Shanghai Triad (1995)

Director: Yimou Zhang

Writers: Feiyu Bi, from the novel by Li Xiao

Stars: Gong Li, Li Baotian, Wang Xiaoxiao, Xuejian Li, Chun Sun, Biao Fu, Shu Chen, jiang Liu, Baoying Jiang, Qianquan Yang, Ying Gao

In the 1930s, a young boy (Wang Xiaoxiao) is sent to Shanghai from the country to work for his uncle (Li Baotian), who is a powerful crime boss. 

He is made assistant to his uncle's concubine, Bijou (Gong Li), who is also the featured performer in his nightclub.

 

(The depiction of Shanghai nightlife is one of the charms of this film. We are treated to two wonderful cabaret numbers.)

 

The boy becomes a silent witness to a life of waste, deception and betrayal.

 

I have never seen a more heart-breaking finale than the one in this film.

 

It is a harsh dramatization of how average, hard-working people are so often trampled and destroyed by those with too much power and too few scruples.