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HERO (YINGXIONG) A Producer: Bill Kong and Zhang Yimou Director: Zhang Yimou Writer: Li Feng, Zhang Yimou and Wang Bin Studio: Miramax Films Website Starring: Jet Li * Tony Leung Chiu-Wai * Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk * Donnie Yen * Chen Daoming * Zhang Ziyi * * * Review: Richard Wagner famously observed that the final movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was “the apotheosis of the dance.” His remark can be adapted to refer to Zhang Yimou’s “Hero.” Voluptuous and amazing, this isn’t a martial arts film--it’s the apotheosis of the martial arts film. And it’s a stirring national epic, too--though that fact might cause some to look at it with less admiration. “Hero” is set in the third century B.C., when the divided realms that make up China were first being forcibly united under the dynasty of Qin. The story is told in three parts, all consisting of flashbacks involving hand-to-hand combat that, taken together, cover the same territory, “Rashomon” style, from different perspectives. The first act offers the narration of a mysterious swordsman called (shades of Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns) Nameless (Jet Li), who is brought before the all-conquering king of Qin (Chen Daoming) to describe how he successively defeated the ruler’s three most dangerous enemies--the assassins Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk)--who were seeking vengeance for the monarch’s brutal takeover of their native land. Then in part two the king, suspicious of the warrior’s story, offers an alternative account of the battles. In the final segment Nameless responds with “the truth”--and reaches a decision that points to the emergence of China as an entity in whose service all inhabitants must sacrifice any individualistic or provincial concerns.
Approximate Word count = 1064
Approximate Pages = 4.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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