Hero is a Chinese film which was directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Li Feng, Zhang Yimou, and Wang Bin. Starring Jet Li as the nameless protagonist, the film is based on the story of Jing Ke’s assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC … Hero was first released in China in October of 2002, and quickly became the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese film history.  Miramax Films owned the American market distribution rights, but delayed the release of the film for nearly two years. It was finally presented by Quentin Tarantino to American theaters on August, 27 2004.
Despite the film received extremely favorable reviews (scoring 95% at Rotten Tomatoes and receiving an 85 at Metacritic, indicating “universal acclaim”), many critics completely missed the fundamental point of the film; seeing it only as a brilliantly displayed martial arts film, instead of the moral masterpiece it actually remains.  Richard Corliss of Time went so far afield as to errantly note that the film “employs unparalleled visual splendor to show why men must make war to secure the peace and how warriors may find their true destiny as lovers,” and Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune downgraded its enormous display of ethics, loyalty, and self-sacrifice by lauding it as a mere “action movie for the ages.”  Many other critics somehow fully missed the true impact of the plot (that ultimately the only way to true honor and real social change comes via non-violent self sacrifice) and criticized it as a film that justifies ruthless authoritarianism …

To his great credit, Roger Ebert saw the majestic depth of the film’s message, stating that, “A film like Hero demonstrates how the martial arts genre transcends action and violence and moves into poetry, ballet and philosophy. It is violent only incidentally. What matters is not the manner of death, but the manner of dying: In a society that takes a Zen approach to swordplay and death, one might win by losing. There is an ancient martial arts strategy in which one lures the opponent closer to throw him off balance, and yields to his thrusts in order to mislead him. This strategy works with words as well as swords. One might even defeat an opponent by dying — not in the act of killing him, but as a move in a larger game.”
“In the first stage, man and sword become interchangeable. Here, even a blade of grass can be used as a lethal weapon. In the next stage, the sword resides not in the hand, but in the heart. Here, even without a weapon the warrior can slay his enemy from a hundred paces. Finally, the ultimate ideal is realized when the sword disappears altogether. Here, the warrior embraces all around him. The desire to kill is gone – and only peace remains.” ~ Hero

Filed under: In LOVE with Humanity by Scaughdt