Cinema
Havoc in Heaven
大鬧天宮
Wan Laiming · 1961
Synopsis
Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, rules over his mountain. He seizes a spear that the gods once used to tame the oceans. The Celestial Emperor, to keep him in check, appoints him keeper of the heavenly stables; Sun Wukong frees the horses, goes home and proclaims himself Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He defeats the warriors sent against him. Summoned back to heaven to guard the peach trees, he eats the peaches of immortality and devours the dishes prepared for the heavenly banquet.
Context
Relaunched in 1959, the project required some seventy thousand drawings and was divided into two parts, completed in 1961 and 1964, then shown together in 1965; the adaptation is by Li Keruo and Wan Laiming, the music by Wu Yingju. The animation and the percussion draw on Beijing opera. Shortly afterwards, the Cultural Revolution halted the studio's work; Allociné writes that the film was then banned. Re-released in full in 1978, it won a prize the same year at the London festival and was presented at Cannes, out of competition, in 1981. A restored version, also in 3D, appeared in 2012.
Who it is for
An animated film of nearly two hours, in colour, with no difficulty for young audiences; it was released in French cinemas in 1965.
Prizes and reception
The China Project reports that it was recognised as a masterpiece from its release, and that it still ranks high among Chinese audiences.
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