11 FLOWERS – The Review

Review by Dane Marti

11 Flowers is a tight, well-made foreign film, which lets a viewer in to he world of Communist China in he mid 1970’s.

I appreciated the visual look of the film, the Communist Chairman Mao billboards, and the isolated but lovely landscape that makes everything mysterious, pastoral yet slightly dangerous around the edges.

The film is told from the point of view of a small, precocious boy. He—and his buddies—gets in trouble as they run around. Sometimes they see grim things occurring.
As far as this goes, the movie reminds me of a poignant, Chinese version of ‘Stand By Me’ with a soupcon of ‘The Last Emperor’ thrown in for good measure. The film also reminds me of Truffaut’s great film, ‘Small Changes.’ It is interesting how children are much the same all over the world. And although people have different cultural and political affiliations, the basic core of a human remains the same.

The movie is charming and has an independent film vibe, which takes nothing away from the overall impression that it gives the viewer, which is one of quality.

The village follows a strong regime of Communist duty and organization. People awake to the sound of blaring speakers demanding that they start their day. There are also other rituals that one must adhere to during the school day. And yet, although the people are happy within their family unit, they are desperately poor. Sometimes they even become homegrown terrorists—anarchists willing to strike a blow against the government that tightly controls and manipulates their lives. Adults at drunken parties whisper this about, a topic of conversation amongst the little band of children. The boy longs for his mother to by him a clean, white shirt in which to lead his school in exercises.

But death and horror also rears its hideous head within the community of trees and rivers. It isn’t all terrible. In one scene, the main character’s father, an artist, shows his son a picture by Monet, describing by candlelight the serene qualities of an Impressionist.

Basically, I don’t want to give too much away about the lives of the people within the film or the plot that drives the story on its powerful way. You definitely do not need to be fluent in China or have a degree in foreign films to appreciate this little cinematic gem.