'' () is a
Chinese Martial Arts and
Drama Film , directed by
Zhang Yimou and starring
Jet Li .
''Hero'' is a film of the
Wuxia genre. It stars Jet Li as the nameless protagonist, loosely based on the legendary
Jing Ke . A group of
Assassin s, Flying Snow (飞雪) (
Maggie Cheung ), Broken Sword (残剑) (
Tony Leung Chiu Wai ), and Long Sky (长空) (
Donnie Yen ), have sworn to kill the
King Of Qin (秦王) (
Chen Daoming ), and Nameless (无名) (Li) comes to the royal capital to claim the reward offered for their defeat. His conversation with the King of Qin, and the flashbacks depicted therein, form the bulk of the movie.
Zhang Ziyi plays a minor role as Moon (如月), Broken Sword's servant.
''Hero'' was first released in
China on
October 24 2002 ; it was both the most expensive and the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese cinema history.
Miramax owned the
American -market distribution rights, but delayed the release of the film without reason for nearly two years. It was finally released to American theaters in
August 27 ,
2004 , after intervention by
Quentin Tarantino .
The film is set during the
Warring States Period , shortly before the unification of China (circa 225 BC). It tells the story of
Assassination attempts on the king of
Qin by legendary warriors who seek revenge for his
Subjugation of their nation. The king justifies his actions as necessary for the unification of China, pointing to the convoluted Chinese written language as illustration. In the text at the end of the film, the king is identified as
Ying Zheng , who in
221 BC did indeed unite China under his command and become its first emperor and dynasty,
Qin Shi Huang (lived
259 -
210 BC ; reigned
246 –
210 BC ); among many accomplishments, he unified smaller structures into the
Great Wall Of China , standardized a system of weights and measures, and invented a singular writing system that is still used today.
The film was
Zhang 's first attempt at this genre, and it uses a highly unusual structure. Conflicting versions of the events are recounted by different characters, in a structure reminiscent of
Akira Kurosawa 's ''
Rashomon '' (
1950 ). Each section uses a different color scheme depending on the narrator's point of view, similar to how different color schemes are adopted in different rooms in
Peter Greenaway 's ''
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover ''; Zhang's films often feature rigorous color schemes.
An interesting point is that, as the film progresses and more versions of the same story are presented, the characters of the narration improve with each new telling. They grow more intelligent, insightful, and thoughtful as the plot progresses. At the start of the film, during the first story told by the Nameless Hero, Broken Sword is portrayed as a mere brawler and Flying Snow seems ruled by her thoughts of the past and her hatred/love of Broken Sword; at the conclusion of the film, in the Nameless Hero's final story and the scenes after his death, Broken Sword is presented as a deeply contemplative and forward-thinking warrior and Flying Snow is a woman who feels the weight of their entire civilization resting upon her shoulders in addition to her own feelings. They are forced to grapple with complex issues that force them to think rather than fight, and they must weigh their own lives against their entire nation.
The film has a tragic structure; its six main characters come to realize that China's unity depends on their own decisions and actions. This feeling of patriotic responsibility conflicts with their own personal desires for revenge, and with their relationships to each other. Ultimately, the film concludes as a classic
Tragedy .
In China, an extended edition of Hero with eight minutes of additional footage was released. It features minor differences in story, music, and fight sequences to those of the theatrical version.
Although inspired in part by the success of films such as ''
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon '', the film failed to be as successful as its makers hoped, in part due to criticism overseas at a perceived pro-
Totalitarian and pro-
Chinese Reunification subtext. Critics also cited as evidence the approval given to the film by the
Government of the
People's Republic Of China . These critics argue that the ulterior meaning of the film is the triumph of security and stability over liberty and human rights and that the concept of
All Under Heaven (translated in the American release as "Our Land") is used to justify the incorporation of areas such
Tibet and
Xinjiang within the
People's Republic Of China and promote the reunification of
Taiwan with
China .
Additionally, the future first Emperor of China is portrayed in a very sympathetic light while for centuries
Qin Shi Huang has been looked upon with scorn as a brutal tyrant by
Confucian scholars. A more standard and much less sympathetic portrait of Qin Shi Huang is found in the 1999 film ''
The Emperor And The Assassin ''. While it is true that his rule is often brutal, Qin Shi Huang's reign is now looked upon more objectively by some modern scholars for some effective measures such as unifying the systems for language, weights and measures, currency, and for the construction of a national transport network. In any case, the revisonist portrayal in the film reflects the controversy associated with the historical figure.
