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Anyone seen Hero with Jet Li? I enjoyed it and loved watching the colors. I wish I would have seen it in theaters instead of my little t.v., but it was still fun. One of the things I thought about was how it actually worked well as Communist Chinese propaganda (and I mean that in the best way possible ). I told this to a friend I work with, who argued with me because he heard the guy who made it interviewed on NPR talk about how the Chinese government hates him. Regardless, I think the movie is something that the government there would like.
I think all societies have to balance individual rights with a commitment to the well-being of the whole. Communism sacrifices the former for the latter. The protagonist in "Hero" wasn't a hero for his invidual accomplishments, but for sacrificing himself for the good of the people. I loved the movie and believe in balancing the needs of individuals with the needs of the whole, so I'm not saying it's flawed ideologically. I'm just saying that it fits well with Communist ideals, while China isn't going to produce a lot of "I'm going to knock some skulls 'cause the man is holding me down" kinds of movies (movies focused on individual rights).
Am I misunderstanding the movie or Communism?
Any other thoughts on the movie?
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote: There are some reviewers who hopped on a particular bandwagon: political appropriateness. See, Nameless makes a decision they don't like: at a moment when he could stop the King's conquest of China's warring states and founding of an empire, he turns his blade away. Nameless even acknowledges that what he's done will cost the countless lives. On this basis a bunch of reviewers and a couple critics roundly damned the movie, saying it kowtows to empire, to the horrors of totalitarianism.
Well this is just bull****, and it's a shallow reading of the thing. Those fed a steady diet of American action films see a hero as a single-minded automaton who's there to get the job done and stands for a single, unambiguous righteous cause. Simple-minded storytelling, played out by mannequins. Reviewers and critics do us no service by oversimplifying or altogether ignoring such a deeply complex point of story as is the ending of the film. It annoys me to no end that Anthony Lane in the New Yorker suggests "Try not to ponder the movie’s end," calling it "a paean to tyrannical rule." Bull****. Sadly, J. Hoberman, whom I love to read (enjoy his review of Team America World Police), dismisses it as "is the essence of shallow gravitas." A slam, a shame, and pure bull****. James Bernadelli claims "the plot is trite... The narrative is clearly of secondary concern." A steaming three-foot pile of bull****.
No, the culmination of Hero should be discussed for a long time, and lauded, for being ambiguous and troubling. In my mind and three screenings, Zhang isn't telling me that we always must beat the oppressor and champion our cause, because sometimes the cause doesn't really exist, it's an ideal that exists in the mind. I certainly do not think Zhang is implying that empire is the only way to peace, that sometimes we must surrender to the oppressor in order to save lives. Try this on for size: another reader Isaac S. wrote me to tell me a very insightful point, that Nameless, like his friend and enemy Broken Sword, roots his change of heart in the characters Sword has carved in the sand with his own broken sword: tian xia., Now, in the Miramax version we saw in the theaters here, this was translated to mean 'our land." Bad translation, sort of an Arthurian reference to some kind of deep mythic patriotism. On the Chinese bootleg version that Isaac saw, and loved, tian xia is given its more telling, poetic and as far as I can discern more accurate translation: "all under heaven." I read in this that perhaps Nameless has seen in Broken Sword's character drawn in the sand, tian xia, a universe beyond the sword, a world where the greatest sword-wielder realizes that the sword is unnecessary. Rather than choosing to commit yet another act by the sword, he puts it down. For the benefit of all under heaven.
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The reviewer is right about the translation. "Tian Xia" literally means everything under the sky. In common usage, it means the entire world. "Our land" is a terrible translation.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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For me the first hint that it wasn't going to be a predictable ending was when the king did a little commentary on communication problems ("19 ways to write 'sword,' no wonder we can't communicate! Can you imagine if we all . . . "). They changed his character there, having him concerned for the greater good. It was fine, but it felt a little inserted, like on Wayne's World when they started plugging all of the products (e.g., Doritos, Pepsi).
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote: I think sacrificing individual needs for the greater good is as much as "Chinese" idea as it is a Communist one.
Wo ye jeyang xiang. I think it has to be true of any successful society. The U.S. isn't exactly balanced in the individual needs vs. collective good. We lean now toward being snot-nosed, "it's-all-about-me" individualism, but we wouldn't have the free country we have now if our predecessors weren't willing to sacrifice their own well-being for the greater good. It is a requirement in times of crisis, or else things break down.
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posted
Unfortunately the ending of the film for me too ruined what was otherwise a compelling, thoughtful and complex action film. No, the ends do not justify the means and the assassins were foolish for not following their original plan through.
