Hua Mulan

Plot synopsis:
The poem starts with Mulan sitting worriedly at her loom, as one male from each family is called to serve in the army to defend China from invaders. Her father is old and weak and her younger brother is just a child, so she decides to take his place and bids farewell to her parents, who support her. She is already skilled in fighting, having been taught martial arts, sword fighting, and archery by the time she enlists in the army. After twelve years of fighting, the army returns and the warriors are rewarded. Mulan turns down an official post, and asks only for a swift horse to carry her home. She is greeted with joy by her family. Mulan dons her old clothes and meets her comrades, who are shocked that in their years traveling together, they did not realize that she was a woman. However, this does not change their good friendship.
=== Sui Tang Romance ===
Chu Renhuo's Romance of the Sui and Tang (c. 1675) provides additional backdrops and plot-twists. Here, Mulan lives under the rule of Heshana Khan of the Western Turkic Khaganate. When the Khan agrees to wage war in alliance with the emergent Tang dynasty, which was poised to conquer all of China, Mulan's father Hua Hu (Chinese: 花弧) fears he will be conscripted into military service since he only has two daughters and an infant son. Mulan crossdresses as a man and enlists in her father's stead. She is intercepted by the forces of the Xia king Dou Jiande and is brought under questioning by the king's warrior daughter Xianniang (Chinese: 線娘), who tries to recruit Mulan as a man. Discovering Mulan to be a fellow female warrior, she is so delighted that they become sworn sisters.
In the Sui Tang Romance, Mulan comes to a tragic end, a "detail that cannot be found in any previous legends or stories associated Hua Mulan," and believed to have been interpolated by the author Chu Renho. Xianniang's father is vanquished after siding with the enemy of the Tang dynasty, and the two sworn sisters, with knives in their mouths, surrender themselves to be executed in the place of the condemned man. The act of filial piety wins reprieve from Emperor Taizong of Tang and the imperial consort who was birth-mother to the Emperor bestows money to Mulan to provide for her parents and wedding funds for the princess who confessed to having promised herself to general Luō Chéng (Chinese: 羅成). (In reality, Dou Jiande was executed, but in the novel he lives on as a monk.)
Mulan is given leave to journey back to her homeland, and once arrangements were made for Mulan's parents to relocate, it is expected that they will all be living in the princess's old capital of Leshou (Chinese: 樂壽, modern Xian County, Hebei). Mulan is devastated to discover her father has long died and her mother has remarried. According to the novel, Mulan's mother was surnamed Yuan (袁) and remarried a man named Wei (魏). Even worse, the Khan has summoned her to the palace to become his concubine.
Rather than to suffer this fate, she commits suicide. But before she dies, she entrusts an errand to her younger sister, Youlan (Chinese: 又蘭), which was to deliver Xianniang's letter to her fiancé, Luō Chéng. This younger sister dresses as a man to make her delivery, but her disguise is discovered, and it arouses her recipient's amorous attention.
In the novel, Mulan's father was non-Han, a Xianbei (described as "a Hebei person of the people of the Northern Wei dynasty, ruled by the Tuoba clan"), while her mother was Han Chinese from the Central Plain. But "even a Chinese woman would prefer death by her own hand to serving a foreign ruler," as some commentators have explained this Mulan character's motive for committing suicide. Mulan's words before she committed suicide were, "I'm a girl, I have been through war and have done enough. I now want to be with my father."

Tags: violence, murder, romantic

Review:
Words escape me at the moment, but this review can say it all for me: http://yingweitan.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/movie-review-mulan-2009/ Also, the comment at the bottom of the article is very insightful.Differing from the usual route of Chinese epic movies, which usually portrays huge battle scenes, extravagant costumes, and such, this movie concentrated more on the character's development and emotions.
I remembered as the lights to the cinemas brightened as the credits start to roll, it felt breathtaking to had partake in this film as an audience of it.Do NOT, and i repeat, do NOT, go into this film wanting it to be one of those battle-like army type of films one generally associates with the genre of epic at its core.
Warlords that was released in 2007 starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro).There are battlefield scenes, Yes...but they are of minimal depiction based on the context of this film, that are used to carry the characterization of Hua Mulan that was perfectly casted with Vicki Zhao at the helm.There is a plot, and that plot is to drive the main theme of this film that is to showcase to us about how she grew into the character in legends.