The film's director, Zhang Yimou, purportedly withdrew from the '', in which filmmakers portray U.S. armed forces in a positive light. Others reject entirely that Zhang Yimou had any political motives in making the film. Zhang Yimou himself maintained he has no political intentions whatsoever.
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There has been some criticism of the film for its American-release translation of one of the central ideas in the film, ''
Tiān Xià ''. It comes from the Chinese proverb 'To suffer yourself when all under heaven suffer, to enjoy only when all under heaven enjoy.' The phrase is reminiscent of the American motto "one nation under God," but Miramax chose to translate it as "our land," probably to avoid a cultural tangle. During this time in their history, the Chinese people held the opinion (as did many before and after) that they were the very center of the universe; indeed, the Chinese term for China is ''Zhōngguó'', literally meaning "middle-country" or perhaps more accurately "central kingdom" (though it originally conceived as "the country between
Heaven and
Hell "). With that in mind, Broken Sword begs Nameless that the King of Qin be allowed to succeed, because the peace he will bring will benefit not just China, but everyone around them—to ''all under heaven''.
But as the average American viewer is probably unaware of China's self-conception, mistranslating ''tiān xià'' as "our land" is a simple way to avoid having to explain it.
Zhang Yimou was
asked about the change at a screening in Massachusetts and said it was a problem of translation. "If you ask me if 'our land' is a good translation, I can't tell you. All translations are handicapped. Every word has different meanings in different cultures," he said.
That wasn't the only change in translation. Cries from the soldiers were inexplicably changed from "Hail!" to "storm." Others were minor; Nameless addresses the old blind musician (during his fight with Sky) as "Sir" in the Miramax translation. On the import DVDs, he calls him "old man." Also, near the beginning of the film, a place where games of
Go are clearly being played is called a "chess house".
Miramax owned the American-market distribution rights, but delayed the release of the film a total of six times, to the great frustration of fans. Import DVDs of the film were sold online and Miramax
demanded that the sites cease selling the DVD, even as it kept delaying the film's release.
It was finally released to theatres in
August 27 ,
2004 after intervention by Disney executives and
Quentin Tarantino .
Harvey Weinstein , head of Miramax, originally planned on removing twenty minutes of the film that he believed would be confusing for Western audiences. However, he told Tarantino he would release the movie uncut if he agreed to be the film's presenter; for this reason, his name was attached to the credits as the film's "presenter." Tarantino's instincts were accurate; ''Hero'' topped the American box office for two weeks and eventually set a record as the highest-grossing opening-weekend foreign language film in the United States.
The United States version of the
DVD , with
Mandarin ,
English , and
French Soundtracks , was released on
November 30 2004 . Miramax, often criticized on DVD review sites for its sub-par DVD releases, struck again. The video quality of the Miramax DVD was considered inferior to the many imports available.
''Hero'' was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 2003
Academy Awards but lost to
Nowhere In Africa (
Germany ).
Zhang Yimou won the Alfred Bauer Award at the
Berlin International Film Festival in 2003 for his work in ''Hero''. The
National Society Of Film Critics awarded him their Best Director award.
The
New York Film Critics Circle recognized cinematographer Christopher Doyle with its award for Best Cinematography, as did the
Chicago Film Critics Association ' award for Best Cinematography, alongside
Martin Scorsese 's ''
The Aviator ''. The
Online Film Critics Society awarded ''Hero'' Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film. It was also the recipient of seven
Hong Kong Film Awards in 2003, including Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound. It was nominated for seven other awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Song, and Best Director.
- The musical instrument used in the fight in the chess courtyard scene is an ancient form of the Guqin , the Chinese seven-stringed zither. The guqin music was played by a well-known guqin player (Liu Li), whilst mimed by another in the film.
- ''Hero (英雄)'' is the hit theme song sung by Faye Wong . It is unavailable in the American versions of the film and soundtrack album.
- ''Wind & Sand (風沙)'' is a theme song inspired by the film and sung by an actor Tony Leung . It is only available in his titled album.
