6 Chinese-language films were picked on CNN’s shortlist for best Asian films, which had 18 films spanning across Asia and inexplicably across Asia to New Zealand and Iran. For Zhang Yimou they picked a representative in Hou Zhe, which is my favorite Asian film of all time, and one of my top 3 films of all time. It annoys me however, to think that they picked it for political reasons (see anti-cnn.com, and Jack Cafferty), since in their description they say it’s banned in China. Well, they are about a decade too late, since it has long since been unbanned in the mainland, even before Mr. Zhang began his major pimpage of Chinese culture starting with “Hero” and mostly recently, the operning ceremony of the Olympics.
Another mainland Chinese film picked, Shower, also has a connection to the Olympics, the Paralympics that is. Shower’s lead, veteran actor Pu Cunxi, has been a long-time humanitarian in China, and advocate for the disabled and has been a volunteer in the 2008 Paralympics. A list of the other Chinese films picked, and their biased CNN summaries is behind the cut.