Mao by Mao

A filmdétournement biography of Mao Tsetung in which the life of the recently deceased Great Helmsman is told in his own words using quotes culled from various Red Guard publications The rise to power of the films namesake appears as the inevitable outcome of a dialectical logical Or so the voiceover might lead one to believe If the usual practice of détourned films is for the soundtrack to undermine the image here the reverse occasionally takes place The images critique Maos words They show that which even in the official visual record of the times the narrative elides The film is dedicated to Li Yhi Zhe the nominal author of a famous Democracy Wall critique of the Maoist state