Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Pierre Radulescu The epic of a disaster: a whole province in central China caught by drought, the people having no choice but leaving their households, taking the large road toward unknown, toward some illusory place where they could find food. Winter 1942-43, war, the army looting the refugees, the enemy bombing army and civilians together, the mass of refugees becoming a mob, all moral values forgotten, episodes of cannibalism, the political leaders caught in a cobweb of petty politics, corruption, and ineffectiveness... the death toll being somewhere between one and three million.Other stories of war and famine will keep coming, repeating the same script, endlessly, going on nowadays and forever... and as always people around turning a deaf ear, pretending unawareness, if not taking advantage:The story of the Honan famine rolled into Chungking like tumbleweeds blown by the wind. "I heard from a man who was there …" "I saw in a letter from Loyang …" "In Sian they say that …" (Theodore H. White quoted in a site of the San Jose Stae Univ.)A survivor's grandchild would tell the story, and based on his novel this movie was made in 2012. A movie with epic breathe, shifting from the mob of refugees to the regional leaders to the national level, up to Generalissimo (Chang Kai-Shek), coming back to the victims, one of the heroes repeating the story of Job, among all atrocities around, nobody's innocent, nobody's evil, it's just our human condition here, it's about us, humans, in one of our worst moments.

yimcha123 A well made and serious film you shouldn't miss.Back to 1942!How many movie-goers were born before 1942? I think very few...The film is all blood and tear in Chinese history-if you ever read any Chinese history you would know a bit of how the corrupted national party of China ran the country(how they handled the famine) and the history of Japan invaded China (how cold blood of their behaviour against civilians)at the time.To younger people who never experienced war and hunger...please don't expect entertaining plots.

gbmillion This is a profound story, beautifully told, interweaving the plight of a family of famine refugees with a depiction of the Chinese leaders and the difficult decisions they were faced with as the Japanese army closed in on Henan province in 1942.The plot develops in a most engaging manner, depicting the suffering of famine refugees as they trek across the barren, snowy countryside in an effort to reach Shaanxi. Interspersed, we see scenes depicting Chiang Kaishek and his ministers, coolly calculating the expedience of helping the refugees. The finely tailored costumes of Chiang and his secretary contrast with the rags of the refugees. We get the impression that the Chinese leaders are detached from the plight of the ordinary people.The movie depicts the pitiful plight of the refugees without succumbing to sentimentality. The characters are stark and persuasive. Acting and direction are superb. If you are interested in this period of history this movie will not disappoint.

ryanlee0513 I chosen the film is 'Back to 1942' that is an epic film about a horrible famine of Henan province in China. Feng Xiaogang is the director of the film, and the film was released on Thursday, November 29th, 2012. Feng Xiaogang who is a famous director in China, he graduated from The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, and is good at directing the comedy film. However, 'Back to 1942' is a breakthrough of him again. In this film, there are not only many famous Chinese such as Zhang Guoli, Chen Daoming, Xu Fan and Zhang Hanyu, but also have two American actors namely Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. Obviously, 'Back to 1942' is expected to have influence at the international marketplace, not just for domestic marketplace.'Back to 1942' tells the story about more than 30 million of Henan's people began a 1012 km fled in order to survive from hunger, which lasted 106 days and approximately 3 millions people died. A terrible drought and locusts lead to this horrible famine, and the war between Japan and China makes it worse. The film' plot structure is unique. There are three main story lines, the first one is that civilians fled from famine, the second one is the behavior of the Chiang Kai- shek's government, and the third one is Theodore H. White who is an American journalist reported the situation for Time magazine and his rescue operations. These three clues bonded together by tragic fate of millions of victims that made the film express a distinctive dramatic tension. The color of the film is gray, it can accurate convey the emotion of the film which is people suffering in famine and death. Indeed, the film shows that people have changed during unprecedented hunger. Specifically, sexual, physical, and even personal freedom becomes tools to exchange for food, and the traditional Confucian and even basic family ethics is abandoned, such as the husband sale his wife, father peddle their children and so forth. There are several plots that shock me. The first, rich property owner Fan and his family also are on the road in order to survive. However, during this period time, his daughter-in-law give birth to a child. The puerperal is very weak and no milk for child, because she did not eat anything for few days. Fan deiced to cook a cat for a soup, which is company her daughter all the way, in order to supplement nutrition for his daughter-in-law, so that the grandchildren can survive. But, his daughter Xing Xing love her cat so much, she often feeds her cat using her own food. When Fan want to explain to his daughter about cooking her cat, his daughter ask him that want to eat the cat soup. There is no any sadness in her eyes. People have been changed by extreme hunger, and the life instinct defeat all emotions. The second, during the famine time, every thing could happen, for example, a few liters of millet can buy a person. Xing Xing which is Fan's daughter, want to exchange self for millet, but Fan does not allow. She explain to her father that she cannot stand hunger, if sold her, her family not only can get some millet, but also she can live. When Xing Xing was selected, there even is a smile appearing on Fan's face that is unimaginable in the present age. Therefore, the value of millet is over the value of gold or a person in the famine time. The third, Fan takes a train with his grandson into the Shaanxi province, and others of his family's members went away or dead. Fan told to his grandson, "There are only us". However, he found that his grandson was already dead. He feels helpless and hopelessness. Hence, he made a decision that came back to Henan and he already does not think about how to live, he just want to die closer to home. These plot express the despair of losing all family members that give me a big shock, because he already lose the life instinct when he lose his family and he even does not affair the death anymore. To sum up, I think 'Back to 1942' is a great movie, and it almost reflects the damage caused by the famine. It also makes me to think about what is the most important things when people face the disaster.