (1855) with the British, through conflict over Cambodia in 1863 with the French, absolutely in the absence of Anna Leonowens. But the storytelling of this intellectual film is too complicated, almost like recollection of her fleeting dreams, making it fails to humanize the protagonist and especially her love story. However, while most Asian historical films reviewed here humanize kings and emperors in realist style, which is fine but arguably influenced by modernization and Westernization on mindsets of Asians, The Siam Renaissance stands out from the crowd. It brilliantly captures how Asian people really feel about their virtuous rulers, on spiritual level, which must feel backward from Western perspective. The film deifies the kings of Siam and perfectly encapsulates the unique status that might be described as the sun which people could not reach but can feel the light and warmth emanating from it, but sometimes could also be burnt by it. Though a bit preachy on how we can stay being ourselves in westernized world, The Siam Renaissance is undeniably powerful patriotic film that could only be made by locals.

In 1863 when Cambodia was still under Siamese suzerainty, Prince Norodom of Cambodia was crowned in Bangkok by King Mongkut of Siam. When he returned to Cambodia that year, King Norodom signed a treaty with France by which he gave France control over Cambodia's foreign relations in exchange for personal protection against his enemies. In 1867, Siam renounced suzerainty over Cambodia, in exchange for the control of Battambang and Siem Reap provinces (in present-day Cambodia). By 1884, French gunboats anchored outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh forcing Cambodia to sign a treaty which consolidated their power. Cambodia became part of French Indochina until it gained independence in 1953.

In October 1856, Chinese marines in Canton seized a cargo ship called the Arrow on suspicion of piracy, arresting twelve Chinese crew members. It appeared later that the ship was registered as a British ship. The conflict escalated when the British started bombarding Canton. Then the French joined the British used an excuse about the execution of a French missionary in Guangxi province. The Second Opium War (1856-1860) resulted in a second defeat for the Qing dynasty and the forced legalization of the opium trade.

 

On 6 October 1860, French and British troops captured the Summer Palace, looting and destroying the imperial collections over the next few days. On 18 October 1860, British soldiers burnt the palace, while the French refused to assist. Many artworks were looted and are now located in 47 museums around the world.
... The Burning of Yuan Ming Yuan (1983, Li Han Hsiang, Hong Kong)** [watch] surprised me because the film is actually about early part of life of the Empress Dowager Cixi (สือสี/ซูสีไทเฮา) from before she became a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, leading up to the burning of the Summer Palace. It tries to capture grandeur of Chinese civilization before its decline by Cixi's ambitions and Western colonialism. The film is quite good as both narrative film and propaganda. The ruins of this 153-year-old palace was left abandoned and later turned into a historical site as a symbol of China's "national wound" to the present day.
... After the Emperor's death in 1861, her five-year-old son became the Tongzhi Emperor, while Cixi and the former Empress Ci'an (สืออัน/ฉืออันไทเฮา) ruled China as two Empress Dowagers behind the curtain.

In 1837, A Hakka Christian named Hong Xiuquan had a vision that he was a brother of Jesus Christ, and established the Heavenly Kingdom in southern China challenging the Qing dynasty. His fusion of Christianity, Daoism, Confucianism and indigenous millenarianism developed into a dynamic new Chinese religion called Taiping Christianity. At its peak the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) conquered almost half of Qing territory, it was one of the bloodiest civil war in China, the conflict resulted in approximately 20 to 70 million deaths in battles or from starvation.
... During Taiping Rebellion a group of bandits decided to join Qing army to survive famine and poverty, caused by Qing army itself. Based on the assassination of Muslim General Ma Xinyi in 1870 Nanjing, The Warlords (2007, Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Hong Kong)*** focuses on relationship between three blood brothers in Qing army who capture Nanjing and end the rebellion, but slowly fall out of each other leading to betrayal and revenge. This epic film is very good tragedy about people's suffering from both sides of the war, and also shows how disastrous this civil war was, but might disappoint those who expect a martial arts action film.

The story of The Empress Dowager (1989, Han Hsiang Li, China)** [watch] happens during 1860s after Taiping Rebellion and the Second Opium War, until the death of the Tongzhi Emperor, Cixi's son, in 1875. Far from historically accurate, but this kind of TV drama is quite entertaining. And I'm surprised to see Gong Li in this little known film. After the sudden death of Ci'an in 1881, Cixi alone would rule behind two more emperors, who are her nephews, until her death in 1908.

Star-studded The Empress Dowager (1975, Han Hsiang Li, Hong Kong)*** [watch] is bigger and better than 1989 film by the same director. It follows mainstream narrative where Cixi was the one who destroyed Qing dynasty. During 1890s Emperor Guangxu tried to enact reforms of a more Westernized government, but was opposed by the influential Cixi. By 1894, Japan invaded Korea and Manchuria in The First Sino-Japanese War with declining Qing China. The war ended in 1895 with China's defeat which would result in the beginnings of revolutionary movement that finally brought down the Qing dynasty in 1911. Due to its commercial success, the film also has a sequel called The Last Tempest (1976).

Dai Viet (Vietnam) had been suffered from several phases of civil war between Northern (Hanoi) and Southern (Hue) dynasties for centuries until the Nguyen dynasty was finally established in 1802. Learned that French missionaries helping the rebellion in Saigon in 1833, anti-Western ruler of Dai Viet, Minh Mang (ruled 1820–41), dismissed all French advisers, while seven French missionaries and an unknown number of Vietnamese Christians were executed. This situation became an excuse for France to invade Dai Viet in 1858 at the harbour of Da Nang. They conquered southern part of Dai Viet and acquired Cambodia in 1863 as their colony named Cochinchina. France continued to annex central part (Annam) and northern part (Tonkin) of Dai Viet in 1883 and finally Laos in 1899, and named the colony French Indochina.

During the Sino-French War (1884-1885), French army annexed northern part of Dai Viet (Tonkin) into their colony, and invaded further into Guangxi province of Qing China. To Die with Honor (2017, Feng Gao, China)** [watch] follows General Feng Zicai who led Chinese army to fight the French until they finally retreated. This is a typical Chinese propagandistic film that is watchable but has nothing special.
... After the war, China was forced to cede its influence in Tonkin and recognized Dai Viet as French protectorate. However, the results of the war helped Empress Dowager Cixi to get rid of her enemies and became absolutely dominating force over the Chinese government.

Hoàng Hoa Thám (1987, Vietnam)* [watch part one, two] was a Vietnamese feudal lord of Yên The in Northern Vietnam, and the leader of the Yên The Insurrection (1887–1913) that held out against French protectorate in Tonkin for 30 years. The insurrection collapsed with the murder of Hoàng Hoa Thám (known as De Thám) in 1913 by an agent working for the French. The surviving forces were scattered, ending one of the longest chapters of anti-French resistance in pre-modern Vietnam. The story of the film happens in 1890s when he met his third wife who will become the brain of the resistance. Not a good film.
... The film also briefly shows the young Emperor Thành Thái who was one of the three "patriotic emperors" in Vietnamese history. French forces declared him insane and forced the Emperor to abdicate in 1907, but he would live to see his country went through two World Wars and the First Indochina War when he died in 1954. Resembling the life of Puyi in The Last Emperor (1987), his life seems more interesting than this film.

In 1856, a massacre of Muslim Hui people organized by a Qing Manchu official in Kunming, Yunnan province, sparked a province-wide multi-ethnic insurgency. In Dali City, an independent kingdom called Pingnan Guo Sultanate was established. China finally suppressed the Panthay Rebellion in 1873 causing the deaths of up to a million people in Yunnan. Many Hui people fled with their families across the border to Burma and Siam (considering Laos was still under Siamese suzerainty at that time).
... Siam had been upsetted by Chinese immigrants in the North from both Taiping Rebellion and Panthay Rebellion, and had to sent army to suppress uprisings several time during 1865-1890 known as the Haw Wars (สงครามปราบฮ่อ) . The story of Pak Thongchai ( ปักธงไชย, 1957, Ubon Yukol, Thailand)* [watch, no subtitles] happens in 1885 in the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), when Siam tries to control chaos and robbery in Lao Province caused by Muslim Hui people (จีนฮ่อ). A Siamese military officer was ordered to lead a troop secretly transporting supply to the front. On the way there, he falls in love with a hot-tempered daughter of another officer. Made under military dictatorship during the Cold War, the film openly glorifies military and patriotism against foreigners like Chinese Muslims. This is a typical old-style Thai movie that feels more like a traditional stage play than a good narrative film, in early years of Thai cinema when some filmmakers still haven't realized potentiality of the medium and merely treat it as two-dimensional stage play.

During the Haw Wars in Lao province, Siam was in conflict with France over the border of Lao-Tonkin (Northern Vietnam). By 1893 France demanded Siam to evacuate all military posts from Laos claiming that the land belonged to former Vietnamese Empire, thus also belonged to France. The Franco-Siamese Conflict of 1893 (ร.ศ. 112) concluded when French gunboats sailed up the Chao Phraya River blockading Bangkok, and the Siamese subsequently agreed to cede Laos to France.

The Overture ( โหมโรง, 2004, Itthisoontorn Vichailak, Thailand)**** depicts two periods of life of a famous Siamese traditional musician that belong to two different political climates affecting traditional arts. During the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in late 19th century, a young musician with his radical style paves his way into an elite band in a palace of a Siamese prince. And in 1942 Thailand during WWII, when the revolutionists' government joins Japan declaring war on the Allies, the aged protagonist faces the nationalist policies that aiming to modernize Thailand by promoting Western culture and arts, and abolishing traditional ones including traditional music which are considered uncivilized. While romanticizing life in feudal Siam and exploring life under Thailand's authoritarian regime, The Overture asks an important question for Asian countries under the threat of colonialism - if modernization could only be achieved by Westernization - and elegantly answers with that pivotal scene that will go down in history of Thai cinema as one of the greatest, when two generations of musicians beautifully harmonize traditional music instrument with newly arrived piano from Austria, resonating modernization in its own unique way. However, in my opinion, the film has peaked with that simple scene in the first hour, the following story is just extended part of the concept and inevitably weaker. Impressive patriotic film without using any foreign character as target.

The area covering today-Myanmar contained many kingdoms from many ethnic groups at that time with Burman kingdom as major power. Conflict between Burma and the British began when the Konbaung dynasty decided to expand into Arakan in British India leading to the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26) where the British Empire started annexing some parts in Southern Burma, until the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885 when the whole Burma became a province of British India.
... During that time there was power struggle between France and Britain in Burma. Never Shall We Be Enslaved (1997, Kyi Soe Tun, Myanmar)** [watch] starts with this situation where some Burmese officials try to gain support from France against the British. This historical film which feels like a Burmese traditional opera, focuses on the dilemma of the Burmese monarchy in 1885 and blames the infamous queen for the war that led to the fall of Mandalay - this is widely known in mainstream historical literature about Burma. It also features struggles of other small kingdoms in this turbulent time with characters like Prince of Nyaung Yang and Princess of Shan. In one scene, several leaders of many ethnic groups assemble to help protecting Burmese kingdom from British Imperialism, this makes the film obvious propaganda from military government for Burma unity. However, the first hour of the film is very confusing even for Asian like myself who could not distinguish numerous characters by their faces and names, let alone their ethnicity. Not a good film but watchable, especially for the last procession of the exiled monarchy.
... King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat were forced to exile to Ratnagiri in British India in 1885 where the king died in 1916. The queen returned to Rangoon in 1919, became anti-colonial symbol, and died in 1925. Burma will be under the British rule until 1948.

As a bustling international trading port in the 15th century Malay Peninsula, the Malacca Sultanate emerged as a centre for Islamic learning and encouraged the development of the Malay language, literature and arts. In 1511, Malacca was conquered by Portugal. The British East India Company established a trading post on Penang Island in 1786 and Singapura (Singapore) in 1819. In the 19th century, as various infighting among the Malay aristocracy in the peninsula threatened British economic interests in the region, the British began a policy of intervention by installing "residents" as advisors to the rulers, who soon became the de facto ruling powers of their states.
... The highest-grossing Malaysian movie Mat Kilau: Awakening Heroes (2022, Syamsul Yusof, Malaysia)* [Netflix Thailand] is a martial arts film about anti-colonialism in 1890 Islamic state of Pahang. With no any significant plotline, just series of battle scenes, the film reduces historical figure Mat Kilau into one-dimensional martial artist with not much backstory. It also repeatedly emphasizes that this anti-colonial movement is actually religious war protecting Islam from the British. However, most of the enemies killed here are Indian soldiers brought there by the British Empire.

In 1871, U.S. attempted to open up trade with isolationist Joseon (Korea) by "gunboat diplomacy". Japan followed the US in 1876 forcing the Korean government to open 3 ports to Japan, and grant the Japanese extraterritoriality. Many Koreans despised Japanese and foreign influences over their land, and also the corrupt oppressive rule of the Joseon Dynasty, leading to several revolts in late 19th century.
... By 1894 the Joseon government asked the Qing government for assistance in ending the Peasant revolt, but the Japanese considered the Qing presence a threat and sent in 8,000 troops of their own, seizing the Royal Palace in Seoul and installing a pro-Japanese government. This soon escalated into a war between Japan and the Qing China, fought largely in Korea. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) ended in 1895 as Qing China lost suzerainty over Korea, and ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan, marked the emergence of Japan as a major world power and the end of China's dominance in the region.

Painted Fire (2002, Im Kwon-taek, Korea)*** [watch] tells story of a gifted poor boy who will become the famous Korean painter, Jang Seung-up (1843-1897). He grew up during political turmoil when Joseon faced foreign invasions and internal rebellions. Surviving by copying famous Chinese paintings, the protagonist tries to create his own distinctive style liberating his works from Chinese influences. This internal battle of the artist is the core of this film. Refusing to reform, both Joseon and Qing China were pressed by modernized Japan, Painted Fire ends in 1897 when Joseon became nominally independent and declared the short-lived Korean Empire after 1895, before it was annexed as a part of the Empire of Japan in 1910 under the Japanese name Chosen. Though this is very beautiful film by Korean master, the ending is a bit underwhelmed since it made me wonder if the protagonist really finds the answer in the end, so as Korea.

After conquering Burma in 1885, the British fears about a threat to British India from the north by Russia via Tibet. At that time Tibet ruled by the 13th Dalai Lama was a Himalayan state under the protectorate of the Chinese Qing dynasty. The British force, which consisted mostly of Indian troops, advanced into Tibet via Sikkim in 1903 and stayed there until September 1904 after received the agreements it desired.
... Qing China 1900, at faraway rural village there was still ritual of human sacrifice begging gods for rain. A girl fled the village and was saved by Tibetan people, who will later also saved lives of British adventurers from avalanche. Red River Valley (1997, Feng Xiaoning, China)** [watch] is not very good film but interesting when the story is told from many different points of view from the Han Chinese girl to a Tibetan guy and an Englishman - all of them will witness 1904 British invasion of Tibet in the end. However Red River Valley feels more like a Chinese propagandistic film than Tibetan one, it presents Tibet as a part of China against Western powers, and also addresses serfdom in this feudal kingdom which would never been shown in those films that romanticize Tibet like Kundun (1997).

