Wong Fei-Hung

I think this is both troubling as a film and revealing of Chinese character. As a standalone, it is I suppose fairly enjoyable, the cinematography is nice, the story long but intimate in spots, the fights some of them amazing. But, this is not just a standalone, it has a rich context - the protagonist is a popular folk hero, the times of foreign oppression and inept administration it depicts were real and left punishing scars in the Chinese soul.

Something else bothers though. As a student of the Chinese model, I encounter this elsewhere, I believe it does a lot of bad, and turns away as many people as it brings in. What they Chinese do usually has both hard and soft aspects, Confucius and Tao would be on opposite ends of this, kung fu and meditation. When Western people are exposed to it, say with a film like this, unwittingly we register it as one picture. It endears, it's a scented romance.

What isn't so easy to appreciate though is that to get that single harmonious picture the Chinese obsessively flatten their multifaceted experience, this is evident in the continuous reinvention, passionately undertaken, of both their political and martial arts narratives, and of course their penchant for opera. Naturally, corners have to be cut in the name of a tidy narrative.

And this carries over in (cinematically) packaging these things in ways that eliminate subtler levels in what they do. Because the harmonizing effort is forcible, it can't help but take out of these things their soft wind, which is their real power in both the Taoist and creative sense. If you accept as I do that wisdom is tolerance and capacity for cognitive dissonance, this artificial harmony wherever encountered dumbs us down.

In the film, you have the good sifu vs evil sifu, the good-natured but bumbling disciples, the evil street gang, the cruel army bureaucrat and foreign officials - all of them 'hard' stereotypes from the Boxer era, acted in a hard (external) manner.

And I believe the point at some stage was to contrast soft 'chi' based awareness in the Jet Li character with hard 'iron body' kung fu in the rival master as the difference in karmas they set in motion. This has been flattened in favor of more or less the same kung fu.

So hard politics, hard acting (mirrored in the opera stage and two 'fake' actors), hard martial arts in the service of mythmaking. Is there anything soft here, internal? The woman. She has come back from the West, straddles both worlds. She has come back with a camera, which she uses to snap pictures.

Her eye is 'soft', stills motion, caresses the shadow of the one she loves. Too bad they didn't make more room for this, using it to cultivate dissonance, reflection, innate capacities for clarity and beauty, which could then transfer over to the fights.

The music is marvelous though. And the camera glides as though on wires of its own.

A traditional kung fu movie with elements of the Wuxia sub-genre, Once Upon A Time In China is considered by many to be one of the finest martial arts movies of all time; I don't rate it so highly, preferring my action to be a little more realistic and a tad more 'bone-crunching'.

Set in a troubled 19th century China, where centuries of tradition is being threatened by an influx of foreigners, this historical epic is directed by Tsui Hark and stars the incredible Jet Li, ably supported by Rosamund Kwan, Biao Yuen, Jacky Cheung and Kent Cheng. With a pedigree like that, I was expecting something truly astounding, but what I got was an overlong, over-stylised and definitely over-rated film. Saddled with a dreadfully dull story and some particularly poor comedic moments, it does not entertain as much as I had hoped.

Li plays Wong Fei Hung, martial arts master and all round good guy, who, along with his students, battles the foreign invaders who are plundering China. Kwan plays his love interest, Aunt Yee, who has recently returned from America, and who tries to educate Hung about the wonders of the Western world. As the troubles mount, Aunt Yee becomes the target of unscrupulous traders who try to sell her into prostitution, leaving Hung and his men no option but to pit their fighting skill against guns in a daring rescue attempt.

Although the movie admittedly features some well choreographed fight scenes which will undoubtedly appeal to fans of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (as will the breath-taking cinematography), the action relies too much on clever wire-work and skillful editing for its impact, and the whole affair left this particular viewer rather disappointed.

Wong Fei Hung is a legendary Chinese hero (like James Bond) whoe has some 90 films about him before this movie. In fact Jackie Chan plays Wong Fei Hung in Legend of Drunken Master. So this movie is not merely a kung fu movie. This movie's main theme is of Chinese culture vs Western culture as it is embodied by martial arts vs guns. How can China remain beautiful in its art that requires years of dedication to master, when success can be so cheaply purchased with Western firearms? Wong Fei Hung must make sense of it somehow, and in the end shows that while you can't fight guns with kung fu, that kung fu in the right hands can be just as deadly as guns. (It's not the gun... it's the bullets.)

