Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Unreal

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Unreal

“I've already wasted my whole life. I want to tell you with my last breath that I have always loved you. I would rather be a ghost, drifting by your side as a condemned soul, than enter heaven without you. Because of your love, I will never be a lonely spirit.”

– Li Mu Bai

“I feel sorry for the Chinese audience because they have to wait 15 minutes before the action starts. I had to please the Western cultures.”

– Ang Lee

For starters, don’t watch the commentary for the film you are reviewing.

When the world was first conceived, it is detailed in science that there was a “Big Bang.” This “Bang” included collisions between molecules of all sorts, random, for lack of a better word. In Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon there were not any random collisions, but rather definite collisions between the Western ideals and Chinese Culture. Like the “Big Bang,” Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gave birth to a new World; a spellbinding, fantasy that’s tragedy is bound by triumph. But, like the “Big Bang,” Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon left behind many questions, uncertainties and unreal phenomena.

Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon begins with Li Mu Bai, an expert Wudang swordsman, telling his longtime love and fellow warrior, Yu Shu Lien, that he withdrew from his meditative practices at Wudan. He asks Yu Shu Lien to take his sword, and most prized possession, The Green Destiny, to Peking as a gift to their mutual friend, Sir Te.

It is at Sir Te’s house that Yu Shu Lien comes across Jen Yu, the Governor’s daughter, who is arranged for marriage. It is here that we see a second collision of cultures. Jen Yu is already familiar with Yu Shu Lien, which is astonishing given their class disparities, and she also envies Yu Shu Lien’s warrior lifestyle with Li Mu Bai.

The Green Destiny is stolen at night during Jen Yu and Yu Shu Lien’s stay at Sir Te’s. After reports from the local guard, Governor Yu’s house is suspected to be holding the thief. Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien discover the Jade Fox, the murderer of Li Mu Bai’s master. They also discover that she is the mentor of the thief, Jen. Li Mu Bai and Jen’s battle, a battle that shows Jen Yu’s promise and inexperience, prompts Li Mu Bai to ask Jen, “Who is your REAL Master?” Before he can reclaim the Green Destiny Jade Fox takes her and they flee, upon Jade Fox’s murder of an officer.

As Jen tries to return the Green Destiny to Sir Te’s house, Li Mu Bai catches her and chases her from rooftop to rooftop. As she gains salvation in a temple, she realizes that it wasn’t a chase, but more of an education. Li Mu Bai proposes to be her Master as they duel, but she arrogantly refuses and escapes.

Soon after an encounter with Jen Yu’s real love, Lo, the ceremony for Jen’s wedding begins. The ceremony is interrupted by Lo who learned from Jen Yu that one must not let go of the possessions they cherish without a willingness to die. Upon escaping from the wedding's guards, Lo is taken into protection by Shu Lien and Mu Bai and sent to Wudan.

Similarly, Jen escapes from her marriage upon the commotion and embarks on a new path for herself; a life free from restraints. She becomes liumang in her new life and causes a ruckus. Upon receiving news from Yu Shu Lien that Lo is protected and in Wudan, Jen loses it, thinking that it is a trap to send her to Wudan. Yu Shu Lien and Jen then have an epic battle, in which Jen is defeated, but immaturely cuts Yu Shu Lien when she lowers her guard.

Later, when Li Mu Bai confronts Jen, she runs into the woods where she they embark in an epic confrontation. One attacks (Jen Yu), the other defends at ease (Li Mu Bai). Jen finally accepts her defeat and promises to be Li Mu Bai’s student if he is able to take the Green Destiny away in three moves, he does so in one move. After she refuses to accept her defeat, Li Mu Bai throws the sword down a waterfall, claiming that she has no use for the sword if she cannot even show humility in defeat. Jen Yu jumps after the sword, off the face of the waterfall and is saved by Jade Fox.

After much searching, Li Mu Bai finally finds Jen in a cave. She has been drugged by the Jade Fox and as he begins to heal her, Yu Shu Lien arrives. They are ambushed by the Jade Fox, who slyly shot poison darts into the room upon her entrance. She ends up being slain, by Li Mu Bai, but in the process, she successfully poisoned him. As Jen tries to save him, and her efforts fall short, Yu Shu Lien spares her life and asks that she go to Wudan to reclaim her love, something Yu Shu Lien has just lost. As Li Mu Bai was dying, in his last words, rather than saving his energy, he proclaims his love for Yu Shu Lien.

Jen goes to Wudan to spend her final night with Lo. She releases herself from the face of the mountain, floating and flying freely within the clouds.

The film provides questions throughout and provides the consummate development of its characters. From the local guard to Jen Yu, every story is complete and fulfilled; Director Ang makes a subtle note of this in his commentary.

One of the cultural collisions that is seen is Sir Te’s relationship with Yu Shu Lien. Sir Te is a father figure to Yu Shu Lien, but during the time this film was meant to portray (1700s, during the Qing Dynasty), an aristocrat like Sir Te would never befriend the lower-class woman, Yu Shu Lien. Then, for Sir Te to encourage and promote the uninhabited love between Yu Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai is, simply, preposterous. However, for ignorant viewers, which I choose to be in this case, it was a heartwarming message of embrace.

Another is the idea of teaching. In Western cultures, a teacher, in most cases, is commonly someone who was not achieved the highest level and therefore wants to teach his/her students to achieve greater successes. The road is paved for the student to surpass the teacher rather quickly. In this film and in many Eastern Cultures, the teacher is the pinnacle for a student. The art that the teacher teaches usually requires hours upon years of discipline, as seen in this film. In Eastern Cultures, the traditions are in script (i.e. calligraphy, the scroll of the Wudan teachings) and every student can interpret the scrolls differently, however, only the Master’s can decipher the hidden meanings because of lineage. As seen in the relationship between Jade Fox & Jen Yu and Jen Yu & Li Mu Bai.

A collision that one should also take note of is the idea of “chase.” In most cases, the chase is the student chasing the master for education; in this case it was the Master trying to chase a potential student.

The next collision is that of freedom and entrapment. Jen is trapped within the culture of aristocracy and Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien are trapped within the restraints of their own cultures. Jen feels freedom when she is in the desert with Lo and when she fights and Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien see freedom only in the face of death.

The collisions, what some may refer as contradictions, were the unreal aspects that drove this movie into an unprecedented height. The collisions proved to be spellbinding.