After the Portuguese occupation of Malacca in 1511, many Islamic traders shifted their trade to Aceh, northernmost of Sumatra Island (present-dat Indonesia). By 1820s Aceh was the producer of over half the world's supply of black pepper, produced new wealth for the sultanate and for the rulers of many smaller nearby ports that had been under Aceh's control. While the Dutch East Indies conquered many princely states in Southern Sumatra, and continued expanding northward of the island declaring war on the Sultanate of Aceh in 1873.
... Tjoet Nja' Dhien (1988, Eros Djarot, Indonesia)* is a historical film about the Aceh War (1873–1904), but focuses on guerrilla warfare of a small local ruler named Teuku Umar from 1896. When Umar was killed by the Dutch in 1899, his wife Tjoet Nja' Dhien became the leader of the guerrilla force. The film follows this part of the Aceh War which was considered by locals as a holy war, and viewed themselves as religious martyrs fighting infidel invaders. Tjoet Nja' Dhien tiredly ends with the defeat of Aceh. Very well made and also very mediocre, I still feel distant to the main character to the end.

Surabaya 1898, Dutch East Indies. Ashamed of his native Javanese blood and his family's legacy, a privileged schoolboy falls in love with a mixed-blood girl from a dysfunctional but wealthy Dutch family and starts reconsidering about colonialism and embracing his own race. Adapted from Pramoedya Ananta Toer's first book in his monumental tetralogy, This Earth of Mankind (2019, Hanung Bramantyo, Indonesia)** [Netflix Thailand] examines complicated colonial caste system in Dutch East Indies through two young main characters from vastly different backgrounds. The film is quite faithful to the book but too sugarcoated in eye-candy locations ending up as kind of aloof soap opera - not down-to-earth as it should be. It downplays influences of Max Havelaar on the protagonist, and also spends most of the time on sentimental love story of two naive teenagers, but in my opinion the gravitas of this story are those two mothers who had endured mistreat from both colonial and traditional societies, and now are witnessing their offspring set sailing to the cruel modern world.

Being part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years, the Catholic Church had become very powerful in Philippines' politics. By 1872 after the execution of three native Catholic priests who fought for equal rights among Spanish and native priests (known as Gomburza), there was a movement advocated political reform in the Philippines led by José Rizal. On the other hand, in 1892, Andrés Bonifacio founded the Katipunan secret society, which sought independence from Spain through armed revolt. When Rizal was executed for rebellion on December 30, 1896, his death marked the beginning of the Philippine Revolution.

Jose Rizal (1998, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Philippines)** [watch] tells story of the national hero while he is in custody recalling memories of his childhood and his time studying abroad. He was an ophthalmologist by profession, but also a writer whose novels inspired the Philippine Revolution. The film focuses on his involvement in the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated political reforms after the execution of three native priests in 1872, until his own execution in 1896 by the Spanish authorities. In this film, Rizal insists that all he wants is the reform not the revolution though his works inspired the rebellion which he never wishes to join. The film peaks in the last hour when the writer finally meets the radical character he created in his novel. Jose Rizal is fine like a good TV movie but too long with too many details, and still fails to make foreigner like me understand the importance of Rizal. (To be fair, showing substantial power of a writer to a society on movie screen is a tough job.)

Bonifacio: Ang unang pangulo (2014, Enzo Williams, Philippines)** [watch] follows a hothead student in present-day Philippines who is assigned to visit a museum as the film flashes back to the life of Andrés Bonifacio, the radical revolutionist who was also inspired by the execution of the three priests. Contrasting to Rizal, Bonifacio founded the Katipunan in 1892 which began as a secret society aiming for armed revolt against the Spaniards. The Spanish authorities found out about Katipunan in August 1896, and charged Rizal as the mastermind of the uprising. Rizal refused but was executed in December led to the start of the Philippine Revolution. By 1897 the radical Bonifacio was considered an obstacle to the revolution and needed to be gotten rid of. The film intends to idolize Bonifacio while villainize other members of revolutionists. Unfortunately, Bonifacio: Ang unang pangulo is too fragmented with too many unnecessary parts but still not enough to fully humanize the protagonist.

In 1898 during the Philippine Revolution, the Spanish Empire lost the war against the United States over Cuba, and had to cede Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the US, the Filipinos had to go on fight the US in the Philippine–American War that ended with US victory in 1902. The war resulted in the deaths of 250,000 to 1 million civilians. Many Filipinos were transported by the Americans to concentration camps, where thousands died. The occupation by the U.S. also changed the culture of the islands, leading to the rise of Protestantism, disestablishment of the Catholic Church, and the rise of English language to the islands as the primary language of government, education, business, and industry.

In 1898 while the Spanish is losing the war in Philippines, 50 Spanish soldiers arrive in the small village of Baler to rebuild an outpost. They will fight the Filipino rebels in this rural village, while Manila is under sieged by the US troops. Told totally from perspective of the Spanish soldiers, 1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines (2016, Salvador Calvo, Spain)** explores situation during the transition of two wars which the Filipinos had to endure. These soldiers will take refuge in a church and suffer from hunger, diseases and death for eleven months until they find out that Spain had sold this colony to the US months ago. This Spanish film is about the last breath of the fallen empire that blindly locks themselves in the church and cutting themselves from the world. 1898 is beautifully shot but actually about Spain and its Catholicism, not the Philippines.

Rudyard Kipling published his famous poem called "The White Man's Burden" in 1899 about the Philippine-American War, encouraging the American annexation and colonization of the Philippine Islands. It proposes that the white race is morally obliged to civilize the non-white peoples of planet Earth, and to encourage their progress through colonialism.

The Philippines declared its independence in 1898 during the war with Spain but had never been respected by both Spain and the US. Heneral Luna (2015, Jerrold Tarog, Philippines)** [Netflix Thailand] [watch] opens when Manila has just fallen to the American, and focuses on Antonio Luna, an army general who fought in the Philippine–American War. I expected it to be about his heroic battles but the film actually explores internal conflicts in Filipino government and shows the flaws of Filipinos, their religion and culture through this short tempered general who will meet the same fate as Bonifacio, killed by his own countrymen. If this is what really happened, no doubt Philippines lost the war. Heneral Luna even mentions that Filipinos at that time were not ready to rule themselves, unawarely supporting Kipling's poem. The president Emilio Aguinaldo is accused here, and also in Bonifacio (2014), to be the one who was behind the assassinations of Bonifacio in 1897 and Luna in 1899.

The Treaty of Tientsin signed in 1860 after the Second Opium War, had granted foreign missionaries the freedom to preach anywhere in China and to buy land on which to build churches.
... The fact that Europeans and missionaries continued to be an elite outside the realms of Chinese law caused an anti-imperialist and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, known as the Boxer Rebellion. The rebels were known as the "Boxers" in English because many of its members had practiced Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". Their slogan was "Support the Qing, destroy foreigners!".

Late 19th century Canton, the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung (1847-1924) encountering foreign forces (English, French and American) and his astray countrymen. Once Upon a Time in China (หวงเฟยหง, 1991, Tsui Hark, Hong Kong)*** opens as traditional kung fu movie with childish jokes that feel forced and a bit annoying. The film moves on with complicated storyline, some of them don't make sense, but when wraps up in the last part Once Upon a Time in China turns out surprisingly good. In the end the messages of this patriotic film are clear, when Chinese culture clashed with Western culture, learning Western knowledge will benefit China more than rejecting it. And in the modern world, kung fu might be no longer useful as it used to be (this part resembles The Last Samurai). Growing up with wuxia genre, that iconic theme song really brings back my childhood memories.

Beijing 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, foreign subjects are threatened by the revolt so the Chinese authorities suggests them to leave Beijing. But diplomats of a dozen nations decide to stay under the siege of the rebellion, due to the British ambassador's principle about trying to avoid the war between China and these nations. However the Empress Dowager Cixi changes her mind and launches the Imperial army joining the Boxers to get rid of those foreigners. Shot entirely in Spain, 55 Days at Peking (1963, Nicholas Ray, USA)** is beautiful to look at, but the story is too formulaic and almost emotionless to care about. In this film these foreign powers don't want any piece of China, but they risk their own lives trying to protect Chinese people from their Empress and her bad governance!!!

An Eight-Nation Alliance of American, Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian brought 20,000 armed troops to China, defeated the Imperial Army in Tianjin, and relieving the 55 day siege of the Legations. After the rebellion was suppressed, the foreign armies occupied Beijing and continued looting, burning, and raping civilians - the latter was done mostly by Japanese soldiers as reported. While the Qing state lost support from Chinese people, support grew for the Tongmenghui (ถงเหมิงฮุ่ย), an alliance of anti-Qing groups which later became the Kuomintang (ก๊กมินตั๋ง).

Tianjin 1900, China. Huo Yuanjia's thirst for fame as the number one fighter in Tianjian turned him into merciless killer and will eventually destroy him. Adapting from biography of real Chinese martial artist, Fearless (2006, Ronny Yu, China)*** is really good martial arts action film with historical background. It separates into three parts. The first part obviously refers to the arrogance of Qing state during the Boxer Rebellion. The last part happens in 1909 when the protagonist came back and found Tianjin was partly colonized by foreign powers, Fearless then becomes straight-up patriotic film. After reconciled with friends and foes, Huo Yuanjia finally developed the spiritual part of Wushu, or kung-fu. The messages of this film are clearly what China had learned through the century of humiliation.

Chinese must get strengthened. The Westerners despised us partially because we've been busy fighting among ourselves. That becomes a laughing stock for others. Foreigners see us as the sick man of East Asia! What they call us is irrelevant. What matters is if we are really sick, or, if we are not attempting to cure the disease even when we know it is there.
- Fearless

In 1902, Russia who always search for exit to the sea, invaded Manchuria of the weakened China, and planned to penetrate further into Korea which was then protected by Japan. By 1904, Japan started attacking Port Arthur at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).
... The Battle of Port Arthur (1980, Toshio Masuda, Japan)* follows several characters in the platoon from before the war to the end of the battle, but apart from that it's just a plain reenactment of the war, almost like a documentary. However, the film confused me the whole time, whether this three-hour film is a pro-war or anti-war movie, even though it mildly criticizes the casualties of war, it also immensely anticipates and celebrates the victory over Russia. The Battle of Port Arthur is fine but very boring for me.

Japan's victory over the Russian Empire in 1905 stunned the world and transformed the balance of power in both East Asia and Europe. Japan emerged as the new great power replacing China, while Russia faced unrest at home. Tsar Nicholas II was forced to reform by 1905 revolution that would lead to 1917 Russian Revolution and foundation of Soviet Union.

Skipping every twenty years from 1898, Teahouse (1982, Tian Xie, China)*** portrays lives of Chinese from every classes meeting in a teahouse in Beijing. Almost like a stage play, the film spans from late Qing Empire to the eve of the People's Republic as China gradually changes to modernized society, those characters constantly talks about foreigners and their influences but we've never really seen one. In the last part they finally meet again for the last time in their seventies and share each other how life had taught them lessons. A bit difficult to follow for foreigner, Teahouse is still excellent portrait of lives where time and politics left scars on everybody, death or alive.

China 1908, on her last days, Cixi chose the 3-year-old Puyi (ผู่อี๋) as the next emperor. The Last Emperor (1987, Bernardo Bertolucci)*** humanizes the life of the last Qing Emperor from his first arrival to the Forbidden City, the fall of Qing dynasty, the founding of the republic, the Civil War, to becoming a puppet emperor of Japanese-controlled Manchukuo, a war criminal under Communist regime, and finally his death during the Cultural Revolution in 1967. As the first Western film made in the country with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949, this outstanding film obviously tones down in the last part to avoid irritating the government. However, its bittersweet ending is still moving.

Jacky Chan's 1911 (2011, Zhang Li, China)** [watch] depicts the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that ended 2,132 years of imperial rule in China and 276 years of the Qing dynasty, and the beginning of China's early republican era. This Chinese propagandistic film focuses on the struggle of Tongmenghui (ถงเหมิงฮุ่ย) Revolutionary Alliance led by Huang Xing (หวงชิง) and Sun Yat-Sen (ซุนยัตเซ็น), with Yuan Shikai (หยวนซื่อไข่) as the villain. Refusing to modernized, Qing dynasty faced uprising in Guangzhou in 1911, then in Wushang, as more and more provinces declared independence from Qing government, while Sun Yat-Sen travelled from Penang to San Francisco raising funds from overseas Chinese to support the Revolutionist Army. However, this rough sketch of the revolution is fast pacing historical film with too many real-life characters to follow resulting in not enough time left to properly humanize any character, but could be useful as quick summary of the event. However, 1911 is quite interesting when you realize that its story happened at the same period of time as the first part of The Last Emperor which audience completely stuck in the Forbidden City.
... Yuan Shikai became the first president of the Republic of China in 1912. By 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself as the new Emperor, but his dynasty lasted only four months. His death in 1916 created a power vacuum that spread across China led to period later known as Warlord Era (1916-1928) when independent military commanders separately controlled much of the nation, until Kuomintang Nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-shek reunified China in 1928, abolishing the separate warlord regimes.

When capitalist government made situation worse, people sought answer from another school of thought. Made for centenary of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2021, 1921 (2021, Huang Jianxin, China)* [watch] is another product of Chinese propaganda machine. Focusing on co-founders of CCP who were inspired by 1917 Russian Revolution, these numerous little known real-life characters makes 1921 feels unengaging and confusing for foreigner. All of them will finally meet as communist representatives from all over China for the first national congress of CCP in French Concession of Shanghai - one of them young Mao Zedong from Hunan. But 1921 doesn't work as a movie, it might be more suitable for local educational program.
... Sun Yat-Sen reestablished his party under the name of Kuomintang (KMT) in 1919 and tried to form a brittle alliance with CCP before his death in 1925. However, when the right wing of the KMT, led by Chiang Kai-shek, turned on the CCP and massacred tens of thousands of the party's members in 1927 Shanghai massacre, the two parties split and began a prolonged Civil War (1927-1949). During the next ten years of guerrilla warfare, Mao Zedong rose to become the most influential figure in the CCP, and the party established a strong base among the rural peasantry with its land reform policies.

In a big housing estate of China, four women are pitched against each other by traditional customs to get attention, and privileges, from master of the house who we never really see his face. Set in 1920s, Raise the Red Lantern (1991, Zhang Yimou, China)*** [watch] is brilliant metaphor about the broken system of Imperial China that only preferred favourites even they were crooked ones, and punished those who fell from favour. This system continued in republic era, and created tensions between officials and provinces leading to civil war every time the state fell. It was also the main reason for the failure of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward in 1950s that ended up with 15 to 55 million deaths.

China 1926, an engineer boarded an US gunboat nicknamed the Sand Pebbles and stirred hierarchical system of the ship where Chinese crews were merely slaves to American soldiers. The story of The Sand Pebbles (1966, Robert Wise, USA)*** happens during the Chinese Warlord Era when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Army fought the warlords, but it focused more on lives of US soldiers stranded on Chinese water. Filmed in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the film criticizes US role in imperialism, and also their meaningless battles which they would risk lives of numerous soldiers just to save a few American people and called it American pride - as romanticized in films like Saving Private Ryan. The Sand Pebbles ends with bleak/beautiful battle scene and complicated feeling. Very interesting film, it made me wonder why it's not already well known like Apocalypse Now (1979).

