Red Cherry
Encyclopedia
Red Cherry is a 1995
film
directed
by Ye Ying (also known as Daying Ye). The Director of Photography was Zhang Li, a fifth generation filmmaker and classmate of Chen Kaige
. Red Cherry won Best Picture at the 1996 Golden Rooster Awards
.
The film was made in China in 1995 under the title Hong ying tao starring Ke-Yu Guo, Vladmill Nizmiroff, Xu Xiaoling. The movie was based on the true story of Chuchu, a 13-year-old Chinese girl, and Luo Xiaoman, a 12-year-old Chinese boy, who were sent to Moscow, Russia in the 1940s and enrolled into an international boarding school. There they had so many great and difficult experiences as they tried to survive during World War II
.
The children's real encounter with fate began as kanikuli (summer break) arrived, Chuchu accompanied her class to a children’s camp in Byelorussia, while Xiaoman remained in Moscow. Then, Russia was invaded by Germany's Operation Barbarossa
. Red Cherry is basically an account of the two orphans’ parallel experiences of the war.
in China killed their parents (as Chuchu described in front of her class how her father, a communist revolutionary, being executed in front of her by the Kuomintang). Chuchu and Luo quickly learned to fit in with the other international students and they also learned to speak Russian fluently.
When summer came, several students, including Chuchu, left for the summer camp in Byelorussia accompanied by their teacher, Miss Vera. Xiaoman remained behind in Moscow. During this time the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union. Moscow was left unoccupied after the invasion, and Xiaoman was soon left to survive on his own in a land that he knew little of. For a time he was a homeless child begging and stealing on the streets, forced to sell blood so he could get money for food (only to be robbed by others later). He eventually found a job delivering condolence letters to families of fallen soldiers. At one apartment, he found an orphaned girl (whose mother died silently due to starvation and illness) and took her in as though she was his own daughter.
Things were very different for the students at the summer camp. Captured by the invading Germans, Chuchu and her classmates were kept as slaves, and were alone and in great danger. Miss Vera was soon ruthlessly murdered in front of the students for defying the Germans by teaching her class. One of the students, Carl, who was half-German himself and liked Chuchu deeply, managed to help the other students escape by using his Aryan descent to trick a German soldier's trust, but he was soon injured, cornered and machinegunned to death in a forest pit. The others were quickly recaptured and sentenced to death by hanging.
One girl was executed with a brutal shot to the head, but Chuchu and several other students were spared when a high-ranking German officer, General Von Dietrich arrived and sent them to work as servants at Nazi headquarters in the Yakovliv Monastery. General Von Dietrich was not only a military general, but also a doctor who took tattooing as a hobby — he enjoyed tattooing the bodies of young girls and showing them to his guests at parties. He decided to use Chuchu for his greatest "masterpiece". This was what saved her life because when the General learned that the Third Reich was doomed, instead of having Chuchu executed with the rest of the prisoners, he had her dumped in a field so that his "masterpiece" would live on. The large tattoo (a Nazi eagle) on her back become a shame to her for the rest of her life.
Luo Xiaoman tried to enlist in the expeditionary Soviet Red Army, but was rejected due to his young age. Out of his deep, vengeful hatred towards the Nazi invaders, he decided to "punish" the German POWs (who were now forced to work in labour camps) by sniping them with a home-made slingshot. When the German POWs rioted, Xiaoman lured them into an empty, ruined apartment building and set the oil tanks on fire. He himself was killed in the explosion together with the German rioters. At the end of the movie Chuchu was reunited with the orphan girl Luo Xiaoman adopted, and after hearing the same speech Xiaoman gave for his Russian class, Chuchu understood, embraced the young girl and broke down.
At the end of the movie Chuchu was seen taking a shower, and the tattoo on her back could be seen along with the scar caused by her attempt to burn off the tattoo with a firewood. Later credits appear telling that a skin graft operation to remove the tattoo was not successful, and about the real Chuchu and what she did with her life. The movie then ends.
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Ye Ying (also known as Daying Ye). The Director of Photography was Zhang Li, a fifth generation filmmaker and classmate of Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
. Red Cherry won Best Picture at the 1996 Golden Rooster Awards
Golden Rooster Awards
China Golden Rooster Film Festival also known as Golden Rooster Awards are the most prestigious awards in film given in mainland China, equivalent the China's Academy Awards. The awards are given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981...
.
The film was made in China in 1995 under the title Hong ying tao starring Ke-Yu Guo, Vladmill Nizmiroff, Xu Xiaoling. The movie was based on the true story of Chuchu, a 13-year-old Chinese girl, and Luo Xiaoman, a 12-year-old Chinese boy, who were sent to Moscow, Russia in the 1940s and enrolled into an international boarding school. There they had so many great and difficult experiences as they tried to survive during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The children's real encounter with fate began as kanikuli (summer break) arrived, Chuchu accompanied her class to a children’s camp in Byelorussia, while Xiaoman remained in Moscow. Then, Russia was invaded by Germany's Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. Red Cherry is basically an account of the two orphans’ parallel experiences of the war.
