A film about destiny

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 2018)

I went to see this 5 times, I was living in Toms River NJ at the time and the closest theater was at the other end of the state in Princeton, 50 miles away. So I went back once a week to see it 4 more times, that is how much I loved it.

This film has so many meanings on so many levels only the most astute viewer would be able to capture them all on one viewing.
Two things stand out for me here:
The camera dances. I saw this film before I saw "Ride With the Devil" and the camera dances there, as well. Lee makes his camera an extra, unseen character, who can go where we can't. Compare this camera to the boring, stationary camera George Lucas liked to use over and over in his prequel trilogies. Now imagine a Star Wars lightsaber fight in the hands of Ang Lee.
The other thing is how Lee will let the scenes breathe with nature in the background. A couple of instances come to mind but consider the first main fight scene. Right before the battle starts, Lee cuts to a shot of a tree with the moon behind, and hundreds of bats take flight. That's the eye of a master film maker at work.