I was showing that the American military might displayed around the world had been unpopular for many years, that the phrase 'Yankee Go Home!' was not just something that came out of post-World War II, but had been in existence the whole century... The Sand Pebbles came along just at the time when we were starting to get into Vietnam... For me, the message of the film was to make that point, that Vietnam should be seen in this historical context.
- Robert Wise

After China was defeated by Japan in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) involving the Japanese invasion of Korea. Taiwan was ceded to Japan as part of the settlement of the war and renamed Formosa. Formosa was a Japanese colony for 50 years, from 1895 to the end of World War II in 1945.
... Taiwan 1920s, two brothers make a journey looking for a mythical hill but ends up in a gold mine controlled by Japanese. Hill of No Return (1992, Wang Toon, Taiwan)** [watch] examines this colony where most men are miners and most women are prostitutes. Taiwanese workers come and go hoping to make a fortune here, but it's Japanese who take the most of it. Opens and ends like a fable, this is a decent film but has nothing remarkable, and some characters' behaviors don't make much sense to me. Hill of No Return is the last film in Wang Toon's Taiwan trilogy, but is chronologically first one.

The Taiwanese aboriginal peoples had lived on the island long before the Han Chinese began settling there from the 17th century onward. There are more than 20 tribes living in their traditional mountain villages. During Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the rebellion by the aborigines led by the Seediq tribe in 1930 was considered the most violent.
... The Wushe Rebellion is demonstrated in two sequential films that are meant to watch side by side: Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale I (2011, Wei Te-Sheng, Taiwan)*** and Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale II (2011, Wei Te-Sheng, Taiwan)***. These films will surely remind audience of Apocalypto (2006) not just by looks or theme, but also the fact that these indigenous peoples are also headhunting savages with cruel beliefs involving killing people of their own kind, which make them not very likeable, while majority of Japanese shown in this film are quite decent people. Furthermore, some of the indigenous peoples are pacifists, and some of them think being civilized by Japanese colonizers is better than reverting back into bloodthirsty barbarians. In this regards, these films are quite honest, balanced and unflinchingly cruel, yet entertaining if audience could look past some bad CGI.
... The uprising was finally suppressed by Japanese army dropping mustard gas bombs in what was allegedly the first use of chemical warfare in Asia. Of the 1,200 Seediq directly involved in the uprising, 644 died, 290 of whom committed suicide to avoid dishonour.

Early 20th century, Ha Noi, French Indochina. After a new modern car killed his beloved fiancée, the wealthy master of Mê Thao village despises modernity and starts destroying every modern things related to Western technologies and cultures. The backward laws are enforced to the whole village and nearly ruin its silk industry. When the French government decides to build railways through the village, things get worse. Mê Thao: There Was a Time When (2002, Viet Linh, Vietnam)*** [watch] can be seen as both allegorical tale about self-centered Vietnamese ruler whose shortsighted policies destroy his own country, and an homage to slow death of old traditions under French colonial rule. Beautiful music.

A Vietnamese agent falls in love with a daughter of the leader of the rebel in 1922 French Indochina. The Rebel (2007, Charlie Nguyen, Vietnam)* is silly martial arts film involving freedom fighters and spies that pays more attention to fighting scenes than its own story. The ending clearly tributes to those Vietnamese civilians died fighting for freedom.

A French matriarch and her adopted Vietnamese daughter own a huge plot of rubber plantation in 1930s Annam, French Indochina. They fall in love with the same French soldier. The daughter will later travel throughout Vietnam to meet her love and witness the fate of her colonized country during communist insurgency and independence movement. Opens with the funeral of a Prince of Annam, Indochine (1992, Régis Wargnier, France)*** is superb metaphor about the birth of modern Vietnam, two different Vietnam(s), as the film ends in 1954 when France finally left Indochina, and Vietnam soon descended into civil war with participation of USA.

Cambodia 1931, French Indochina. A French matriarch faces bankruptcy by corrupt system of French government who leased her a plot of land that will be flooded by seawater every December making it unusable for plantation. Her attempt to build walls with logs to protect the land from the sea crumbled in just one day. So the mother tries to sell a flawed diamond her daughter's got by tricking a rich native guy (Chinaman as they call him), to pay her debts and build a new sea walls. Adapted from Marguerite Duras' autobiographical novel, The Sea Wall (2008, Rithy Panh, Cambodia)* changes the Chinaman who is a kind of victim in the book, to be a predator who tries to own huge plot of land in Cambodia - reflecting the situation in present-day Cambodia as in the former French colony. Challenged the Pacific Ocean and failed, the crumbling of the walls by forces of nature symbolizes the inevitable fall of the empire in the book, it doesn't mean anything here. While Duras' book is like a tropical wind that can be refreshing and uncomfortable at the same time, Panh's film is a very light breeze that couldn't make me feel anything at all.

Another Duras' autobiographical novel, L'amant (1984) tells nostalgic story of a poor French girl in 1929 Cochinchina, and her relationship with a rich Chinese guy whose family emigrated there after China's 1911 Revolution. The book clearly demonstrates her superior position, by her white skin, over her lover. But Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Lover (1992)** exploits the story making it sexier by changing from a tall White girl with a small Chinese guy in their power game, to a fair-skinned small girl and a tall Chinese guy in their romantic relationship. The Lover is fine. It's never really about colonialism in the first place, but a brief encounter of two lonely strangers in a foreign land where they feel superior to natives by race and money respectively.

The Korean Empire was annexed as a part of the Empire of Japan in 1910 under the Japanese name Chosen. Japan maintained control of Korea until the end of World War II in 1945.

Opens in 1919 with the death of the ex-emperor of former Korean Empire, suspected to be assassinated by Japan, The Last Princess (2016, Hur Jin-ho, South Korea)* follows Princess Deok-hye's tragic life when she was sent to Japan and held as hostage from 1925 - at the same period of time when thousands of Koreans migrated to Japan looking for work in industries like coal mining. The film fictionalizes a secret plan to bring the royal family back to Korea by anti-Japanese group which unfortunately is not very convincing with too many coincidences, The Last Princess then turns into a typical Korean over-sentimental drama. After Japan's surrender in 1945 and the division of Korea, the South Korean government refused to allow the return of the last royal bloodline, for fearing of reinstatement of the royal family. Princess Deok-hye who suffered from mental illness finally returned to Korea in 1962 and died in 1989. The Last Princess ends almost like Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. Could be much better.

Japanese occupied Korea 1933. Assassination (2015, Choi Dong-hoon, South Korea)*** involves an fictional operation to assassinate Japanese high ranking officers in Seoul by a team of 3 Koreans recruited from Shanghai and Manchuria. This action film gets interesting when the story unfolds about two female twins who separated at very young age: one is daughter of a traitor, another sniper in Korean Independent Army. This domestic conflict inside the family becomes part of bigger internal conflicts between the Korean independence movement versus Korean traitors in Japanese army. Very entertaining film with interesting characters though a bit over-the-top.

Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria (next to Korea) in 1931 and established the puppet state of Manchukuo headed by the powerless Puyi. Manchukuo enforced a government monopoly on opium trading in China which was considered an essential financial resource for the Imperial Japanese Army.

A serene day of 1933 Kyoto is interrupted by the sound of machine guns, when fascist authorities of Japan starts repressing freedom of speech that particularly criticizes Japan's expansion into Manchuria in China in 1931. The self-centered daughter of a professor is courting by two university students: a radical leftist and a defeatist, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946, Akira Kurosawa, Japan)*** follows the woman's life though turbulent time as Japan is marching into WWII, while explores conflicts between Japanese people who support the war and don't. Desperately wanting her life to be meaningful, the woman will fall head over heel for leftist ideology, and later try to prove to Japanese people that the anti-war movement is right and just, by physically transforming herself in the last part which is highlight of the film. The ending also anticipates the rise of communism after the war when Japan was occupied by US army.

A new servant has an affair with the master of the house. Her obsession to his penis grows critical and their relationship will develop into sado-masochism. Based on a real scandalous case of Sada Abe who killed her lover and cut off his genital in 1936, Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses (1976)** is metaphor for obsession with fascism by both Japanese authorities and the public. The main focus of this X-rated film is... his penis which is the center of sex, power and violence. In the end their nihilistic relationship symbolizes the fascist Japan who will eventually destroy itself in the name of love.
... In Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)***, Oshima suggests that suppressive culture which Japanese people couldn't freely express their emotions, in this case homosexuality, had constantly nourished the seedling of militarism and violence against other races.

In 1931 Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria, resulting in a tremendous upwelling in anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese people. By 1937 the Chinese communists and nationalists agreed to halt their civil war and join together to oppose Japan.
... In 1937, Japan used small conflict at the Marco Polo Bridge, southwest of Beijing, as an excuse to started invading the rest of China beginning with Beijing and Shanghai. This incident became the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) that was the prelude to the Pacific side of World War II.

When his kung-fu master died from a fight with a Japanese, a Chinese student in Japan returns to Shanghai to avenge his teacher. From historical aspect, both Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972, Wei Lo, Hong Kong)** and Jet Li's Fist of Legend (1994, Gordon Chan, Hong Kong)** are sequels to Fearless (2006) which Jet Li played the legendary kung-fu master who died during the fight (mentioned above). Set during Japanese occupation of Shanghai in 1937, Bruce Lee's version focuses on an angry Chinese man who starts killing like maniac reflecting fury of the colonized, Jet Li's film is much broader, calmer and wiser. Fist of Legend begins in Japan while addressing kokugaku, the school of thought aiming to revert Japanese culture to one devoid of foreign influence, this movement endorsed Japanese invasions of Asia. The film actually examines power of modernization Japan had already experienced but is what China lacked of. This makes the remake film more like an afterthought when Chinese people looked back to the past and found that the arrogance and recklessness of Bruce Lee character resemble China's mindset during the Century of Humiliation. In this case, Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury might be the more accurate one capturing atmosphere of that era.

When sex is about power, rape is a trophy of conqueror. City of Life and Death (2009, Chuan Lu, China)*** [watch] depicts the Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanking which happened during Japanese army occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital in December 1937. After killed all captives in the city, Japanese soldiers started treating female refugees in the International Safety Zone (set by a German businessman), as their comfort women. Among extremely inhumane Japanese army, the film humanizes a young and sensitive Japanese soldier who however couldn't change anything at all. Very well made but the film initiated controversy in China for its sympathetic portrayal of the Japanese soldier.
... The massacre lasted six weeks, at least 200,000 killed and 20,000 to 80,000 cases of rape. After the Rape of Nanking, the Japanese forces adopted the general policy of creating comfort stations in various places in Japanese occupied Chinese territory, to avoid criticism from China, the US and Europe. This sexual slavery continued in other Japanese occupied countries from Australia, Burma, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Indonesia until the end of WWII.

When I tried to cut off the first one, either the farmer moved or I mis-aimed. I ended up slicing off just part of his skull. Blood spurted upwards. I swung again... and this time I killed him... We were taught that we were a superior race since we lived only for the sake of a human god—our emperor. But the Chinese were not. So we held nothing but contempt for them... There were many rapes, and the women were always killed. When they were being raped, the women were human. But once the rape was finished, they became pig's flesh.
- Shiro Azuma, a Japanese soldier, testified in a 1998 interview

Foshan 1938, China. Elite martial artist, Ip Man, faces troubled times during the Japan's invasion of China. Ip Man (2008, Wilson Yip, China)*** is wonderful martial arts film about graceful character who is too perfect yet not annoying at all. This film romanticizes the revival of Chinese martial arts during Japanese occupation, as it was previously considered useless with Western warfare. It's also interesting that Chinese films in this period often compare Confucianism in kung fu versus samurai's bushido of Japanese soldiers who usually are villain of the stories.

Although martial arts involves armed forces. Chinese martial arts is Confusian in spirit. The virtue of martial arts is benevolence. You Japanese will never understand the principle of treating other people as you would yourselves. Because you abuse military power. You turned it into violence to oppress others.
- Ip Man

Ip Man character depicted in The Grandmaster (2013, Wong Kar-Wai, China)*** is a lot less likeable, and he is just one of the main characters not the protagonist. This uneven film doesn't treat kung fu as anti-colonialist weapon, but rather a metaphor about the Civil War between northern clans and southern clans, and also within a clan, as the world kept modernizing and left those old traditions behind - obviously shown in the train station scene. It also romanticized lost legacies of those disappearing martial arts schools during Japanese invasions, while slow camera movement which is Wong's signature, symbolized the persistence of the past that still refuse to die out. In the last part when three main characters reach British occupied Hong Kong in 1950s, the intentions of The Grandmaster become clear, this is actually a film about how wars and politics helped creating new generation of permanent residents of Hong Kong. In the end Ip Man found his own martial arts school in Hong Kong, one of his future student is Bruce Lee who will bring his legacy to the modern era.

China 1923, a young woman was forced by her parents to marry a leprous winery owner. But she will encounter with bandits attack, drunkard lover, and Japanese invasion in 1939.
... When I first watched Berlin's Golden Bear winner Red Sorghum (1988, Zhang Yimou, China)*** long time ago I thought it was a pretty film but boring, the story was inconsistent and felt a bit incomplete. I later read its source novel by 2012 Nobel Prize laureate Mo Yan (ม่อเหยียน) and found out what the film left out and might finally understand the director's purpose. This is what Red Sorghum metaphorically is about:
... The winery symbolizes China owned by leprous heir of a matriarch (we never see their faces in the film), both were later murdered by a criminal. The female protagonist took over the factory and turned it to some kind of Communist utopia. The criminal came back to claim the woman, her child and China. All of them would face the invasion of inhumane Japanese army into the red sorghum field together. The color red and red sorghum represent lives, passions, motherland and spirit of Chinese freedom fighters.
... Though Zhang's film makes this metaphor clearer, the book still feels more complete since it goes on for another generation through civil war, WWII, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, and ends around 1970s - when the red sorghum already went extinct from the village, replaced by fields of gloomy green sorghum with higher productivity, but has no spirit of the red anymore.

The Manchus conquered Southern Mongolia in 1634 before they established Qing China in 1644. By 1691 China invaded Eastern Mongolia, combined with Southern Mongolia, and named them Inner Mongolia.
... While Northern Mongolia stayed autonomous as vassal state of China during Qing dynasty and known as Outer Mongolia. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Outer Mongolia declared independence, and later achieved actual independence from the Republic of China in 1921 as Mongolia.
... Last Princess of Royal Blood: Tsetsenhangru (2008, Bayaneruul, China)*** [watch] tells story of Tsetsenhanrui who is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, from her childhood through Chinese Civil War and WWII, and ends after 1949 Chinese Revolution. Opens with beautiful love story of the princess, however, the film turns out to be actually about the conflicts over the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan in Inner Mongolia, China. The Mausoleum, which is presented here as metaphor for legacy and identity of Mongols, had been moved several times during under Kuomintang government, and later the Japanese puppet government in Mongolia formed after Japan's invasion in 1933. Spans through several decades, Last Princess of Royal Blood is unexpectedly very good, though a bit pro-communist China, since it's the Communists who respected Genghis Khan and helped constructing its present permanent structures. The Mausoleum would later be destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and was restored again in 1980s as tourist attraction, reflecting destiny of Mongols under the rule of China.

On 7 December 1941, Japan launched a surprise air attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Japan chose Pearl Harbor to be attacked because it was the biggest American naval base in the Pacific Ocean, which meant that more than half the Pacific fleet was stationed there. Japan decided to destroy America's Pacific Fleet to prevent American interference in its plan to access countries' resources in Southeast Asia, which Japan called the “Southern Resource Area.” The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the US entering World War II.

