Chinese movie question

[JonBidinger]

For my Chinese Civilization class I have to do a 10-page research paper. I was thinking that I would do something relating to a chinese film currently on Blu-ray. Does anyone have any suggestions on what movie I should pick. I was thinking that maybe I could compare and contrast with historical accuracy, but I'm not necessarily attached to that. But whatever I do choose, I wan't it to be easy enough to research, that is that I can easily find books or internet articles dealing with the topic. My first idea was Red Cliff, but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks.

[P@t_Mtl]

Red Cliff is part of a epic poem from China call Romance Of The Three Kingdoms. It's a epic story, think of it as China's Illiad & The Odyssey. Might be a interesting subject.

[drobswim13]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Red Cliff is part of a epic poem from China call Romance Of The Three Kingdoms. It's a epic story, think of it as China's Illiad & The Odyssey. Might be a interesting subject.

What he said.

Also, there are two different versions of the Three Kingdoms story. One is Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. It plays out the story of the Three Kingdoms era during the collapse of the Han Dynasty, all the way to the unification of China again. The book spans about 100 years or so (a little less). However, the factual accuracy of that story is always under scrutiny because, even though all of those events did happen in that order, the tale that Luo tells is sometimes highly exaggerated.

The other story of this is Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, written by Chen Shou. This is more accurate to what actually happened during this period, and does not have the exaggerations that Luo put in ROTK.

John Woo based Red Cliff off of Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, in order to provide a more realistic version of the Battle of Chi Bi.

I think it would be a very interesting story and should be worth pursuing. All the best!!

[kpkelley]

The first thing that came to mind was A Chinese Odyssey, which is based off of a famous children's story(Into the West, Journey to the West, something like that), but it's not a Historical piece, more like major religious and cultural work. The only other Historical pieces involving Chinese cinema on Blu-ray revolve around the Japanese occupation in WWII, like Ip Man or Lust, Caution.

One side bit of info, Chinese Odyssey is being adapted into a futuristic video game by the makers of Heavenly Sword.

[Travis]

Red Cliff is good. Many of the people in the stories are gods now. The temples in Taiwan are full of them. In my home, I have had a statue of Guan Gong (Gwan Yu) the general with the red face for almost 10 years.

I was lucky to watch the movie with my wife who is Taiwanese, she helped explain it for me. There is a lot more to the story and what happens afterwards with the 2 viceroys. Very important characters in that movie for Chinese culture, history, mythology.

A more modern one that I enjoyed was the director's cut of Fearless.

On DVD there are lots.
Raise the Red Lantern is great.
The Road Home is one of my favorites.

[drobswim13]

Originally Posted by Travis

Red Cliff is good. Many of the people in the stories are gods now. The temples in Taiwan are full of them. In my home, I have had a statue of Guan Gong (Gwan Yu) the general with the red face for almost 10 years.

I was lucky to watch the movie with my wife who is Taiwanese, she helped explain it for me. There is a lot more to the story and what happens afterwards with the 2 viceroys. Very important characters in that movie for Chinese culture, history, mythology.

A more modern one that I enjoyed was the director's cut of Fearless.

If you speak of Cao Cao and Liu Bei, then yes, there is a ton more that happens afterwards with them. They are the main topics in that whole period, with Sun Quan and the kingdom of Wu being thrown into the mix, as well.

[BTobin]

ummm Crouching, Tiger, Hidden Dragon

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by BTobin

ummm Crouching, Tiger, Hidden Dragon

+1 for this because of its thematic and moralistic relevance to classic Chinese culture (yes, it is there despite the wuxia-nature of the film)

+1 also for Fearless, since it is about an important Chinese figure at the beginning of the 20th century

How about Raise the Red Lantern? It is one of the great Yimou's films, from 1990, which deals with a concubine in 1920s China.