Image is everything

I never believed for a minute that Chung Kuo was a truthful depiction of China in the early 1970s. The Michelangelo Antonioni documentary, in my mind, is more about how China was perceived and presented than what China really was.

I have a clear memory of that era and could easily detect which scenes were set up and which were spontaneous. Of these, only the Henan village scene looks untainted by manipulation. Each of the farmers shows an expression of either curiosity or hesitancy, which is very realistic for that time. Of course, the candid-camera shots of bikers and pedestrians are gems.

We must remember that 1972, when the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) had gripped the nation, was not China's brightest moment. Jiang Qing (Madam Mao) was in control of the arts and her understanding of politically correct aesthetics, as reflected in the model operas, was specific: The hero must have the spotlight, and the villain (a class enemy such as a landlord) must not stand straight or get proper lighting. People (the good ones) do not walk or saunter; they march with fists held tight, with a passion for revolution and hatred for class enemies.