Movie Review- Mao's Last Dancer

     This movie was made in 2009 and it was based on a true story. The main characters are Li cunxin, Mary, Ben Stevenson, Elizabeth, Charles Foster and his inspiring teachers. It is about a poor Chinese kid in Qing Dao that gets picked for auditions for the Beijing Dance Academy and later goes to the USA to perform ballet. 

     In the movie, he is very determined to make a better life for his family. He transfers to Houston, Texas because he is recognized for his determination and strong will and therefore he becomes a successful male ballet dancer and he is able to achieve his dreams in the USA. This story is similar as the 'frog in a well' story because Li CunXin, the main character, gets out of his poor hometown, Qing Dao, and gets to see and explore the rest of the world. He, as a poor kid, didn't know what was outside of his small, poor village. Also, like the frog, he had to fight his way to get to the top and explore the world.

 

     Anyways, continuing with the summary, Li CunXin became a big star in America, but after his three month contract ended, he didn't want to go back to China just yet. As the Chinese government respected marriage laws, he married his girlfriend at the time, Elizabeth but then he was banned from ever entering China again. He was banned because he caused a lot of trouble for the Chinese Government. 

     There are a lot of good things about staying in America but there are also some bad things as well. First of all, he gets to stay with his friends and girlfriend, who has become his second family. He's made a lot of friends in America and he doesn't want to part from them. He can also keep learning and performing real ballet and not the type of ballet that the Chinese people teach. The Chinese Government is all about communism, guns, wars so Li CunXin can't really learn real ballet in China but here he can keep pursuing his ballet dream. On the other hand, his revolutionary dream of being a strong Chinese communist supporter will be crushed because he will be seen as a traitor and he is banned from China. From young, he was a strong supporter of communism and he has always had Chinese spirit and respected Mao Ze Dong a lot. Secondly, he is banned from ever returning to China therefore he won't be able to see his beloved family. He has 6 brothers who all celebrated his acceptance into the academy and his mother and father were very supportive of him. He was very worried about the trouble that he caused for his family and he had a lot of nightmares of what the Chinese Government would do to his family because of him. 

     Li had a very inspiring teacher that helped him realize and achieve his dream. I don't really have a teacher that inspires me but I do have inspiring parents, a lot of people talk about how their parents inspire them but I really respect and admire my parents. My mom, she's a housewife, she stays at home, helps us whenever I need it, whether I just want to talk to her or whether I just need something. My dad works very hard to support our family and he comes home late a lot and goes on business trips because he's trying give our family whatever he can and I really admire and respect both of them for that.

     In conclusion, personally think it is a very good movie. Not only does it have a really good story-line, it is also a true story which makes it even more interesting. I liked the occasional dance performances and the way Li had flashbacks of his childhood to give us good background information. When I first heard about the movie, I thought it would be an old and boring movie about Mao Ze Dong, but it was a touching and interesting story about someone's life. In a very interesting way, it showed us how much communism meant to China before and overall, I think it was a really good movie that teaches us a lot of things.