At the age of 11, Li Cunxin (Chi Cao) was plucked from obscurity in a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural revolutionary talent spotters and taken to Beijing to study ballet, where he spent the next few years mastering the techniques, if not the soul, of classical ballet.

In 1979, Li was selected for a cultural exchange to Texas sponsored by Huston Ballet Company Artistic Director, Ben Stephensen (Bruce Greenwood). Li was chosen in the belief that of all the students in his ballet class, he would be the one most resistant to the evils of western imperialism. Had that been true, there would be no film, of course. Needless to say Li disappointed the Party by falling in love with an American dancer, Elizabeth Mackey (Amanda Schull), whom he secretly married. After some grief at the Chinese Consulate in Huston, which saw him almost dragged forcibly back to China, he managed to defect, but was forbidden to ever contact his family again.

The romance with Liz fizzled after a time, in part because she was unable to get work in the Huston company, despite being married to their rising star.  Li performed as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet for a number of years, where he met Australian prima ballerina Mary McKendry (Camilla Vergotis). After they married they moved to Australia where Li then performed as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet until he retired.

Not only is this an interesting story, director Bruce Beresford has done the bestselling autobiography of Li Cunxin proud, by hiring real dancers to play the roles of the ballet dancers and a sterling cast of actors in the supporting roles. In fact, production of the movie was held up for a number of years, while they searched the globe for an exceptional dancer of Chinese heritage to play the main role. It was Li himself who spotted Chi Cao at the Birmingham Ballet, a dancer with a story not dissimilar to his own.

There have been harder roads to fame and freedom, if not many that breach a gap as wide as the gulf between the abject poverty of the seventh son of a rural Chinese farmer, to the glitz and glory of the international ballet scene. Joan Chen is a standout as Li's mother, who urges her son to take the opportunity he’s been offered, and then turns on the party officials when they inform her of her son’s defection with the classic “well, don’t blame me. You had him last” defence. The rest of the acting is great, particularly the very natural and charismatic Chi Cao, who, if he’d followed martial arts instead of dancing, would have a great career ahead of him as the next Jackie Chan.

There are some manipulative moments, such as Li dreaming of his parents being dragged off to a labour camp, when in fact, no such thing happened to them, and the grand finale is milked for every emotional drop it can wring from you, but by then, you don’t mind. The film’s pacing is tight and the story — no doubt streamlined for cinematic effect — gets the key moments of Li’s transformation across effectively, even if it leaves some of the minor characters a little two dimensional in the process.

And the dancing is superb. For that alone, it’s worth the money.

I just bought the book on Monday. Is the book just as good, or better?

Can't say... haven't read the book.