RED CORNER
US, 1997, 122 minutes, Colour.
Richard Gere, Bai Ling, Bradley Whitford, Byron Mann, Peter Donat, Robert Stanton, James Hong.
Directed by Jon Avnet.
Red Corner is a popular and quite entertaining thriller with a very serious underlying issue. An entertainment lawyer is caught up in a Beijing political conspiracy and accused of murder. Chinese law and Chinese courts are not what he is used to and he is frustrated trying to prove his innocence. The state appointed defense lawyer is unsympathetic.
Richard Gere relies on his screen charm for eliciting our concern. But Bai Ling as the lawyer gives a more skilled performance and embodies for us the dilemmas of a state-controlled trial, her memories of the Cultural Revolution and the desire to take a stand for human rights. An elaborately staged chase sequence turns the drama into action melodrama so that the result is a film which looks at Asian issues through Western eyes and opts for an emotive identification rather than a thoughtful one. Human rights action thriller.
1.An interesting thriller? The Chinese setting? The relationship between China and the US by the late 1990s? Subsequent changes? The developments of the media in China? The portrayal of Chinese law and its administration? Racial prejudice? The criticisms of China – and the fact that Richard Gere is a supporter of the Dalai Lama?
2.The re-creation of the atmosphere of China, of Beijing City? The musical score?
3.The title, its ironies?
4.The introduction to the theme, Jack Moore and his visit to China, his work with the media, American business and global enterprises, the setting up of satellite television stations? The attitude of the Chinese? Jack Moore as a person, the meetings, the discussions, the meeting with the model, going to the hotel, the sexual encounter? His waking up, finding her dead?
5.The world of companies, the personalities in the companies, money and deals? China’s changing? The framework for violence?
6.Richard Gere as Jack, his skills, the deals, the discussions, the celebration? The encounter with the girl, the sexual encounter, the set-up and the framing? The explanations of what had happened – satisfactory solution to the mystery?
7.Jack’s arrest, his being imprisoned, the treatment, Chinese law, the interrogations? The general and the daughter? The restrictions? Wanting a confession?
8.The personnel from the United States, the embassy, the limitations of their help, the needs for diplomacy?
9.The court sequences, the difficulties of language? The president, the advocate? Jack referred to as ‘the accused Moore’? The loss in sound and translation? The handcuffs? The plea?
10.The introduction of Shen Yuelin as the lawyer? Her background, memories of the cultural revolution, her experience of Chinese life and society? Her use of English? The clashes, the severity? The keeping of face, private morality? Sex partners? Alcohol in China?
11.Jack, his experience, helpless, the frustration, the memories, piecing together what happened? The people who helped?
12.The development of the case, the revelation of the framing, the effect on Jack, on Shen Yuelin?
13.A satisfactory ending, the perspective from the United States, the perspective from China? The seen in the retrospect of developments in relationships with China, the Olympic Games and the 21st century?
