The main drawbacks of this film are that it lacks coherence (there is a feel like the films has been haphazardly put together), the war effects are badly done, and the German soldiers are the same boring soldiers you see in just about any WWII film-- i.e., they are just plain evil. No doubt there was much inane and brutal violence from the Germans, but one would be led to believe in this film that the Russian soldiers and the children of the international proletariat are saints to the trigger happy Germans. The problem with the action sequences is that the editing comes across as awkward. On the other hand the acting is well played and the story is fairly interesting. They managed to get some impressive scenes in Belarus at a monastery. It's worth a watch if you are interested in WWII, Russia, or China.

Hong Ying Tao is a brutally true story about atrocities and inhumanity from a child's point of view. Excellent performances highlight. However, this movie does not shy away from the darkest and ugliest side of humans so it's more than a little hard to sit through. Having said that, I feel this is an important film with an important message so suck it up and watch it.

I watched Red Cherry for the first time of VHS. I was immediately impressed with the outstanding acting, particularly of the two main characters, but I was a bit bothered by the jumping around from one year to the next. The subtitle quality wasn't great, either, nor were the special FX and production values up to snuff. I bought it on DVD and watched it again, and I liked it considerably better the second time, and it keeps getting better and better every time I watch it. It might take some time to get adjusted to the time jumping and weak (by big bucks Hollywood standards, anyway) special FX and whatnot, but Red Cherry has quickly climbed into my top 25 films of all time, and I've seen quite a few high quality films (Lynch, Bergman, DeSica, Kubrick, Zhang Yimou, Wong Kar-Wei, Polanski, and Kurosawa are some of my favorite filmmakers). I hope to find a higher quality DVD in the future; this film deserves so much more. I'm was really surprised to discover that this film got little recognition outside of China. Too dark, I guess, but Schindler's List was quite grim and was a major hit. Oh, well, just make sure you watch it.The stars of the film are just perfect, and there are many scenes that are very moving. You fall in love with the main characters right away, and you like them more and more as the story progresses. There were a few scenes that reduced me to tears (scenes with Nadia, the adopted Russian girl and each of the main characters' final scenes), quite an accomplishment, as few films move me that much (Grave of the Fireflies, one of the best films ever made, got me as well). The story is told in an atypical way: the stories of the two main characters are cross-sections of their lives during a 5-year period, and the film jumps to the next year after showing a bit of their current circumstances. Once I got used to it, I didn't mind the format at all. Once I got into the film, the minor technical deficiencies seemed to disappear. Highly, highly recommended.By the way, I don't agree that there is a lot of propaganda involved in this film. The description of the treatment of Mao revolutionaries isn't exactly complimentary to the Chinese government. They executed revolutionaries by chopping them in two at the waist with a haysickle? Yeah, that really places the Chinese government in a positive light! This story is about children and war, period. And it's a very sad and powerful story.

There is no real plot to speak of. It is mostly just some of the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of children. However, the visuals, acting and direction draws you in and never lets you go until the end. The movie makes its characters so sympathetic, that you almost ignore the political propaganda and concentrate entirely on their plight. War never looked so good, or more horrific.If you are turned off by under aged nudity and child abuse, you probably would want to avoid this movie, however, you would be missing the cinematic experience of this or any lifetime.