RED CLIFF
China, 2009, 145 minutes. Colour.
Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang.
Directed by John Woo.
Red Cliff is not really a war film – it is a warfare film.
The battle scenes in Braveheart are warfare. So is the opening half hour of Saving Private Ryan. But, they also contain political, social, family themes in the context of war. Red Cliff is battles. It is strategy and it is tactics. And, it is extraordinarily well done.
Hong Kong director John Woo was a standout director of gangster thrillers in the late 1980s and early 1990s (A Better Tomorrow, Hardboiled, The Killer). Then he went to Hollywood with mixed results, Face/ Off being his outstanding film. He has tackled World War II in Windtalkers but, while interesting, it seemed to lack a spark. Now Woo has tackled spectacular Chinese history and warfare and succeeded. He has made it very difficult for the next directors of battle films. How will they top Red Cliff?
And, this comment is made, not on the two part, four hour film that is for Asian release but on his edited two and a half version for western audiences.
It needs to be said that audiences who find battle sequences difficult to watch will find this film very difficult at times. It is 'few holds barred' film-making, as if the audience is in the middle of the war and the battles, feeling almost in danger of being wounded or killed so close up it is.
The Battle of the Three Kingdoms stands as a classic in the minds of the Chinese people. The time is 209 AD. A novel from the 13th century made it vivid while romanticising it. Woo has used many features of the novel but has gone back to more accurate historical records for his film.
The basic plot is quite straightforward although westerners unfamiliar with the history need some time to absorb information and characters and gain a perspective for who is on the side of good and who is the oppressor. We see the prime Minister, Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) use the young emperor as a puppet to justify his ambitions to attack the kingdoms of the south so that he might become emperor himself. Kingdom leader Liu Bei uses his scholarly young strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to persuade his neighbour to join in the fight against Cao Cao. This depends on the decision of the army commander Zhou Yu (Tony Leung). They fight Cao Cao.
The rest of the film consists of the battles in great detail as well as pauses for reflection on strategies. The fighting scenes are quite extraordinary, sometimes overwhelming. However, as in any good storytelling, it is the final battle where Zhuge Liang uses his knowledge of weather to gain the advantage and the wife of the commander goes to Cao Cao to delay his attack that brings the action to a spectacular climax, including a naval battle with fire.
Cao Cao's troops numbered almost one million. This is a film with a cast of thousands and, through technical effects, a cast of millions. Woo has shown himself a master director, reinventing himself after his crime and action shows.
He proposes to make a film about 20th century Chinese history, of the historic year, 1949.
1. The impact of the film? The four-hour version for the Chinese audience? The abbreviated version for western audiences? The re-creation of Chinese history, Chinese warfare?
2. John Woo and his career, in Hong Kong, the gangster films, his time in America? His bringing this experience to bear on a Chinese epic?
3. The scope of the film, for Asian audiences, western audiences? The range of locations, the strong cast? Costs, logistics? The battles, the editing? The special effects, CGI for the number of warriors? The stunt work for the action? The musical score?
4. The need for audience knowledge about Chinese history, the period of the three kingdoms? The tradition of the three kingdoms and the battles in films? The 13th century novel, the romanticising of the period? This film and its return to historical records? Absorbing the romantic elements? The rethinking about the era? The new construction?
5. The importance of the battles, the experience of warfare? Strategies and tactics? As explained, as illustrated? As reflected on? The dramatics of the people involved, in the action crises? A theme of good versus evil? No historical explanation – but the audience gauging the characters, their ambitions, the cruelty, the violence, the warfare and the peacemaking?
6. The voice-over, the information given? Sufficient? The need to clarify who the characters were? Their loyalties? Changing affiliations? “
7. The dramatics – the influence of Cao Cao over the young emperor? His weakness? The ambitions of Cao Cao? His engineering the battles with the South? His overweening ambition, to become emperor? His domination? The range of battles, his tactics? The eventual confrontation? The commander, Zhou Yu? His alliances? The role of the wife? The delaying tactics? The final defeat at Red Cliff?
8. The various personalities? The weakness of the young emperor? The leaders of the kingdoms, Liu Bei, his scholarly strategies, Zhuge Liang? Gaining alliances? The role of the commander?
9. The detail of the action, the immersing of the audience in the action, no holds barred? The periodic lulls, the moments of drama, the moments of reflection, the moments of strategy?
10. The build-up to the climax, the battle of Red Cliff – and what it signified in the defeat of Cao Cao? The role of the three kingdoms and their future?
11. A contribution to Chinese history and understanding? And for the rest of the world?
