Portrait of a Fanatic

Portrait of a Fanatic is a 1982 Taiwanese period film directed by Wang Toon, adapted by Wu Nien-jen from Bai Hua's 1980 screenplay, which was first made into a film in mainland China that quickly received a ban there on orders of Deng Xiaoping himself. Part of China's scar literature, Bai Hua's story is set in mainland China and the United States. It follows the turbulent life of a patriotic Chinese painter from the 1930s to the 1970s, as he escapes Japan's bombings during the Second Sino-Japanese War, assassinations by the repressive Nationalist government during the Chinese Civil War, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the horrors of the Cultural Revolution when millions of intellectuals and artists were cruelly persecuted on trumped-up charges.

Portrait of a Fanatic
DVD cover
Traditional Chinese	苦戀
Simplified Chinese	苦恋
Literal meaning	Bitter Love
Hanyu Pinyin	Kǔ Liàn
Directed by	Wang Toon
Written by	Wu Nien-chen
Based on	Bitter Love by Bai Hua
Starring	Muh Sy-Cherng Hsu Chung-fei Meng Yuan Ku Chun Nancy Hu Doze Niu Gua Ah-leh
Cinematography	Lin Hung-chung
Production company	Central Motion Picture Corporation
Release date	October 22, 1982 (1982-10-22)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	Taiwan
Languages	Mandarin some English