[The Warlords]
1. I brought my older children to see The Warlords at Tampines Mall last Friday. It was powerful drama set in a bloody period of Chinese history. The Taiping rebellion which spread from Guangxi in the South all the way to the North led to the death of tens of millions. I'm not sure how many of those who saw the movie were familiar with the history. The rebellion was started by a Hakka called Hong Xiuquan who believed he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Hence the symbolism of the cross in the story.

2. The three blood brothers (acted by Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi) recalled Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei of the Three Kingdoms. In the end, all had to die because Jiangsu was too important to the Qing Court in Beijing to be governed by those who were neither trusted nor trustworthy.

3. The movie was classified NC-16 on account of the battlefield violence. I thought the blood and gore were justified. What happened in those times was probably worse. But what kept the tension in the movie was not the violence but the tension between personal loyalties and higher obligations, and between self-interest and public duty. Jet Li played his part well.

4. I'm looking forward to Zhang Yimou's coming movie about the Battle of the Red Cliff from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.


Photo credit: wikipedia.org

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