The plot development is a tad manipulative. Why do we have to have our heart strings tugged in order to feel outrage over the abuses of the Cultural Revolution?
The focus on Christianity is not made clear by the advertising. This requires a little tunnel vision: Mao persecuted everybody with any sort of religious faith, not just Christians. "China Cry" therefore seems more like a Sunday school propaganda film, rather than a serious examination of how the Cultural Revolution destroyed many, many lives. Historic tragedy is reduced to melodrama.
The melodrama is interrupted only by sickeningly brutal scenes, including a woman in third trimester being kicked in the abdomen. Other films have approached survival-during-government-sponsored-terror much more compellingly. Try "The Killing Fields," or "Europa, Europa," also based on true stories.
The focus on Christianity is not made clear by the advertising. This requires a little tunnel vision: Mao persecuted everybody with any sort of religious faith, not just Christians. "China Cry" therefore seems more like a Sunday school propaganda film, rather than a serious examination of how the Cultural Revolution destroyed many, many lives. Historic tragedy is reduced to melodrama.
The melodrama is interrupted only by sickeningly brutal scenes, including a woman in third trimester being kicked in the abdomen. Other films have approached survival-during-government-sponsored-terror much more compellingly. Try "The Killing Fields," or "Europa, Europa," also based on true stories.