I can't remember the last time I watched a fighting movie, maybe because I'm not a fan, but for this prompt, I wanted to relive my childhood. You see, when I was a child, my siblings and I, along with my brother's friends, were great fans of fighting movies, especially martial arts. We would watch them and then start replicating the moves afterwards. It was such a fun time. Our favorites back then were, "Shaolin Soccer" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Those were really good times, and when I saw this prompt, I thought, "Why not take a trip down memory lane and relive my childhood?"
THE MOVIE
This is a Chinese film that revolves around martial art and spiritual enlightenment. We could see that each fighting technique was influenced by the mind, as there seemed to be no much force asserted during combat. It was all about identifying the opponent's weaknesses and using them against them. This is the part that I love the most about martial arts. I am a huge fan, and it doesn't count as fighting for me unless a fist is involved.
There were five main characters in the movie: Li Mu Bai, Shu Lien, Jen Yu, Lo 'Dark Cloud, and Jade Fox. From the movie, the message I got was discipline, intentions, and not gender equity. The movie showed that the heart should remain pure, and the mind shouldn't be contaminated by selfish desires of revenge. From the movie, I also got that unless its self defence, one should not cause harm to another.
Plot and opinions
This movie took us to China, during the Qing dynasty, where Li Mu Bai is a renowned Wudang swordsman. He has a friend and trusted companion, Yu Shu Lien, who happens to be a warrior and heads a private security company. In the first scene, we see some sort of love tension between Shu Lien and Mu Bai. Unfortunately, they can't act on it because Shu Lien was once betrothed to Mu Bai's close friend, Meng Sizhao, before his demise.
Despite what Shu Lien and Mu Bai feel for each other, they remain loyal to Meng Sizhao, even in death, prompting them to suppress their feelings for each other.
Then there is the Jen Yu character, the daughter of a governor who wants to be free and live life on her own accord. From childhood, she became a disciple to Jade Fox, who taught her martial arts by guiding her and giving her the secret scrolls of Wudang.
Being literate, she soon read and mastered the scrolls, thereby surpassing Jade Fox, her master, who was limited to just studying the diagrams because she was an illiterate. As the movie progresses, we soon see Jen Yu harboring some of Jade's grievances, which made her unfit to be a "swordswoman." Again, having seen her fight, Mu Bai was pushed to teach her everything there is to know about martial arts. While Jen mastered the skills, she lacked the discipline, which made her short of achieving spiritual enlightenment.
Going further into the movie, it was Mu Bai informing Shu Lien of his intentions to take Jen Yu in as a disciple. But, Shu Lien, soon reminded him of the rules, which state that the teachings of Wudang is strictly for men. Mu Bai however didn't care about gender; he saw a skillful young woman who he felt could carry on the teachings and be better if properly guided. Well, unfortunately for Jen Yu, she had Jade Fox in her head right from childhood, brainwashing her to hate Wudang and never have anything to do with people affiliated with it.
Watching through the movie, I soon realized that Jade's grievances with Wutang, came from a place of hurt and betrayal.
In Jade's early years, it so happened that she had registered at Wudang to become a skilled swordswoman. Not knowing about the gender rules, she was caught in an affair with the Wudang Master. It was during the affair with the master that she realized he had no intentions of teaching her, and upon confrontation, he hinted that she wasn't worthy to wield the sword. It was in that rage that Jade poisoned him because she wanted to have the satisfaction of knowing that in all his glory, he died at her hands.
From this part of the movie, I reaffirmed one of my life's lessons: never to underestimate anyone, no matter how under they may seem, especially when they are someone we share a bond with. Seeing Jade pass on her hate for Wutang to Jen, further exposed me to how contaminated anger can become and the dangers of being guided by someone who is mentally and emotionally bruised.
Jen's fighting skills were limited by Jade's anger and hate for Wutang that she bore in her heart. Mu Bai saw that and he wanted to correct, but Jen rebuked him as the hate she had been fed was much stronger than her ambition to become skilled at what she loved best, wielding a sword.
You see, one thing that intrigues me most about martial arts is the perfect blend between mental and physical strength, which I saw played out in the movie. I happen to be a staunch believer of the mind being key to unlocking several impossibilities in the human state. In this movie, there were characters levitating, and then we saw Mu Bai talk about attaining spiritual enlightenment, but he didn't want to remain in it because his heart wasn't ready to let go of the love he has for his Shu Lien.
From that scene, I saw attachment play out; I saw it as the stumbling block that it is, and how it can hinder one from growth. Another of my life's lesson that this reaffirmed is the dangers of anger. Basically, it's all about fighting for a purpose, with pure intentions and self-defense. I have always believed that mastering martial arts can make one almost invincible, such that in any given situation, one can defend themselves and also escape danger for safety.
I also believe that one who is skilled mentally and physically can disarm any weapon. We saw this in the battle between Shu Lien and Jen, where Jen wielded the most powerful weapon in the movie (the green sword) but was still unable to defeat Shu Lien because she was more skilled, experienced, and a master of her art.
I am not much of a fighter as I have always preferred the diplomatic approach but when it comes to confrontations, I never back down. Even though I have no training in martial arts, I dabble in some of it's teachings thanks to my mysticism root.
As much I love this movie I didn't like how the ending played out with the last fighting scene. It was a tragic end arousing emotions and almost bringing tears to my eyes. Regardless, I am quickly reminded that life is not a bed of roses and it can't always be sunshine plus happy endings.
This was a nostalgic watch and I'd rate it 10/10 🙂
All images were gotten from screenshots from the movie
Above is my response to the Cinetv contest, you can check it out HERE
weird 🤔🤔to see you watching fighting movies
Avoid me 😑
That would be a good one to rewatch!
It's a really good watch. Try it when you can 🙂
Thanks for the support ☺️
This was a long read, but it was worth every second. I like martial combats, too. The precision, particularly. I will devote some time to this and maybe give a review. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome 🤗
Awwwn. Thanks for bringing back some childhood memories. I watched this movie when I was very young and I think I would watch it again.
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Please do watch it again 😊
Eyy, I almost bit my tongue pronouncing those names 😂😂
This movie has lots of lessons to take from it. That's the kind of movies I enjoy than those with no head and tail. I love fighting movies oo, that's more reason I'm a big fan of Bollywood actions movies.
Ha! Princess all those Bollywood movies with Ojoro scene?? 😂
Na those ojoro scenes dey make the movie interesting and enjoying 😅
At least they do it perfectly than these Nigerian made own 😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 stray bullet dun hit nollywood script writers and producers 🤣