Historical epic hailed ‘most beautiful movie’ now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video

A sweeping and rich movie based on historical events that’s been celebrated by fans as ‘one of the last truly great epics ever made’ is available to watch at home.

The 1987 classic holds an impressive 86% rating from critics on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, as well as 88% from audiences who call it ‘a masterpiece’.

Based on a remarkable true story, The Last Emperor is acclaimed filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning dramatisation of China’s eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty: Emperor Puyi.

After being captured by the Red Army as a war criminal in 1950, Puyi recalls his childhood from prison, remembering a lavish youth in the Forbidden City, where he was installed as emperor of China aged just two in 1908.

However, as revolution swept through the country the child-king was forced to abdicate, ending two millennia of imperial rule, although he was initially permitted to stay living in the Forbidden City.

In 1919, Scottish scholar and diplomat Reginald Johnston arrives at the palace to serve as Puyi’s tutor and teach him subjects outside of his strict Confucian education, like mathematics, political science and English, for the first time.

The Last Emperor is adapted from Puyi’s own 1964 autobiography, which also covered his later political imprisonment and rehabilitation under the Chinese Communist Party.

It stars John Lone, Peter O’Toole, Joan Chen, Ying Ruocheng, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun and Ryuichi Sakamoto and was the first Western film to be granted permission to film by the People’s Republic of China in Beijing’s Forbidden City.

‘Absolutely loved it! One of my favourite movies, I strongly recommend it,’ praised fan Sem M in an audience reaction on Rotten Tomatoes, while George L claimed: ‘The best movie I have ever seen.’

‘It’s a spectacularly beautiful film. Many of the professional film critics’ reviews criticise the “plot”, not recognizing that the movie is a historical narrative of the vastly changing culture of more than a billion people,’ he added.

The film was also described as ‘visually magnificent’ and ‘a film that everyone should watch’ by other fans.

‘I’m so glad I can cross this one off my unseen list. It was a fantastic film. Given the grandeur of the camera as it moves around China’s Forbidden City, I really wish I had seen this one on the big screen. It was breathtaking,’ praised John E, while it was also called ‘the best, greatest epic movie ever made’.

The Washington Post praised the movie as ‘a remarkable achievement’, while Peter Bradshaw’s five-star review for The Guardian added: ‘There’s no doubting its spectacular richness and heartfelt, deeply satisfying storytelling.’

Running at the time of its release, Todd McCarthy’s review for Variety described The Last Emperor as ‘constantly absorbing and tremendously interesting’.

It would go on to win a very impressive nine Oscars – every single one it was nominated for – including best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score and awards for its costuming and art direction.

The Last Emperor also took home three Baftas from 11 nominations (including one for O’Toole), four Golden Globes – as well as nomination for Lone’s central performance – and a Grammy for its score.

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