Martial Spirit

Rating: 10/10 (31 May 2012)

Easily one of my top 10 movies of all time. Though the movie is not entirely historically accurate, it certainly gives some insight on the Chinese perspective of the Japanese invasion and a little bit of Yip Man's life. Even though there is violence between the two nations, what is interesting is the exchange of martial arts and certainly a wonderful display of martial prowess. Being a Wing Chun Kung Fu practitioner, I find that Donnie Yen's training by Ip Chun is far more than adequate, leaning towards mastery. In the movie, Yen displays many advanced Wing Chun techniques, further inspiring me to continue my own training. It is an honor to train under the long/direct lineage of Wing Chun practitioners, such as Grand-master William Cheung and Sifu Eric Oram. It is somewhat discouraging, being also a karate practitioner, to see some codes of conduct being broken, though the movie displays a great level of discipline from most of the karate-do.