When Zhang Yimou's Heroes was first released in China in 2002, the film's cool martial arts scenes really made a splash, and even after its release abroad, millions of viewers were captivated by this spectacular epic. Critics , however, had mixed reviews for "Hero," making the film one of the director's most controversial works.
At first glance, "Hero" seems to be very different from Zhang Yimou's previous works. His previous films, starting with "Red Sorghum," have been set in 20th-century China, and stories almost always center on lowly social status and tragic circumstances. However, the story of "Hero" not only takes place in a completely different period (the end of the 3rd century BC), including the King Qin who successfully unified China, and the assassins who participated in his assassination, are outstanding characters, not ordinary people. The title of the film, "Hero," bluntly declares that this is a story about a special person. But who is the hero and what does the word really mean?
Audiences who have seen the movie know that the theme of the film is actually very simple, that it is right to abandon the attempt to assassinate the King of Qin in order to end the chaos in China . Due to the achievements of King Qin in unifying China, he should be regarded as a hero. Furthermore, these four assassins not only displayed amazing martial arts skills, but also proved their morality to be admirable and should therefore be regarded as heroes. However, according to historical records, China's first emperor was undoubtedly a tyrant. Therefore, it is not unreasonable that "Hero" has been severely criticized by many people. Although King Qin succeeded in "sweeping Liuhe and unifying the world", shouldn't he still be responsible for his atrocities? Or should the tyranny he represents be justified in this way?
First of all, except for King Qin, no other protagonist in the film is a real person in the history books, and the story is very different from what is recorded in the literature. Therefore, we can think of the emperor as a symbol of absolute monarchy, rather than a real tyrant in history. Second, although the King of Qin and the assassins each have their own heroic qualities, if the hero is the ideal example of courage, wisdom and nobility, then no one can be called a true hero.
Let's take a look at these assassins first. As Can Jian pointed out, Wuming, Changkong and Feixue's motives for assassinating the King of Qin were nothing more than their hatred for Qin, because Zhao was destroyed by Qin . But even if the assassination of King Qin was successful, what should we do next? They seem to know nothing. For Feixue, her hatred for Qin was just an obsession, which eventually led to the death of both herself and Can Jian. She, like "Feixue", disappeared meaninglessly. However, Wuming seems to have a more cultivated pursuit in life. He said: "The rhythm of Wugong Qin is different, but the principles are the same." However, his cognition of the highest realm does not seem to involve any specific political theory. If the task of assassinating the King of Qin was his political goal, then the goal without political theory is doomed to fail, just as he was eventually "pierced by arrows". So it seems that Wuming doesn't need a name, because his ambitions have come to nothing.
Of the four assassins, Changkong was the only one who survived the tragedy , but in the end we know: in memory of his three friends, Changkong gave up his swordsmanship forever. While his life goes on, he cannot see the future, as if to imply that it will be a permanent vacuum that cannot be filled (as in his name, "The Sky"). Compared to other warriors, Canjian seems to have a wiser worldview . He not only understood that swordsmanship and calligraphy had the same supreme state (returning to simplicity), but also realized that for the benefit of all people in the world, the king of Qin could not die. Therefore, Can Jian can be regarded as the only assassin with some political intelligence. However, neither Can Jian 's wisdom nor his innocence can explain why the King of Qin realizes that " the highest state of swordsmanship is that there is no sword in his hand and no sword in his heart, so if he embraces everything with a big heart, he does not kill." , is peace ", still decides that Wuming must die. Can Jian's mind is clearly mutilated, which may explain his name.
As for the King of Qin, despite his unparalleled wisdom and strength , he was unable to realize the ideal of "the world is unified and the people live in peace" that he proclaimed. The moment he hesitated, he revealed a contradiction in his heart: putting Wuming to death was not what he really wanted to do, but "not killing" did not guarantee that his power would be maintained, nor would his ambition to build a solid empire be guaranteed. accomplish. He couldn't find a better option: ruthlessness was the only option. He was lonely because "I didn't expect that the one who knew the widow best was the widow's wanted assassin ". What an embarrassing dilemma for this mighty King of Qin!
Compared to the red, white and green tones of other characters, in the entire film, King Qin is the only character presented in blue tones. As a powerful monarch, his political wisdom is likely to be reflected in blue, which tends to symbolize profoundness. But both his blue costume and the blue tones of the basilica are rather dark, which hints at the dark side. Also, in front of his throne, we always see a string of orange candles, and in many shots, behind his throne hangs a huge red "sword", suggesting that his wits were plagued by conflict.
Although King Qin eventually succeeded in conquering the other six kingdoms and became the supreme ruler of Qin State, when he sat on the throne, he was always framed in a small space, sandwiched between a screen behind him and a cluster of lit candles in front of him. between. The irony is: if he represents the supreme power of the emperor, and there is nothing above that power , he seems to be limited only by the supreme power he represents. And that's the plight of any autocratic ruler.
Also, in the last long shot of King Qin appearing in the movie, he is placed in a faraway place, sitting on the same throne, and framed in the same small space as before, the supreme ruler is surprisingly The ground is small. His tiny figure was far behind, and we couldn't help but wonder: how could this sovereign ruler appear so insignificant?
Now, it becomes clear what Heroes really means: There are no real heroes. Based on this, the fable of "Heroes" leads us to a whole new view of history: insignificant people are often trapped in tragic predicaments, but important people are often trapped in predicaments, although this predicament is different from the former . Therefore, the dilemmas we have often encountered in history can be seen as a combination of these two dilemmas. As long as society remains largely ignorant, neither those in power nor those under it will be able to save society from these terrible predicaments. So much of the tyranny in history seems to have been the result of this dilemma, rather than produced as a morally sound solution.
At the end of "Heroes", the top half of the screen is the sunrise sky, and the bottom half is the rolling Great Wall. In the end, King Qin achieved the unification of China. The rising sun signifies the beginning of a new era: the establishment of the Daqin Empire and the birth of the first emperor in Chinese history. This is a victory to end the chaos of the Warring States Period. But the footage quickly moved away from the sun, suggesting the hopeful moment wouldn't last long. For most dynasties, the prosperous period that started was unsustainable, just as the rising of the sun was only temporary, raising our unrealistic hopes. What's more, the Great Wall and the mountains are backlit, casting long shadows. When looking closely at China's history since Qin Shi Huang's unification, we must realize that this dissonance actually marked almost the entire history of China.
Now it's also clear why the story of "Heroes" is set more than 2,000 years ago when the Chinese Empire was first established. Zhang's previous works have focused on Chinese history over the past century or so, while "Hero" looks back at more than two thousand years of history, greatly broadening our perspective on history. It turns out that the setbacks China has experienced are not limited to the past century, nor to the confusion of modern China, but have been there almost since the beginning of China's birth. Sadly for ancient and modern China, a wise monarch, or rather a true hero, could not be found . This is the revelation of the hero.
Martial arts movies are often best known for their entertainment value: thrilling fight scenes, romantic irony, idealized courage and integrity, and happy endings. As engaging as these films may be, they generally don't care about intellectual sophistication. Before "Heroes," only a handful of films of this type showed theoretical depth. For example, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is difficult to find as deep meaning as "Hero" in terms of storyline and film skills. With its powerful wit and highly sophisticated artistic approach, "Hero" honorably opens up a whole new genre for Chinese-language films.
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