Monday, March 19, 2007
Fearless on Amazon.com
I've had the DVD of Fearless for almost a month now, and I finally had the chance to watch it (spring break is a wonderful thing!) And I can honestly say that it is probably the best martial arts film I've ever seen.
Fearless gained a lot of publicity when Jet Li announced that it would be his last wu shu film... not to mean that he is retiring from being an actor, but rather that he would no longer make films that focused on wu shu (Chinese martial arts) because this film would be the ultimate expression of everything he wanted to say about martial arts. I don't know if that will be the case or not... but the message he gives here is fantastic, in that it gets at what I believe is the true essence of martial arts.
This movie is essentially a prequel to another of my favorites, Fist of Legend, and a Bruce Lee film that I've seen but never been particularly enamored with, The Chinese Connection. (I must admit to martial arts movie heresy - Bruce Lee's films don't do a whole lot for me.) Both films tell the story of a hero who comes home to his martial arts school and discovers that his Master has been killed during a challenge match with a Japanese champion. After discovering that the match was rigged by the Master being poisoned, the hero proceeds to wreak bloody vengeance on the Japanese who arranged the whole thing. I tend to find Jet Li's version to be more entertaining both because the fights are more spectacular, and because the characters and story have more depth. What does all this have to do with Fearless? Easy, this is the story of the dead Master from the other two films, Huo Yuan Jia, founder of the Jing Wu Sports Association. (as an aside - Huo Yuan Jia was an actual person, and the filmmakers were sued by his grandson over the liberties they took with his portrayal in this movie.)
The action sequences in this film are outstanding... a minimum of wire-work was used, which is actually my preference for this type of film. At 42 Jet Li continues to be an amazing athlete and martial artist - I've heard before that he is unbelievably fast, and in one of the extras on the DVD it talks about filming at 6x the normal film speed to be able to catch his movements. The fights encompass a variety of styles and includes empty hand and weapons combat, as well as wu shu against western boxing/wrestling, Spanish sword, Prussian spear, and both Japanese sword and empty hand fighting. Yes, this is wu shu fighting rather than the all-out "streetfighting" featured on lots of recent films (including Jet Li's own Unleashed)... but in my mind, that's part of what makes this a martial arts film rather than a fighting film.
More importantly, what really makes this film shine is what happens in between the fights. The story follows Huo from when he's a small child, watching an opponent defeat his father after his father spares his life, to a young man whose sole concern is beating every challenger at all costs and being the undisputed champion of his town, despite the fact that this leads to his ignoring his family and friends. When one of his students is beaten by a local wu shu expert (with good reason, it turns out) Huo embarks on a bloody campaign of revenge that ends with many dead, including his own family. Ashamed and driven somewhat insane by it all, he wanders far and wide, until he's rescued by the people in a distant peasant village, who gradually help him heal and realize that instead of being about competition, life is about living peacefully and respectfully with others and enjoying the good things that come your way. Finally, Huo returns home and finds that in his absence China has been overrun by foreigners who see the Chinese as a joke. He does his best to make amends to all those he has offended in the past, and answers a series of challenges from foreign fighters in an attempt to help his country find its pride again. Despite being poisoned during his final match, he finishes the fight honorably, showing both great courage and great mercy when he spares his opponent when he could have killed him, and ends a true champion who has accomplished his goal, at the cost of his own life.
There are many excellent messages contained here, from the idea that martial arts is not just about fighting and winning but also about perfection of character and better relations with the people around us, to Huo's mother explaining to him that his most diffucult opponent to conquer will be himself (so true for all of us...) to Huo's discussion with the Japanese champion, Tanaka, about the fact that no one martial art is superior, but rather all are equal and instead there are varying degrees of skill among those who study martial arts. In some ways the film can be summed up in its final beautiful image of the spirit of Huo performing a wu shu form on a grassy hilltop, perfectly at peace, while the blind peasant who helped him find his path looks on - ultimately martial arts is not about fighting but about peace.
Rent it, buy it, borrow it... watch this movie. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
JMH