While concepts based on being a filial daughter to her father, and loyalty to the fellow troops that she commands and finally patriotism that drives her to do what she does for twelve years are all being explored, minimally but it is enough to drive her overall characterization in just under 2 hours (even though it may seemed longer than that).Having said this, there is no need for me to summarize the film for you readers as that is one of the beauties of storytelling, where it is for the viewers to partake for themselves to let the story be told to you by the story's presentation.
And definitely not by me.Overall, if one is into a movie that is emotional (depending on individual's views upon what is regarded as emotional), and does not showcase violence for violence's sake, then i guess one can do themselves the favor of partaking on this trip of 2 hours into another era.Again i must stress, do NOT go into this film hoping to see the likes of battlefield scenes.For me, i would classify this film like the other greats of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The House of Flying Daggers; Warlords; Musa, and the very recent Red Cliff saga.
I got quite excited when I heard of this re-adaption of the Chinese folk tale Mulan, having always loved Disney's version for unexplainable reasons.
Well worth giving it a go to draw your own opinions because the film is brilliant yet at the same time flawed throughout.Having the feel of many recent Romance of the Three Kingdoms historical epics that have been popping up regularly from the fantastic new generation of Chinese cinema, Hua Mulan is fast paced, uplifting and in a narrative sense very well strung together.
Unlike many of its' counterparts we don't have the long and often drawn out political segments we found throughout the Red Cliff films (Absolute wonders in their own right).The evident flaws popping up in the casting of Hua Mulan herself and the balance between the story of a solider and that of romance wasn't really able to find a true sense of equilibrium, I felt slightly discontented by the conclusion but Hua Mulan is not a film to disregard from the above remarks.
A film well worth watching, putting a blunt and more practical spin on the story of Mulan; placing the tale within an Era of Chinese antiquity that easily rivals that of King Arthur or Julius Ceaser..
We all know how the story of Hua Mulan follows that of other legendary folk heroes in China's rich history, and to date there's only a reference poem which accounted her exploits which stem out of filial piety, at a time in the Northern Wei state centuries ago when the Emperor decreed that all families must contribute to the war effort.
That's basically the gist of the story, where she spends 12 long years at the war-front to the amazement that she was never found out, before returning to the gratitude of family and country.This also means that storytellers have almost a full reign at what could have transpired during her tour of duty, and suffice to say this will always mean that there will be elements of hardship during training, attempts or situations at putting her true identity at risk, and given the soft hearted nature of an adolescent female, affairs of the heart will come knocking.
The same goes for this film, written by Zhang Ting, which adopted the romantic angle rather heavily, exploring the relationship between Mulan, and General Wentai (Chen Kun), in a love that's quite forbidden since firstly a female cannot be serving in the army, and secondly, face it, two male soldiers, and later on, of general rank, can't be seen behaving lovey-dovey in front of their men.
Besides, being romantically involved also served to be a roadblock to Mulan's innate war ability, or so Wentai believes that needs some way to be severed so that she can unleash that beast within.As Wei soldiers, they're tasked to defend their country from the nomadic invading forces which seek to conquer Wei for their iron, in which to make weapons, and then to plunder some more.
I suppose with any effective leader who walks the reasonable talk, should be able to attest to the respect that they command over their followers.Then there are the battle scenes, because what's a Mulan film without one.
The war front scenes were like a quick summary of 12 years of iconic battles that Mulan had led, so those looking for fantastically choreographed battles in the mould of Red Cliff, will be sorely disappointed.Then there are some rather questionable scenes which comes out of the blue, and somehow marred the enjoyment of the film a little because of their convenience, with that little bit of vampirism which I felt was not quite necessary, and a natural phenomenon which just appears and seem to take sides, again for reasons I am not able to fathom, and speculate only for the showcasing of special effects.
Chen Kun also held his own against the veteran actress, although one can feel that since this is a Mulan film then he's playing second fiddle.
