People can understand a country or a nation from its movies because films can be seen as carriers of culture.
China's President Xi Jinping expressed his love towards American films like Sleepless in Seattle, at the welcoming dinner hosted by the local government of Washington State and friendly organizations of the US on the night of Sept.22, 2015.
"The film Sleepless in Seattle has made the city almost a household name in China," Xi said when describing China's familiarity with his host city.
Commenting on China's ongoing anti-corruption campaign, Xi said China will further promote anti-graft drive and "this has nothing to do with power struggle. It's nothing like what you see in House of Cards."
Thirty years ago in 1985, when Xi first visited the US, he stayed with the Dvorchaks, an ordinary U.S. family in Muscatine, Iowa. The Dvorchaks' daughter asked Xi whether he watched American films, Xi recalled. The girl was surprised when she learned that Xi had watched several films including The Deer Hunter and The Godfather.
So, which American films have Xi watched?
Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Nora Ephron. In the film, a single father got contact with a female reporter through a radio talk show. They eventually got married after several talks through letters. The romantic plots have touched so many viewers in China.
The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy from a screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola.
Starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, the film is about the fictional Corleone New York crime family, concentrating on the transformation of Michael Corleone from reluctant family outsider to ruthless Mafia boss while chronicling the family under the patriarch Vito.
The film covered wide range of themes such as royalty and trust, power and evil and friendships and family collide. The film ranked second to Citizen Kane by the American Film Institute in 2007.
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steelworkers and their service in the Vietnam War.
The film won six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Chicago Sun-Times commented that The Deer Hunter tells people never to forget the war.
The movie chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). Members from a small team of secret agents of the IM Fall carry special skills to salvage the U.S. and even the world. There have been five episodes since its first release on big screen in 1996.
"It is mission impossible for me to strike a balance between my life and work," Xi said when he visited an international school in Los Angeles during his visit to the US in 2012.
Saving Private Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg is a 1998 American epic war drama film set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II.
After the Invasion of Normandy in World War II, three servicemen all died except James Francis Ryan. For sake of humanitarinism, American army deployed an 8-people team to search for Ryan.
Touched by the film's realistic scenario, many veterans of WWII said that the film is a true reflection of the Second World War. The film reflects people's love towards life, thought towards humanity and criticism towards wars.
In 2014, Saving Private Ryan was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
It is reported that the film is the most favorite war films of Xi.
Besides, Flags of Our Fathers directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Steven Spielberg, the chronics story behind photograph of the Flag Raising at Iwo Jima during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, is on the film list of Xi. Xi pointed out that this kind of films reflecting WWII can help people remember history.
