THE turgid revolutionary epics being churned out by the Mandarin Chinese film factories in recent years say as much about the current ideological line as they do about historical events. Chongqing Negotiations is no exception. Detailing the 1945 talks between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in the aftermath of World War II, this Changchun Film Studio production may be short on insight into those tumultuous times, but speaks volumes about just what is ''politically correct'' in the 1990s.
The trio of directors (Zhang Yifei and the husband-wife team of Li Qiankuan and Xiao Guiyun, whose credits include such other excursions into communist triumphs as Founding Ceremony and After the Final Battle) take a glacially-paced 130 minutes to explore the 43 days of negotiations between the Kuomintang and Communists leading to the Double Tenth Agreement - a truce that brought a temporary lull in the Civil War. After sitting through Chongqing Negotiations, you almost feel like you have experienced the entire six weeks of talks.
The film opens with documentary footage on the end of World War II, followed by huge (non-documentary) victory celebrations. As is usual in films of this sort, the movie-makers have massive material support. Thousands of extras are involved in the revelry at the communist stronghold in Yan'an, overseen by revolutionary leaders impersonated by actors who have had prolific careers due to the current ''fad'' for revolutionary epics.
Chairman Mao (played once again by Gu Yue) applauds as revellers - including Deng Xiaoping (Lu Qi) and Zhou Enlai (Huang Kai) - dance around bonfires. Deng's is but a ''star cadre cameo appearance'', as he does not take part in the Chongqing negotiations.
Chiang Kai-shek (Sun Feihu) reluctantly invites Mao and the Communists to his headquarters in Chongqing. There is much inter-cutting between Chongqing and Yan'an, with the film-makers emphasising the stiffness of the generalissimo and his staff in contrast to the camaraderie between the chairman and his comrades.
Mao's departure from Yan'an is one of those scenes in which the directors make sure the audience is aware of the material resources at their disposal - even if it means slowing up the picture. In the five-minute sequence, thousands upon thousands of extras are present at the small airstrip to pay their regards to Mao and Zhou as the leaders momentously board a US army plane. It soars over the yellow plains, and a wizened goat-herd lifts his voice in a folk hymn to Chairman Mao.