CATRIONA PAUL at the movies.

HERO is a sumptuously shot Far Eastern epic with enough martial arts wizardry and wirework to attract comparisons with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  Attracting impressive audiences both stateside and at its opening weekend here in Scotland, its beguiling beauty and big themes – love, honour, sacrifice, country – will haunt you long after the closing credits.
  
The story takes place over 2000 years ago when China was split into seven kingdoms. The king of Qin was determined to unite the kingdoms under his rule but had many enemies. A warrior called Nameless (Jet Li) appears at court and claims to have killed the assassins most feared by the King: Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggie Chueng) and her lover, Broken Sword (Tony Leung). The King wishes to know how Nameless managed to defeat the assassins but on cross-examination, three separate versions of events unfold.

The fight scenes have a poetic feel – the violence is minimal; savagery absent. Nameless and Sky fight in a courtyard devoted to chess, accompanied by rain and orchestrated by the playing of an elderly blind musician. Snow and Nameless defend a school of calligraphy from a hailstorm of arrows using their silk sleeves as shields, weapons faster than the eye, leaps and swoops impossible. Later scenes are fought amongst the leaves and trees of autumn and dancing upon a still lake.
  
However, some critics have argued that the beauty contains an ugly nationalist message. The idea of a country unified under one strong ruler is used to justify wars of conquest and individual sacrifice. This jars with the Braveheart sentiment of freedom for wee countries and for individuals, but Hero’s message is too unsubtle to fear manipulation and so can be left alone.

Hero is an alluring vision, an epic from another culture. Don’t waste its beauty on video – see this one in cinemas now.
 
HERO
General release

Director: Zhang Yimou
Scriptwriters: Li Feng, Zhang Yimou, Wang Bin
Stars: Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Daoming, Donnie Yen, Man-Yuk, Liu Zhong Yuan, Zheng Tian Yong, Quin Yan
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 99 min
Country: China & Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles
Year: 2002
 

© Catriona Paul, 2004