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movie hero review

Since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000) there have been many highly stylized martial arts fantasy films that have been shown to a wide audience in America. A poetic and visual triumph, Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002) can be a difficult film to analyze from a Western point of view. It deals a lot with Chinese emotions, but it also takes place in ancient China, so ideals and emotions can be harder for Americans to understand. When examined closely, the red calligraphy sequence is clearly not only used to show the characters’ inner passions, but also exemplifies the film’s anti-war message, and when compared to the entire film, clarifies the film. in favor of Chinese propaganda.

Hero tells the story of a man named Nameless, who goes to the King of Qin because he has killed the three most dangerous assassins in the countries. The main action of the film takes place in flashbacks when the king asks Nameless to tell him the story of how he managed to single-handedly kill these three assassins. Nameless tells his versions of the story, which the king believes to be false. As the king tells his version, and each time he retells himself closer to the truth, the film changes color. In one particular sequence, the calligraphy sequence, Yimou uses a deep red, because it is in this sequence that Nameless uses the Broken Sword and Snow’s passion on each other. When examining the scene in the library, the characters’ feelings for each other are clear. When Nameless tells Snow and Broken Sword that Sky said Snow would avenge his death, Yimou makes particular use of close-ups. The first is about Broken Sword’s reaction to Nameless’s revelation that Sky loved Snow. Her heart breaks and you can see it in her face. The director then shows a close-up of Snow, as she looks away and down at the ground, sadly. It is left up to the viewer whether the sadness is caused by the pain she caused Broken Sword or by the news that Sky had been killed. In the next scene, when Snow is shown picking up Sky’s broken spear, it’s clear that her sadness stems from Sky’s death, and the close-up of her in the previous scene was one of grief and wonder at what could have been. . Later in this same sequence, after Snow has seen Broken Sword and Moon together, the director uses tracking shots as Snow and Broken Sword passionately storm through the halls of the calligraphy school to depict the confusion each of them is feeling. As Broken Sword lies dying from a wound inflicted by Snow, she cries again and looks away sadly, putting more emphasis on her confused state.

But closer examination of this very sequence shows that the use of color not only denotes the passion of the scene, but also represents a pro-Chinese undertone. Each of the different stories is told with another color. In the Chinese tradition, the colors red, green, black and white form the four cardinal points, while yellow represents the entire earth. Each story is told using one of the four colors of the cardinal direction. The actual story, which the king tells at the end, combines elements of all the previous stories. The stories and colors come together like the warring states of China under the rule of kings. It is in this sense that the film acts as a Chinese anthem. Throughout the film, there is a theme of words versus swords, each of which is intrinsically connected. In the red sequence, the calligraphy teacher makes his students continue writing while the arrows fall on the city showing the power of words over violence. In a film where each shot seems to have been carefully selected, Yimou chooses to show Broken Sword practicing his calligraphy while Snow and Nameless repel arrows from outside. Broken Sword snatches an arrow from the sky and breaks it to use to write in the sand. This small scene, which can easily be overlooked, clearly represents the power of writing and communication about war. Historically, it was this king who united China and created a written language to facilitate communication. Ultimately, the film leaves it up to the viewer who the “hero” is. Is it Nameless for sacrificing himself for the greater good of the country, or is it the king, for having a vision to unite China for the better?

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