The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Shirley MacLaine
Claudia Weill

Writer:

Shirley MacLaine (writer)

Release Date:

5 April 1980 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Documentary on mainland Chinese life. |

Plot Keywords:

Country Name In Title | China | Independent Film

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Shirley MacLaine

...

Herself

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

Shirley MacLaine Productions

a window for Westerners to vividly pry into china's agony,prosperity,and skeletons in the closet

as a bona fide red-blooded Chinese, i am a little bit abashed to find out that i know so little about this Stygian dark yet awe-inspiring documentary that depicts china's secretive past in a horripilating way.women as the other half of the sky at that particularly dusky moment had been tortured,excoriated,exploited in one way or another under excruciating circumstances.

we all know that back in 1970s china remains a rather backward,heavily underdeveloped underutilized nation that had to struggle against the fallout of culture revolution,the embargo adjured by US,and persistent diplomatic interference inflicted by japan.given all that rigorous and harsh condition,it's understandable why Chinese women suffered a lot in that unspoken period of time.the far-flung afflictions mainly ranged from finance frugality to birth control which still incorrigibly mutilates women's conception about pregnancy.this refulgent documentary just delivers everything you need in order to perceive china's tenebrous past comprehensively.

anyway,on a completely unrelated topic,i am heavily biased toward this documentary because my mother was one of the co-sponsors of this gem,once she told me some of the extremely desperate housewives back that time(if any) wasn't even biologically women,some were she-males stowed away from Thailand,Vietnam,north Korea or Cambodia,gosh,i guess you are able to deduce the tumultuous situation taking place at that time.

finally,let's stay level-headed at this stage,afore-mentioned dire,drastic situation has been improved across the board,if you come to china now,you will be astounded by its overwhelming transformations.people's living condition, especially that of women, has been ameliorating ever since.and the execrable birth control policy has been permanently abandoned due to a plethora of nationwide protests