Time Out London, July 23-30, 2003

This fascinating and comprehensive analysis of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is enlivened by extraordinary archive footage and compelling testimony from key individuals involved in one of the last century's most extreme manifestations of revolutionary fundamentalism. 'It was the age of the poet and the executioner', one participant recalls, 'their shadows entwined'. Indeed, what started as cultural/educational redirection in the face of what Mao saw as creeping liberalization rapidly turned extremely violent as self-styled student "red guards" took the Chairman's words to heart, turning against party and civilian officials alike. Soon, with the entire country factionalised and favour or blacklisting an entirely moveable feast, the only fixed point was Mao himself, whose cult of personality continued to grow, despite the seismic social upheavals he had set in train. Particularly strong on the years to 1969, this welcome overview rushes a little towards the end (neglecting to summarise the period's legacy in the post-Mao years), but is always telling on the processes by which legitimate demands, extreme propaganda and, most importantly, overwhelming peer pressures conspire to destroy families and generational relations, finally turning a whole society against itself. (Gareth Evans)