I love foreign cinema but for me the fact that many Chinese films were made with the caution of how the Government would react sort of ruins them for me. However I highly recommend the film called "To Live," a tragedy that exposes how the communist revolution in China affects an average family. The Chinese government reacted by banning its director and lead film maker from making cinema for years.
Posts: 722 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote: I love foreign cinema but for me the fact that many Chinese films were made with the caution of how the Government would react sort of ruins them for me.
I liked the film, even the ending, but it did kind of bother me for the same reasons. It is the same with modern Chinese literature. There is some very good literature, but a lot of sad situations behind the scenes, where the books are praised because they are percieved to support Communist ideals, or labeled "poisonous weeds" and the author punished.
VWiggin: amazing translation abilities! (especially since I mix romanizations -- I can't keep them straight).
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The foul-mouthed review sarcasticmuppet posted is pretty much in line with what I think about "Hero." The key line near the end is the king's interpretation of Broken Sword's calligraphy, and how in the end the sword becomes unnecessary for the true warrior. Also important is when Nameless entreats the king to always think of the good of tian xia. Perhaps in sacrificing himself he has touched the king deeply enough to teach him mercy.
But really, I sometimes think it's mistaken to view Nameless as the main character of the movie. Broken Sword and Flying Snow are the people we really come to love. The multiple plotlines are important in understanding their story. What seems most important to me is the fact that, whether their hearts are jealous (red version) or pure (blue/white/green versions) they basically end in sorrow and death. Part of the film's point is that so much of our good fortune is just that, fortune, and has no connection with the virtue or vice we personify inside.
quote:I love foreign cinema but for me the fact that many Chinese films were made with the caution of how the Government would react sort of ruins them for me. However I highly recommend the film called "To Live," a tragedy that exposes how the communist revolution in China affects an average family. The Chinese government reacted by banning its director and lead film maker from making cinema for years.
"To Live" was also directed by Zhang Yimou (who did Hero). This is one reason I don't think "Hero" has a collectivist/pro-Commie message.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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The problem I have with the whole "It supports Communism" thing is the historical context that gets left out.
Nameless does not represent of bunch of freedom fighting governments. The countries that were getting defeated were not more noble because they were getting crushed, and they were not more noble because of any ideological differences.
It was a blood bath. All the rulers were doing essentially the same thing and stood for the same thing. It was a power struggle, and Nameless decided to not prolong the struggle.
Now if Nameless’s country was an innocent country that upheld personal rights, freedom, et cetera and was trying to establish a democratic state and Nameless did not kill the Emporer, then yeah, the movie is filled with communist propaganda. I did not see it that way. Democracy vs. Communism was not an issue Chinese people were working out at that time.
For me the lesson was that the thirst for power was not enough justification to prolong war.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I sympathize, lem, although Zhao was portrayed as a free-spirited place of learning and contemplation (e.g. the calligraphy school). I think that was meant to contrast with the king's talk of bringing uniformity to the language and weeding out all the excess words.
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quote: ""To Live" was also directed by Zhang Yimou (who did Hero). This is one reason I don't think "Hero" has a collectivist/pro-Commie message."
Perhaps he caved in?
Anyhow, the unification of ancient china has been the subject for many films, but personally my favorite is "The Emperor And The Assassin" again another film with somebody trying to kill that same very emperor in "Hero" but in this one he is actually portrayed as a sort of cruel weakling amidst all this Shakespearean scheming and plotting. It's truely intense historical epic (though not a martial arts film)...I highly recommend it!
quote:The best art, it is said, comes from turmoil - from hard times. In China no serious filmmaking took place for decades, and now great films are coming in a torrent from that country. The authorities are not always so happy to have the nation's past examined with such frankness, and with films like "To Live" and "Blue Kite" (released earlier this year) there is a certain inexorable pattern: They are made, shown at foreign film festivals, honored ("To Live" won acting awards at Cannes), play briefly in a few sophisticated cinemas in Beijing or Shanghai, and then they disappear....
It is a big, strong, energetic film, made by a filmmaker whose vision takes in four decades of his nation's history, and who stands apart from all the political currents, and sees that ordinary people everywhere basically want what his heroine cries out for, a quiet life.
I think that last setence captures the Chinese mentality perfectly. Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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). I told this to a friend I work with, who argued with me because he heard the guy who made it interviewed on NPR talk about how the Chinese government hates him. Regardless, I think the movie is something that the government there would like.
