Beautiful film, ugly propaganda

Rating: 6/10 (30 August 2004)

[WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS]
Zhang Yimou's "Hero" possesses some of the most gorgeous sequences I've seen on screen in a long, long time. It's a visual feast that often awes you with its beauty.
"The Spider's Stratagem" (1970) boasts possibly the most dazzling display of color in a film in the last 40 years. In "Hero," Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle comes close to emulating what Vittorio Storaro did for Bernardo Bertolucci.
With nods to Akira Kurosawa and, a lesser extent, Sergio Leone, Zhang unravels "Hero" methodically as the King of Qin (Chen Daoming) starts to take apart Nameless' (Jet Li) claims of vanquishing three assassins - Lone Sky (Donnie Yen), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Each of Nameless' stories and Qin's interpretations are brought gloriously to life with some spectacular display of martial arts and brilliant use of color.
Two sequences in particular are thrilling - a swordfight among autumn leaves between Flying Snow and Moon (Zhang Ziyi) bathed in yellow and red as leaves whirl like tornadoes and people sail through the air; and a duel over a lake with Nameless and Broken Sword gliding across the water, their feet skirting the surface, their swords occasionally piercing the lake as if they were calligraphy brushes drawing intricate designs on the water.
Wuxia films have been around for decades, but the supernatural martial arts were made popular in the U.S. by Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), which set the standard as far as American multiplex audiences are concerned. Wong Kar-wai, Lee and Zhang Yimou are doing to wuxia what Sam Peckinpah and, later, the likes of John Woo and Ringo Lam did to gunplay.
Its vibrant, rich palette notwithstanding, I wasn't as entranced by Zhang's film as I was with Lee's Oscar-winner. The pacing's a bit too slow and you get the impression Zhang's trying to outdo Lee by taking wuxia to new heights. Which poses a bit of a problem. Zhang's fight scenes are choreographed so fantastically, he runs the risk of them losing their charm, not to mention believability. Suspension of disbelief has its limits and Zhang's inching terribly close to the edge in "Hero." We're too aware of the technical aspect of it all - the digitally excised wires, over-reliance on CGI and, of course, excessive use of slow-motion photography. At least three-fourths of the film is in slow motion. More of this and the magic of wuxia will soon plummet from the fantastically splendid to the laughably ridiculous.
And despite all its beauty, "Hero" leaves an awfully rancid taste in the mouth, especially when the true meaning of the film's title and the movie's central message become abundantly clear. The final titles scroll exalting the titular character's brave act and Qin's greatness as a unifier. And you realize exactly why "Hero" comes to us with the blessings of China's current rulers.
I have no problem with nationalistic themes in films. And the idea of self-sacrifice has been explored in every film genre. But considering whom Zhang is talking about, his argument is vapid. He's venturing into Leni Riefenstahl territory here. At least, we knew her movies were propaganda.
The trouble is Zhang's not trying to be ironic here. He's plainly kowtowing to the Chinese leaders. He's turned from a bold, courageous filmmaker who made provocative and defiantly daring films - "Ju Dou" (1990), "Raise the Red Lantern" (1991), "To Live" (1994) - to an artistic and artful propagandist for a ruthless regime.
Through his protagonist Nameless, Zhang seems to argue that Chinese unity is a noble cause no matter who has to suffer. Zhang's arrogant to so blindly tout national unity, not when China, under the guise of that national unity, brutally oppresses Tibetans, stifles democracy in Hong Kong, threatens Taiwan with missiles, imprisons dissidents, massacres its own people at Tiananmen Square. Zhang's jingoistic call for unity, unity, always unity is naïve at best, repugnant at worst.
Imagine the exact story set in a Taliban-led Afghanistan. In Pol Pot's Cambodia. Or, in 1930s Germany and the filmmaker embracing the "greatness" of the Third Reich and Hitler's desire to unify the Fatherland. That's when bile rises, when I get that acrid taste in my mouth and sickening feeling in my stomach.