"Mao's Last Dancer" is a very enjoyable and inspiring film--even if, like me, you have absolutely no interest in ballet. The film is based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin--a great Chinese dancer who eventually defected to the United States in the early 1980s.

The film bounces back and forth in time, but basically it begins with a young boy being chosen to move from his very rural town to Beijing to begin training as a dancer. I thought the most interesting part of the film was his training as well as the struggle between those wanting to create true ballet in China and those who wanted it to be used for propaganda purposes. Regardless, eventually Cunxin (Chi Cao) is given an opportunity to dance in the US by the leader of a ballet troop in Houston (Bruce Greenwood) and the rest is history. See it for yourself to find out what happens next.

As I said above, it's a very good film even though many in the audience will not care for ballet. Let's be honest here--ballet is not appreciated by a wide audience. But what I could appreciate was Cao's great athleticism and very good acting. I also enjoyed watching Greenwood, as he was quite different from the more macho and deep-voiced guy I saw in the TV show "Nowhere Man". Here, he sounds like an entirely different guy and I appreciated that as well. The film also is quite artistic--with lovely music and direction. Well worth seeing.

Li Cunxin is a Chinese ballet dancer. He arrives in America in a cultural exchange program sponsored by the Houston Ballet director Ben Stevenson (Bruce Greenwood). As a child, he was taken from a small rural village and trained in the state dance program in Beijing. He tries to adjust to the new culture and the new dance program. He falls for fellow dancer Elizabeth (Amanda Schull). Li wants to extend his stay but the Chinese government refuses.

There is a general lack of drama in this biopic. His childhood story is interesting but without any surprises. It's interesting to see China but the story has no intensity. A similar thing can be said about the modern American side of the story. At least that has a love story and some drama about his defection. Two hours is way too long for a biopic that isn't that dramatic.

In a village of China, the eleven year-old Li Cunxin is selected by the Comunist Party to study ballet at the Madame Mao's Dance Academy in Beijing. Years later, he travels to Houston in a cultural exchange program invited by the artistic director Ben Stevenson (Bruce Greenwood) and he is promoted to principal dancer of the Houston Ballet. Meanwhile he secretly dates and falls in love with the dancer Elizabeth Mackey (Amanda Schull).

When the China's government asks Li Cunxin (Chi Cao) to return to his country, he marries Liz and defects to USA. He is forbidden to return to China and has no news of his parents and family. Meanwhile, his marriage with Liz ends and he misses his parents. But five years later, he has a great surprise during a performance.

"Mao's Last Dancer" is a film about the true story of the Chinese ballet dancer Li Cunxin. The engaging biography of Li Cunxin is an example of discipline and strength associated with courage to make the right decisions, and it is amazing how a boy from a poor village in China could have become a great ballerino in the West.

Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan and Joan Chen are well known actors and are fantastic, but Chi Cao, Chengwu Guo and the rest of the cast and dancers have also top-notch performances. Everything is perfect in this film, from the direction of Bruce Beresford to the cinematography and art direction. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "O Último Bailarino de Mao" ("The Last Ballerino of Mao")