Sparkling Red Star

Sparkling Red Star is a 1974 Chinese film and one of the very few films produced in China during the Cultural Revolution.[1] Co-directed by Li Jun and Li Ang, the film is a mix between a war film, a children's film and a musical. Today, given the heavy-handed political message and state control of the Sparkling Red Star's story and production, it is generally considered a propaganda film.[2] The film was remade in 2007 as an animated tale.

Sparkling Red Star
Traditional閃閃的紅星
Simplified闪闪的红星
MandarinShănshăn de hóngxīng
Directed byLi Jun
Li Ang
Written byLi Xintian
StarringZhu Xinyun
Gao Baocheng
Liu Jiang
Liu Jizhong
Production
company
Release date
  • 1974 (1974)
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin

Plot

The film tells the story of Pan Dongzi, a teenager and son of a Communist army officer. When the father is called off, he leaves Dongzi a red star as a symbol of the cause. While he is away, a bourgeois landlord, Hu Hansan, returns to Dongzi's village where he exacts revenge upon the peasants who had forced him out. In the process, Dongzi's mother is burned to death in their home.

Hardened by his mother's death, Dongzi joins a band of guerrilla fighters and eventually kills his former landlord. When his father finally returns, Dongzi joins him as the Red Army's newest recruit in the fight against the Japanese during Second Sino-Japanese War.

Notes

  1. Zhang & Xiao, p. 314.
  2. Zhang & Xiao, p. 119.

References

  • Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei. Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. Taylor & Francis (1998). ISBN 0-415-15168-6.


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