Lieutenant Adnan (2000, Aziz M. Osman, Malaysia)** [watch] tells story of a real Malay officer in British colonial forces who fought the Imperial Japanese Army in WWII. The film starts in 1927 when he was a boy, he voluntarily joined the British forces in 1937 before Japan invaded British Malaya on 8 December 1941. His bravery in combat while leading his men against the Japanese in the Battle of Singapore became legendary. Lieutenant Adnan also shows the emerging of the communists in Chinese population of Malaysia against Japanese occupation, which they would turn into Communist insurgent groups after the war. This is a fine patriotic film about a national hero of both Malaysia and Singapore who was executed by the Japanese after the battle.
... By the time Japan had captured Singapore in 1942, they had suffered 14,768 casualties, while Allied forces losses totaled 130,246.

After the fall of Philippines to the Japanese, an American soldier fled to Borneo in 1942 and became the king of natives. Three years later, a British officer was sent to Borneo to organize native resistance against the Japanese. Inspired by the story of James Brooke of Sarawak, Farewell to the King (1989, John Milius, USA)* focuses on how this little kingdom tries to stay independent from both Japan and the Allied Forces during WWII. The white American rajah wants his kingdom to stay primitive, but their participation in the war inevitably modernizes and weaponizes them. Though there is something interesting, the storyline doesn't make much sense, the plot is too thin and the film is too romanticized to take it seriously. Farewell to the King tries to imitate Herzog x Kinski combo and fails hard.

Japanese invasion of the US occupied Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning in 1942, the Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by large-scale underground guerrilla activity. Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1945, and over one million Filipinos were estimated to have died by the end of the war. On July 4, 1946, the country's independence was recognized by the United States with the Treaty of Manila.

Two rich Filipino families leave their estates behind and live in the jungle during Japan's occupation of the Philippines. Gold, Silver, Death (1982, Peque Gallaga, Philippines)*** [Netflix Thailand] divided into two halves: before and during Japan's occupation. The film barely show any Japanese, but explores tensions among Filipinos when the war slowly shatters differences between classes, settled during US occupation, breaks free sexual oppression and destroys people's morale. While most of the women here are very annoying, this over-three-hours film unexpectedly leads to extremely violent action sequence, and ends after the war showing different destinies of so many characters surviving the war. Considered as one of the best Filipino films ever made, Gold, Silver, Death begins very annoying but proceeds to intriguing and ends satisfyingly.

A Filipino woman is raped by a Japanese soldier who is half Filipino, he comes back to meet her again later. Her family benefits from the Japanese and encourages her to love him back, while the whole village turns against them. The story of Three Years Without God (1976, Mario O'Hara, Philippines)*** [watch part one, two, three] sounds unconvincing, fortunately the film quickly moves to the main point about how the war destroys people including the half-Japanese, as everyone tries their best to survive when God (or/and the US) has forsaken them during the war. It also makes me question: if Japan had never invaded Philippines (and other Asian countries) - will the US (and other colonial powers) ever give them independence? Thought-provoking film.
... Since I have to watch Asian patriotic films nonstop in order to finish this article, I find these Filipino films strange. They harshly criticize Filipino people, culture and mindset, instead of solely blaming the Japanese. Both films were made during the golden age of Filipino cinema under authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos (1972-1986).

Joined global capitalism and free trade since 1855, when the global financial crisis hit Siam in 1930s, the government of the already weakened King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) faced backlash leading to the 1932 coup or the Siamese Revolution by a group of new elites transforming Siam from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy with revolutionists' government.
... However the right wing in the revolutionists quickly took over the government and embraced militarism joining the rise of fascism in Japan and Europe, and also changed the country name to Thailand in 1939 supporting its Tai racist/nationalist policy, mainly targeting Chinese immigrants. When the Imperial Japanese Army reached Thailand in 1941, the revolutionists' government decided to join Japan declaring war on the Allies.

By 1941, Thai authorities started recruiting teenagers in special forces preparing for the expansion of the Pacific War. Boys Will Be Boys, Boys Will Be Men ( ยุวชนทหาร เปิดเทอมไปรบ, 2000, Yutthana Mukdasanit, Thailand)** [watch, no subtitles] follows a group of students from Southern Thailand voluntarily joining the new force. The main character is a Thai boy who has a Japanese brother-in-law which will make him feels awkward as Japan recently invades Indochina on 28 July 1941. The structure of Boys Will Be Boys,.. obviously begins as a teen comedy and naive propagandistic film while audience anticipates Japan's invasion of Southern Thailand on 8 December 1941. However, I honestly expected something more or twisted from this respected director in the anti-climactic ending when Thai authorities announce co-operation with Japan making their battle and patriotism feel wasted. Too light, too naive, and too short of story, the lazy pacing of this mediocre film perfectly represents Thailand's experience during WWII comparing to other Asian countries brutally occupied by Japan. Could be much better if braver.
...Japan rewarded Thailand for its co-operation during this period by giving it the state of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu in former British Malaya. That was after Franco-Thai War (1940–1941) that Thailand reclaimed disputed territories lost to French Indochina (Laos and Cambodia) during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. Thailand later expanded its territory further into Shan States of British Burma, reclaiming what it'd lost to Western powers.

On the other hand, Thai royalist ambassador in Washington DC, Seni Pramoj, denounced the government and organized the Free Thai Movement with American assistance. The left wing of the revolutionists' government later secretly contacted the royalists abroad creating an underground organization fighting Imperial Japanese Army in Thailand.

Thailand might be the only country in the world that could produce a straightforward romantic film about a Japanese soldier and a local woman during WWII without being irony. Adapting from extremely popular novel by Tommayanti, Sunset Over the Killing Fields ( คู่กรรม, 2013, Kittikorn Liasirikun, Thailand)*** [watch, no subtitles] modernizes the story with younger and moodier version of characters. The Japanese guy will find out that the Thai girl is a member of Free Thai Movement secretly helping the Allies, during the bombing of Bangkok by the Allied forces. The engagement of the couple demanded by Japan's authorities apparently suggests the nature of the co-operation of Thailand and Japan. Her love/hate relationship with the Japanese also reflects the awkward situation. She will help him from assassination by Thai nationalists while he will help her from the bombing by the Allies. However, I must confess that I'd avoided watching this film expecting it to be very cheesy. But this fast-paced film might actually be made for someone like me who've been familiar with this popular story, and it works really well as the least informative version. It's like revisiting the historical story with awareness, in a form of a stream of beautiful shots, or a train of memories reminiscing the well-known story. In this case, nostalgia is not for history or the past, but for the story itself. Very good in what it tries to achieve and has been misunderstood. The mysterious guy who the girl keeps waiting throughout the film obviously is metaphor for the Thai royalists who will return to power after the war.

After WWII, Britain demanded huge war reparations from Thailand, while the United States refrained from dealing with Thailand as an enemy country in post-war peace negotiations and also helped Thailand closing the deal with Britain. Thailand will be an important ally to the US in the Cold War and wars against communism in Asia during 1950s to 1970s.

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. The bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of them were civilians, and remained the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki.

Japan's Longest Day (1967, Kihachi Okamoto, Japan)*** dramatizes the intense 24 hours from when Emperor Hirohito decided that Japan should surrender to save Japanese people's lives, until the moment his radio announcement to his own people was broadcasted on 15 August 1945 at noon. It focuses on the Minister of War who wanted to continue fighting the Allies on Japanese soil, and tensions in the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy who would prefer death to being taken captive, as the Pacific War became meaningless and the Imperial Japan was on the brink of coup d'etat to prevent the broadcast. Where traditional sacredness of the monarchy is still alive to the present day, the film avoids showing full face of the emperor in close up, or humanizing his god-like status, but could masterfully dramatizes the situation. Japan's Longest Day is a powerful film about how different kinds of Japanese people reacted to the surrender and the end of the Japanese Empire.
... Ten million Japanese (1/4 of all Japanese men) fought as soldiers in the Pacific War. Two million soldiers and one million civilians died during the war.

Japan was occupied and administered by the U.S. forces led by General Douglas A. MacArthur between 1945 and 1952. The objective of the occupation was to break down many of the traditional Japanese social institutions and democratize the society. The Meiji Constitution was replaced with an American-written constitution which limited the Emperor's power, transformed his country into a constitutional monarchy, and abolished the Imperial Japanese Army.
... After the Japanese surrender, a US General accompanies by General MacArthur to Japan in 1945. His task is to make decision if Emperor Hirohito should be punished as a war criminal or not. Emperor (2012, Peter Webber)* revisits and uses incidents demonstrated in Japan's Longest Day (1967) as the key events. It tries to explore differences of cultures and mindsets between Japanese and American but ends up very superficial, and the love story part is rather thin.

On 1 January 1946 at the request of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, the Emperor publicly renounced his own divinity and declared that he was just a human.

The bond between us and the people of this country have always stood upon mutual trust and affection. They do not depend upon mere legends and myths. They are not predicated on the false conception that the Emperor is divine, and that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world.
- Emperor Hirohito

Sukarno (Soekarno) was a prominent leader in Indonesia's independent movement from the Dutch colonialists. During 1920s-1930s he was arrested several times and was finally banished from Java to Sumatra by the Dutch in 1938, until Japan brought him back to political stage in 1942. Soekarno (2013, Hanung Bramantyo, Indonesia)** [Netflix Thailand] covers his life from 1920s under the Dutch, through Japan's invasion, to Indonesia's independence day in 1945. The invasion of Japan in 1942 destroyed the Dutch colonial system and classes making some people supporting the Japanese. Sukarno also decided to co-operate with Japan who promised him the independence of Indonesia. When the US dropped the atomic bombs in 1945, Japan decided to give Indonesia independence before its surrender, just to mess with the Allies. Decent patriotic film even though Sukarno's personality is a bit strange, he is presented here as a womanizer who's not quite bright but excellent in speech. In one scene he seduces his daughter's friend (soon-to-be his third wife), in front of his second wife and his daughter, while the film portrays the scene as romantic comedy - quite strange for audience from different cultures, but might be acceptable for Islamic polygyny. In this case the film is pretty honest.

The Allied Forces took control of Indonesia after Japan's surrender, while the Dutch slowly returned to its former colony leading to the war between the new Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire. The Indonesian War of Independence ended in December 1949 when the Dutch recognized Indonesian independence in the face of international pressure, estimated 100,000 deaths of Indonesians from the war.
... After WWII, a son of a Nazi collaborator in the Netherlands joined a Dutch troop to Java in the former Dutch East Indies. The East (2020, Jim Taihuttu, The Netherlands)** depicts the Indonesian War of Independence totally from the Dutch perspective, so it feels like a war against terrorism for the Dutch. The protagonist's experience there will resemble the holocaust by the Nazi, while the new nation is taking shape away from their military camps. The East ends in the Netherlands where these men will have to deal with the fall of the Dutch Empire, at their homeland. Beautifully shot but too obsessive to itself which is the point of the film.

After a chaotic period in 1950s, Sukarno moved Indonesia from democracy towards authoritarianism in 1959. His "anti-imperialist" ideology made Indonesia increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union and China. The failed coup in 1965 by left-wing faction in the army allied with the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) led to a violent anti-communist purge (1965-1966) that killed between 500,000 and one million people, and the rise to power of Major General Suharto in 1968 supported by the US, ruling Indonesia until 1998.

Another expensive educational program from China, The Founding of a Republic (2009, Han Sanping, China)* [watch] opens after WWII with the meeting of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong during their ceasefire in 1945 Chongqing. The civil war resumed next year, while the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Chinese Communist Party (CCP/CPC) decided to begin the process of liberating the whole China in 1947. The PLA reached Beiping/Beijing in 1949, and Mao finally declared the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1. Chiang Kai-shek and his forces retreated to Taiwan in December 1949. Made for 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, this slideshow of tamed history is a bit fun to find cameo appearance of Chinese superstars scattering in the film.
... The first phase of Chinese Civil War (1928-1937) caused around 7 million deaths on both sides. More than 10 million Chinese died during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and WWII. The last part of Chinese Civil War (1945–1949) caused around 2.5-6 million death on both sides.

Charlie Soong was a wealthy businessman in Qing China, and a revolutionist who supported Sun Yat-sen. He had three daughters who would become powerful women after 1911 revolution. The oldest sister married a wealthy banker who was the richest man in the early 20th century Republic of China, the second one married Sun Yat-sen, and the youngest married Chiang Kai-shek. The feud in this Chinese Christian family would reflect China's history during the civil war and WWII, when Madame Sun stood against Chiang Kai-shek, her brother-in-law. This incredible fact could be translated into an amazing film, but The Soong Sisters (1997, Mabel Cheung, Hong Kong)** is merely a collection of pretty pictures with little depth. However, this film might be one of a few films that humanize Chiang Kai-shek, though he is depicted here as villain as usual. After 1949 revolution, the oldest daughter moved to Hong Kong and later the US, Madame Sun stayed in China, and Madame Chiang retreated to Taiwan with her husband.

After losing the Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Party fled to Taiwan and continued to maintain that their government represented all of China. Since its establishment in 1949, the Communist China has claimed Taiwan as a province and has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Last days of Japanese occupation of Taiwan told like a fable, witnessed by a scarecrow in a rice field, Strawman (1987, Wang Toon, Taiwan)*** [watch] is the second film in the director's Taiwan trilogy. The story happens during US bombing of Taiwan, while Taiwanese men were sent to fight for Japan's emperor, two foolish brothers stayed home suffering hard lives under Japanese occupation. With some magical realist elements, the last part of this satirical film is quite interesting when Taiwan was affected from destructions by both Japan and USA, people were still living lives optimistically that sometimes borderline as stupidity.

In The Puppetmaster (1993, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan)**** [watch], the real puppetmaster narrates his own story of himself as a boy after 1895 when Taiwan was occupied by Japan. As he grew up in several Chinese puppet troupes, the film demonstrates how traditional arts struggled during Japanese occupation. Directed by Taiwanese master, The Puppetmaster (or literally translated from Chinese as Dream Life) is nostalgic tale of distant memories sometimes resembles the way the puppet plays or Chinese opera encapsulate glory and tragedies of bygone eras. Audience might be a bit struggling watching this film until realize the structure of it, the film shows first and explains later - like we interpret history that's already happened, or recognize some haunting moments in lives before remember how they actually occurred. Though The Puppetmaster ends with Japan's surrender in 1945, it obviously presents Japanese colonizers as decent people since Taiwan was considered less suffering from Japan's occupation than other Asian countries. This is one of Hou's best films, and might be my most favourite Hou's film on this revisitation - my list changes with time since good films and favourite films are different kinds of beast to me.

Opens with the emperor's announcement of Japan's surrender at the end of WWII, and the birth of a boy/Taiwan, A City of Sadness (1989, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan)*** examines the situation when Taiwan returned to China, as Taiwanese people had to start learning Chinese Mandarin language after 50 years under Japanese rule. In the meantime majority of Taiwanese would use three languages in everyday lives: Japanese, Mandarin and Hokkien. This Venice's Golden Lion winner focuses on one big family of four brothers in rural Taiwan, when tension between Taiwanese and newly-arrived mainlanders arises leading to violent riot over the new Chinese authorities in Taipei. Shot mostly with long shot, the film makes audience feel distant from those characters and also avoids directly talking about politics. A City of Sadness beautifully captures lives of ordinary people affected by wars and politics while trying to survive during changing times. On February 1947, more than 20,000 Taiwanese people were massacred by the Kuomintang-led nationalist government.

