Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

ritu_ruch To live is one of the most heart wrenching,soul stirring film i have ever seen.Its got great acting,great cinematography,dialogues,music and direction which makes it a real gem of world cinema.Even the subtitles didn't look like a difficult task to read considering how brilliant,sad yet uplifting the film was.Its hard to believe that the main protagonist endured and suffered so much pain in the film yet had the heart and strength to carry on with their lives with a smile on their face.A brave film about a family who choose to live under every possible bad circumstance.I am proud i watched this Chinese film being an Indian.Go for it even if you don't know Chinese because this film deserves more recognition world wide.

Champcai Every life is bound to be born and last in a certain period. This film tells a story of a husband（Fugui) and a wife(Jiazhen) and how how they manage to live through China's tumultuous periods.The time line of the story is quite long. It starts from China's civil war to the Emancipation of China and then to the times of great leap forward and finally to the cultural revolution till its end. As for the characters, the status of Fugui and Jiazhen also changes from landlord to peasant.Due to the habit of gambling, Fugui lost all fortunes of the family, which accidentally saves his family as, with the communist party coming into power, they become peasants and avoid the fate of being killed. Later on, their son dies of an accident when melting irons in the times of great leap forward when all metals of every family are collected to produce irons. Their daughter dies of hemorrhoid when delivering her baby during cultural revolution when all the doctors and professionals are criticized and replaced by Red Guards who are not equipped with sufficient medical knowledge.To a large extent, the fate of Fugui's family is beyond the control of themselves. As opposed to an era, one person's life is like a grain of corn in the wild sea. However, no matter how harsh the living environment is, they make efforts to live because only when alive, one can feel hope.As the old sayings goes, it is better to live indecently than to die decently. In one word, what the common people need fundamentally is to live.

Ersbel Oraph While the story might not vibrate with some, this is the entry point in adulthood for this particular director. Starting with his big screen debut he has struggled to reach a voice, a certain signature every important director has in order to have his work recognizable. From a first movie presented as a collage of different famous works and styles he finally reaches the ability to control the composition of a scene or master the use of light to bring a certain depth to a flat screen, thus opening the way for his future works. Too bad that he shows a turn to the commercial side of the cinematography in his last works. But for this one: Well done!Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

Emil Bakkum Every person interprets films in his own way, and for me To Live is about economic growth. Before elaborating on this statement, I would like to acknowledge that another visitor of IMDb recommended this film to me, in response to my inquiries. So the message board actually works. You see, economic growth always comes at a price. This is especially clear from the film scene, where the peasants melt down their pans in order to provide steel for the construction of factories (or, less productive, for cannon balls). In fact, the hardship of the Chinese couple is not worse than the life of the Joads family in The Grapes of Wrath. Remember that in Oklahoma and California the Joads family became the victim of agricultural rationalizations. Nor is Chinese family worse off than the Flemish peasant in Het Gezin van Paemel. It reminds us to keep an open mind, when looking at films like To live. The interesting part is its portrayal of Chinese history and of course its Chinese origin. Apparently, Chinese film makers have a reasonable freedom of expression. As a cinematic product, it is less impressive: an ordinary story, plain dialogs, scanty acting. But we are fascinated by this enormous country, of which we know so little. In addition we realize our own dismal past, contemplating the imperialist attacks on China of a century ago. In 1900 all western powers contributed to the cruel eradication of the nationalist Boxer uprise. The film starts with the victory of Mao's army around 1948, which was probably a positive development. Note however that it was a peasants revolution and not a socialist one. Being a democratic socialist, I would like to point out, that socialist arrangements are only possible in a fully developed state. For the collective arrangements in socialism require a high degree of civilization and democracy. Unfortunately in his later years Mao began to experiment. First, from 1958 to 1962 he tried to implement a fully decentralized economy during the so-called Great Leap Forward. Interestingly, by that time the American government had prohibited its citizens to enter China (a kind of Chinese Wall). Then in 1966-1969 Mao tried to change the social habits in the Cultural revolution. One of the aims was a high level of equality and the integration of the intellectual class into the peasant class. As an ideology it has its merits, and in fact some of the offsprings in the west still have an exemplary value. On the other hand, in the primitive Chinese society it was inefficient, a waste of talent and an invitation to brutality. It is said that in those years three million people were murdered. I assume that this was not what Mao and his staff had in mind. In 1976 (the year of Mao's decease) Joris Ivens made several interesting documentaries on collective managements, for instance of a pharmacist (La pharmacie No.3: Shanghai) and of a school (Une histoire de ballon). Nevertheless, during the reign of Mao the social indicators were continuously rising, and (considering the poverty) the health insurance and education were excellent. Whereas in 1950 the average life expectancy was 34 years, in 1990 it had risen to 70 (!) years. On the aspect of economic growth, but also on many social issues the collective China has outperformed the more capitalist India. Note also the fundamental quality, that the Maoist system is able to reform itself from within. It is clear that the rule of the Maoist party has had its merits, and these must be considered in the evaluation of the story line in To Live. I guess we have the right to criticize the Maoist policy with respect to human rights. However, it seems out of place to claim a moral superiority. It is certainly obvious, that in a comparison of the contemporary living conditions in China the results of the deep involvement of the western countries in both Africa and South-America looks relatively poor.