I AM BRUCE LEE
US, 2012, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Pete McCormack.
This was the first in a series of portraits of celebrities, principally actors and film stars, produced by Derek Murray. Further subjects of these portraits include Steve McQueen, Paul Walker, Heath Ledger, Burt Reynolds.
As with the series, they can be viewed as personal portraits of the celebrities or they can be reviews of their careers. The films have the advantage of personal testimonies from spouses and other relations, from friends, co-stars, and experts in the field. This is the case with this film with the main witness being Bruce Lee’s widow, Linda Lee Cadwell. There is also Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, and the sad memory of his son Brandon Lee is untimely death.
The film offers the historical background of Bruce Lee born in San Francisco, up in his early years in Hong Kong, joining gangs, but then better educated, studying martial arts under the famous It Man (and, to saying that It man was famous because of Bruce Lee) and then moving back to the United States, to Seattle, odd jobs, study at the University, study of martial arts. Leigh was ambitious but principally in terms of education and training disciples. He absorbed a great number of martial arts styles, making them his own, getting the opportunity in the media with the 1967 television series The Green Hornet, later Longstreet, guest appearances in films and series.
There are many experts on the martial arts interviewed for this film. Which means then that it is of great interest to those who follow the martial arts – of less interest to those who do not but an opportunity to learn something of the martial arts culture, philosophy, growth and the influence of Lee. There is great admiration for Lee from those who give testimony.
From 1970 until his death in 1973, Lee made a number of feature films, developing his techniques, going to Hong Kong where he was recognised, films like Way of the Dragon produced, and then his move towards Hollywood with Enter the Dragon, his choreography, his screen presence – and then, his collapse, is untimely death, with Enter the Dragon premiered a month after his death.
A great deal is made of his tradition of Chinese philosophy, his use of aphorisms, especially the changing nature of water and its adaptability which is key to the martial arts with each individual adding their own distinction to the cumulative tradition. His intelligence is manifest in the range of television interviews that are included in this portrait. He was also something of a poet.
In the aftermath of his untimely death and the huge influence of the development of martial arts, Leigh was named as one of the most significant figures of the 20th century.