In 1949, KMT was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the central government of KMT was exiled to Taiwan. Ruled by Chiang Kai-shek's authoritarian regime, the island would be placed under martial law for 38 years until 1987 in a period known as the "White Terror."

Heard about banana paradise in Taiwan, two communists disguised as Nationalists and joined the KMT army moving to Taiwan in 1949. They try to conceal their identities through Taiwan's authoritarian regime, while continue living with people in the island. Chronologically last film about two foolish brothers in Taiwan trilogy, Banana Paradise (1989, Wang Toon, Taiwan)*** shows how people destroyed by civil war, slowly stand up and become part of the new society. Starting out a bit weak, however its impressive final reveal in 1980s scene makes this satirical film a beautiful homage to those broken families parted by politics between China and Taiwan. Excellent ending.

Victory of the Allies helped liberating these Asian countries from Imperial Japan, but the expansion of communism after the war worried Western nations. The Cold War which is the proxy war between Soviet Union and USA, promoted conflicts in other Asian nations and irreversibly shaped modern history of every countries in this region. Two extreme ideologies supported by two most powerful nations swept every other political possibility out of the table resulting in civil wars in almost every Asian country.

In the last days of WWII, the U.S. proposed dividing the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones with the 38th parallel north as the dividing line. The Soviets accepted their proposal and agreed to divide Korea. It was understood that this division was only a temporary arrangement but as the Cold War immediately began, the reunification of two Koreas was stalled by the establishment of the Republic of Korea in southern Korea on 15 August 1948, followed by the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in northern Korea on 9 September 1948.

South Korea 1948, after the division of Korea, South Korea was in the middle of communist insurgency (1948-1950). Suffered from poverty during Japanese occupation, farmers tend to support communist land reform policy, contrasting to landlords who prefers capitalism that will protect their rightful properties. Adapted from 10-volume novel, Im Kwon-taek's The Taebaek Mountains (1994)**** [watch] starts with so many characters all of a sudden that will surely confuse foreign audience. Ones of these characters are two brothers who fought on opposite sides. This is an absolute political film involving very complicated subject that happened in every country with communist conflicts. The last part of this almost-3-hours film begins in 1950 when North Korea invades South Korea in an attempt to re-unify the peninsula under its communist rule and takes over the communist movement there. The Taebaek Mountains beautifully ends with exorcism ceremony calming the deads of civil war. Very good and well balanced, except for North Koreans who are treated here as pure villains.

I have learned many things while watching your exorcise. Even the lives of the living are being treated so trivially. But you treat the life of the dead with your whole heart. It feels like I was watching the world we had lost.
- The Taebaek Mountains

Two brothers were forced to join South Korean army when North Korea invaded in 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War. The war would slowly change them, as the big brother evolves into a warmonger, and the younger one a pacifist. Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004, Je-kyu Kang, South Korea)* delivers too obvious messages when two brothers as metaphors of two kinds of extremists always make emotional scenes in the battlefields, that don't make sense at all. This mediocre tear-jerking war-film is a bit better when it addresses the Bodo League massacre where South Korea murdered its own people who were suspected as communists or communist-sympathizers, estimated around 60,000 to 200,000 people were killed. This massacre drives the big brother to defect to North Korea and turns into psychotic killing machine which dehumanizes North Koreans and endorses US propaganda about North Korea.

 

USA entered the war in August 1950 led by General Douglas MacArthur to support South Korea. By October, China decided to intervene by sending 200,000 troops to support North Korea. The subsequent Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended with 3 million civilian deaths and has left Korea divided by the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) up to the present day.

Pork Chop Hill stands in the middle of the neutral zone between North and South Korea, US troops was ordered to launch an attack and retake the hill from Chinese forces. Pork Chop Hill (1959, Lewis Milestone, USA)** represents solely from the US perspective as the battle goes on and on without end, just like the unbroken flow of Chinese soldiers that move forward to the battlefield to die. In one scene at a peace talks, a US representative describes this disastrous situation like China was ready to sacrifice their men just for a pile of dirt, while we Americans treasure life and try to avoid losing more life on nothing. However, Chinese soldiers are showed here as just some killing machine without soul, except for a hilarious Chinese announcer. Pork Chop Hill is a decent war film but with doubtful meanings, it opens like an anti-war film but ends with strongly pro-war messages as it just wants to remind the world of American heroes who saved humanity in the forgotten war.

Year 1952, Chinese snipers are lured into a trap surrounded by US snipers in North Korea. Directed by Zhang Yimou and his daughter, Snipers (2022, Zhang Mo, Zhang Yimou, China)* humanizes Chinese sniper who killed more than 200 Americans in the Korean War. This is anti-American propagandistic film in 21th century that reduces Korea into just a place where the Korean War isn't about Korea at all. North Korea appears here as an innocent boy who couldn't defend himself in the war between China and US.

During World War II, Kim Il-Sung who joined the Korean guerrilla resistance against the Japanese occupation, was sent to study in Soviet Union and became a major in the Soviet army. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Kim returned with other Soviet-trained Koreans to establish a communist provisional government under Soviet guidance in what would become North Korea.

To liberate South Korea from American Imperialism, North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950 and captured Seoul in June. When US army entered the Korean War, a group of journalists in Seoul were forced to join North Korean army. Based on a memoir of a North Korean soldier caught by South Korean army in 1952, North Korean Partisan in South Korea (1990, Jeong Ji-yeong, South Korea)*** [watch] was told completely from North Korean perspectives, this South Korean film fairly humanizes North Korean people during the war. Eye-opening film though a bit too long.

There is no victory for either side. Our tragedy began because we couldn't drive out the Japanese invaders on our own. We got our freedom through the hands of other nations. That's the problem with this battle that we call the struggle of the South Korean people and the war of one nation. Whether it's the North or the South that wins, it's not the victory of the Korean people but victory for either the U.S. or Soviet Union.
- North Korean Partisan in South Korea

A North Korean guy escapes from the North Korean People's Army to a South Korean village where he forms an intimate relationship with a South Korean woman. While most men in the village either being recruited in South Korean Army or join Communist guerilla army. Burning Mountain (1967, Kim Soo-yong, South Korea)** [watch] explores sexual desire of women left behind by their husbands during the Korean War. Sometimes remind me of Shohei Immamura's films but a bit tamed, this film is still interesting and refreshing to watch as a war film from female perspective, though it was made by a male filmmaker.

After 1911 Chinese Revolution, Tibet enjoyed de facto independence while China endured its Warlord era, civil war, and World War II - until Communist China entered Tibet in 1950.
... A Nazi mountain-climber tried to conquest Nanga Parbat, a peak of the Himalayas in 1939 British India. When WWII broke out, he was caught by the British as prisoner of war, then escaped the camp in 1942, reached Tibet in 1946, and stayed there until 1951. Seven Years in Tibet (1997, Jean-Jacques Annaud)** tells story of the man who will become a tutor to the young 14th Dalai Lama, while Tibet had been closed to foreigner since the 13th Dalai Lama had vision that they will bring calamity to Tibet. The film portrays the 14th Dalai Lama as a kid who is eager to learn about the world and modernize his country while preserving their traditions, contrasting to isolationist policy of the previous one. But his study will be interrupted by the invasion of Communist China in 1950. Decent film about self-discovery of a European in foreign land but this plainly realist film fails to capture the spiritual part of Tibet or the life of the Dalai Lama.

Then this is another great difference between our civilization and yours. You admire the man who pushes his way to the top in any walk of life [i.e. Olympics Gold medals]. While we admire the man who abandons his ego.
- Seven Years in Tibet

On the other hand, Martin Scorsese's Kundun (1997)*** uses cinematic techniques to demonstrate supernatural nature of belief. It starts after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama and the mystical quest for the child who will be the 14th Dalai Lama in 1937 Tibet, to when Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, and the escape of Dalai Lama to India in 1959. Scorsese presents spiritual part of Mahayana Buddhism as living in dreams but with not much of religious aspect which is quite acceptable. Impressive film even though it was made in English language, and there is no Nazi tutor in this film.
... Chinese government experiments in land reform in 1956 Tibet, caused Tibetan militias to start fighting against the government, before escalated into widespread uprising in 1959. Thousands of Tibetans were killed. Feared that the Chinese government might arrest the 14th Dalai Lama, he was forced to escape to India and has never returned to Tibet to this day.

France was defeated by Germany in 1940 during WWII, then Japan completely conquer Indochina in 1945 but was totally defeated six months later, in this power vacuum Ho Chi Minh and the communist Viet Minh immediately took control and declared Vietnam independent in 1945, he also abdicated Emperor Bao Dai who had been a puppet ruler under France and Japan. One month later France returned and seized control of Southern Vietnam.

Hanoi Winter 1946 (1997, Minh Dang Nhat, Vietnam)* [watch] opens with the incident at Hai Phong in 1946 when French troops massacred 6000 Vietnamese people, breaking the peace agreement leading to the First Indochina War. This low-budget propagandistic film follows Ho Chi Minh during the months in Ha Noi that ends when the war broke out.

Influenced by cinematic styles of Soviet films, Mrs. Tu Hau (1963, Pham Ky Nam, North Vietnam)** [watch] is a film from North Vietnam about a South Vietnamese woman whose husband had gone to fight in the revolution during French re-occupation. She is a midwife in a fishing village, and later becomes active as communist agent for the Viet Minh in the south. Absolute propaganda that is watchable.

Indochina 1954. Diên Biên Phú (1992, Pierre Schoendoerffer, France)*** depicts the last two months of the First Indochina War from perspectives of French soldiers in Diên Biên Phú, and an American reporter in Hanoi. This is a different kind of war films as it makes audience feel like looking at war from a distance or from works of reporters. Diên Biên Phú never asks question about the origin of war, but more like a beautiful symphony about those lost souls in foreign land - some of them lost in their own land.

May 1954, Indochina. During the last days of the First Indochina War, a French platoon retreats from location at the border of Laos into Cambodia through the jungle. They will find out about Diên Biên Phú and the surrender of France when they reach the destination. The 317th Platoon (1965, Pierre Schoendoerffer, France)*** focuses on survival of the French lieutenants and their Laotian soldiers, from the Viet Minh guerillas who had already planted their influences in Laos and Cambodia. Beautifully shot by Raoul Coutard, this film has the same theme about lost souls as in Diên Biên Phú (1992) by the same director, but much rougher from inside of the war.

The First Indochina War ended with France's defeat in decisive battle at Diên Biên Phú on May 7, 1954, to the Viet Minh led by Võ Nguyên Giáp. An estimated 400,000 to 842,707 soldiers died during the war as well as between 125,000 and 400,000 civilians. Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel into North and South Vietnam until elections, scheduled for 1956, but that never happened. Intervened by USA in 1955, the Second Indochina War (commonly known as the Vietnam War) began in 1955 and lasted until 1975 when the North Vietnamese conquered South Vietnam.

Saigon 1951, Indochina. A British journalist meets an American guy who falls in love with his Vietnamese girl. Meanwhile in the war between the French and the communists, there is a "third force" forming supported by the US. The Quiet American (2002, Phillip Noyce, UK)*** was adapted from Graham Greene's 1955 novel which questions the American involvement in Vietnam in the 1950s, and was praised for its prediction of the outcome of the Vietnam War in 1970s. Very good spy movie that also explores Vietnam through the Vietnamese girl whose life is metaphor for the country surviving wars in 20th century.

A girl arrived in 1951 Saigon, South Vietnam, to work as a servant in a wealthy family. Heavily romanticized the past in very beautiful cinematography, The Scent of Green Papaya (1993, Tran Anh Hung)*** is sensual depiction of bygone era, while curfew is the only evidence of the ongoing wars that could penetrate into this reminisced world. When the traditional Buddhist family faced troubles in 1960s, the girl was sent to work in a Westernized house of a handsome master. Filmed entirely in France, this Cannes' Golden Camera winner quietly presents beauty of the past (green papaya) through turbulent times until it's fully ripe in yellow and ready to bear seeds that will grow up with Vietnamese blood flowing in their veins without a doubt, anywhere in this world. Patriotism in very broad sense.
... Discrimination against Buddhist majority (around 80% of population at that time) in South Vietnam by Catholic president Ngo Dình Diem led to the Buddhist crisis in 1963 that ended when a US-backed coup toppled and assassinated Diem on 2 November 1963. But this internal unrest would go on and weaken the South Vietnamese government amidst the threat from the communist North Vietnam.

The war left 1.9 million Japanese widows who would have to support their families without husbands. With these losses they became the heads of their households. Their responsibility for the financial support of the remaining family members forced them to seek employment wherever they could find it. The American presence provided them that opportunity. By 1947, there were 1.5 million US troops stationed in Japan. The black market and the yakuza also prospered among the ruins.
... Contrasting to honourable male characters and obedient female characters in traditional Japanese films, Pigs and Battleships (1961, Shohei Imamura, Japan)*** follows lives of a low-ranked yakuza and his girlfriend who is about to be sold to an American guy at the time when Japanese people are just like pigs eating scraps thrown out of the battleships (American Occupation Forces). Exaggerated to almost cartoonish, this social satire film perfectly captures situations of poor Japanese people trying to survive with or without dignity during chaotic postwar era where most traditional institutions and values were destroyed.

Kobe 1951, US occupied Japan. A US Air Force Major from Korean War falls in love with a Japanese performer in a modern theatrical troupe resembling cabaret. Sayonara (1957, Joshua Logan, USA)** explores the fates of these American soldiers and Japanese women who face prejudices and racism from US authority and Japan's society. Asian immigration to the United States had always been restricted by US laws based on the belief that Asians were of an inferior race. Even though the law was lifted in 1945, the commanding officers still encouraged soldiers to terminate their relationships and often transferred those soldiers back to the United States leaving their Japanese women and their children behind. The film dramatizes love stories of two interracial couples that end differently. Very mediocre but the ending is nice.

One of the reasons for Japan's rapid recovery from WWII was the outbreak of the Korean War. Because the logistics of shipping from the US became a significant problem for the American forces in Korea, Japan's industry hugely benefited from providing the required munitions and logistics to the US, and quickly recovered from the destruction of the Pacific War.

A new American ambassador arrives in a fictional Southeast Asian country called Sarkhan, where he had a native friend who was a revolutionary hero. Achieved its independence in 1955 (the film doesn't address about its former colonial ruler), Sarkhan becomes constitutional monarchy but is on the brink of civil war between the government and the nationalist. The Ugly American (1963, George Englund, USA)** examines the anti-American movement that can lead to communist insurgency, and then civil war which is a proxy war between two superpowers in the Cold War. While the American ambassador can only see a dichotomy between the US and Communism, he can't accept that anti-American sentiment might be a longing for self-determination and nationalism. Shot mostly in Thailand and sparsely speaking broken Thai language, The Ugly American is quite good though a bit naive about the American involvement in Southeast Asia. The film provides excuses for the Vietnam War at that time, but it was made before the war escalated into disaster in late 1960s.

Deong, I don't approve of dictators any more than you do! But if supporting dictators helps to keep the Free World free, we'll support them... The minute we take our guns and tanks out of here, there will be a vacuum that the Communists will jump into faster than Hitler took Poland!
- The Ugly American

Saigon 1965, a new DJ is assigned to the U.S. Armed Services radio station in Vietnam where he will shake things up while be friend with some Vietnamese people. Filmed entirely in Thailand, Good Morning, Vietnam (1987, Barry Levinson, USA)** captures the transition of the Vietnam War and the US's involvement, from regional conflicts into full-scale war, in bittersweet tone. The film might be too short and too thin for my taste but that Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" scene never fails to impress.

