Never knowing the events that preceded the movie, I thought the movie was a fair attempt to illustrate the pressure for Chinese to excel abroad, with parents in the Mainland awaiting news of success to be shared with neighbours, and old rivals schoolmates to defeat in terms of academic success. But then, why would that warrant a movie made, and with A-list stars? So why did Merryl Streep get involved in this movie? Her role, the wife of a philanthropist with a deep interest in the Chinese culture, offered not much of an "added value" to the plot. She tried her best to help these Chinese transplants connected with the American culture; always supporting, almost like a counselor to them. What role did she play in the ultimate tragic end of Liu Ye's character? Could she have make a difference in the outcome? No. Is her character pivotal in his ill-fated dream of the Nobel Prize? No. Merryl Streep, if anything, only added a drawing power; her character doesn't mean much to the plot or help our understanding of the motives or the lessons to be drawn from such a dark end. Does it even matter, that Liu Ye's character was modified from the events the movie was based on, that we should be sympathetic to the postgraduate hardships in research and dessertation politics?
Was the movie just a story of somebody who is not accustomed to dealing with failure/setbacks, not willing to work with the "system", and augmented by being alone in a foreign land and the lack of companionship, even if he tried to reach out for that? But really, would these lead to those tragic ends? What role does Streep's character play in that?....
For the NYTimes article, please go here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/science/27dark.html
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