The 1993 film directed by Kaige Chen, Farewell My Concubine, addresses Chinese political issues during the war against Japan through the interpersonal problems of an opera troupe made up of young actors masculine. The film is as long as it is engaging. With two orphan boys raised to perform in an opera all their lives, dedication takes on a whole new meaning. Dieyi's training to act as a woman and reflect femininity throughout her life increases the divisiveness seen in the film as well as its connections to Chinese politics. The use of gruesome sound effects, close-up cinematic techniques, and military involvement combine in this film to create a devastating dramatic experience. At the beginning of Farewell My Concubine, two male actors walk toward the camera filming them and into a darkened arena. . They are greeted by a faceless voice in the shadows and given a stage light to perform. Once the stage light appears, the stage transforms into a sepia-toned showcase of Douzi's childhood and his introduction to the young Peking Opera troupe. Douzi, a young man whose mother is a prostitute, has a rather unhappy upbringing. This is only revealed when his mother goes to see the master of the opera troupe to enroll her son. As Douzi's mother visits the troupe, the punishments the children suffer at the hands of their masters are callously exposed. Children are beaten with swords and forced to perform physically arduous tasks. Headmaster Guan says that they are not human beings if they don't perform in the opera and that cliques are banned in the troupe. When the mother finally manages to speak with Master Guan, he informs her that her son will not be...... middle of paper ...... audience of Dieyi's opera as well as Dieyi himself. His destiny as a concubine led him to agree to sing for the Japanese, which was considered a betrayal of the Chinese government. The Japanese never beat him and that made his performance better for them. This shed light on his previous punishments from Master Guan and how he didn't want to play at first. It seems that the director of the film wanted to indirectly show how the treatment of the Chinese by the Japanese was much better than that of the old society. The film ends at the time of the Cultural Revolution of 1966, established by the Communist Party. People's Liberation Army. In the final chapters, the members of the Old Society betray each other after the New Society takes power. Dieyi commits to his fate and commits suicide with the concubine's sword, which determines the fall of the Old Society..