Even before Americans began flocking to theatres on Christmas Eve to see The Interview Chinese film fans by the thousands were downloading mostly pirated versions of the movie on domestic video-sharing websites. By midday on Friday, more than 300,000 people had seen the film, and the reviews, by and large, were favourable.
“Perfect, the greatest film in history, all hail Sony,” read one online comment. Said another, “Their ability to amuse is out of this galaxy,” referring to the film’s stars, Seth Rogen and James Franco.
In one sign of the enthusiasm for the film, The Interview scored an 8 out of 10 rating on the Chinese Internet movie database Douban, with more than 10,000 people posting reviews. In their comments, some people acknowledged having not seen the film, but wanted to show their support for what many approvingly described as an act of subversion against North Korea. Although China is North Korea’s only significant ally on the world stage, many ordinary Chinese have mixed feelings about the relationship
In a nod to China’s authoritarian side, one user wrote, “If we made a comedy that said ‘Assassinate Mao,’ the result would be unimaginable. Don’t ‘like’ my post or I’ll get detained.” (On many video-sharing sites, the film’s title was translated as “Assassinate Kim Jong-un.”)
— New York Times News Service
