Crazy English (film)

Crazy English is a 1999 Chinese documentary directed by Zhang Yuan. The film premiered along with Zhangs Seventeen Years at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. It established Zhangs position as a legitimate director after years of working independently from, and often at odds with, the Chinese authorities.

The film follows one of the Peoples Republic of Chinas most popular motivational speakers, Li Yang, the founder of Crazy English. Li is known for his stadiumsized presentations where he exhorts his audiences to engage in mass recitations of English phrases and idioms, often with a strong nationalist bent Conquer English to Make China Stronger. Li, however, has also courted controversy. Despite the fact that he teaches a foreign language, Li has never left China, a fact not revealed in the film until the end. Other common criticisms, including accusations that Li Yang is a nationalist huckster and that his methods do not actually improve Englishspeaking ability, receive a much more subtle presentation in Zhangs film.The film follows Li on his tours throughout China with a few interspersed interviews. Zhang Yuan has described the film as a combination of Leni Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will and Robert Zemeckis Forrest Gump. ........

Source: Wikipedia