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Reviews
Guan yun chang (2011)
A very underrated movie - only recommended for those who know Chinese culture
One of the many Chinese great films that is severely underrated.
The movie starts by a narrative by Cao Cao, stating that the Chinese character of "Righteousness", 義(yi), is composed of a (羊)"sheep" and the word "myself" (我). It implies that according to the ancient Chinese wisdom, there is only a thin line between being righteous and being sacrificed. But in one of the most chaotic era in China, such "righteous" man can not end well. The movie poetically pull off a metaphor that in a world ruled by wolves, sheeps (the righteous man) can only be sacrificed in the benefit of other wolves, which in the movie, are Lord Liu Bei, Lord Cao Cao and Lord Suan Quan.
Jiang Wen is really a great actor. His in-depth acting of Cao Cao puts this legendary warlord to live. It is only in the second time watching the film again that I understand Cao Cao's reasons of trying to save Guan YuChang.
"I want to see heavens everywhere", Cao Cao to the monk.
He understands that in chaotic times what people need most is a hero, a benevolent hero like Guan YuChang that places traditional Chinese values on top of everything. Values that are forgotten. Values that need to be re-established once China is to be unified again.
In the movie, these values that Guan YuChang holds sacred are in fact useless and sometimes expendable. Despite his great fighting skills, he is totally defendless against all the manipulative jugglery by all those manipulative people. Guan YuChang in many writings has been depicted as the most "loyal, righteous, brave and dangerous" (忠義勇武) person throughout the Chinese history. But what surprises me is that the movie creates a whole new perspective re-evaluating what a tragic wanderer he really is. He is too loyal to his Master Liu Bei that he loses the woman he loves; too righteous and altruist that he ends up very vulnerable and being hunted; too brave that he is taken advantage of; too dangerous that even the Lord Cao Cao's deputy disobeyed Cao's order and try to kill him.
Donnie Yen's acting of Guan YuChang really delivers a sense of helplessness. He is captured by his enemy Cao Cao, despised by the woman he loves and misunderstood by the foolish mass. But there is no even a slightest falter about abandoning the his moral values. He could have chosen a easy way-out by simply giving in. But compromising to the adversities he faces would equal to surrendering all the values he has been taught to believe. A true hero won't do that.
Ironically, despite all the Cao's endeavor to save Guan, Guan met his end in the most tragic way and Cao Cao couldn't even lived long enough to see a unified China, nor their sons, nor their grandsons. But heroes and their stories always pass on. So in some way I think Cao Cao did save Guan YuChang. He saved his reputation and reasons for people to worship him as a hero.