El último emperador

Best movie about the East I've ever seen.

The credo of many famous western movies (from "Die Hard" to "Truman show") is a lonely hero who challenges fate or numerous "bad guys". He usually wins on the screen. Unfortunately, it rarely happens in real life. Especially, on the East.

Six years ago I thought about this movie as a metaphor of "history-person" relations. Past and present of my birthplace (Russia) is exceptionally rich with biographies of worthy people that have become puppets in the hands of history or some dictator (e.g.Stalin).

Now a "parallel" interpretation arose. We can think also about "fate-person" relations. Our fate is often personalized by the forces of subconscious. Historical and subconscious forces have much in common. Both are very strong and tend to provocation. An attempt to beat them often comes to end in the same way as the attempt of Pu Yi to "use Japan". In both cases, information that we have in our struggle is extremely restricted.

The last remark. We had all been Emperors in early childhood. Then we've been overthrown and it's impossible to return the Kingdom. I wonder, why the Scotland tutor haven't told it to Pu Yi?