Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

What do we expect from an adventure film with scenes of Chinese sword fighting? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the latest Chinese adventure movie released in Hong Kong. After watching the movie, some think that this movie is boring. It is lack of the exciting scenes that can be found in other adventure films. Absolutely, this movie is not as exciting as the other action movies. But this is certainly the best action and adventure movie I have ever watched. In this essay, I am going to discuss the portrayal of a new woman in the contemporary society and the success of the movie.

The movie is about a new woman in traditional China. As the name of the movie,　out a new woman in traditional China. As the name of the movie,　 crouching tiger and hidden dragon refers to Ren, who is a charming girl, wants to break the convention and free from her  father’s control . She is against convention. She loves Hu with all her heart. She also respects her master who teaches her sword fighting. She hides her skills, like a crouching tiger, even though she outstrips her master. She steals the sword from Mu-bai because she wants to be outstanding, a dragon. In fact, she has also learnt fine sword fighting skills. She wants to kill him as well as her good friend Shu-lien because they want to get back the sword, “Jiang-hu”, which is a symbol of fame and excellence. She maltreats those who had saved her and cared for her. In fact, She gets a naive heart actually, an image of a hidden dragon. Her love towards Hu and her master shows that she is an ordinary girl . When she sees Mu-bai dying, she feels guilty. She also shows that she still gets her conscience. She tries her very best to get herbs, but finally Mu-bai dies because it is too late for her to get all the herbs. She likes to challenge the world, or the society with sword clubs. She says, “It is impossible to know that a person is good or bad.” There is only a fine line between good and evil . She is the crouching tiger, hidden dragon. The woman’s image in this movie is new in the contemporary society . She looks for her own success, and at the last scene, she aspires after being free, free from love, free from convention. She chooses to be free, rather than love of a young man. Compared with Shu-lien who is portrayed as a conventional one, Ren chooses her own way of life. Ren is the daughter of a Qing nobleman while Hu is only a robber. Although they love each other, they can hardly to be together because of the difference in class. Ren knows that and asks Hu not to see her again. In order to escape from marriage, Ren enters the “Jiang-hu” to find excitement, with the encouragement of her master. In the last fifteen minutes after the death of Mu-bai, the depressing Shu-lien asks Ren to go back to Hu’s side and love him, as this is Ren’s choice. Shu-lien does not want Ren to lose her love and her meaning of life as Shu-lien has lost it, i.e., Mu-bai. This theme is conveyed through Shu-lien that is the mouthpiece in the last fifteen minutes. But her love to Mu-bai is hidden throughout the whole movie coherently.

Now, I will turn to the success of the production. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not a common action movie. The screenplay writer tells us a new woman in contemporary China. Moreover, most of the action movies are full of fighting scenes but with less fascinating plots. But this movie successfully combines romantic elements into fighting. Two love stories are portrayed in this film. The one between Shu-lien and Mu-bai is rather introverted while the other one between Ren and Hu is more passionate. Two different love stories are put into fighting and action. But the love stories are not ignored. The love element even outweighs the fighting and conveys us the theme. The screenplay writer has written something differently and extra-ordinarily with clear portrays of characters. This movie gets an extraordinary screenplay, as well as an excellent director, Ang Lee. After directing the stories of families in Taiwan ( Eat Drink Man Woman), in 19th century England (Sense and Sensibility) and in contemporary US (Ice Storm), the Taiwanese, whole-praised director Ang Lee directs this movie as his first action movie, and also his best up till now. It brings a new face to Chinese adventure movies. First, most of the Chinese sword fighting movies emphasize  the exciting atmosphere with Kung Fu. They use exaggerated actions and sound effects to show how strong the characters are. But this movie is different. Apart from using exciting background music, the sound effect is not over-exaggerated. This makes the sword fighting more convincing and dignified. It successfully shows the beauty of Chinese Kung Fu!

Relating to the beauty of Chinese Kung Fu, this movie gets great imagery. Characters fight in the great desert, above a blue lake, and on top of trees. They fight in  nature. The contradiction between nature and fighting is greatly shown. All fighting is not only fighting, but also life! Characters show their hearts while fighting. Each character gets different feeling towards nature and life. Most of the Chinese action movies only emphasize  fighting. But Ang Lee wants to tell us more and emphasizes  the imagery of the whole movie, giving this movie a dignified atmosphere.

Not only the director and screenplay writer shows us something new, the actors and actresses of this movie are also excellent. All the characters can fight as well as other performers do in other action movies. But the performers in this movie can show their feeling and sensation from heart. Chow Yun-fat, playing the role of Mu-bai, is rather cool. His love towards Shu-lien is hidden but true. Michelle Yeoh, playing Shu-lien, shows the image of a strong woman. She is affectionate. When Mu-bai is dying, her long-hidden love is vigorously shown. Playing Ren, Zhang Ziyi gives a wild performance. Unlike Shu-lien, Ren is more naive. She does not know what danger is. She challenges the world and her self. Zhang Ziyi successfully portraits this girl, with strong emotion towards convention and her little lover. Chang Chen, playing Hu, shows his true love to Ren. His performance is quite touching. Overall, the ensemble cast is great.

As praised greatly in the Cannes’ Festival, this movie surprises the whole world with its high technology. It gets beautiful cinematography and effective film editing. Its art-direction, costumes design and make-up are also fascinating. But one cannot deny is that its music is brilliant and grand! Tan Tun, the famous Chinese composer, after shocking the world with his powerful opera Marco Polo, composes another bright work for this movie. With Yo Yo Ma’s cello solo, the music successfully portrays the dignity of the imagery, bringing the unforgettable moment to us!

All in all, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is different from other action movies. It uses different directing techniques with good portraits of characters. The most successful element of this movie is that it tells us to grasp on our own. We are living here not for convention, but us. Happy life is seized by us. All fame and reputation will turn to ashes. But having our own love can last great memory in our mind forever.