The Blue Kite (iTunes)

Banned in China, where the director was under close scrutiny for making the film "without permission," The Blue Kite is the most acclaimed and controversial of all the films to come out of the new Chinese cinema. Told from the perspective of a young boy, Tietou, it traces the fate of a Beijing family and their neighbors as they experience the political and social upheavals in the 1950s and 1960s China.

Tietou's parents, a librarian and school teacher, both loyal communist party members, soon learn that even the most innocent criticisms can be interpreted by the Party as imperialist propaganda. Over the next fifteen years, Tietou observes the adverse effects of party policy on various members of his family. The only image of hope and freedom offered in the film is a blue kite given to Tietou by his father, which he later passes on to the next generation.