Portrayal of Love in “In the Heat of the Sun”, Essay Example

Not many Chinese directors have written and prepared films that have attracted a massive following across the globe. “In the Heat of the Sun” is a movie directed by Jiang Wen. The move is cast with the characters and the entire unveilings talking place in the streets of Beijing, the Chinese Capital. The actions in the movie take place in the backdrop of the Chinese revolution. The play is remarkably straightforward with much of the action that takes place in the streets when, Ma Xiaojun nicknamed Monkey and his friends get to the streets roaming around due to the Cultural Revolution. During this revolution, most of their parents and relatives happen to be away, allowing them to go about their business day and night. The film is concentrated on Monkey’s closeness with his rogue male friends. “In the Heat of the Sun” is a true reflection of nostalgic between the past and the preset with regard to the Chinese revolution.

Ma Xiaojun’s beloved, Mi Lan is not his commitment. Indeed their relations have developed because of their circumstances they have found themselves intertwined. In their opinion, freedom had come for the short period where everybody is celebrating the Chinese Revolution. Freedom would only be attained when their parents are absent: she could easily interact with her male counterparts in the wee of the hours without any fear of intimidation. Mi Lan is just but a character who has also embraced the opportunity to the fullest. Since they have never dated, it worlds be preposterous to imagine that he and Ma Xiaojun have a genuine commitment.

The first instance of love in the movie is depicted when Monkey falls in love with the portrait of Mi Lan, which was hanging on a wall. He encountered this when he was in his boyhood jostles courtesy of the freedom that came about when his parents had gone to war to participate in the revolution. Monkey sets out on a journey to go a look for the girl with the help of his other friends who appeared to enjoy the temporary freedom arising from their parent’ absence.

From my understanding, the most chaotic, feverish, violent, and modern Chinese history presented an opportunity to many to initiate positive changes in society. However, many people had a wrong perception of what the Chinese Cultural revolution would offer. Although many like Monkey and his friends were unsure, the Chinese revolution offered unlimited freedom. Freedom comes with no control over oneself but with an overhaul of one’s lifestyle and aspirations. This is demonstrated when the youths decide to be in the streets roaming all day and night. However, it never dawned on that all that comes with freedom comes with responsibility. The freedom was an opportunity to Monkey and his friends to lake a wise decisions on the future of their lives. However, they went about with jubilation in the streets. With no strategy and plan, it was of no coincidence that they engaged in anything that came on their way. However, some of this gang turns out to be more mature than others are.

Jiang Wen has demonstrated maturity in her ability to utilize symbols in the love story to bring up the concept of cultural change in the Chinese society. Indeed, by using the love story, the audience is provided with an opportunity to scrutinize and think deeply of how the Chinese revolution would affect the choices a person makes. This has helped the person watching the film tear the line between what happened to the characters and what it implies to their own lifestyles in the modern day. Love in this case is a symbol of what we stand for in our moral inclinations and choices even as freedom comes. Jiang Wen has effective, through the charters demonstrated, that chance avails itself once and that the decision one makes will affect their future. How one handles the opportunity will determine whether they will live in the world of nostalgia or they will always be regretting on the decisions they made.

This play provides a radical critique of the Cultural Revolution besides being a conservative nostalgia. In essence, Cultural Revolution should bring in meaningful ideas and trends in the society. However, the occurrences and behavior of the main character, Ma Xiaojun and his friends is a total shame to expectations of a positive change in the society. Their behavior is reminiscent of the highest level of moral decay. If anything is to go by, such individuals can be rated as hypocrites: all their actions are because of the absence of the authorities who would monitor and restrict their interactions, actions, and behaviors. Resistance has taken the violent approach when it comes to agitation for reforms in many ways. However, the greatest reformers are those that were known for the use of nonviolent resistance.

Conservative nostalgia is well brought out through the comparisons that are made by the main characters between the past and present. Much of what is of the past is brought out through actions of Ma Xiaojun and his friends. In the backdrop of Cultural Revolution, the audience is made to try to understand what previously occurred and what the state of affairs is after the Chinese revolution. Monkey is unable to articulate his thoughts clearly. This is a depiction of a generation that is panting for what it is practically out of reach to them. His older friends have to help to get an alternative way of expressing his ideas. The older friends are a symbol of the past while Monkey if a figure who represents the present situation after the Chinese revolution. Through this act, the sense of nostalgia and longing for the past is well articulated.

This film shows that China was indeed left in chaos by the upheavals of the revolution. According to the director of the film, the roaming of Monkey and his friends in the city of Beijing is an indicator on the failure of the children and their parents to observe societal norms. It must be noted that Monkey and his friends only has an opportunity to get to the streets for a whole day and a whole night because they were free. This implies that the freedom comes up as something a new. It is a reflection of the new dimension of the revolution. In this case, parents are partly to be blamed for failing to play their role. Monkey’s excitement with his friends is a reflection that such an opportunity was not easy to come. The failure by parents to provide guidance and monitor their children n is partly to blame for the chaos in the city. Parents would go to an extent of getting on their own during the revolution, leaving their children to decide on their selves at a time that they are just getting into the adolescence stage.

The Chinese Revolution, which occurred so many years ago, is indeed an issue that has raised mixed reactions from various quarters. There are those who believe that the Revolution was a success while others are particularly skeptical of what the revolution has brought to the Chinese society. This had been reflected in the play by the two divides. The old boys that are seen to be comfortable with whatever they did, while Monkey, the main character is regretting on his actions and decisions during the revolution. Whereas the film may be focused on the revolution as a political term, it is important to appreciate the fact that limited political activity takes place. It appears that the revolution from the producer’s perspective is the transition of the boys from their childhood to adolescent stage where many activities and actions are the primary concern. It is evident that the boys underwent a serious revolution in their lives: this may be the real “Chinese Revolution” where the producer sought to bring forth to his audience.

Nostalgia is also brought out through regrets from monkey on whatever things he engaged in. After discovering his mistakes, Monkey tries to save face with soft words to that audience. He asks the audience to treat his words and what he has just sad with all the caution they can. In this respect, Monkey clearly demonstrated that he regrets foe everything that happened during the early days. From a comprehensive perspective, this is an apparent manifestation of an individual shameful of his past. He looks backs and is ashamed of the missed chances and opportunities.

Monkey provides the background through which the past and the present of the Chinese society can be analyzed. When the Chinese Revolution is taking place, they are just discovering the opposite. Through this, it implies that they now have feelings towards the opposite sex as opposed to the ordinary interaction between man and woman. The past and the present can be distinguished by the failure of parents to provide proper guidance on their children. The chaos that was caused in Beijing by Monkey and his friends was because of absconding of duty by their parents. Indeed, this film is just but mirror of the past and the preset with regard to the Chinese revolution. The producer acclimatized the roles of all the characters in order to achieve this aspect which often not easy.