Movies Similar to Round Eyes in the Middle Kingdom

The Truth About Communism(1962)

Ronald Reagan hosts and narrates this documentary about the Communist threat to the free world. Alexander Kerensky, the first premier of the provisional Russian Government in 1917, formally introduces the film. This documentary traces the development of the Communist movement from birth, the Lenin years, its struggle for direction, the Stalin years (featuring a response by Leon Trotsky attacking the Stalin purges) and the ascendancy of Nikita Krushchev.

Heaven(2021)

Tomáš Etzler worked for seven years as a foreign correspondent in China. He came to know a country that was developing at an admirably fast pace, was swayed by its energy, and for a moment believed that modernity could bring about political change as well. Before long, it dawned on him that many people would continue to be severely punished, and the regime would still keep most of the nation in a state of indecision and ignorance. Without neglecting that face of China today, Etzler chose to tell a story of hope in his personal documentary. Using the example of an orphanage for disabled children, he shows that the answer to collectivist brutality and ruthlessness can be mutual assistance, tolerance and empathy.

The Lovers and the Despot(2016)

Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.

Jeunesse Rouge: The Story of Young Communist Revolutionaries in France(2023)

"Jeunesse Rouge" is a documentary exploring young French Communist revolutionaries fighting for a just and equal society. The film follows their organizing and mobilizing, while delving into the history of the Communist movement in France. Archival footage and interviews with activists show their passionate commitment, from protests and strikes to political education. It highlights the power of youth activism and their potential to bring about change in the face of systemic inequality.

Solidarity According To Women(2014)

It was women who closed the gates and launched the Solidarity strike when, on a Saturday in August 1980, workers, satisfied with a raise, stopped their protest and wanted to leave the Gdansk shipyard. If it had not been for the initiative of several determined women, perhaps there would not have been any August 1980 in Polish history. Under martial law, with the men in prisons, the women took on their role. They were not interested neither in joining the union’s power structure, nor in particular posts. The most important thing was their work and its results. When communism in Poland came to an end on June 4, 1989, the vast majority of women in Solidarity disappeared from the political stage. They let themselves be forgotten when their colleagues were taking over the most important posts in power in a free Poland. This documentary by Marta Dzido and Piotr Śliwowski reminds us about these forgotten heroines, giving us a new perspective on the last 30 years of Polish history.

Iron Moon(2016)

Few of us have stopped to consider the lives of the workers who manufacture the objects that make up our daily lives. We use these objects without knowing anything about the Foxconn plants in which they are made, or even where these factories are located, let alone who works in them. One such worker was the young Chinese poet Xu Lizhi, who, at the age of 24, jumped out of a building not far from where he worked at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen.

CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel(2018)

An epic exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema of the 1960s and 70s, structured around a series of conversations with one of its most acclaimed exponents - Closely Observed Trains director Jiří Menzel.

Adolescence(1969)

"This wonderful age in life where every thought strives toward an ideal, toward work, toward the future." Sahia Studios propaganda flick about how adults and their "those darn kids" attitudes affect adolescents.

The Giant Panda(2020)

Since 2003, nine giant pandas from China's Wolong Nature Reserve have been reintroduced into the bamboo forest of the Qinling Mountains. Born in the breeding and research station of the reserve, they did not have close contact with humans before their relocation to the natural environment. For three years, a team of scientists followed one of them, from its birth to the discovery of its new environment.

Seamstress(2015)

A documentary film about Martta Koskinen, the last executed woman in Finland during the war in 1943. Martta was a Seamstress who lived in Helsinki during the Second World War. She was one of the post-civil war (in 1918) generation for whom the war had meant a disappointment in the system and failure in unity of the Finnish nation. The legacy of the civil war had left systems of persecution in place for those with socialist ideals. Martta and her fellow revolutionaries were determined to continue the resistance movement although they knew that at worst it could cost their lives. Martta was imprisoned twice before she was shot. She was an idealist, whose seemingly harmless, naive beliefs in peace and justice were the most dangerous traits a person could have at the time.

Portugal: Carnations Against Dictatorship(2024)

In Portugal, during the night of April 24-25, 1974, a peaceful uprising put an end to the last government of the Estado Novo, the authoritarian regime established in 1933 by dictator António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970), paving the way for full democracy: a chronicle of the Carnation Revolution.

Made in Ethiopia(2024)

When a massive Chinese factory complex attempts a high-stakes expansion in rural Ethiopia, three women in search of prosperity have their faith in industrialization tested to the limit. Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film was awarded the Jury Special Mention at Tribeca Festival.

Mrs. B., a North Korean Woman(2017)

Portrait of Mrs. B., a tough charismatic North Korean woman who smuggles between North Korea, China and South Korea. With the money she gets, she plans to reunite with her two North Korean sons after years of separation.

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project(2019)

Marion Stokes secretly recorded television 24 hours a day for 30 years from 1975 until her death in 2012. For Marion taping was a form of activism to seek the truth, and she believed that a comprehensive archive of the media would be invaluable for future generations. Her visionary and maddening project nearly tore her family apart, but now her 70,000 VHS tapes are being digitized and they'll be searchable online.

The Road(2015)

A highway is waiting to go through a quiet village in Hunan, a province in central China where Mao was from. Due to the high cost of construction, construction companies and migrant workers who live on road work rush to here like the tide. In the following four years, they root in this strange place for interests, paying sweat and blood, even their lives. With their arrival, local village and peasants are forced to change their lives. Many hidden interest lines and hidden rules about road construction of the nation are unveiled, together with the shocking truth and emerging secrets.

Der Orient - Wiege des Christentums(2022)

Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder(2009)

The poet and painter, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, is among the world's living monuments to arts and letters. For well over a half century, Ferlinghetti helped shape the currents of poetry and literature with his forceful engagement with society and an ideological position that often found him at odds with the political currents of his day. Ferlinghetti's quiet, behind the scenes demeanor and disarming mien may have assuaged, or even fooled, certain opponents, while in reality he was a literary mercenary, a rebel at the forefront of our own cultural revolution.

Pékin Daxing : Le Plus Grand Aéroport du monde(2022)

September 2019. China inaugurates the largest airport terminal in the world, which covers 700,000 m2, the equivalent of 98 football pitches. Built in 5 years, it embodies the jewel of Chinese modernity but also of French know-how. Go behind the scenes of a pharaonic construction site.

Only Me Generation

This documentary gives fascinating insights into the aspect of Chinese culture that evolved from the One Child policy. Young adults born during the first years of the policy are interviewed. They discuss the struggles with their parent's generation and their children's generation, the pros and cons they experienced being single children, their losses, their aspirations.

Three days 'till Christmas(2012)

Historical Docudrama, which describes accurately - based on evidence, documents, reconstructions and archive footage - the last days of life spouses Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu. Main performers, Victoria Cocias (Elena Ceausescu) and Constantin Cojocaru (Nicolae Ceausescu).