Laos achieved full independence in 1954 following the victory of communist Viet Minh over the French at the Battle of Diên Biên Phú. The communist group called the Pathet Lao led by Prince Souphanouvong, gained popularity in newly-independent Laos worrying the US who believed in the Domino Theory. In 1960, the CIA approached the leader of Hmong minority in Laos forming secret army to push back the communist Pathet Lao. Meanwhile in the Vietnam War, the US tried to disrupt communist supply routes across the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos to Vietnam, by bombing targets in Laos in 1964, from US bases in Thailand.

A German-American pilot on classified mission was shot down in 1966 Laos during the Vietnam War, and was captured by Laotians who was coordinated with Vietcong. Adapted from Herzog's own documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), Rescue Dawn (2006, Werner Herzog, USA)** is told completely from perspectives of the prisoners, and focuses on their escape plan to the border of Thailand but never ever cares to humanize those Laotian characters. In the culture of idolizing heroes while ignoring those they've killed, Rescue Dawn is a good survival film but quite disappointing considering being made in information age, by the one and only Herzog.

Laos 1969, A young pilot from California was recruited into a corrupt CIA-operate airline in Laos during the Vietnam War. Shot mostly in Thailand, Air America (1990, Roger Spottiswoode, USA)* is a lighthearted comedy with too many unconvincing situations, which large part of the film involves a Laotian general who has traded opium with helps from Air America, to finance the war against the communist Pathet Lao.

The secret operation resulted in 260 million bombs being dropped on Laos. By 1975, one-tenth of the population of Laos, or 200,000 civilians and members of the military, were dead. The Laotian Civil War ended in 1975 when the Lao People's Revolutionary Party came to power, ending the monarchy. Laos was then dependent on military and economic aid from the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991.

Through the two Opium Wars in the mid-19th century, Britain and France forced the Qing government to authorize a massive exodus of Chinese labourers to western countries and their colonies, to replace black slaves, created wave of migration of Chinese unskilled labourers, or so-called “Chinese contracted coolies”. The economic prosperity of Southeast Asia after the First World War, combining with hard conditions in China during the civil war (1927-1949) further stimulated Chinese emigrants which majority of them was male from the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. By the early 1940s, over 90% of Chinese emigrants settled in Southeast Asia. Today Thailand (followed by Malaysia) has the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 7-10 million people (10-15% of population). Ethnic Chinese in Thailand are the most assimilated in the region, and it has been argued that Buddhism is a key factor in this process. However, huge influx of Chinese refugees into these Asian countries has drastically changed landscapes of their politics.

By 1911, there were already around 792,000 Chinese immigrants in Siam. Some of them had been involved with illegal activities like gambling or smuggling opium (imported from China), and formed organizations commonly known as Ang Yee. These organized crime groups usually fought among each other in territorial disputes, and would be suppressed by Siamese authorities for several times since 1847.
... Ang Yee: Luuk chaai phan mangkawn ( อั้งยี่ ลูกผู้ชายพันธุ์มังกร, 2000, Nopporn Watin, Thailand)** [watch part one, two] tells story of an innocent guy in 1937 Siam who decides to join an Ang Yee for revenge, and his rival in another gang who will become friend. Together they will challenge a leader of powerful Ang Yee. Set in the last period of Ang Yee era before WWII, the film captures the last breath of these illegal Chinese gangsters as Chinese immigrants started to abandon their hopes to return to China and finally define themselves as Siamese, while China was still in the middle of long civil war with no hope in sight. Co-produced by Thailand and Taiwan, and using actors from both countries(?), Ang Yee is very formulaic gangster drama with nothing complicated or deep.

During 1950s Thailand was under the threat of serial murders of underage kids, mostly girl, by a Chinese immigrant. Hearts and livers were cut out of their bodies implying cannibalism. Based on true story, Si Quey Sae-Ung ( นายซีอุย แซ่อึ้ง, 1991, Banjong Kosallawat, Thailand)** [watch, no subtitles] follows the investigation of police through several murder cases until the arrest of the infamous Si Quey in 1958, whose name has been used to scare kids since. Si Quey (or Ng Lihui) was born in Shantou (ซัวเถา), China in 1927, and later fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War where he allegedly engaged in cannibalism. He emigrated to Thailand in 1946 and started killing in 1954. The murders strengthened anti-Chinese and anti-immigrant sentiment among Thai people during the rise of communism in Southeast Asia. Si Quey Sae-Ung cleverly expands the tale of a serial killer into the experiences of Chinese immigrants from freshly arrived in Thailand, by using several Chinese characters that are also under investigation. These characters' intersections give the story more depth making the film being equally psychological and sociopolitical, though I'm a bit underwhelmed by its straightforward ending. Traumatized by the war and addicted to the taste of human blood, he is portrayed here as victim of Japan's invasion that instead terrorizing postwar Thailand. In the end, Si Quey was a Chinese immigrant who could not fit into Thai society and wanted to return to China but China already became communist and closed its borders since.
... Si Quey's remains were embalmed and put on display at Siriraj Medical Museum in Bangkok. While those murder cases has been later questioned about accuracy as some scholars claimed that Si Quey might only kill one child, the last one which he was arrested, whose heart and liver had been cut out. After a campaign by activists, Si Quey's corpse was removed from display in August 2019, and was cremated in July 2020.

The Communist Party of Malaya was formed in 1930 in Chinese settlement centers of British Malaya. They will fight alongside with the British against the Japanese invasion. But after WWII, the British suppressed the Chinese communists and killed their leaders, leading to communist insurgency known as the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960), where the Chinese communists fought against the British, local Malays and Indians.
... A remote police outpost in 1950 British Malaya was attacked by Communist guerilla force. Based on true historical event, Bukit Kepong (1981, Jins Shamsuddin, Malaysia)* follows a group of Muslim police and their families during the Malayan Emergency. This propagandistic film is told from perspectives of Malay Muslims with Chinese communists as absolute villains who try to conquer the land from the locals. The British almost doesn't exist in the film. Uninteresting propaganda.

Opens with massacres of Japanese soldiers at the end of WWII in 1945 British Malaya, The 7th Dawn (1964, Lewis Gilbert)** [watch] follows relationship between three people after the war: an American engineer, a Chinese communist and a French woman. The American bought rubber plantations and tin mines, the Chinese guy went to study in Moscow, and the woman works as well-intended teacher. They will meet again on the opposite sides of the new conflicts in 1953 during the Malayan Emergency. Another main character is an innocent British girl who falls in love with the American, admires the French and is curious about the mysterious Chinese. Starts promisingly, The 7th Dawn ridiculously ends when the capitalist American helps the innocent British suppressing the communist Chinese, while the Malay Muslims barely exist in the film. Adapted from the book called "The Durian Tree", the American character is actually Australian nationality in the source novel.
... While the Chinese communists in Malaya took up arms to fight for independence, Malay Muslims chose to be on the British side. The British Malaya finally became independent from Britain in 1957 as the Federation of Malaya.

1957: Hati Malaya (2007, Shuhaimi Baba, Malaysia)** [watch] covers from 1945 to 1957, and involves two main historical figures concerning independence of Malaya: Onn Jaafar and Tunku Abdul Rahman. The first half focuses on Onn Jaafar who formed the UMNO party, until his multi-racial ambition is opposed by the Malays (Malayu) who is the majority of British Malaya's population. Onn Jaafar steps down and is succeeded by Tunku Abdul Rahman, a Kedah prince from Siamese mother. The film also takes place in present-day Malaysia with the same set of actors reflecting conflicts in both periods of time. Opens as plain reenactment of historical events, 1957 becomes more interesting when it bravely criticizes the Malayu racist standpoint of Tunku Abdul Rahman who is considered as the father of the country. He opposes to the idea of recognition Malayan Chinese as citizen in the new country, though UMNO would later has to make alliance with the Chinese and other minor parties. The film also demonstrates powers of traditional leaders (nine rajas/sultans), and religious leader who chooses an auspicious day for the declaration of independence. However, this patriotic film has too much political detail and lame metaphors for foreign audience. According to Tunku's racial standpoint, the reconciliation of people of Malaysia in the end feels forced and would be soon exposed.
... Who is the Malayan? Tunku confidently answers in the film 1957 - it's Malayu - only Malayu, implying his desire for Islamic state. By 1963, the controversial Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia would cause racial tensions since it allows for special quotas to be allocated to the Malays, and eventually led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation in 1965.

Ceded to the British by a local Malay prince in 1819 and 1824, Singapore quickly became the premier port of call that connected the China Seas with the Indian Ocean. By the 1830s, the resident Chinese population surpassed the indigenous Malays as the largest group on the island. After WWII, Singapore gained self-governance in 1959 and became part of the new federation of Malaysia in 1963. The 1964 race riots between the Malays and the Chinese in Singapore led to the eventual separation of Singapore from Malaysia on 9 August 1965.
... Begins in 1963 when Singapore joined the federation of Malaysia, 1965 (2015, Randy Ang, Singapore)* covers racial tension between the Chinese and the Malays on the island to Singapore's independence. During 1964 riot, a Chinese policeman failed to help a Malay boy, his family becomes target of the Malays' anger. When the policeman's daughter is missing, everybody assumes it's the Malays who did it. As tension arises, a Chinese family talks about returning to China, and a Malay family discusses about moving to Johor in Malay Peninsula (present-day Malaysia). The final reveal about the missing child doesn't make much sense to me but it will lead to reconciliation between the Chinese and the Malays. Sparingly interrupted by quotes from one-dimensional Lee Kuan Yew character, this propagandistic film ends with Singapore's independence in 1965 and tribute to the late father of the nation, while promoting national unity. However, 1965 is very very slow and frustrating, it tries too hard to squeeze out some melodramatic scenes, including Lee Kuan Yew's, making it very annoying.

When a patriarch died in 1965, the pregnant second wife and her three daughters were kicked out of the house and returned to her rural hometown. Resembling when Singapore was expelled from Malaysia, Long Long Time Ago (2016, Jack Neo, Singapore)** [watch] demonstrates the foundation of the nation through a Chinese family and their Malay friends, and also describe how Singapore transforms itself into a developed country. This cartoonish comedy has one despicable character who always criticizes Singaporean government's policies and disrupts society's peace, he will later learn hard lessons from authorities. His fate clearly makes the film obvious advertisement for the political party that singlehandedly rules the island since its independence to the present day. Fairly entertaining.

Long Long Time Ago 2 (2016, Jack Neo, Singapore)** [watch] covers 1970s and focuses on racial harmony between the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians, as people were encouraged to move in apartments leaving their villages behind. The good-for-nothing uncle is still very annoying, he will face consequences on and on until he is finally tamed enough to fit in this semi-authoritarian society. The film ends with announcement of the advantages of living in apartments which will terminate settlements clustered by races in villages. Very well made, like a good TV movie about the long gone past.

Since the failure of the Great Leap Forward, the agricultural collectivization that caused 15 to 55 million death of civilians, Mao had been losing influences in the CCP. In 1966 Mao launched the Cultural Revolution aiming to purge the “impure” elements of Chinese society and revive the revolutionary spirit, by destroying the "four olds": old thought, old culture, old customs, and old practices.
... Supported by Mao's own personality cult, Mao and the Gang of Four encouraged teenagers to challenge power of authorities in schools, universities and their own families. His political ideas released carnal instincts and turned them into army of furious youths before it became uncontrollable. The Revolution continued until Mao's death in 1976, rapidly followed by the arrest of the Gang of Four. Estimates of the death toll range from 500,000 to 2,000,000. It also left permanent scars on every corners of Chinese society.

Beijing 1924, two boys encountered at an opera training school. Cannes' Golden Palm winner Farewell My Concubine (1992, Chen Kaige, China)**** follows their complicated relationship as they rise and fall through China's troubled times. The film also embodies twisted history of Chinese culture and tradition, and its struggle through regime changes. The Beijing opera was praised by Japanese invaders but was rejected by Communist regime where it became superficially propagandistic art, before totally self-destructed during the Cultural Revolution. In the play, when the kingdom was conquered by foreign army, the Concubine Yu cut her throat with a sword to keep her fidelity to the king, this time to the old tradition that now left as a pile of ash.
... Director Chen Kaige is the son of a filmmaker known for his films about the Peking Opera. During the Cultural Revolution, Chen joined the Red Guards and actually denounced his own father. The father was sentenced to hard labor for several years, and later worked with his son as artistic director of this film.

In similar theme but different approach, To Live (1994, Zhang Yimou, China)**** [watch] tells story of an accidental leader of a traditional puppet troupe and his family during China's political changes. It follows the rise and fall of traditional art and way of life through 1940s Civil War, 1950s Great Leap Forward and 1960s Cultural Revolution. Avoiding directly criticizes authorities, To Live is a bittersweet nostalgic tale about the past, it also begs for forgiveness to those who suffered causing by China's policies, and settling for present generation. The crippled family will live on not perfectly but could be modestly happy in modern day China. Very sad and beautiful story with obvious sympathy for Communist China.

After Mao's death in 1976, China adopted the Four Modernizations (agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology) as goals to reform China from disaster caused by the Cultural Revolution. Followed by Opening-up policy of Deng Xiaoping in 1979, China was finally ready to modernize.

China 1920s, a poor woman was purchased to be a wife of a tyrannical owner of a silk-dyeing business. She later finds out that his nephew falls in love with her, so she decides to seduce him. Together they will plot against the husband. Watching Ju Dou (1990, Zhang Yimou, China)*** again this time, I think I finally understand the metaphor. The film is about an abusive China (feudal China) that was toppled by an abused couple (poor people seduced by the Communists) who will become abusers themselves. Their child will grow up witnessing their domestic violence (Civil War), and ends up to be even more cruel and heartless (the Cultural Revolution). Ju Dou ends as China is destroying itself.

During the Cultural Revolution, as Mao was tired of the chaos caused by the Red Guards he launched a campaign sending 17 million city students for hundreds of miles away to educate rural populace.
... China 1967, two Han Chinese students decided to go to Inner Mongolia. Adapting from hugely popular novel, Wolf Totem (2015, Jean-Jacques Annaud, China)** covers just about one-third of the book involving the self-important Han Chinese student who insists on raising a stolen wolf cub even though the whole community would risk being attacked by the wolf pack. Wolves are enemies of herdsmen but also sacred creatures who eat human corpses and send the souls to god via sky burial, like in Tibet but by wolves. As an old Mongol preaches those non-religious Chinese students about ancient logic of Mongol's worldview with pride of wolf (and Genghis Khan), but looks down on Han agrarian culture as tamed sheep. In the end Mongolia would be drastically destroyed with influx of Chinese migrants/farmers since Chinese authorities want to replace grassland with wheat plantation to serve Chinese increasing population. Relationship between the student and his untamed wolf obviously resembles master-slave relationship of Han Chinese and the Mongolian. Those wolves who survive Chinese massacre eventually migrate across the border to Outer Mongolia. Unfortunately the complicated ending of the book was changed to be kind of a children movie instead. Mediocre film but big disappointment for readers of the book.
... From almost 30 million people of present-day Inner Mongolia, 80% of them are now Han Chinese who started moving to the region since 1950s.

North Vietnam established the Viet Cong on December 20, 1960, to foment insurgency in South Vietnam. Hanoi gave them military training and sent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail. They called for the unification of Vietnam and the overthrow of the American backed South Vietnamese government. The Viet Cong's best-known action was the Tet Offensive, an assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon.

