Hero is a movie that needs to be discussed on two levels. The first level is the movie itself and the second level is what this movie says about modern China. The movie itself is story telling at its apex. My daughter once told me that a good movie tells a great story and a good movie should be a novel on screen. Hero is that. We are entranced by the story. Nameless, an assassin walks into the hall of the King of Qin. This story is based on Chinese history on how their nation was unified. Near the end of the period that the Chinese called the “Warring States period” an assassin did attempt to assassinate the King of Qin by just a deception. This movie is based on a true story.
The story begins as Nameless tells the King how he killed the three most dangerous assassins from Zhao and he is there to collect the gold and power promised. The King listens intently but he does not believe Nameless as he tells his version of the story on how Nameless has collaborated with three assassins: Sky, Broken Arrow and Snow. The truth is in the middle as Nameless tells the surprised King the final story.
The movie is beautifully photographed and the martial arts are more choreographed dance steps than actual fight scene and the martial arts are mere appendages to the plot. They enhance the movie beauty and steers it away from a typical martial arts flick. Nameless is brilliant swordsman who can put a sword through his opponent without killing him or her. So he sets up a series of fights in which he “kills the three assassin” with the idea of getting a private audience with the King. His collaborators are really alive and waiting for to see if Nameless can succeed in killing the King.
One of the assassins, Broken Arrow, implores Nameless not to kill the King. Snow, Broken Arrow’s lover, wants Nameless to finish the job they started. So as Nameless is within the proscribed 10 paces, he tells the King that he has a choice. And the King knows that Nameless could easily kill him before the King’s guard can stop him.
Nameless and the King engage in one last talk about the King’s final destiny. It is here that Nameless understands the King’s goal, which is to unify all of China under one kingdom. If Nameless kills the King, he will kill the one man that would enslave his own people. If he allows the King to succeed, China might see peace but not before million of lives are sacrifice in one last violent conflict.
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Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
I have to disagree with you on several points. First is that "Hero" is part of Zhang Yimou's filmography, with only the addition of marital arts. Colour plays a deeply symbolic role in his movies, and if you've seen "Ju Dou" you'd see the immediate similarities.
Secondly, the empire and traditions of China far exceed the blip which is the current leadership, or even of the last 50 years. To try and leverage a government which has been undergoing constant change over 50 years against 5,000 years, is weak kung-fu at best.
To attribute what you do to this movie ignores the Cantonese saying, "the mountains are high, and the emperor is far away".
2 - Eric Olsen
very nice review and interesting thoughts Tom, thanks! I'm sure there is truth in Jim's view of Chinese history as well: it's the enignma wrapped in the mystery and all of that, always the yin/yang duality in everything Chinese
3 - mike hollihan
My understanding of the movie was that the two characters you call "Our Land" more correctly is read as "All Under Heaven." Or, all of the provinces of Earth lie under the mandate of heaven.
It was the tie between calligraphy and swordsmanship, wisdom and war, expressing the inner essence of a man either way, and the creation of the two symbols as the perfect expression of perfect understanding that Nameless took to the Emperor. Part of the reason Nameless chooses not to kill the Emperor is that the Emperor realizes that he, too, lies under the mandate of heaven, that there is a time for the sword and a time for the pen. He understands the meaning of the symbols.
At least that's what I got from the movie and a whole lot of reading later on, including about the color scheme that Jim mentions. YMMV!
4 - Jim Carruthers
If you haven't seen it, there is a really great movie which opens up some of Chinese culture and kung fu to Americans -- "Iron and Silk" and helps put "Hero" in perspective (also if you haven't seen Zhang Yimou's other movies, I recommend "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Ju Dou").
"Iron and Silk" is based on the autobiography of Mark Salzman who went to China to learn kung-fu and teach English (there's a brilliant bit where he asks his students to do an essay on "My Happiest Moment"). His teacher Qingfu Pan now lives in Canada.
One thing I would point out is from a North American perspective, how you interpret the sub-text of a Chinese movie is probably very different from how OSC or depending on what region it is, Chinese perceive it. One thing to consider is that the various forms of spoken Chinese rely on intonation, with two major dialects, one with five tones (Mandarin), one with nine tones (Cantonese). So it's not what you say, it's how you say it, which also explains the importance of colour in understanding the stories.
5 - visualsimplicity
The two characters are suppose to say "All Under Heaven." I have not seen the North American theatre version, so I'm not sure if there was a mistake in the translation.
Either way, I always assumed the message of the film was a universal one and didn't really have any political inclination towards current China or anywhere else. The message I saw was that one has to sacrifice whatever is necessary for the greater good. Simple as that and I believe that can be applied to anyone, anywhere.
Regardless, I actually didn't enjoy this movie all that much, I thought the martial arts and everything was over dramatized to a point of annoyance. The colors and visuals were nice, but could not make up for the pretentiousness of the whole film.