What I liked.

Rating: Null/10 (24 March 2001)

With every word, we describe ourselves more than whatever it is we're talking about.
Ok, I liked it. I know a few reasons why I liked it and found it interesting, but I don't know why it is considered great. On the other hand, I realized, standing in front of Michelangelo's David, in Florence, that if someone less talented had created it, and the world still revered it, that I wouldn't know the difference. Great art is lost on me. I suspect that it's lost on most of us, that it's marketing that saves most of it from obscurity.
The flying during the martial arts scenes threw me. Then I realized how westerners wouldn't have any problem with wizards performing magic in movies, that our culture makes that easy to accept for us. Similarly, Chinese culture makes the notion of martial arts "wizards" entirely acceptable to people of that culture. I like the presence of magic as a metaphor and reminder for what's magical about life. For instance, for a time, itself made meaningless by the lack of a universe as we know it, there was *nothing*. Then, out of that nothing, the universe exploded. Then, somehow, life happened. What's more magical than that? Or, some Supreme Being created all this. That's less magical? So all of this, including all the rational science, simply dwarfs flying through the air, for pure magic content.
I liked the feminist presence, where women are every bit as physical, and demand the same performance from themselves, as men, without making it a huge issue that they're women doing it. They simply do it, and quite well. That's a feminism I can sink my teeth into honestly respecting.
I liked the way the young woman's flashback to her first involvement with the bandit leader expanded the scope and plot of the film, while bringing in such beautiful desert scenery. I never think of China as having deserts. I liked having that particular horizon expanded. I also liked the way they fought it out, how neither gave in, and how they fell in love in the process. There's a heartening fantasy/metaphor for relations between men and women - that through all the conflicts and problems, there's something to draw us together, that makes us care about and respect each other. I am a sucker for some love stories.
I liked the cinematography, if that's what's called. The scenery, and the art used in filming it, were wonderful. What is beautiful within us resonates with what is beautiful around us. Experiencing what is beautiful makes me think God may exist.
I liked that something about the film overcome my racism, that it let me understand and care about people from a very different culture. I have to like someone in a film to like the film, and I liked several people in this film. What a refreshing change, to be shown and drawn into a whole other world. More horizons expanded. I wouldn't mind more of that.
So my advice is, forget the marketing that says it's great, and just go see it. There's a lot to enjoy about it. Me, I want the DVD when it comes out.