The Real Message of This Chinese Film: Individualism Must Be Crushed

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2004)

HERO is a visually satisfying film - glorious colors, diaphanous, flowing garments, exotic scenery, and some of the best - if not the best - computer-enhanced sword fighting scenes ever filmed. The film even purports to have a spiritual message of sorts: that renunciation of violence and a yielding to the will of the King is the road to happiness - how Gandhi-like, but how strange when coming from the Chinese. However, there is a darker message here, too.
If you look at the real philosophy behind this film it is this: no matter how justified the cause, no matter how heroic the individuals, the state must ultimately triumph in order to secure a greater good for all. Individualism must be crushed, no matter how heroic it may seem. As incongruous as it may seem when attending this kind of fantasy film, watching this movie's army of ancient Chinese archers flooding the skies with tens of thousands of well-aimed arrows - and a spectacular sight it is, too - brings immediately to mind the current Chinese Communist regime's threat to rain down a flood of missiles on Taiwan, should that island insist on declaring its total independence from China. Gee, I hadn't expected to be inundated with political thoughts when I went to see this movie, but I just couldn't avoid it. Show the courage of the students in Tien An Men Square and the King or State will reward you with the glorious death you apparently so yearn for. And all this is packaged in a film that is supposed to be an ancient martial arts fantasy.
Frankly, despite the wonderful sound track of the film and the fantastic scenes of sword-fighters flying through the air, I think that this film doesn't compare entirely well with its famous predecessor, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. HERO is just a bit too good in the computer department; a but too slick. Still, it's a very impressive film, indeed. Perhaps even more impressive is to see a packed theater of average American movie-goers watching almost two hours of a sub-titled Chinese Mandarin film. For me, that is the most amazing thing of all.
Finally, let me criticize the theater in which I saw this film, the Silverado in San Antonio, Texas. The film was entirely too dark, and those glorious colors in the film were nowhere near as brilliant and bright as they should have been. At times the films sets were so dark as to be almost black along the edges of the screen. I know the film was not made this way, and I can only assume that the management of the theater is using bulbs of too low a wattage in their projector. It took the pleasure out of what should have been a visually glorious film.