The Many Faces of Wong Fei Hung

Mark March 13th on your calendar, because that is the day that three of last year's best movies will be released on DVD: Cameron Crowe's ALMOST FAMOUS, Curtis Hanson's WONDER BOYS, and Jackie Chan's THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER. You have probably at least heard of the first two, which unfortunately did not generate the kind of box office that they might have; but since the Chan film did not even make it Saint John, let's expand on that a little.

I have been a fan of Hong Kong cinema for nearly ten years now, but that passion has kicked into overdrive due to the higher visibility of HK actors and filmmakers since the island was returned to China in 1997. Since around that time, one of HK's biggest stars, Jackie Chan, has made a third (and finally successful) attempt at breaking into Hollywood after false starts in the 70s and 80s. And, Jackie has been very smart about it, releasing good-natured actioners like RUMBLE IN THE BRONX and RUSH HOUR while inserting older HK vehicles like SUPERCOP (one of his POLICE STORY series, which are huge back home) and more recent gems like GORGEOUS straight to video.

This release schedule has raised the awareness of HK cinema, established a fan base for Jackie in North America, and prepared them for one of his best films, THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER; which was originally released in Hong Kong in 1994 under the title DRUNKEN MASTER II. The original DRUNKEN MASTER, released in 1978, made Jackie a bona fide star in Asia and established the sense of humour which he brings to his amazing action sequences. He made the sequel as a tribute to that film, and probably also to cash in on the resurgent popularity of the character of Wong Fei Hung, a 19th century Chinese folk hero, healer, and martial artist.

There have been over 100 films made about Wong Fei Hung since the 1950s in Hong Kong, so many that the character has achieved superhero status. Wong is a symbol of traditional Chinese values when they were under assault by invading nations including North America, who shanghaied men to build railroads and women for slaves. What made Jackie's films so popular is the fact that while he still has reverence for the character, he chose to play Wong as a young student of the Drunken Boxing style of kung fu. Chan's Wong Fei Hung is an arrogant, flawed rogue- completely different from the traditional portrayal.

It just so happens that in the early 90s, that traditional portrayal was making a star of another HK actor who has since found success in Hollywood: Jet Li, who starred in most of the six ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA films made during that decade. Li's take on Wong Fei Hung was very much the traditional one, with the added bonus of Li's very strong martial arts skills. The first of those films was recently released domestically on DVD and is well worth searching out; it shows the very real dilemma which China encountered in the late 19th century when they discovered that kung fu would not defend them against guns. Next to Li's FIST OF LEGEND, where he plays another folk hero (Chen Zhen) during the Japanese occupation of China in World War II, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA is the most well-rounded and well-executed Jet Li film which I have seen to date.

The moral of this story? Don't settle for pale imitations like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II or even THE MATRIX when the pure stuff is available. Those films have their place- mainly, to give HK crews work and make stiff Hollywood actors look cool- but once you see John Woo's classic collaborations with Chow Yun Fat (THE KILLER, HARD BOILED, and A BETTER TOMORROW, to name a few), you'll wonder what you ever liked about FACE/OFF.

Which reminds me: a side note to Saint John's theatre managers- must we travel to Moncton to see every good Asian film that comes along? In the last year alone I had to make that trip to see PRINCESS MONONOKE, DRUNKEN MASTER II, and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (though to give our local film society credit, they did bring us MONONOKE for one show and Yang Zhang's THE SHOWER too). I realize that some of this is controlled by the distributors; but in case there is any doubt in their minds, they should know that there are plenty of film lovers, martial arts students, and Asians in Saint John who would appreciate a chance to catch great films like these on the big screen.

In the meantime, there's home video, and almost all of the films mentioned above are available to buy or rent if you look around a little; I found the original DRUNKEN MASTER on DVD at Wal-mart for about $7, and FIST OF LEGEND on VHS for about the same. An extra bonus for those of us who have satellite dishes: you can catch a recent Hong Kong movie every Saturday night at 10 PM on CFMT (channel 218 on Bell, 343 on StarChoice); and if you're really hardcore, you can plunk down an extra $20 a month for the all-Mandarin network called Fairchild TV and catch some entertaining Chinese game shows, soap operas and weekly classic movies. Who says globalization is a bad thing?!