Plot
The movie begins in the early summer of 1941, at the Ivanov International School in Moscow. Luo Xiaoman and Chuchu were two new students who had come to Russia after the brutal White TerrorWhite Terror
White Terror is the violence carried out by reactionary groups as part of a counter-revolution. In particular, during the 20th century, in several countries the term White Terror was applied to acts of violence against real or suspected socialists and communists.-Historical origin: the French...
in China killed their parents (as Chuchu described in front of her class how her father, a communist revolutionary, being executed in front of her by the Kuomintang). Chuchu and Luo quickly learned to fit in with the other international students and they also learned to speak Russian fluently.
When summer came, several students, including Chuchu, left for the summer camp in Byelorussia accompanied by their teacher, Miss Vera. Xiaoman remained behind in Moscow. During this time the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union. Moscow was left unoccupied after the invasion, and Xiaoman was soon left to survive on his own in a land that he knew little of. For a time he was a homeless child begging and stealing on the streets, forced to sell blood so he could get money for food (only to be robbed by others later). He eventually found a job delivering condolence letters to families of fallen soldiers. At one apartment, he found an orphaned girl (whose mother died silently due to starvation and illness) and took her in as though she was his own daughter.
Things were very different for the students at the summer camp. Captured by the invading Germans, Chuchu and her classmates were kept as slaves, and were alone and in great danger. Miss Vera was soon ruthlessly murdered in front of the students for defying the Germans by teaching her class. One of the students, Carl, who was half-German himself and liked Chuchu deeply, managed to help the other students escape by using his Aryan descent to trick a German soldier's trust, but he was soon injured, cornered and machinegunned to death in a forest pit. The others were quickly recaptured and sentenced to death by hanging.
One girl was executed with a brutal shot to the head, but Chuchu and several other students were spared when a high-ranking German officer, General Von Dietrich arrived and sent them to work as servants at Nazi headquarters in the Yakovliv Monastery. General Von Dietrich was not only a military general, but also a doctor who took tattooing as a hobby — he enjoyed tattooing the bodies of young girls and showing them to his guests at parties. He decided to use Chuchu for his greatest "masterpiece". This was what saved her life because when the General learned that the Third Reich was doomed, instead of having Chuchu executed with the rest of the prisoners, he had her dumped in a field so that his "masterpiece" would live on. The large tattoo (a Nazi eagle) on her back become a shame to her for the rest of her life.
Luo Xiaoman tried to enlist in the expeditionary Soviet Red Army, but was rejected due to his young age. Out of his deep, vengeful hatred towards the Nazi invaders, he decided to "punish" the German POWs (who were now forced to work in labour camps) by sniping them with a home-made slingshot. When the German POWs rioted, Xiaoman lured them into an empty, ruined apartment building and set the oil tanks on fire. He himself was killed in the explosion together with the German rioters. At the end of the movie Chuchu was reunited with the orphan girl Luo Xiaoman adopted, and after hearing the same speech Xiaoman gave for his Russian class, Chuchu understood, embraced the young girl and broke down.
At the end of the movie Chuchu was seen taking a shower, and the tattoo on her back could be seen along with the scar caused by her attempt to burn off the tattoo with a firewood. Later credits appear telling that a skin graft operation to remove the tattoo was not successful, and about the real Chuchu and what she did with her life. The movie then ends.
Cast
- Guo Keyu as Chuchu
- Vladmill Nizmiroff as General Von Dietrich
- Xu Xiaoling as Luo Xiaoman
Controversy
The movie stirred some controversy in the West since it features young teen and pre-teen nudity. The movie has three series of nude scenes, most of which are when the boys and girls get into a water fight in the shower. Both male and female children are seen nude here, most being seen from the rear or side, but there are some frontal nudity in both the male and female children. Later in the movie a young woman is made to disrobe and walk around on the table showing off her tattoos in front of Von Dietrich's guests. Near the end of the movie there is another series of scenes just outside of a shower with only female children.Awards
- 2nd Shanghai International Film Festival, 19951995 in film-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
- Best Actress — Guo Keyu
- Golden Rooster AwardsGolden Rooster AwardsChina Golden Rooster Film Festival also known as Golden Rooster Awards are the most prestigious awards in film given in mainland China, equivalent the China's Academy Awards. The awards are given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981...
, 19961996 in filmMajor releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...
- Best Film
- Best Sound — Li Lanhua
External links
- Red Cherry from the Chinese Movie Database