Propaganda Film Inspires China’s Youth to ‘Overthrow Dictatorship’

A propaganda film meant to be a record-setting blockbuster is beginning to look instead like a flop that is performing as an anti-propaganda film. Rather than encourage devotion to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) the movie celebrates, it is inspiring some audience members to reject the Party.

The CCP pulled out all the stops for Beginning of the Great Revival, an epic tribute to the Party’s 90th anniversary, which falls on July 1. One hundred and eight Chinese stars are cast in a picture that was filmed on location in seven cities throughout China, France, and Russia.

It opened one week ago in almost every theater in China and on Friday it opens in 10 cities in the United States and Canada.

To be sure that its Chinese readers are aware of the “global phenomenon,” the CCP’s official mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency did a photo report showing the movie’s banners at a San Francisco theater.

Gao Jun, the spokesperson for the New Film Association, has said that Revival will “for sure” gross 800 million yuan (US$123 million) at the box office in its first month and that it will outperform Kung Fu Panda 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

In its first week, daily receipts for Revival averaged just 0.6 percent higher than those of Kung Fu Panda 2.

‘Political Mission’

Revival only barely bested the performance of Kung Fu Panda 2, even though it is almost the only new movie that can be seen in Chinese movie theaters these days.

On Thursday, Revival had 21 showings in Beijing’s popular Wanda Cinemas and 23 showings in a theater in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province.

Even a week after its release, the movie is shown about 700 times a day in Shanghai’s 67 theaters, which comprises 60 percent of all movie showings, according to International Finance News, a daily paper published by state-run People’s Daily.

Moreover, arranging to see the movie has basically become a “political mission” for employers. In order to satisfy Party authorities, companies book entire theaters for their employees and employees’ family members to watch for free.

An individual buying a ticket for Revival has become a rarity.

“Yesterday I paid for the ticket to Beginning of the Great Revival out of my own pocket. I must be a relic in this world to want to volunteer myself for brainwashing,” Vest of a Nostalgic Fish, a Chinese user of Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter, posted.

Free movie tickets with complimentary drinks and popcorn, which have been circulating not only in companies but also in community Party branches for retired Party members, are so numerous that they could hardly be valued.

A netizien by the name of Muyee Bean, who couldn’t make it to a company night out to the movie, could not manage even to find anyone to give the ticket away to.

“And one of my colleagues tried to get her mother-in-law to go instead, but her mother-in-law said, ‘Who still wants to receive [Communist] education nowadays?” Muyee Bean said on Weibo.

Bad Reviews

There is a reason that Revival tickets can’t even be given away.

In ratings that included viewers from outside China, 915 voters ranked the film at 1.8 out of 10 on The Internet Movie Database—but that rating is out of the CCP’s control. A Chinese-language rating system for movies, Douban.com, still had a bearable number—until the movie was released on June 15.

A screenshot of douban.com from a Chinese microblog user taken on the morning of June 15 shows overwhelmingly negative reviews with nearly 60 percent of voters giving it one star, leading the overall rating to slide to 4.8 out of 10.

But before many could see Revival’s ratings, the website had the rating system disabled altogether, making Beginning of the Great Revival the only unrated movie, while Kung Fu Panda 2 enjoys an 8.4 and Pirates of the Caribbean a 7.4.

Continued: Knowing the CCP’s History