Every month, the University of Idaho Confucius Institute hosts a free Chinese Movie Night at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre.
Like each movie in the series this semester, “The Great Wall” was played on the second Wednesday of the month, Oct. 11.
The movie takes place in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Through the perspective of a European mercenary warrior (Matt Damon), the story depicts how a Chinese army uses war tactics and the black power to fight against a giant group of the ancient monsters named Tao Tie with the help of the mercenary warrior.
“It was different from a lot of the American films. When we saw the previews, I thought it’s kind of the martial arts. The characters use martial arts to fight the bad guys, something like that, but it has the black power in the movie, and a lot of the horror monsters,” Moscow citizen Ben Burns said.
Burns’ wife Kathleen Burns said she liked the strength of the female soldiers in the movie’s Chinese army, especially the heroine who becomes the general later. Kathleen Burns said she enjoyed seeing how the warrior heroine fights strongly and intelligently.
“This movie interested me because of its topography and geology. That’s why I was really interested in the colors on the rock and then the formation. Also, it shows (the Great Wall consists of) two walls, and I always thought it was just one wall,” She said.
The monthly Chinese Movie Nights began when, in 2014, the UI Confucius Institute planned to provide more learning opportunities for Chinese Cinema in Translation (FLEN 326) students and the Moscow community, said Hexian Xue, co-director of the UI Confucius Institute.
“(This event) gives us a balance and it exposes us to the other culture and country,” Kathleen Burns said.
“The Great Wall” is a modern blockbuster made by both Chinese and American film companies. It is the newest film directed by Yimou Zhang, who is known as one of the greatest Chinese Fifth Generation directors and the main director of the 2008 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
The Confucius Institute has screened a Yimou Zhang’s film, “Hero” (2002), a Kung Fu story, before. This genre is one of the major themes the instructors of the Confucius Institute select for this event, Xue said.
“We have one different theme for each movie night,” Xue said. “We consider the themes like family issues and romance stories to show the audience how Chinese people deal with their problems in their everyday lives.”
The movie collection also includes historical films, such as “Red Cliff I&II” (2008&2009) and “Confucius” (2010). There are also movies concerning the friendship between America and China like “Grief Over the Yellow River” (1999), and the ones discussing the international cooperation, such as “American dreams in China” (2013), Xue said.
“We do not include the films that are too gloomy because we want to create a cozy space at Moscow to entertain the locals with Chinese culture in a relaxed and positive mood,” she said.
Jinrong Lei can be reached at [email protected]