|
Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club
#275 - Broken Blossoms
There are some elements of racism in this movie. The hero is Chinese, but he's played by a white guy, Richard Barthelmess. They had plenty of Asian actors for the extras, but I guess none of them could possibly be talented enough to match the squinting, embarassing performance by Barthelmess. Also, although we see his name outside his store, in the intertitles he's referred to only as "The Yellow Man". Oh wait, correction... he is affectionately called "Chinky" by Lillian Gish (playing Lucy -- I guess only white people are worthy of names). Also, I spotted a guy in blackface.
However, I will overlook these transgressions as perhaps necessities of the day, and because the film is essentially about interracial romance (unlike the abominable Birth of a Nation, which is a love letter to the KKK and has too many gut-churning instances of racism to be forgiven). The story is tender and engaging, the subject matter is admirable, the text of the intertitles is quite lovely and poetic, and the tragedy is touching. However, it's all a bit simplistic and the characters are so one-dimensional they might as well be straight out of a Popeye cartoon. I found the cinematic style rather uninteresting except for a few close-ups. The boxing match is unnecessary and distracting, although I guess the editing was pretty good. Mostly it's the kind of thing that might have been impressive for its time, but seems a bit ho-hum nowadays. Rating: 6
|