The plot development is a tad manipulative. Why do we have to have our heart strings tugged in order to feel outrage over the abuses of the Cultural Revolution? <br /><br />The focus on Christianity is not made clear by the advertising. This requires a little tunnel vision: Mao persecuted everybody with any sort of religious faith, not just Christians. "China Cry" therefore seems more like a Sunday school propaganda film, rather than a serious examination of how the Cultural Revolution destroyed many, many lives. Historic tragedy is reduced to melodrama. <br /><br />The melodrama is interrupted only by sickeningly brutal scenes, including a woman in third trimester being kicked in the abdomen. Other films have approached survival-during-government-sponsored-terror much more compellingly. Try "The Killing Fields," or "Europa, Europa," also based on true stories.