Propaganda Disguised as Art

Rating: 7/10 (2 September 2004)

"Hero" is visually stunning and beautifully filmed. Unfortunately, the film represented, in my belief, an effort on the part of Communist China to justify the foreign policy they have pursued since the tragedy of the Communist take-over of that great country.
The justification that the mainland Chinese government uses for their invasions and occupations of Tibet and portions of India, Mongolia, and Vietnam, as well as their continued threats against Taiwan, is that all of these territories were historically part of a "unified," Chinese kingdom. The Chinese point to the earlier, "unified" Chinese dynasties to support their claim.
This movie attempts to show the 1st Dynasty, the Qim, in a positive light by arguing that it united China in "peace" and created the uniform writing system still used in China and other Asian countries today. The writing system claim may be true, but I personally doubt that the Qim emperor was really motivated by thoughts of "eternal peace under heaven" when he brutally conquered his neighboring Asiatic kingdoms. Also, I don't believe that a "unified" China that includes any territory or people that ever belonged to any of the Chinese dynasties, is necessarily the true "essence of the sword and calligraphy" as this movies states.
The victors do write the history books and that is what China is trying to do with this beautifully filmed movie.