The first part of Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)*** happens in a boot camp, then the main character is transferred as correspondent to Da Nang, South Vietnam, in time for the Tet Offensive in 1968. He goes to cover the war in the ruined city of Hue ( เว้, the capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945), and joins a squad with his friend. Those two parts resonate each other demonstrating how America voluntarily dehumanizes itself as killing machine while dehumanizing Vietnamese as something lesser than human being.
... The Battle of Hue was one of the longest and bloodiest of the war. The Viet Cong occupied most of the city during Tet Offensive. It took one month until the US marine could drive Viet Cong army out of the city.

The story of Dat Kho - Land of Sorrow (1973, Thúc Can Hà, South Vietnam)*** [watch] happens at the same period of time as Full Metal Jacket, but from South Vietnamese side. Made during the war but released 25 years later, the film dramatizes the effect of the Vietnam War on a single South Vietnamese family, which contains both pro-war soldier and anti-war protesters. The lover of one of the daughter even considers joining the communist Viet Cong. Opens with the Battle of Dak To in 1967, the story builds up to Tet New Year in 1968 when North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam, followed by the Battle of Hue. The main character was played by a famous anti-war singer. Dat Kho is quite good especially considering it was made during wartime.
... Hanoi had launched the Tet Offensive in the belief that it would trigger a popular uprising by South Vietnamese people, leading to the collapse of the South Vietnamese government. But the popular uprising anticipated by Hanoi never happened.

Pressed by demonstrations at home, President Richard Nixon began withdrawing American troops from Vietnam in 1969. By late 1972, U.S. combat involvement in Vietnam had been dramatically reduced, and negotiations to end the war were underway between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. When the negotiations were stalled in December, Nixon ordered Operation Linebacker II, a massive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong on 18-29 December 1972, to force Hanoi back to the negotiating table. At least 1,624 civilians were killed.
... Made just after the incident, The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974, Hai Ninh, North Vietnam)** [watch] follows a girl who's looking for her soldier father during 1972 bombing of Hanoi. Unmistakenly reminds me of some Soviet films, this is a decent propaganda film where everyone is so beautiful and every North Vietnamese soldier is so kind.

Some South Vietnamese people joined the Viet Cong to fight against brutality of South Vietnamese national army. Whirlwind Season (1978, Nguyen Hong Sen, Vietnam)** [watch] tells its story from both different sides. A female Viet Cong escapes and hides in a village where villagers are treated badly by South Vietnamese national army. One of the villagers named "Nam" meaning "south" definitely symbolizes South Vietnam that falls into the hand of capitalist dictators and American Imperialism. The female Viet Cong will finally liberate "Nam" in the end. A bit cheesy but still decent propaganda film from interesting point of view.

On 15 January 1973, all U.S. combat activities were suspended, left the South Vietnamese fight on their own. North Vietnam captured Saigon on 30 April 1975, marking the end of the Vietnam War and the collapse of the South Vietnamese state. Around 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, 310,000 Cambodians, 62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U.S. service members were killed in the war. All three former-Indochina countries officially became communist states by 1976.

Liberate Saigon (2005, Long Van, Vietnam)* [watch] plainly shows military operations in 1975 that ends with the fall of Saigon and the American evacuation, and concludes with a thin family reunion subplot. It also paints very bad pictures of South Vietnamese soldiers and American ambassador. However I'm not sure how propaganda films work if they are so boring like this one.

Between heaven and earth are people living lives through the cycle of reincarnation. Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth (1993)*** is about the life of a girl in Central Vietnam which stands between Viet Cong in the north, and US-backed army in the south. Tortured by both government army and Viet Cong, the girl survives and later works as a servant in Saigon during 1960s Buddhist Crisis. This very fast pacing film slows down in the second-half when it focuses on her relationship with an American soldier in Da Nang. They will marry and leave for USA in 1970. Adapted from a memoir and shot mostly in Thailand, the story of Heaven & Earth is very good if you can overlook some flaws and its international cast playing Vietnamese. In the end, the protagonist will come back to the communist Vietnam in 1980s facing the broken country and the broken family she left behind. Worth watching.

Journey From The Fall (2006, Ham Tran, USA)*** begins after the fall of Saigon in 1975 focusing on a South Vietnamese family. The husband who was a former high ranking officer in US-backed South Vietnamese government is sent to several re-education camps. While his wife and his family tries to escape the country by the sea as known as Boat People. A bit forced but good story, the second-half of the film happens in 1980s California, USA. Filmed in Thailand and USA, and never released in Vietnam, Journey From The Fall is like a series of sad songs through the years, following journeys of those who lost the war in separate ways.

The number of boat people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totaled almost 800,000 during 1975 to 1995. Between 200,000 and 400,000 boat people died at sea.

Three years after the liberation of Saigon, a Japanese photographer who is a communist, returns to Vietnam to capture how people changes in the new regime. He will follow a girl and her family through the streets of Danang and face brutal realities of the New Economic Zones forced in former South Vietnam. Shot entirely in China and played by mostly Chinese, Boat People (1982, Ann Hui, Hong Kong)** is actually about what drove Vietnamese under communist rule to become boat people. As Hong Kong was directly affected by Vietnamese refugees, there are many Hong Kong films made about Vietnam, this film is the last film in Ann Hui's Vietnamese trilogy. Kind of white-savior narrative but with Japanese, Boat People is a well-made film but doesn't feel like Vietnam - one of the reason is unfortunately the outstanding presence of Andy Lau in the second film of his career.

Kingdom of Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953 under the reign of King Norodom Sihanouk, and was pulled into the Vietnam War in 1965 via the Ho Chi Minh and Sihanouk trails managed by the Viet Cong, while the US started bombing Cambodia in 1969. After the US-supported coup by General Lon Nol in 1970, the new government abolished the monarchy, and demanded the Viet Cong to leave the country. Thousands of Vietnamese were massacred by forces of Lon Nol. Instead the Viet Cong decided to support the Cambodian communists which would grow into the Khmer Rouge. By 1975 the Khmer Rouge officially controlled the country carried out the Cambodian genocide from 1975 until 1979, under the totalitarian dictatorship of Pol Pot.
... Cambodia 1973, a US journalist arrived in Phnom Penh at the beginning of the rise of the communist. Shot mostly in Thailand, The Killing Fields (1984, Roland Joffé, UK)*** focuses on the struggles of the American and his Cambodian assistant under the Khmer Rouge regime. The film ends when Vietnam invaded Kampuchea/Cambodia and toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Still decent straightforward story with no metaphor or any symbol, though John Lennon's "Imagine" is too cringey for me as it reduces and westernizes Asian history into an overused pop song. However, the director once pointed out that The Killing Fields isn't a war film but a love story between two guys: an American and an exiled Cambodian in America - hardly about local Cambodians.

Recruited extremely young, poor, and envious cadres, the Khmer Rouge used them to physically destroy the cultural underpinnings of the Khmer civilization and to impose a new society through purges, executions, and violence. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had long been supported by China and Mao Zedong, its policies were obviously influenced by the Cultural Revolution and the Red Guards. The Khmer Rouge wanted to turn the country into an agrarian socialist republic by forcing Cambodians including monks to relocate to labor camps in the countryside, where mass executions, forced labor, physical abuse, malnutrition, and disease would kill approximately 1 to 3 million civilians (about a quarter of the population).
... Netflix's First They Killed My Father (2017, Angelina Jolie)*** [Netflix Thailand] begins with the evacuation of the Americans from Cambodia in 1975 as the Khmer Rouge was approaching the capital. A former Lon Nol government officer and his middle-class family were forced to move to the countryside, where anti-American sentiment had already made people there favoring the Khmer Rouge revolution to get rid of classes, private properties and Western imperialism. Beautifully shot from low angle to imitate the perspective of the little girl in the family, the film is like nostalgic memory of the girl in labor camps while exploring the end of innocence and the transformation of the girl into a child soldier during the war against Vietnam. Very well made and very informative from inside of the Khmer Rouge, this film might still be the best narrative film about life during that era, though sometimes the cinematography feels too pretty for the circumstances but could be acceptable as part of childhood memories.

In November 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in response to border raids by the Khmer Rouge, and conquered it in 1979. The People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) was established under Vietnamese control, while the Khmer Rouge retreated to the border of Thailand and became an Insurgent group. On the other hand, China invaded Vietnam on 17 February 1979, aiming to force Vietnam to withdraw from Cambodia who was China's ally.

Vietnam 1978. Refusing to accept her husband's death in a war against the invasion of the Khmer Rouge, the wife asks a teacher to forge a letter from her husband to his father. The teacher will slowly fall in love with the widow, his love for her will become a scandal in the community, as Vietnam prepares to invade Cambodia. When the Tenth Month Comes (1984, Dang Nhat Minh, Vietnam)** is pretty good patriotic film about those who were left behind at home and had to face with the casualties of war. The film has some supernatural element involving the living and the dead, and contains a very beautiful Vietnamese traditional opera scene.

China 1979, a dandy from Beijing was temporarily transferred to a Red Army company in Yunnan and expected to return to Beijing in a few month, but the Sino-Vietnamese War abruptly starts. Garlands at the Foot of the Mountain (1984)** [watch] is decent film about the transformation of the good-for-nothing guy into a good soldier, but the best part might be about the aftermath of the war in the end. However, the film unashamedly changes the cause of the war to legitimize the invasion of Vietnam (mainly for Chinese people), from the Cambodian cause to border dispute between China and Vietnam who is presented here as ungrateful country which China had been supported through troubled times.
... The war ended in just one month since China could not proceed further into Vietnam and had to retreat. Vietnamese troops would stay in Cambodia for another 10 years until 1989 amid economic sanctions from international community. By 1993, the Cambodian monarchy was restored with Norodom Sihanouk reinstated as King, and the first post-war election was coordinated by UNTAC.

During WWII, the anti-British movement in Burma led by Aung San joined the Japanese to fight the British, but later united with the communists to fight against Japan. After WWII, Aung San began negotiations for Burmese independence with the British but was assassinated in 1947. Burma became a fully independent republic in 1948. However, by 1962, Ne Win carried out a coup d'état, ousted the parliamentary government and replaced it with a military junta that has controlled the country to the present day.

Opens in 1947 with the assassination of Aung San, The Lady (2011, Luc Besson)*** skips to 1988 when Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma to visit her mother during the student demonstrations and the massacre in Rangoon/Yangon. She became a symbol of resistance and led the NLD Party to win election in 1990, but the results of that election were ignored by the military junta. The film also shows the role of her British husband in lobbying for her Noble Prize in 1991, which combines with China's influences over Burma's military leaders, helped ending her house arrest, temporarily. Filmed mostly in Thailand, The Lady is a nice biopic that is not very political since it equally focuses on relationship with her distant family.
... To make it more interesting, if I treat these real people and situation as a fictional tale and turn it into a metaphor, it will be like this: the Western-educated Burma married to the old and dying British who had abused and taken advantages of her in the colonial past, now encourages her to take over the country in order to modernize and democratize it. The (importance and influences of the) British will eventually die out as he was accompanied by his Asian student named Karma, leaving Burma facing her own destiny alone. No offense.

A psychologically-broken American woman traveled to Burma in a tourist group but was left stranded on her own during 1988 demonstrations which later known as the 8888 Uprising that ended with 3000-10000 death. Her recklessness and typical American ignorance in foreign country will cause her troubles with the authorities (SLORC). Filmed mostly in Malaysia, Beyond Rangoon (1995, John Boorman)** follows the woman with a local tour guide who was once a professor of English at Rangoon University, through the jungles of Burma while trying to reach Thailand's border with help from the Karen guerilla army, one of ethnic groups fighting with the Burmese government. I expected the film to be a disaster but it's actually quite watchable if you can stand this self-centered American woman.

During negotiations for Burmese independence from the British in 1947, Aung San succeeded in concluding an agreement with ethnic minorities at the Panglong Conference, promising them full autonomy in a unified Burma. But after his assassination, the post-independence government under U Nu rejected the Panglong Agreement leading to the ethnic insurgencies that have been ongoing in Burma since 1948, between the Bamar ethnic majority and the country's many ethnic minorities. In this regards, the independence of Burma has locked several ethnic groups who once were independent kingdoms before the arrival of the British, in the same fragile state from the beginning.

An Austrian girl falls in love with a Burmese guy while studying in the US. After the wedding, they move to Burma in 1954 where she discovers that her husband is actually one of the ruling princes of the Shan State of Burma, which contains majority Tai ethnic people among several ethnic groups. Base on the true story of Inge Sargent, Twilight Over Burma ( สิ้นแสงฉาน, 2015, Sabine Derflinger, Austria)* [watch] follows the couple through the troubled time during ethnic insurgency against the Union of Burma, while the westernized prince tries to reform his princely state. By 1962, General Ne Win uses the ethnic unrest throughout Burma as an excuse for the coup. The Shan prince has been disappeared since. Unfortunately, this is a very superficial approach on both people and politics making the interesting story feels bland and clichéd.

A young Thai police lieutenant is voluntarily transferred to a police station near Salween River along the Thailand-Myanmar border. Infested with crime, the province is under control of a wealthy Thai merchant in timber business with an ethnic Karen colonel who is constantly fighting Myanmar's authorities for Karen independence since 1947. Exclusively shot in Karen territory in Myanmar in some parts, Salween ( มือปืน 2 สาละวิน ,1993, Chatrichalerm Yukol, Thailand)*** [watch, no subtitles] is one of the better films by this prominent Thai director, though sometimes feels a bit dated in Thai soap opera style, it's still very interesting and complicated in large scale conflicts. That bombing scene in Salween River clearly reminds me of Good Morning, Vietnam's What a Wonderful World and also is equally effective. The film apparently sympathizes the Karen insurgent group, while the real villain is the Thai merchant who takes advantages from the unrest in neighboring country. A rare Thai film involving international conflicts.

In April 1974, a leftwing military coup in Lisbon, Portugal, known as the Carnation Revolution, resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and the end of the Portuguese Colonial War by abandoning Mozambique, Angola and Portuguese Timor (the eastern half of the island of Timor). After 460 years as Portuguese colony, East Timor immediately faced civil war between two political parties in 1975 until the leftwing party Fretilin declared independence of East Timor in November. Fearing a communist state within the Indonesian archipelago, Indonesia who occupied the western half of the island, invaded East Timor in December and annexed it in 1976, caused approximately 100,000–180,000 death.

An Australian journalist arrived in 1975 East Timor to look for other five young Australian journalists who have been disappeared in Balibo three weeks ago. Based on true story, Balibo (2009, Robert Connolly, Australia)** shows brutality of Indonesian army on East Timor people through the eyes of Australians. The protagonist tells a Timorese in one scene that reporting fate of these Australians is more important than reporting the invasion because these white Australians would make the (Western) world pays attention to the fate of East Timor. Balibo succeeds as a gripping thriller about Australians in foreign land but fails to represent the land and the people on it. Barely covers the culture or identity of this Christian majority country, audience would find it hard to distinguish East Timorese from Indonesians or any other Southeast Asians. Moreover, the message of this film seems rather ambiguous since Australia was the first and the only country that officially recognize Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in 1978. The Timorese character who accompanies the protagonist in the journey is the young Jose Ramos-Horta, played by Oscar Isaac, who would later receive Nobel Peace prize in 1999 and became president of Timor-Leste in 2007 and in 2022.

