Many things are missing in the film The Red Flag Flies. There is no story development, protagonist or professional actors here. Words are heard but they are not dialogues. Even efforts to entertain its viewers are not found in this film. But this film is filled with so many other things. The problems facing today′s China are analyzed. Symbols and metaphors through men, objects and red flags are everywhere. ProVocative experimentalism is attempted to topple the wall between viewers and cinema. Ironically, but naturally enough, the film opens with Mao′s words about the relationship between art and politics. Then, it continuously asks questions surrounding modern China: about politics and art, socialist ideology and capitalist economy, and the Party and the individual. The litany of questions is constant, and from time to time, political slogans and symbolic images interrupt the stream of questions. What this film wants from its viewers is not to watch and enjoy, but to ponder. In this film, the director attempts to break away from the existing cinematic format and discover a new method. Though its success is up to viewers′ judgment, his stubbornness-that recalls Godard′s belligerent attitude in the 1960s and 1970s-is amazingly refreshing. The political testimony and cinematic risks taken in The Red Flag Flies can be seen as highly experimental and sensational ones. How could a film like this possibly be produced? This is an intellectual film that the potential of Chinese film as well as director Zhou Hongxiang are vividly carved into. (Kwon Yong-min)