Supporting roles range from Jaycee Chan to Hu Jun, who seem rather functional than to add any emotional depth to the film.Mulan is just one version from a folklore open to vast interpretations, and you can bet your last dollar that this isn't going to be the last of Mulan related stories that we'll hear of.
excerpt, full review at my location - Not to be confused with Disney's 1998 animated blockbuster Mulan, director Jingle Ma's 2009 epic offers a more sophisticated and nuanced retelling of the story based on a sixth century Chinese poem.
Mulan: Legendary Warrior charts the early life and rise to power of Hua Mulan, a fearless heroine who disguises herself as a man and goes to war in place of her ailing father.Mulan: Legendary Warrior isn't exactly innovative, and it doesn't really add anything new to a story that has been told many times, but it's an expertly crafted film that fuses war and romance genres in a highly absorbing way..
There was also no gi jane trying to show the world something, mulan was just a person who grew with the duty and just did what she had to do.The film left out all the gender conflicts beside and truly presented us a pure touching story.Hua Mulan being a great general and warrior is after 12 years again a woman of her time at the end.
The end of the love story is also sad but otherwise it wouldn't be such a good film.Hollywood would surely add a kiss at the end, it was much better that there were just the right words....
Having Just watched this film, and whilst it is still fresh in my mind I found the movie to be a refreshing change to traditional epics offered by Asian Cinema.
While the length of the film made me hesitate, I found it quite enjoyable.The film did not have the Disney/Hollywood touch to it, and as much as I still spend time watching Hollywod movies, it gives a fresh new take on Mulan (or new to me anyway).
Note: The legend of Hua Mulan is actually based on a poem.The film starts off with Mulan caring for her father, and progresses to the familiar calling for soldiers from every family and Mulan running off in her father's place.
In this film Mulan already knows how to fight before going to war, so I guess that makes it more believable that she will be able to keep up with the others.
The war lasted a long time and I guess this is reminiscent of wars in those times.I wasn't really fond of the character of Modu (Jun Hu), who like the enemy in the Disney film, is very exaggerated in his evilness.
Wei Zhao and Kun Chen as Mulan and Wentai (character of Shang in Disney's Mulan) had pretty good acting, but at times I felt the chemistry between them was too forced, and some parts were also a little cheesy.
'Mulan' is folklore--like Robin Hood, King Arthur--initially popularized as literary fiction, perhaps with some 'historical grounding', but so heavily mythologized that what is 'fact' and what is 'fiction' is virtually indistinguishable (this in turn produces multiple versions of the story, including of course, Disney's campy animated 'revision').
I specifically mention this because as silly as the 'plot twist' near the end of the film may seem to those familiar with the premise of the story, it is not nearly as silly as the rest of the film—-and just as a footnote, this version is campier than Disney's.Zhao Wei plays Hua Mulan, a young woman who pretends to be a man in order to substitute her ailing father as a conscript in an army raised by the Northern Wei dynasty to fend off incursions by the Rouran Confederacy.
If you have read all the reviews, as I did, I think you will all know which one it is when I say was this person even reviewing the right film.The one thing that needs to be said about a film of this calibre, is that you have to be into this kind of movie and the Far Eastern ways of making films.
Unusual for a high end film and the fact that the soldiers of the armies were most likely real PLA soldiers; something that is done in most large battle scene movies in China...they use the real army.
The Chinese movie industry only uses CGI for its way out high fantasy productions such as 'The Monkey King' films.Best thing is to watch it and expect nothing so that you can view it with an unfettered view.
Wei Zhao, as Hua Mulan, plays her part fantastcally and her co-star love interest Kun Chen, as Wentai, is excellent also.
It of course builds on the fact that the main character is a woman, who tries to pass herself off as a man, in order to serve in the Chinese army, instead of her fragile, old father.
Problem is that at no time Wei Zhao ever looks or even acts like a guy.
highly annoying, unlikely and distracting that no one in this movie seems to notice that 'he' is actually a she.The story has some soap opera type of developments to it but also has the look of it.
It just isn't solid enough and has some really poor dialog, which lets the patriotic moments come across as weak, as well as misplaced.No, this never looked like a solid movie to me but I was at least expecting some entertainment and a good story to follow, since the tale of Hua Mulan in itself is of course a really great and fascinating one.
