Mao's Last Dancer: Book vs. Movie

My hubbie and I watched a preview screening of "Mao's Last Dancer", last night.

I had only just finished reading the book (of the same name), only a day before, so images and stories from the book were afresh in my mind.

My husband loved the movie, and phoned his parents' directly after the movie, to tell them to go and see it. I enjoyed the movie, and the ballet dancer, Chi Cao, who played Li Cunxin was fantastic! I am not an expert when it comes to Ballet (far from it), but even I could tell he was amazing!

I guess you could say the movie was an inspired version of the book, and they followed some of the story-lines and quotes directly from the book, but they left a lot out... but as the book explains, they had to make an over 400 page book, into a 108 page screen play!

I loved the book, because it was so personal; full of love, hope and passion; sometimes despair. I was surprised by the movie, as I thought they left out some of the crucial moments between his family. I guess they decided to concentrate more on his climb through the ballet ranks, rather than his family struggles- which I guess from a movie-makers point of view, would be more exciting.

I loved the movie because, visually, it was beautiful, and the dancing was amazing! For me, as I have no idea about ballet, the movie was crucial to understand what he was talking about (with some of the moves in the book), and as I said before, Chi Cao was fantastic!

I recommend to go and see the movie, and if you like it, make sure you read the book!