The Last Emperor

This excellent movie tells the story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi, from his own fascinating and rarely told point of view. This is the only place that I've found the story told from inside the Forbidden City.
We see Pu Yi as he grows up with the idea that he is god on earth, and how he must adapt to the responsibilities that also come with being a ruler.
The movie heats up when his whole world, indeed all of China, is thrown into revolution. Pu Yi finally learns of life outside of the palace in the hardest way. He is forced to abdicate.
Quite apart from his decadent lifestyle in the first have of the movie, we now watch his decline, from being exploited by the invading Japanese into a puppet ruler, to a Chinese jail where he is forced to prove his allegiance to the new rule. Finally he is reduced to what could only be acceptable to red China, an ordinary peasant, obscure and silent about his past.
The film is more entertaining that historical, and rightly so. It would be remiss not to focus on the emotions involved in such an exciting, and sometimes jarring, life journey like that of Pu Yi's.