Mao by Mao
Mao by Mao
| 01 May 1977 (USA)
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A film-détournement biography of Mao Tse-tung in which the life of the recently deceased Great Helmsman is told in his own words, using quotes culled from various Red Guard publications. The rise to power of the film's namesake appears as the inevitable outcome of a dialectical logical. Or so the voice-over might lead one to believe. If the usual practice of détourned films is for the soundtrack to undermine the image, here the reverse occasionally takes place. The images critique Mao's words. They show that which, even in the official visual record of the times, the narrative elides. The film is dedicated to Li Yhi Zhe, the nominal author of a famous Democracy Wall critique of the Maoist state.

Reviews
SmugKitZine

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

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Cathardincu

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

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Ogosmith

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

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Celia

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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