Woven into this main theme is the theme of a lost sense of Chineseness and lack of communication. The characters who cut off their queues (their symbol of loyalty to the Qing dynasty) because of desperation or confusion or ambition. The Chinese/American who cannot read Chinese. The mistaken Lion dance.

Beyond this conflict, the movie has countless inside jokes for the fans of Honk Kong cinema. The trampolines at the end were a tribute to the early kung fu movies that used them before wire techniques were introduced. The scene where the two disciples have to dress up in the Peking Opera: Sammo Hung (TV's Martial Law) traditionally played the role of the butcher in this series. He, along with the other character who dressed up in the movie were originally trained in Peking opera and form there entered kung fu movies. So it was an inside joke. The nerdy character is played by one of Hong Kong's most popular pop singers.

This movie is simply incredible, even though the kung fu is not as satisfying as in some of Jet Li's other movies (The Legend and Fist of Legend). I recommend seeing it on DVD. That way you can see the original movie with subtitles. Then you can go back and watch it with a running commentary. Stay away from the English dubbed version, as it cuts scenes from the movie.

Watched this again as an antidote to "The One". Jet Li's done some good films, some TERRIBLE films, and then again he's done a few genuine epics, like the Once upon a time in China series. These films are also among the best work of Tsui Hark.

The modern Wong Fei-Hung series contains elements of humour without being just broad slapstick (if you want kung fu comedy, rent a Jackie Chan film), but are mostly films about a troubled China where traditional values are being overwhelmed by Western style and influence. Iron-Robe Yim's line "you can't fight bullets with kung fu" resonates achingly with the failed boxer rebellion, during which chi-gung practitioners mistakenly believed they were protected from foreign guns.

Wong Fei-Hung's struggle to find an honourable, peaceful path through the collision between cultures should strike a chord with anyone who has moved on from chop-socky and realises that a kung fu movie can feature a great story as well as great cinematography.

This movie, directed by Tsui Hark, embodied some of the best Kong-fu fight sequences to be found anywhere in the entire genre. Not only were the fights choreographed with amazing skill and dexterity, there was also supreme creativity and use of forces at work here. The angle placement of the camera was always effective and the fight scenes between the hero and his enemies are set up with admirable presence and dignity. Furthermore, the editing was bold and crisp; for the most part everything flowed very well from one scene to the next. Jet Li was unparalleled in his martial arts glamour. His stern demeanor accentuated his role as a leader and a man of principle.

Jet Li played Wong Feihong, a doctor who also happened to be renowned for his skill in martial arts. Against his will, he became involved in combating the local gang, whose rivalry and antagonism was set up by a flimsy pretext. (Apparently gang violence usually are created over the most trifle of instances) On the one hand, Feihong, had to deal with the local thugs, on the other, he had to deal with government officials and foreign mercenaries.

Along for the ride were some touching characters playing Wong Feihong's students, the stuttering Western-educated nerd and the formidably huge pork merchant. The addition of Aunt 13 to the cast added shy romance, providing a nice contrast to all the fighting and constant strife and chaos.

The movie featured a convincing historical backdrop and captured the national Chinese character well, at least, the 19th century, pre-Communist era. The music score was very nicely done and complemented the film well. At times, the movie evoked as much emotion as the characters themselves.

The only problem with this film may be its overly ambitious goals of trying to tackle everything at once. There was the sentiment of saving China from "foreign devils" as well as the sentiment that China was rotting and corrupt at its core, with the Chinese betraying the Chinese. There was also the strong sense of there being too few good men like Wong Feihong, with a strong desire to do right by his country. Over all, the movie's message was multi-layered and complex and can be confusing to the unschooled audience.

Still, this movie, made in 1991, showed off Jet Li's lyrical martial arts grace in full glory and in its best moments, takes fighting to a transcendent level.