Review

Review Date: 29-August-04
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Hero (2004*)

"Hero" is the kind of movie that makes me sorry to live in an adolescent land with a paltry store of legend. I'm not disposed to nationalism or ethnocentrism, but wouldn't it be cool to think that your country, your people had existed for ages and where you stand today somehow reflects the decisions and actions of countless men and women from times so distant as to be magical? A fervent devotee of retroactive idealism (on a large scale, anyway), I think that would be nifty. But although I lament that China gets "Hero" while we get "The Alamo," this regret doesn't diminish my affection for the movie, particularly since it makes me thankful for the faculty of sight. One of the most magnificent pieces of eye candy ever, Zhang Yimou's martial arts/fantasy epic weds visual splendor with the stuff that (historical-mythological) dreams are made of.

In classic style, "Hero" unfolds as a series of tales recounted by men at arms. The narrators are a nameless champion (Jet Li), who has been invited to the court of Qin, and the emperor (Chen Dao Ming), who has recently and ruthlessly begun to consolidate the realms of China. The emperor asks the man how he managed to defeat the three deadliest enemies of his throne, the warrior Sky and the lover-assassins Snow and Broken Sword (Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung). As the man responds and the emperor reacts, the story is retold again and again, each time with a greater proximity to the truth and a different version of what drives a hero (and a growing tension between the emperor and his guest). While the nameless protagonist remains an enigmatic vessel for wisdom and consummation, we come to know Snow, Broken Sword, and their protégé Moon (Zhang Ziyi) as the instruments that brought him to his destiny.

Although the fight scenes are reminiscent of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," the composition of the movie bears a strong resemblance to the work of Kirosawa, notably "Ran" and "Rashomon." But the visual sumptuousness of "Hero" achieves a level all its own, virtually every scene an astonishing spectacle of costuming, location, and cinematography. (Another regret: that I live in a land uninterested in detail, where a leader is revealed by the size of his car and not his command of calligraphy.) Tales of love, honor, loss, and triumph from a bygone era generally take on beauty in the telling, but their power is heightened when they look as fabulous as this.

*This movie was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2002's Oscar race, but was not widely released in the States until 2004.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.