A Terra-Cotta Warrior

A magnificent tale of adventure, which begins in ancient China, under the dictatorial and capricious rule of the mad emperor Qin (he who burnt all the books). Mong, a noble warrior and the hero of the film, becomes the emperor's main bodyguard, after having saved him from a sure death in an attempted coup. But Mong falls from grace after a forbidden love affair with the betrothed virgin Doreng. The penalty is merciless and the lovers have to wait for three-thousand years before they are finally reunified in the China of the 1930's.

Comment:
This time Ching Siu Tung (one of China's new talents who previously directed Chinese Ghost Story 1 & 2) has outdone himself. Thanks to a massive budget he can excel in stylistic playfulness and impressive settings. Two very different filmic temperaments the leading figure in Chinese film Zhang Yimou, who is also one of the producers, and the above mentioned Ching Siu Tung have together created a peculiar symbiosis between two separate genres; historical drama and contemporary farce.

A Terracotta Warrior is actually two films in one, where the first part presents magnificent reconstructions of settings from ancient China. As in Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, the former imperial city of Xian is recreated in all its splendor. The beautiful photography of the sumptuous settings and the swarming crowd of extras immediately bring such great men as Kurosawa and Leone to mind.

In the second part we are suddenly in the swinging, adventurous 1930's, in
which the poor warrior from the past is subjected to a severe collision of cultures. The scene in which Mong tries on a modern pair of sunglasses to shield himself from this bright future - the twentieth century is just one of the many comic points in the film. In a furious tempo of car chases and classic cliff hangers the hero and his fair maiden fight grave robbers black as night and greedy Westerners. Clear sources of inspiration are Spielberg's Indiana Jones trilogy and the American wise crack tradition. But, because it is all framed by genuine and tough martial arts acrobatics of the more advanced kind, A Terracotta Warrior has an original filmic look.

Below the exhilaratingly playful surface lies a more serious central theme dealing with the sharp contrasts that Chinese society is constantly subjected to; the contrast between East and West, between stillness and chaos, between old and new. But A Terracotta Warrior's main message is that of love which beyond time and space conquers all obstacles.

Thomas Rynell

Medverkande
Gong Li, Zhang Yimou: Producent
Hon Pou Chu: Manus
Lee Bik Wah: Foto
Peter Pao: Talat språk
Chinese