Uproar in Heaven (1964)
Directed by Wan Laiming
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Synopsis by Clarke Fountain
This animated feature is made on the basis of a much-revered story in China, known as The Monkey King, which tells, in the most amusing manner possible, the highly allegorical story of how Buddhism came to China. The original story is full of magic, marvels, humor, betrayals and reversals. In this much-altered offshoot of that story, the monkey-hero of the earlier story has some of the same qualities, only the meaning of them has been changed. An irascible monkey with supernatural powers doesn't get the exalted position in the heavenly hierarchy that he wanted, and he feels (rightly) that he has been slighted. In this Marxist-oriented feature, he turns his powers to the task of protecting the people against exploiters. In more ideologically relaxed Chinese-speaking areas and times, the same story has generated a great many cartoon retellings, and at least one live-action movie.
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Keywords
evil, good-vs-evil, monkey, revenge