Top Movie, An Immediate Classic

The Last Emperor deals with the human element of power. The focus on the main character is so total that the backdrop of historical developments, some of the more significant in the 20th century, fail to drown out the theme of the movie. The cultural details are richly provided and come across as exotic as compared to the mainstream humdrum Hollywood movies that all seem to show the same stuff, if only because they, more often than not, are based in urban U.S.

Ultimately the movie is a study in power and the ultimate isolation it brings to those who end up at the top for no fault of their own and then get unceremoniously deposed. The story hovers around a young boy who inherits the throne at an early age and stays on as a puppet. Later we see the boy as a grown-up man who is trying hard to live as an "ordinary" citizen in a land now ruled by the communists who "expect" him to own up to his past "wrong-doings."

The scenery is marvelous and the camera work is great. The exotic, which there is plenty of, is at no point allowed to overtake the human in the movie.

I got to watch this wonderful while attending school in Kathmandu more than 12 years back and still have fond memories of going through the experience. It was breathtaking.