Having spent most of a decade living in The People's Republic of China, I feel that this movie gives an accurate portrayal of that period. I was in China as an English teacher and worked in four different universities while there. I was able to talk to a lot of people and heard many horror stories about what took place in China after the Revolution in the 50's. The mass persecution of Christians still goes on, and many are continuing to lose their lives and their freedom, simply because they are Christians. Most people my age did not have any photos of themselves or their families taken while they were growing up. During the Cultural Revolution photos (and most anything else like musical instruments, art, foreign clothing, books, or even nicer furniture) were not allowed and were destroyed or buried, as you could be severely punished for having them, since they were considered "foreign" I even heard of a lady putting her family photos in soup ( when her house was being searched by Red Guards) to get rid of them lest she be caught. There were Mao statutes everywhere, and I was told that if you did take a photo with one of them in the background and cut of his head in the picture, that you could be punished or even killed. Teachers were taken out of the classroom in front of their students and paraded through town wearing dunce caps. It was a terrible, terrible, time especially if you were an educated person or desired to think for yourself.