Film Review
In
Broken Blossoms, director
D.W. Griffith sets out to convey the same humanist messages of his
previous historical epic
Intolerance (1916), but on a
much more modest scale. In contrast to the grand set-pieces of that
previous film, Griffith now preaches his version of compassion and
racial tolerance through an intimate melodrama which revolves around
three main characters: the bully, the victim and the outsider.
Whilst the film has its failings - Griffith's nauseating sentimentality
and the contrived plot being its two most notable shortcomings - it is
a superbly crafted piece of film drama that is ahead of its time in at
least two respects: its realism and its sympathetic portrayal of a
foreigner. The latter is particularly laudable given that, at the
time, non-whites and non-Anglo-Saxons were almost invariably portrayed
negatively in American films, either as outright villains or as a
contemptuous underclass.
Griffith's own
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
had been perceived as white supremacist propaganda and
contributed to the widely held (but erroneous) view that Griffith was
himself a racist. Although the part of the Chinaman in
Broken Blossoms is obviously played
by an American, the film presents the Chinese not as a threat but as a
noble and peace-loving race who have much to teach the West. This
was a pretty radical view at a time when many Americans were deeply
fearful of the so-called Yellow Peril.
Much of the power of this film derives from how convincingly it portrays the
grim life of its heroine, played to heart-breaking perfection by
Lillian Gish. The mist shrouded London setting, with its dismal
narrow streets, provides a striking contrast with the opening sunlit
vista in China. The sense of oppression and misery are heightened
by the wretched living quarters which Lucy tries to make her home and
by the unspeakable cruelty of the thug who claims to be her
father. Some scenes in the film are abjectly stark in their
brutality. Who cannot be shocked by the sequences in
which poor little Lucy is thrashed by her guardian?
Despite the stylised performances and melodramatic staging, there is a
startling reality to the characters in this film, which makes their
plight all the more harrowing to watch. Griffith himself admitted
that he could hardly bear to look at the film, because he found it so
depressing. Yet whilst there is much sorrow and pain in
this film, there is also a fair amount of uplifting poetry. The
relationship between Lucy and Cheng Huan is portrayed as a thing of
wondrous beauty, and you almost believe the story will have a happy
ending. Unfortunately, inter-racial marriage was a definite no-no
when the film was made and so the thing of beauty is destined to be short-lived,
ripped to shreds by a mindless Neanderthal. Powerfully moving through
its lyrical simplicity,
Broken Blossoms
could well be silent cinema's most effective indictment of racism.
© James Travers 2010
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Next D.W. Griffith film:
True Heart Susie (1919)
Film Synopsis
The behaviour of westerners in his beloved China convinces Cheng Huan
that he should travel to Anglo-Saxon lands and spread the gentle
message of Buddha. His missionary dreams soon evaporate when he
arrives in the East End of London, where he is treated with suspicion
and contempt by the locals. Nevertheless, Cheng decides to stay
and opens a small shop in Limehouse. There is so little beauty in
this part of London that he is entranced when, one day, he sees an
attractive young woman in the street. This is Lucy, the wretched
daughter of the prizefighter Battling Burrows, a sadistic brute who
continually taunts and punishes her. After her father attacks her
in a fit of anger one evening, Lucy runs away and collapses on Cheng's
doorstep. The kindly Chinaman takes the unconscious girl to his
room, where he cares for her and becomes the first friend she has ever
known. The idyll is short-lived, however. When he
hears that his daughter is staying with a Chinaman, Burrows is sent
into a murderous rage...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.