To Live Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

To Live - Movie Review Example The script of the movie is intentionally divided into several distinct parts which cover different periods of time. There are 4 decades represented in the movie. The 40-s are characterized by the civil war and revolution in China. They are changed by the 50-s and building communist industrial China. Cultural Revolution enters the country in 1960-s. The end of the movie covers a period after all these events. All these historical events are showed with the help of fiction story integrated in the narrative. It is a story of Fugui, a former landowner and a person who has to live. The story begins in 1940-s, which Chinese civil war unexpectedly changes lives of all people in the state. Fugui has already lost everything; his addiction to bargaining ruined his family and left his without a tile above his head. He manages to cope with poverty and his hard work brings his wife Jiazhen back to him. He is again inspired to live; he wants to ask for credit from the landowner who won his family mansion, but he gets a set of shadow puppets instead. The war enters his life accidentally; during one of the performances of his shadow puppet theater, the knife stubs the curtain and all actors are taken to the nationalist army. Fugui is adaptable to any change in his life; he happens to entertain people in the army by his performances. Eventually he misses the major attack and finds out that nationalists have been killed; only he and his puppet theater partner Chunsheng survive. They try to run away, but the Red Army catches them. They entertain people here again and get back homes alive. On the battlefield, Fugui says the most important words: â€Å"I want to live. There is nothing like family†. Having survived the war, Fugui’s family has a new challenge – to survive the building of Communism. They become very poor; his wife delivers boiled water to people to earn for living. Their daughter

FRANCE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

FRANCE - Essay Example France has been an important model for religious freedom and thought in virtue of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in the year 1789 and several significant religions are practices in this country, though Roman Catholicism has been the major religion. "In the past, France was a predominantly Roman Catholic country. Since the 1970s, France has become a very secular country. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen says that Freedom of religion is constitutionally a right." (France Principle Religion) Sub-point 1: The other religions practiced in the country include Protestantism, Islam, Judaism and atheism. According to the CIA World Factbook, about 88% of the population in France practices Roman Catholicism, 5 to 10% practice Islam, about 2% Protestantism and 1% of the French population practice Judaism. Sub-point 2: The religious background of France has contributed highly to the progress of the Europe and the world and it is a nation which has contributed the world some of the fundamental principles of secularism and religion including the 'freedom of religion'. A profound analII. Main Point: Cultural Background of France: Family structure A profound analysis of the family structure in France confirms that several social, religious and cultural elements as well as movements have influenced the progress of its culture. The traditional family structure of the French culture, an extended family structure, continued for a long time due, mainly, to the values of the Catholic Church and the rural communities. "The outbreak of the French Revolution created a potent space for questioning the customs, laws, emotions, power relations, and gender assumptions that informed family life. During the 1790s the French Revolution radically redefined the family, its internal dynamics, and its relationship to the state." (Desan, 1) Sub-point 1: The French Revolution created a potent space for questioning the customs, laws, emotions, power relations, and gender assumptions that informed family life and it radically redefined the family, its internal dynamics, and its relationship to the state. Sub-point 2: There has been a vital shift from the traditional family structure to the modern family structure in the French society and culture. III. Main point: Cultural Background of France: Traditions of Religion and Family The traditions of the religion are mostly connected with those of the family and people celebrate religious festivals with lots of enthusiasm and variety in their families and the most important traditions of religion as well as family in France are in connection with Christmas. "Family celebrations begin with the decoration of the Christmas tree a few days before Christmas; candles and lights, tinsel and many colored stars are attached to it. On Christmas Eve when the children are asleep, little toys, candies and fruits are hung on the branches of the tree as a supplement to the gifts Santa Claus has left in the shoes before the fireplace." (Holiday Traditions of France) Sub-point 1: The traditions of