Film review

Richard Dunn

With powerful political overtones and a riveting look at China’s movement

toward communism in the late 1940s under Mao Zedong, “Once Upon A Time In

Shanghai” is an interesting and sometimes jolting story of a journalist

returning to China to bring his fiancee back to America.

That’s when dreams end and reality begins.

At the center of the script is a love story, as the film tugs at your

heart for Guo Shaobai, the U.S. freelancereporter and photographer who

always seems to wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

While Guo attempts to stay neutral and objective during the country’s

tumultuous years -- which included a forced use of currency and physical

abuse by the soldiers if you were caught carrying gold -- his stunning

fiancee, Li Huirong, has other political ideas and the plot thickens

throughout the 104-minute picture.

A portrait of post-World War II Chinese history and a glimpse of the

nation’s disturbing past, the film details the government’s underhanded

financial reform.

Guo, attempting to report the truth to U.S. media outlets about the

violence and corruption going on in China, is stonewalled by the U.S.

Embassy and, in one scene, is told by a U.S. official: “The truth? Nobody

cares about your truth anymore. There’s a witch hunt out in Washington

[D.C.]. I hope I don’t see you behind bars next.”

Be prepared to pull out a tissue by the film’s conclusion.

* “Once Upon a Time in Shanghai” screens at 5:45 p.m. today at Edwards

Island 7 Cinemas.