Hero (film) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Hero (Chinese: 英雄; pinyin: yīng xióng) is a film first released in China on October 24, 2002. It was both the most expensive and the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese cinema history. It hit US theaters on August 27, 2004 despite the fact that the Asian DVD had already been available for over a year. It became the top-grossing film in the first week of its US debut, at US$18M, and continued to lead the US box office in its second week at US$11.5M. It fell to the 4th place in its third week at US$4.4M. It set a record as the highest-grossing opening-weekend foreign language film in the United States.Hero is a movie of the wuxia genre, directed by Zhang Yimou. It stars Jet Li as the nameless hero. A team of assassins are played by Maggie Cheung (Flying Snow), Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Broken Sword), Donnie Yen (Long Sky), and Zhang Ziyi (Moon). Chen Daoming plays their intended target, the King of Qin.
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The movie is set during the Warring States Period. It tells the story of assassination attempts on the king of Qin by legendary warriors who seek revenge for his subjugation of their home province. The king justifies his actions in the cause of unifying China and its written language. In the text at the end of the film, the king is identified as Ying Zheng, who in 221 BC did indeed unite China under his command and become its first Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (lived 259-210 BC; reigned 246-210 BC).
The film was Zhang's first attempt at this genre, and it uses a highly unusual structure. Conflicting versions of the events are recounted by different characters, in a structure reminiscent of Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950). Each section uses a different color scheme depending on the narrator, similar to how everything turns green in the virtual world of The Matrix; Zhang's movies often feature rigorous color schemes.
The film has a tragic structure; its six main characters come to realize that China's unity depends on their own decisions and actions. This feeling of patriotic responsibility conflicts with their own personal desires for revenge, and with their relationships to each other. Ultimately, the film's conclusion is that of a classic tragedy.
Although inspired in part by the success of movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the film failed to be as successful as its makers hoped, in part due to criticism overseas at a perceived pro-totalitarian and pro-Chinese reunification subtext. These critics argue that the ulterior meaning of the film is the triumph of security and stability over liberty and human rights and that the concept of all under heaven is used to justify the incorporation of Tibet within the People's Republic of China and promote the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China. This would not be the only time that Zhang Yimou has been thus criticized; Zhang purportedly withdrew from the 1999 Cannes Film Festival to avoid similar criticism, though some believe that Zhang had other reasons [1].
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Political meaning?
See also
External links