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis beginning in Thailand, caused upheaval in Indonesia and led to Suharto's resignation in May 1998. The political and economic reforms resulted in a debate about East Timor. On 30 August 1999 the UN oversaw an historic ballot, in which 78.5% of this Catholic country's voters rejected autonomy within Islamic Indonesia, in favour of independence. But Indonesian-backed militia groups responded by killing over 2,600 people. On 20 September 1999 an Australian-led international peacekeeping force arrived to restore order. Timor-Leste became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century in 2002.

During the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975, a mother and her daughter Beatriz took refuge in a territory of the resistance (Falintil). The first ever feature film from Timor-Leste, Beatriz's War (2013, Luigi Acquisto, Bety Reis, Timor-Leste)*** [watch] follows life of Beatriz who survives the attack of Indonesian army that killed her mother. She later surrenders to the Indonesians and stays in a village organized by the military with her husband. The film turns into a beautiful mourning by widows of East Timor at the end of first half, and then skips to fifteen years later in 1999 when East Timor votes for independence, her husband returns from the jungle but Beatriz can't recognize him. Though the war is over, Beatriz's war has not done yet. In contrast to Balibo, the film demonstrates the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia from perspective of East Timorese, and also openly criticizes the role of Australia. There are so many things going on in Beatriz's War like a good short novel that concludes with repentance, redemption and reconciliation in this newly born country. Very beautiful story.

Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 1980s created new economy that increased inequality, inflation and corruption leading to several demonstrations of workers, while educated younger generation called for greater accountability and more freedom of speech. In 1989, a student-led hunger strike in Beijing spread to other 400 cities. Chinese authority declared martial law and used military force to clear the Tiananmen Square resulting in several hundred to several thousand deaths.
... However, some scholars point out that this massacre might be misled by Western media to endorse democracy-seeking protest since actually the military force was sent there to suppress the workers' rebellion around the square where hundreds of workers were killed.

A girl from rural China gets into Beijing University in 1988. She leaves her boyfriend behind, starts complicated love affair with a Beijing student and joins a demonstration at the Tiananmen Square. When her rural boyfriend comes to visit her in Beijing, the demonstration turns violent. Summer Palace (2006, Lou Ye, China)*** skips the massacre scene and quickly moves to its second half when every main characters go on their separate paths. Banned in China and the director was barred from making movies for five years, the film explores the effect of the massacre that turns these young students into a miserable generation without purpose in life while China grows richer with pseudo-capitalist economic system, but the memory of that summer in the university, love, sex and the massacre, will still haunt them to the present day. Interesting approach to controversial topics. The film's title might refer to the massacre as a symbol of China's "national wound" in this generation.

The British acquired Hong Kong from Qing China as a result of the First Opium War in 1842, and expand the colony to the Kowloon Peninsula in the Second Opium War in 1860. After China's shameful defeat to Japan in 1895, colonial powers hurriedly forced Qing Emperor to lease its territories to them. This would be known later as the Scramble for China, which happened in the same period as the Scramble for Africa. The British formally took possession of the New Territories on 16 April 1899. By 1985 in the Joint Declaration with the British, China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997. Hong Kong became a special administrative region (SAR) until at least 2047.
... A homosexual couple from British Hong Kong travel to Argentina and stuck there unable to return, while their on-and-off relationship gets worse. Beautifully romanticizing uncommunicated relationship and unexpressive feeling as usual, Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together (1997)*** portrays their toxic relationship quite realistic comparing to his other films. These characters travel to the other side of the earth running from their fatherland and yearning to belong to someone or somewhere. Happy Together is a love letter to Hong Kong from Hongkongers in the time when the island would soon be transferred from the British back to China with unforeseeable future. In the end, the protagonist still optimistically expects to reconnect and apologize to his father when he's back in Hong Kong. However, there's also someone who's too scared to return (to Chinese Hong Kong). The film's English title could be both irony and a wish.

Muslim communities had been settled in Buddhist-dominated Rakhine State (formerly known as Arakan), westernmost of Myanmar, long before the arrival of the British. When Arakan became part of British India (1826-1948) there were influx of Muslims from Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) since there was no border. During WWII in Burma, the Arakan Muslims, known as the Rohingyas, who were allied with the British and promised a Muslim state in return, fought against local Rakhine Buddhists, who were allied with the Japanese. After Burma became independent in 1948, the newly formed union government denied citizenship to the Rohingyas.
... Barbet Schroeder's documentary The Venerable W. (2017)*** focuses on the extremist Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar. His sermons led to Buddhist monks' riot in 2003 in Kyaukse where 11 killed and 2 mosques burnt down. The military government later arrested him and put him in jail. When Wirathu was freed in 2012, his 969 campaign to boycott Muslim businesses became national sensation, as they had spread the idea that the Rohingyas (they were called Bengalis as immigrants, not Myanmar citizens) were the enemies of the nation. Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state started to fight back and burned 8 villages of the Buddhists, then the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by Rohingya Muslims made situation worse to the point of no return. This documentary brilliantly uses stock footage to depict when the situation escalated into ethnic cleansing throughout the Rakhine state, and later religious discrimination throughout the country. This is arguably part of Islamophobia wave after 9/11 attack in 2001.

When Aung San Suu Kyi ascended to the office of state counsellor in 2016, she was criticized for Myanmar's inaction in response to the genocide of the Rohingya people in Rakhine State. Luc Besson even stated that he regretted making The Lady (2011). On the other hand, Wirathu condemned her and called her "a prostitute sucking up to foreign interests". Suu Kyi was later arrested and deposed by 2021 coup d'état, while more than 900,000 Rohingyas are now living in the world's largest refugee settlement in southeast Bangladesh, with no sign of a return.

Siam was an ally of the British against Burma in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26). By the Burney Treaty of 1826, the British accepted Siamese influence over the five northern Malay states/sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Terengganu and Patani, while the treaty guaranteed British possession of Penang. As Siam losing its influences on Cambodia in 1863 and Laos in 1899 to France, the British forced Siam into a new treaty in 1909 transferring four of the five Malay states to British control (present-day Malaysia), with only Pattani (Patani) remaining under Siamese rule.
... Siam deposed the last raja of Pattani in 1902. But not until after WWII in 1948 when a separatist movement of this Muslim-majority region started. A resurgence in violence by Pattani guerrilla groups began after 2001 by ambushing outposts, slashing Buddhist monks, bombing temples, beheadings, and killing teachers. Those terrorizers proclaim militant jihadism and are not just separatism anymore. Since its reigniting in 2004, the ongoing conflict in Southern Thailand has claimed more than 7,000 lives and injured more than 13,500 people, while the identity of the current insurgent groups still remained a mystery.

Opens with a terrorist bombing, OK baytong (2003, Nonzee Nimibutr, Thailand)** [Netflix Thailand] follows a Buddhist monk on a journey to the funeral of his older sister who is a victim of the bomb, in a town near the Malaysian border. He decides to leave the monkhood to take care of his sister's daughter who is half-Thai (Buddhist) half-Malayu (Muslim). The ex-monk has to learn how to live like a normal people surrounded by worldly desire after inherits his sister's beauty salon and falls in love with a woman whose boyfriend might involve with the terrorism. Told totally from Thai Buddhist perspective and made before the pivotal ambush in 2004, the film promotes multicultural unity but avoids going deep into complicated issue by just scratching the surface with the Muslim boyfriend character. Charming film but lacking substance. Thailand is still seriously short of films from Muslim perspective.

After the fall of Qing dynasty in 1911, Uyghurs in Xinjiang staged several uprisings against Kuomintang's Republic of China, and briefly established an independent government before it was crushed in 1937 with 50,000 to 100,000 deaths of Uyghurs. By 1944, the Soviets supported the second republic of Uyghurs, but was suppressed in 1949 and merged into the Communist China who sponsored mass migration of Han Chinese into Xinjiang during 1950s-1970s, promoted Chinese cultural unity and punished certain expressions of Uyghur identity, leading to tension with Uyghur separatists and terrorist attacks.
... A First Farewell (2018, Lina Wang, China)** [watch] depicts everyday lives of an Uyghur Muslim boy, his family and his friends in Xinjiang, China, while subtly shows how their lives are affected by Chinese influences. In one scene a couple argues about their kids being not good on Mandarin exams, and the wife wants to send them to Mandarin-only school. Beautifully made, the film is definitely about loss, a few first ones in those kids lives. They will keep losing something on and on in the future as Xinjiang continues forcibly assimilated by China. The old poplar tree where the kids play is clearly a metaphor for Uyghur roots, A First Farewell shows the disappearing of Uyghur culture and identity, and ends with a sad nostalgic song that doesn't feel hopeful at all.
... Since 2014, the Chinese government has been accused of forced sterilization and forced labor of Uyghurs living in Xinjiang. Scholars estimate that at least one million Uyghurs have been detained in the Xinjiang internment camps since 2017.

The spread of Islam in Southeast Asia was arguably accelerated by the arrival of Zheng He (เจิ้งเหอ) , a Muslim Chinese admiral during Ming dynasty who led a fleet of 317 ships from 1405-1433 to Africa, intending to establish imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, and extending the empire's tributary system. This Chinese expedition intervened in the politics of the southern seas by supporting Thais against the declining Khmer Empire, and supported the establishment of Sultanate of Malacca as a rival to the Majapahit Empire in Java. By 1478, the rising Demak Sultanate started attacking the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit which would finally be conquered by Demak in 1527. A large number of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royalty moved east to the island of Bali, ended the last Hindu kingdom on Java. Meanwhile Demak would be succeeded by Pajang and later Mataram Sultanate which was the most powerful Islamic kingdom in Java.
... Opera Jawa (2006, Garin Nugroho, Indonesia)** is an adaptation of Ramayana (Sanskrit epic from ancient India) with traditional and modern dance in contemporary Indonesia. The Rama character first appears in the film attending a real ceremony in the royal court of Yogyakarta on the island of Java. As an avatar of god Vishnu, Rama falls in love with Sinta (Sita) who was born from the earth. They would later be banished from their homeland. While terrorizing the universe, Ravana abducts Sinta and intends to marry her (= Dutch colonial era). By the way, the ending of Opera Jawa is quite a shock if you expected a straightforward ending from Ramayana, like me. I guess in this film, Rama in the last part is a metaphor for post-independent Indonesia that became authoritarian regime and turned against its love/land/roots. Interesting concept but very slow and sleepy to watch, until the last 30 minutes.

By 1950s after Indonesian independence, Bali faced conflict between supporters of the traditional Balinese caste system and those rejecting these traditional values led by the Communist Party (PKI). Indonesian army supported by Balinese began purging the communists (including Chinese immigrants) in 1965 ended with 80,000 deaths, roughly 5% of the island's population at the time.
... Briefly mentions the massacre, Under The Tree (2008, Garin Nugroho, Indonesia)** involves three women on the island of Bali concerning motherhood. One woman travels from Jakarta to Bali in search of her biological mother with help from a spiritual medium. One Balinese mother is pregnant with a fetus without brain. And a young woman whose mother died, travels to the island desperately looking for a man she can fall in love with. Though the film is obviously about returning to the roots and searching for the meaning of life, the message in the end is a bit vague and weak.

++++++++

During 15th century, the threat from the surviving Mongols from the north who planned to re-invade China forced Ming dynasty to shift its priorities inwards by abandoning annual expeditions started by Zheng He, and expanding the Great Wall of China, resulted in the decline of the Ming navy which allowed the growth of piracy along China's coasts especially from Japanese pirates (wokou). Instead of mounting a counterattack, Ming authorities chose to shut down coastal facilities intending to starve the pirates out, while all foreign trade was restricted to just formal tribute missions in tributary system. This isolationist policy was arguably based on arrogant perception that China was the centre of the world with cultural supremacy. In the meantime, China started losing its momentum, while Europe just came out of the Middle Ages and was entering the Renaissance period.

Some other films I watched recently:

Red Dust (1932, Victor Fleming, USA)**
The Spiral Road (1962, Robert Mulligan, USA)*
M*A*S*H (1970, Robert Altman, USA)**
Pursuit of Death (1980, Im Kwon-taek, South Korea)** [watch]
A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1985, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan)*** [watch] [analysis]
The Horse Thief (1986, Tian Zhuangzhuang, China)**
Platoon (1986, Oliver Stone, USA)***
Empire of the Sun (1987, Steven Spielberg, USA)**
Close to Eden (1991, Nikita Mikhalkov, Soviet Union)**
Fong Sai-Yuk (1993, Corey Yuen, Hong Kong)**
Sopyonje (1993, Im Kwon-taek, South Korea)** [watch]
In the Heat of the Sun (1994, Jiang Wen, China)**
Red Persimmon (1996, Wang Toon, Taiwan)**
Devils on the Doorstep (2000, Jiang Wen, China)**
The Twilight Samurai (2002, Yôji Yamada, Japan)***
The Sleeping Dictionary (2003, Guy Jenkin, UK)*
The Buffalo Boy (2004, Minh Nguyen-Vo, Vietnam)** [watch]
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005, Rob Marshall, USA)**
Lust, Caution (2007, Ang Lee)**
Assembly (2007, Feng Xiaogang, China)**
Youth (2017, Feng Xiaogang, China)**

++++++++

Read Further:
Colonialism in Asia (1): Arabia to India
Colonialism in Africa
Colonialism in Americas
20th Century Russia

P.S. Kung-fu movie is more realistic kind of martial arts film whose story usually happens from 17th century to the present day. The word kung fu was derived from Zhen Gongfu meaning 'real skill'. Wuxia genre on the other hand has some supernatural elements whose story usually takes place from 15th century back to ancient times (excluding some fantasy movie set in present day). In this regards, I guess the presence of Western science and technologies from 16th century onward had forced kung-fu genre to be more realistic than fantasy style in wuxia.

P.S.2 Majority of Chinese people are Han Chinese, the name was derived from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.) that united China as one country. Beijing mean the "Northern Capital" in Ming dynasty, and Nanjing means the "Southern Capital", sometimes Beijing was called Beiping meaning "Northern Peace". Peking used by English, might be derived from Southern Chinese dialects where Europeans first contacted with China.

P.S.3 Japan had been known to westerners as "Mikado" until late 19th century. In Japanese, Mikado means "the gate of the imperial palace", the word was used for describing the emperor (tenno) as people dared not to use the word tenno directly. However Japanese people called themselves and their land "Yamato" which some researchers thought meaning "a gate of mountains". In Heian period (794-1185) Yamato was gradually replaced by Nippon/Nihon, literally meaning “the sun's origin”, and often translated as the Land of the Rising Sun. The name "Japan" is believed to have originated from the Chinese pronunciation of Nippon during the Tang Dynasty in China.

P.S.4 After defeated Dai Viet (Great Viet) in 1802, Emperor Gia Long established the Nguyen dynasty. He asked the Jiaqing Emperor of Qing China to confer on him the title King of Nam Viet (South Viet) after seizing power in Annam. The Emperor refused because the name was related to Zhao Tuo's Nanyue, which included the regions of Guangxi and Guangdong in southern China. The Qing Emperor, therefore, decided to call the area "Viet Nam" instead.

P.S.5 In the Burmese language, Myanmar has been known as Myanma (or, more precisely, Mranma Prañ) since the 13th century. The country was officially named Burma under the British rule to honour the Bamar people which are the largest ethnic group, accounting for 60% of the country's population. In 1989 the country's official English name was changed from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar.

Posted: April 2024

<<< II