International Film Critique

Use the following format for your international film critique; answers must be typed below the questions and
all questions must appear in full on your final copy. You can use this document as your template. Pay careful
attention to the required number of words for those questions that have them. Failure to follow the
instructions here and on your syllabus will result in a substantially low grade. Minimal answers poorly written
are a D grade or less. Elaboration of points, excellent arguments, and good writing garner higher grades.

Name: Josh Staples Class period/section: 1:00pm-2:20pm

1) Title of Film: HERO

2) Year of release: 2002
3) Language of original film: CHINESE
4) Director: Yimou Zhang

5) Actors: Jet Li (Nameless), Donnie Yen (Sky), Zhang Ziyi (Moon), Maggie Cheung (Flying
Snow), Tony Leung Chiu-wai (Broken Sword), Chen Daoming (Qin Emperor)

6) Give a brief plot summary {150-250 words. DO NOT plagiarize from the web!]:

This movie was about an assassin named Nameless who was naturally born in the Zhao Kingdom which
was later destroyed by the King of Qin. Nameless was an orphan, but was adopted into a family of the Qin
Kingdom and fought for them as a warrior. He then finds out that he was from the Zhao Kingdom because no
one had told him about where he came from. He knows that no one can get within 10 paces of the King if it
wasnt for something very impressive that someone has done to help the King. Nameless plots out a plan with
three other assassins, Broken Sword, Sky, and Flying Snow. Nameless has mastered a martial art technique
that can defeat anyone from 10 paces away. The only way to get that close to the King was for Nameless and
the other assassins work together and make it look like Nameless killed them all, showing that he was this
great warrior and that his sword was swift. The King doesnt fall for his stories, but Nameless is already
within 10 paces of him. As Nameless finishes explaining the truth of what lead up to the end point, Our
Land was written in the sand by Broken Sword. As nameless jumps through the air to kill the King, he
doesnt actually do it and tells the King that peace should be across the land and walks away and is killed. He
was an assassin, but remembered as a Hero. Chinas people no remember the story and are known for having
the saying, Our Land.

7) Analyze the social and philosophical issues the film addresses. Make sure you include the point
of view of the movie, the context of the movie, what audience the movie is targeting, and why.
(i.e. you should address and reflect upon the argument or meaning of the work. This should
be analysis, not just summary of issues in the movie). {at least 500 words}

The point of view of the movie is very interesting because there are a couple points of view throughout the
movie. Nameless portrays the happenings of his battles with the assassins in a way that is manipulative and
away to deceive the King so that he can get close enough to be able to kill him. The other point of view is that
of the King of Qin. Being knowledgeable and smart, he figures out that Nameless plan is a fluke and then the
truth is then told by Nameless of what had led them to where they were. The audience is targeted by this film I
believe, are those who want peace in the world. As the key phrase of the film, Our Land, appeals to not only
the people of China, but is a world message to those who are against war and want the putting down of arms
so that there can finally be peace. I believe that this whole movie was about that concept of peace and united
as one.
 Another audience that this could be towards is those who have leadership positions in the world. That
through only the leader, that there can be peace. One may argue that it is through the people as well that can
make change and bring peace, but by this movie, it is through the leaders that there can be peace as mentioned
at the end of the movie where it says that the King of Qin conquered the 6 kingdoms, but then there was peace
among them and the Great Wall was to protect the people. There are some small scenes of the movie that are
expressed in the movie such as love, and social statuses. In the first scene with Broken Sword, we see a social
position in society. Moon, was kind of a slave to Broken Sword. He was her master. Flying Snow treated her
poorly and water was thrown upon her. This scene was one told by Nameless which wasnt true, but it still
showed this rank of power. Leading into power, we see the King has power, but at the end of the movie, he is
convinced by priests to kill Nameless. You would think the King could say no, but it seems as if he couldnt
say no to those around him wanting Nameless to be killed. Now thinking of that, like mentioned above, one
could argue that the leader is controlled by the people. It just depends on ones bias and perspective of things.
Love for someone is also expressed in this movie between Broken Sword and Flying Snow. When
Flying Snow kills Broken Sword, she feels that pain of not being with him and then she kills herself. It
reminded me of the story of Romeo and Juliet. The meaning of love in this movie is real because you see that
these two are in love and you see throughout the movie that they do everything together. Their swords could
never be apart as mentioned in the movie because they were always together. These are just a few of the
things I noticed as I watched the film.

