Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon By Ang Lee
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a multi award winning martial arts film. The film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors. This movie was made on a $17 million budget and was a huge international success, grossing $213.5 million and is a very worthy candidate for inclusion in the film festival.
Characterisation:
The movie opens with the return of Li Mu Bai from the Green Mountain where he reunites with his friend, Yu Shu Lien, a female warrior. Both are highly skilled students of Wudang, a form of martial arts. Mu Bai is characterised as a master swordsmen who has returned from seeking enlightenment to reunite with his love interest. He symbolically plans to gift his precious sword to Sir Te signifying his retirement. However, his last unfulfilled task as a warrior is to avenge the death of his master by killing the Wudang warrior, Jade Fox. His character is set up well in that he is shown to be of great honour and worthy of great respect. …show more content…
Similarly, Yu Shu Lien is an honourable and well respected female warrior who studied under the same master and is equally motivated to avenge his death.
Her character develops as she engages in the first of many martial arts scenes in the movie in her attempt to retrieve the precious sword that has been stolen.
At the beginning of the movie, Jen Yu is made to appear as though she is the obedient daughter of a politician when in reality, she is another Wudang fighter and is keeping her master, Jade Fox, hidden. Unbeknown to her master, she has far surpassed her master’s skill level but is keeping it a secret.
Jade Fox is a Wudang warrior who uses her skill for evil purposes and encourages Jen to do the
same.
Each of these characters is vital to the plot as they contrast with one another in order to create a very interesting story line.
Setting:
The film is set in China at the time of the Qing dynasty (approximately 1779) and uses impressive cinematography to depict breathtaking landscapes from that time including temples, vast dessert land, stone buildings and bamboo forest. Traditional Chinese costumes are used, adding to the strong cultural context that is cleverly woven into the story line.
Cultural contexts:
The film is based on the Martial Art of Wudang and includes many action scenes that are cleverly choreographed and masterminded to involve special effects and stunt work as actors appear to be able to fly. This makes the movie very interesting as it is a form of fighting that has never been seen before. An example of this is shown in the following fight seen taken from the movie.
Interestingly the film encompasses the traditional family structure including the dominance of the patriarch and sub ordinance of woman including arranged marriage, however, in the art of Wudang, women are depicted as equals who can defeat male opponents, sometimes several at once.
This movie should definitely be shown in the film festival as it is such a great example of a foreign film and has previously proven itself worthy through winning 40 different awards around the world.
Characterisation:
The movie opens with the return of Li Mu Bai from the Green Mountain where he reunites with his friend, Yu Shu Lien, a female warrior. Both are highly skilled students of Wudang, a form of martial arts. Mu Bai is characterised as a master swordsmen who has returned from seeking enlightenment to reunite with his love interest. He symbolically plans to gift his precious sword to Sir Te signifying his retirement. However, his last unfulfilled task as a warrior is to avenge the death of his master by killing the Wudang warrior, Jade Fox. His character is set up well in that he is shown to be of great honour and worthy of great respect. …show more content…
Similarly, Yu Shu Lien is an honourable and well respected female warrior who studied under the same master and is equally motivated to avenge his death.
Her character develops as she engages in the first of many martial arts scenes in the movie in her attempt to retrieve the precious sword that has been stolen.
At the beginning of the movie, Jen Yu is made to appear as though she is the obedient daughter of a politician when in reality, she is another Wudang fighter and is keeping her master, Jade Fox, hidden. Unbeknown to her master, she has far surpassed her master’s skill level but is keeping it a secret.
Jade Fox is a Wudang warrior who uses her skill for evil purposes and encourages Jen to do the
same.
Each of these characters is vital to the plot as they contrast with one another in order to create a very interesting story line.
Setting:
The film is set in China at the time of the Qing dynasty (approximately 1779) and uses impressive cinematography to depict breathtaking landscapes from that time including temples, vast dessert land, stone buildings and bamboo forest. Traditional Chinese costumes are used, adding to the strong cultural context that is cleverly woven into the story line.
Cultural contexts:
The film is based on the Martial Art of Wudang and includes many action scenes that are cleverly choreographed and masterminded to involve special effects and stunt work as actors appear to be able to fly. This makes the movie very interesting as it is a form of fighting that has never been seen before. An example of this is shown in the following fight seen taken from the movie.
Interestingly the film encompasses the traditional family structure including the dominance of the patriarch and sub ordinance of woman including arranged marriage, however, in the art of Wudang, women are depicted as equals who can defeat male opponents, sometimes several at once.
This movie should definitely be shown in the film festival as it is such a great example of a foreign film and has previously proven itself worthy through winning 40 different awards around the world.