Jet Li-Once Upon a Time In China

Art/Foreign
In one of the recurring gags of
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA,
attempts to take Wong Fei
Hung's picture always fail. The
failure to capture the image of
Wong (Jet Li) serves as an
appropriate metaphor for the
place of the Ching Dynasty folk
hero in Chinese cultural memory.
A legendary master of a variety of kung fu styles, Wong
has been subject to numerous interpretations in dime
novels and films since the 1930s. In the late 1970s an
irreverent portrait of the young Wong Fei Hung emerged
in DRUNKEN MASTER. In director Tsui Hark's hand,
the beloved historical figure is given the full lionized treatment as he fights for
dignity and self-determination against Western imperialists. A revisionist drama
that recalls the struggle of the small-property owner fighting for her land in Sergio
Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Hark's epic is both a tragic and
heroic examination of China's transition to modernity. Like the best of Hark's films
(ZU: WARRIORS OF THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN), ONCE UPON A TIME contains
imaginative fight sequences, including "no-shadow" kicks and a thrilling battle using
bamboo ladders.