Message from sperez

[Anonymous]

The movie "Hero" is quite different than I expected. While it does have some beautifully choreographed fight scenes, most of the movie is a mental journey, both for the characters and for the audience. The basic premise is that Jet Li's character, "Nameless", comes to th capital to tell the emperor of the new Qin empire how he has killed the emperor's three greatest enemies. Within that story, Nameless tells how he deceived these individuals to get close to them in order to destroy them.

However, the emperor sees another possibility for why Nameless has come to see him, and he tells the story from a different perspective, which includes very different motives for Nameless' actions. In each episode involving a different character or a different perspective, a different dominant color scheme is used for all the background objects, clothing, and surroundings. In this way, its clear that a different view is being presented, and the particular colors add to the particular emotions in that storyline. Interestingly, I've read that this coloring was not done digitally, but with dyeing and selection of actual objects that would fit each particular color.

The audience not only has to find their way to the truth amongst all these various perspectives, but also must follow the new way of seeing things that is developing in Nameless' mind. It becomes clear that Nameless actually had created a very clever plan with a motive very different from what he had originally said. However, in telling and listening to these stories he confuses and changes his mind rather than the emperor's.
Each of the other main characters adds to this thought process as they question Nameless and themselves, as well as ponder the larger questions in life.

Selections of this movie would be wonderful to show for students in 6th and 7th grade since it occurs during the time when China's first empire was created. The emperor who first united China, Shi Huangdi, is usually portayed as a ruthless, and ambitious tyrant. In this movie however, he gets the chance to justify his actions, and speak about the higher goals that motivated him--at least according to this movie. In doing this, the circumstances of that time are presented: the chaotic, violent wars between regional kings, the confusing mix of languages and writing styles, and the great influence of both philosophy and martial skills in producing a new China.

These probematic conditons, and a strong ruler who would strive to master them, would be repeated again after the fall of the Han, and the rise of the Sui Dynasty under empeor Wen. Of course, the lush images, the skillful direction, and the well acted performances, in addtion to a few very exciting fighting scenes that are exceptionally well integrated into the plot, will make this both effective and popular for students. The subplots (or perhaps the main themes?) about love, and revenge will certainly grab their interest as well.