Mao's Last Dancer

Bruce Beresford, 2009 (8.6*)
Based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, a dancer who was plucked from his mountain village in China at age 11 by members of the cultural revolution, and trained in classical ballet from that point on. Criticized for being weak, he added extra weights to his legs and spent many hours developing strength to go with his natural agility and long-limbed grace. He is played here by actor Chi Cao.

In 1979, he is sent to the Houston Ballet in a cultural exchange with the U.S. He often struggles with his conscience, on doing what he feels is right, or acting like a good diplomat for the Communist ideal in China. Eventually he falls in love with a dancer in Texas, and this then becomes his biggest personal challenge.

This could have been a movie of the week but for the touch of veteran director Beresford, director of best picture winner Driving Miss Daisy (1989), and the military trial film Breaker Morant (1980). The dance sequences are wonderfully shot, some of the best in cinema. For me, these carry the film, though for others it may drag it down. I think for a dancer, his story can well be told through his dancing, and for me it seems natural here, not strained like in many musicals.

I was genuinely moved by this film in several places. I've read online posts by other Chinese immigrants who say it's a very accurate portrayal of someone from that part of China, Qingdao I believe. For lovers of dance films, this one's almost up there with The Red Shoes.

Winner of 6 awards and 14 nominations

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Breaker Morant

Bruce Beresford, Australia, 1980 (8.8*)
Memorial Day War-athon #2
This the story of a war-time court martial, and is based on true events during the closing stages of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). The officers are members of a mostly Australian unit called the Bushveldt Carbineers, created to fight the Boer commandos by employing their own tactics against them.

The charge is that the three men involved here committed murder by executing captured Boers, and also perhaps executed a civilian non-combatant. Their defense is that they were acting in accordance with standing orders, because the operational nature of the Carbineers would be hampered by having to keep prisoners under guard. Also, anyone escaping would be able to give their location and other information. Naturally, these are verbal orders only, so it's all based on heresay.

The British command sees the incident as a chance to give morale to the Boer side, embarassing their side, so command clearly wishes to portray the three protagonists as rogue elements and sacrifice them for political expediency. Similar to Kubricks Paths of Glory, this film examines the military practice of high command often sacrificing subordinates to cover for their own failures and indiscretions, in this case violating international accords by executing prisoners of war. Through the trial, we get the see the story told as flashbacks during witness testimony.

The overall quality of this film is impeccable, as is the cast - five were nominated for Australian Film Institute (AFI, equivalent of our academy awards) awards for acting: Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown won (for lead and supporting respectively), also nominated were Edward Woodward, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, and Charles 'Bud' Tingwell.

Winner of 12 awards, including 10 AFI awards, it's only 3 AFI losses were to other actors in the same film. This is both a powerful war film and a gripping legal film with a courtroom trial.

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Driving Miss Daisy

Dir: Bruce Beresford, 1989 (8.1*)

Best Picture (AA, GG)

Gentle southern comedy about a strong-willed, traditional southern widow, Oscar winner Jessica Tandy, and her chauffeur Hoke, Morgan Freeman, in what should have been his first Oscar winning role, based on Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Oscar nominee Dan Akroyd is the frustrated but loving son, in his best and only Oscar-nominated performance, who talks her into a chauffeur in the first place against her will after she has a minor accident in the driveway. Beresford has used terrific acting to make this a heartwarming and moving film, yet at the same time showing people of different backgrounds and races using kindness and humility to become close and loyal friends . Four Oscars

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