During the Warring States period in China, there were many assassination attempts to murder Qin Shihuang, the eventual first emperor of China. Zhang Yimou’s Hero tells a story about an assassin, named Nameless, getting within 10 paces of Qin only to not follow through on his initial goal of avenging the death of his family by Qin soldiers. After many years of perfecting his special tactic, Nameless realizes that the eventual peace that would take place under a united China was more important than the satisfaction of killing the leader of the most powerful state. With Qin leading the most powerful army in China, he lives to unite China and bring an end to the Warring States period. What stood out to me is that it is unlike any martial arts movie I've seen and that maybe there is a political message behind the film, though I believe that the message is more universal than one specific about China.
The movie did have many fight scenes to qualify as a martial arts film, but the real battle took place in the minds of Nameless and Qin. This can be seen at the end of the movie where Qin actually throws his sword to Nameless, giving Nameless the decision making power of which idea is more important. The idea of peace under a unified China would not be that easy for Nameless to accept because it required many bloody conflicts and, as a result, destruction of an opposing states’ culture. The scene in which Qin soldiers attack a calligraphy school in the Zhao state is a good example. A barrage of arrows comes raining down on the school, killing many students. The Qin army could be seen as destroying a state’s culture by removing the main mode of transmission, the students at the calligraphy school. The idea of eventual peace wins out because the benefits will affect all the people in China, while the desire of killing Qin may benefit a few people or states.
Some have criticized the movie from a political standpoint that the idea of peace and harmony justified the Tiananmen Square massacre. It is clear how the movie and the events at Tiananmen Square could be similar and the fact that the film is made with the Chinese government’s approval does not make things better. However, I feel like it this could apply to most situations in international politics, not just China. But since it is a Chinese film, Tiananmen Square will probably be the first thing that comes to mind, especially for those outside China. It just seems the message in the movie is more universal than critics make it out to be.
The movie did very well in the box office due to the storytelling done by Zhang Yimou, despite having some tension on a political level. He uses the colors of red, blue, white, and green to differentiate the story told by Nameless, what Qin actually thought had happened, and the true events. This is blended well the fighting scenes based in the wuxia genre of martial arts. Zhang, also, mixes the style of Hollywood films with computer graphics with Chinese elements presented in zoomed-out shots that make the actors very small when compared to the surroundings. Overall, these qualities made his movie a success in the box office.
A large portion of my review on Hero deals with the use of color and what it represents in relations to the themes in the film. Maybe you will find it interesting because I put my own interpretation of its purpose.
ReplyDeleteActually even though we just recently discuss about Tienanmen Square, I didn't make a connection to it while watching the film. Though, the critics do make a valid point and it seems to logical make sense in that it seems to wrongly justify the actions that were made in Tienanmen Square... I agree that this kind of sacrificial idea can be said about any political situation.
ReplyDeleteMore overly, I think CCPs backing did create a bigger a stir in this implication.
I also didn't make the connection with Tienanmen Square. I guess I just didn't watch it as critically as other people did.
ReplyDelete