Archtypically Chinese Drama

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2001)

The movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a beautifully lyrical tale set in some unspecified ancient period of Chinese history. It details the unsuccessful struggle of a master swordsman to foreswear his profession, and to bring to fruition his personal relationship with the lady security consultant who is the object of his emotional desire.
They work together to try to recover his quasi-magical emerald engraved sword, which he has given in trust to his old weapons-training master, but which has been mysteriously stolen by a night-thief...The true identity and historical reasons for this theft provide much of the tension in the second half of the movie.
The fanciful aspects of the story where the martial-artists seem to gain an increasing mastery over gravity---sailing from one rooftop to another, cannot be reconciled with Western "literalness", but are more fitted to classical arabian or oriental fairy-tales, or even of the Greco-Roman "deux-ex-machina" direct-interference of "Gods" in the plots of mortal men...
If taken as literal storytelling, the movie fails in "believability".. but taken as an allegorical, poetic, fanciful parable it is a wonderful success...
This movie is suprisingly well acted---suprisingly by western standards-----the characterization and the plot development owe much more to Buddhist or Zen Koan philosophy, and to the very stylized manners of Japanese (originally Chinese) "puppet" theatre. Western viewers who have any background in watching opera will have no trouble with the "stylized" aspects of the acting.
Like moonlight through waving bamboo, the ending is moody, reflective, ambivalent, philosophical....ultimately enlightening.
This is far better storytelling and possibly better martial-arts than anything Bruce Lee ever managed to bring to the screen during HIS lifetime... The music score is alternately lush and exotic, with cello solos by Yo-Yo Mah giving it just the right touch of "classical" western melody. The cinematography is equal to anything from the epic films of David Lean.
I can't wait to go see it again!