8) What is your response to the message of the film? Why do you respond this way? Show that you
are thinking about your own thinking here and the biases/assumptions about the world you bring
to your viewing. Did the film change the way you view the subject? Why, or why not? {at least
250 words}

My response to the film is really positive. I know that I have a bias and I feel that through this film it
strengthened what I believe and what I think is to be right. I am not a big fan of war and the outcomes that can
occur as a country may go to war. I really liked what Nameless said at the end, he said, the ideal of a warrior
is to lay down his sword. If everyone still laid down their swords, there would be peace in the land. There
would no need for war and we could live our lives without the fear of having to go to battle with someone. I
know that there are a lot of influences out there, just like in the movie, of other people pressuring us to do
something we know to be wrong. In the Kings case at the end of the movie, he has to make a decision of
whether to kill Nameless or to not. The pressure from what looked to be priests, pressured him and influenced
the King that the only way to have peace was to have Nameless as an example. The King did end up killing
him, but he is still remembered as a hero although he was an assassin. Our hearts can change from a feeling of
revenge to peace. This movie was really good at portraying this.

9) What cultural differences did you notice in the film (philosophical outlook, humor, architecture,
customs, clothes, cities, weather, food, music, dancing, lifestyles, etc.)? What did you learn
about history, economics or politics? (There are always differences; look for them). {at least 250
words}

I really liked the cultural differences throughout the film. One of the things I noticed was the hair of the
men. All the men had really long hair and their clothes seemed really comfortable and they just seemed at
peace with everything. Antoher thing I learned was that in one of the scenes, the Zhao people are getting
shot at with tons of arrows and the people who write the script didnt care if they died because they knew
that what they had written down would never be lost. They were a very spiritual people and believed in
the work they were doing to be very honorable. I also noticed that at every fight they would pull their
swords out and lift it in front of them and the other person would lift his up as well. It seemed as if it were
a sign of respect for each other. Not only when fighting, but when meeting the King, Nameless bows
 down before him. This meaning of respect is big in this culture. You could also notice that the city of
Zhao seemed to be fenced in as a way of protection from outsiders as well as the Kingdom of Qin. Gates
were in the Kingdom to protect the King so nothing bad would happen. I think one of the cool historical
things I learned was that this movie was based on a true story and that the saying, Our Land is real and it
shows a united people who care about their country. It shows that through ones actions, in this case of not
fighting, one can become a Hero. They dont have to fight to achieve this honor.

10) What techniques did the filmmaker use that were different from what you see in the films you
normally watch? Think about lighting, dialogue, atmosphere, setting, music, and how the
filmmaker might play upon your own biases, etc.{150 words}

I think that one of the techniques that I saw different was that there was a lot of focus on the little things. A lot
of the movies that I have seen, there has been so many things going on at once and you have no idea what just
happened. In this movie, everything, I mean everything was slowed down to show what was happening. There
is a point in the film where you see Nameless and Broken Sword hitting a drop of water back and forth and
then getting hit the last time and actually seeing the water drop split. Another difference was the type of music
being played. The music wasnt ever loud and didnt really get loud as something drastic was about to happen,
but it was a calm soothing melody or just very soft and not very all over the place. I feel that there wasnt that
much color change in the movie, although you could depict the difference between the good and the bad
people, the lighting of the movie never really changed that often unlike movies Ive seen where you have a
dark and light setting multiple times.

11) Discuss how what you saw in the film relates to one of the assigned readings or class
discussions we have had. Be specific! {150 words}

There were actually a few things that I could relate to some of the topics that we discussed in class and in
our readings. One of the first things that I noticed was that when they were showing fighting scenes,
especially the one with Sky, it showed that the fighters had a real sense of nature and they could get into a real
meditation. Before the fight starts, there is music played and it helps with soothing the mind and they could
visualize how the fight was going to turn out. Relating this to a topic discussed, we learned about the different
religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. One of the ideas that all of them had was
that they wanted to find peace through meditation and become one with nature. Throughout the movie we see
this as there are fights between each of the assassins, each has a way they became one with nature. Flying
Snows way of becoming one with nature was through a fight scene where she could control and use the
leaves of the trees to her defense. Meditation was key to success in mastering the ways of martial arts as
shown in the film.

12) Why do you think I assign an international film?

I think that we are assigned to watch a foreign film because its something that none of us really do. In my
case, I would rather watch a movie in English just because I understand whats really going on. But in this
case, by reading the movies subtitles, it allowed me to look whats really going on in the background of the
movie and allowing me to see things that I may not have paid attention to. In English movies, we can allow
ourselves to stop watching for a few minutes, but through this, I wasnt allowed to stop reading and watching
that easily. I also believe that through being assigned to watch this, it allows us to look at different cultures
and try to gain an understanding of what they believe and how they live their lives. It allows us to see how
filmmakers in other countries can portray a message, even if it is a message that we have already heard about
a lot. Our eyes can be opened to learning more about the world instead of just learning about whats going on
just in our city, state, or country.