Founding of a Republic, The

Aroview: The People’s Republic of China rolls out the big guns for this 60th anniversary epic, chronicling in big, sweeping gestures, the uprising of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party through civil war and political unrest.

Conscripting a who’s who of Chinese cinema to bolster its sprawling ensemble cast, the film, in all its scale and significance, is a belligerent (if not, mildly propagandist) history lesson rather than a moving, human perspective on the country’s tumultuous change. While outsiders will struggle to gain an emotional foothold on the events though, mainlanders will certainly find themselves caught up in the proud nationalism on display.

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