This movie however just never surpasses the level of a straight to DVD or made for TV drama-production, with cardboard characters and bad dialog, disappointing acting and soap like developments with its story.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
By all rights, MULAN should be THE definitive retelling of the story about the famous woman warrior: it's a big-budget Chinese historical war film, made with a huge crew and cast, actors who have previously excelled in other movies, and a thoroughly serious look at a woman out of place in a man's world.
Those hoping for spectacle and battle will be sorely disappointed, as Jingle Ma's appalling direction sees the war scenes glossed over and dealt with in a purely defunct way.Instead, at least half of the (oh so lengthy) running times chronicles Mulan's descent into an endless depression as she laments a lost love and wishes she were elsewhere.
Zhao Wei's acting can't be faulted, but the attempts at character and personality are so poorly conceived that the audience couldn't care less about any of the characters, from Jaycee Chan's irritating attempts at a buffoon to Kun Chen's bawling crybaby.Although the cinematography makes this film look good, it's far from entertaining.
This 2009 movie is based on the legend of Mulan, the woman taking the place of her father in order to go to war, and whose accomplishments led her to rise as a general in the Wei army.While this movie is entertaining in terms of action, drama and warfare, then if you are already familiar with the story of Hua Mulan, then there is very little surprises throughout the course of the movie.
Well, aside from the devious Mushu dragon is not here."Hua Mulan" does differ from many other movies in the genre, that being big, epic war movies.
So thumbs up on their achievement here.The acting in the movie was good, although I think they could have had some more talented people in the roles of Hua Mulan (played by Wei Zhao) and Fei Xiaohu (played by Jaycee Chan).
Kun Chen (playing Wentai) was really doing a phenomenal job though, and he alone lifted the movie a great deal."Hua Mulan" is a good and entertaining movie.
The characters were not believable and I felt throughout the movie that the soldiers or military personnel around Mulan are either too stupid to figure out she's female or in major denial.
However for a story like Mulan, one expects far better.
The only thing about the story of Mulan that i knew, was what i learned from the Disney version.
And yes, this is also a love story, but just like the fighting and everything else, to me it seems that the people who made this movie gave a lot of thought to how much romance would be possible under the circumstances.
For example i don't know how the character of Wude (played by Vitas) actually fits into the story, he feels slightly out of place.
All in all i think this movie is absolutely worth watching if you're not too focused on any aspect of Chinese cinema, but even then it might well be worth your time!.
Well, yes, that is the purpose of this film, the absurdity of war and heroism, of true sacrifice and no happy ending in the Hollywood way.Mulan becomes a tactically sound commander of some Chinese army, learns the realities of politics the hard way, learns the Chinese way of sacrificing your own happiness for the greater good of the nation.It is not merely a sacrifice of your life, but a sacrifice of everything you might think will or would define yourself.
The nation, the people, not the individual.So the story doesn't really go anyway - and still it goes everywhere, touches upon the absurdities of our quaint notions of self and of glory and of victory.When Mulan finally puts the welfare of the nation above herself and even above her family and her brothers-in-arms for the sake of the greater good, she ends up where she finally understands what her father meant, despite her fears or even because of her fears.It is a brilliant movie.
I will Watch it Again, and not because of the battle scenes - they are mostly not there - but for the story that doesn't lead you anywhere, drags you along against your will and you end up the same way of Mulan, with only a fling of hope: there is a greater good, and it is not you!.
The numerous battle scenes are impressive and look realistic so if you are expecting highly choreographed almost balletic action of wuxia films you may be a little disappointed.
The film also feels like a TV movie with little sense of reality and sense of place.
Just watched this yesterday with full of anticipation coz I love epic films like these.
Remaining true to the legend, Mulan takes place of her father to fight in the war.
Okay, Joan was considered touched by God as it was a vision that made her take the fight to the English, where as Mulan did it out of a sense of honour.The period in China in which this story is set is quite vague.
However, at the time of this movie, the Wei people were under attack from roaming bandits, but these bandits had decided that raiding wasn't as good because when winter comes they always had to return home, so they decided to invade and stay.The people of Wai thus had to go to war, and as was expected every family was to put up a male to join the army.
However she is caught out, but the person who catches her is on his way up anyway and decides to protect her, but as he goes up the ranks he brings Mulan with him.One of the things that made me think while watching this film is whether there is any incidence of grace or self-sacrifice outside of the Christian sphere.