I had no idea of what was going on in China during WWII until I saw this film. This movie enlighten me on the dark facts of starvation and just how far people will go to survive. Although it is in Chinese and subtitled in English, please don't let that keep you from seeing this film. Out of the few movies that really makes you feel, that makes you rethink everything you know about anything, Back to 1942 defiantly ranks top ten in my opinion. I'm not going to give anything away, but the end of this movie left my jaw hanging open and my mind scrambling to understand all that had happen in the two hours and thirty minutes of pure devastation. If you are looking for a movie that shows the sad reality of this world, I urge you to see this film.

This movie is a rare gem in the Chinese movie industry that's seeing crappy movies bringing big revenues. After all, talent is talent. Talent refuses to be swamped by the toxic environment. The movie is shocking to watch. It's so realistic, dramatic and sad, that the weight is almost unbearable. It looked at a historical event with a new lens, a modern Chinese view. It calls Chinese people to rethink patriotism. In a time when your life is in grave danger and would vanish at any moment, your government sits there doing nothing and kicks you around as baggage and throws you to the enemy, and the enemy gives you food that saves you life. Do you pledge patriotism to the government? Do you blame the people who avert to work for the invader? What does patriotism mean when our government doesn't care about your life? Chinese history is full of sad stories, and the movie is one of the first that tells those stories in a realistic way, such as the irony that the moral of situation all falls on a foreign reporter.The acting is respectable, especially in all the male characters. Some of the female actors are not well selected (including Xu Fan), and not well situated in settings. Overall, a great movie for Chinese to relive a dark time, to rethink about many fundamental questions about Chinese culture and society. It is probably good for foreign viewers who have some knowledge of Chinese history and culture to appreciate the movie.

Feng Xioagang can be considered China's - possibly Asia's - most substantial film maker. His output is increasingly imposing and his box office clout means that the content of his work must come under intense official scrutiny. That made the IF I WERE THE ONE movies quite amazing as an expression of the notion that to be rich is glorious.BACK TO 1942 is clearly a tent pole movie for the Chinese cinema and then carries a double load. It is an intense, long, demanding account of the 1942 Hunan famine and refugee exodus, made more terrible by the parallel war with the Japanese and also a revision of history with Chiang Kai Shek now shown as both calculating and remote, as well as caring and authoritative but only a support player in the story of the land lord and serf reduced to destitution on their awful journey.Intriguingly, Theodore White writer of sixties Wolper Documentaries and "The Mountain Road" shows up effectively in the person of Adrian Brody, as a character.Master crafted, some of the staging is exceptional. The bombing raids are great set pieces and the film manages to keep disaster chic in hand, even if it's so grim.Essential for the serious movie goer, a strain on the casual entertainment seeker.

This movie is excellent if you are wanting to learn more about the history of China (war and famine) but not so good if you simply want to view it for leisure. The whole film has no plot in particular. It only focuses on simply aspects like death, find food, starvation, killing etc. There are various disturbing scenes and lots of death scenes. If you can't understand fluent Chinese, I wouldn't suggest you view it. The language spoken is Chinese but with a unfamiliar accent/dialect. The subtitles may be hard to follow. the movie is actually pretty long but it doesn't have any plot. Overall, I didn't enjoy watching this movie,half of the time I was covering my eyes and ears. Too much battling and no interesting plot.