In December 2002, Zhang Yimou's transformation work "Hero" was released, which won 1.4 billion yuan at the global box office, the highest box office for Chinese films that year, and became famous abroad.
You know, that year was the year of the fairy fight in the history of cinema. "Harry Potter", "The Lord of the Rings", "Spider-Man", "Jurassic Park", "Ice Age" were all released this year, and "Heroes" can achieve such results with tens of millions of costs, which is very difficult.
The Wall Street Journal also posted: "'Hero' has really opened the curtain of China's blockbuster era." ”
However, how popular "Heroes" is abroad, how much it is snubbed at home. This star-studded film starring Jet Li, starring Chen Daoming, Liang Chaowei, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and many other big names to join the starring role, and cross-border group of top production teams of "Heroes", in the domestic wind reviews but in the eyes of polarization.
People who like it say that it is grand in scale and the picture is beautiful; people who don't like it say that it is mysterious and innocent and moans without disease. So many years later, Zhang Yimou was still scolded for "Hero".
However, more than a decade later, a wave of "rehabilitation for "Heroes" has suddenly blown up on the Internet, and many people have begun to apologize for the remarks that once criticized the hero, which is surprising.
Even many commentators said: "'Hero' is not tired of watching, and its picture and plot are also top configurations now." Especially compared with the later "Golden Armor in the City", "Heroes" seems to have become an insurmountable peak. This is even more curious, wondering what kind of movie it is, will have such a tortuous encounter, after being scolded for so many years, suddenly discovered and canonized?
During the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Yan, Zhao, Chu, Han, Wei, Qi, and Qin Qixiong rose up together, but the Qin state was the most powerful, eager to annex the Six Kingdoms and unify the world, so the King of Qin (played by Chen Daoming) became the enemy of the Six Kingdoms, in addition to the frontal confrontation between countries, the assassin story was also constantly staged.
At that time, the most disturbing thing for the King of Qin was the three assassins of the Zhao Kingdom- The Broken Sword (Liang Chaowei), Fei Xue (Maggie Cheung), and Chang Kong (Zhen Zidan). Their world-renowned superb sword skills made the King of Qin not sleep a single peaceful sleep in ten years.
But one day, the world's smallest official killed three world-shaking assassins in one fell swoop, and the news was so shocking that even the King of Qin could not imagine that his nightmares of ten years would one day be eliminated at once. Because of the merit of killing the assassins, the small official "Nameless" was also able to enter the heavily guarded palace of the King of Qin, became the guest of honor of the King of Qin, and was given "ten steps to the upper temple, drinking with the king." ”
Above the main hall, there is a strict forest everywhere. The guards retreated outside the hall, and in the empty hall, there was solemn black everywhere, although only the King of Qin was wearing armor, but the air was always filled with murderous intent.
"The widow wants to know, how did you do it?" In the main hall, Nameless and the King of Qin sat opposite each other, facing the Question of the King of Qin, Nameless did not panic, and calmly began his story:
There is a complicated relationship between the three swordsmen that the King of Qin is most jealous of, namely the Broken Sword, Fei Xue, and Changkong: The Broken Sword and Fei Xue are a couple, while Fei Xue has a one-night stand with Chang Kong. Changkong started from this, first defeating Changkong alone, and then pretending to be Zhao Guoren to find the Feixue Sword, breaking it one by one, and finally solving these three nightmares for the King of Qin.
The world-famous Three Musketeers are actually immersed in these dog blood plots? Or abandon your ideals because of this? Don't say that I don't believe this, the King of Qin, who was sitting face to face with the nameless, expressed doubts on the spot.
The King of Qin directly told another version of what he thought-
The sword flying snow and the long sky are all voluntarily sacrificed for their so-called national righteousness, and your nameless is the ultimate big boss, in the name of merit and reward, enter the main hall of my Qin King, and carry out the assassination!
As soon as these words came out, the swords in the hall were immediately tense, and the archers had already set up their bows and arrows and were ready to be in front of the temple, ready to pierce the heart of the nameless bold assassin!
Wu Ming was not flustered, and after listening to the analysis of the Head of the Qin King, he just shook his head and sighed: "What the Great King said is indeed the truth, but there is a little mistake." ”
"What's wrong?"
"You misjudged the broken sword."
It turned out that Nameless was a reclusive swordsman who had practiced swordplay for the sake of revenge on Qin and had also found the three great heroes of Broken Sword, Fei Xue and Changkong as planned, and they were all willing to pretend to be killed by Nameless for the revenge in their hearts, so that Nameless could take the opportunity to kill the King of Qin.
However, the attitude of the broken sword has always been unclear. Even three years ago, he had a chance to stab the King of Qin on the spot, but he took the initiative to give up, and even made Fei Xue break with him, all because of "the world". "The King of Qin is the only one who can unify the world, so that the people of the world can finally end the war, so the King of Qin cannot be killed."
In the end, Nameless inherited this ideal of the broken sword, and in the last sword stabbed at the King of Qin, he left the Life of the King of Qin, only hoping that the King of Qin would take care of the people of the world, end the war as soon as possible, unify the world, and no longer be destroyed.
The story is not complicated, but the core is quite intriguing. The title of the film is "Hero", but who is the hero?
There is a comment that there is no real hero in this movie, because no one can successfully stab Qin, and the sword and nameless sword that are most capable of assassinating the King of Qin have all voluntarily given up the assassination of Qin, and their actions have led to the death of many people, so that the power will have less restrictions in the future, can this be called a hero?
But who says you have to achieve your goals to be successful? For the sake of the people of the world, is it not more necessary to give up the Thorn Qin?
Anyone could see that compared to feixue's resentment of stabbing Qin, the sword that had clearly had the opportunity to stab Qin three years ago, but gave up on the spot, was the most painful person. In calligraphy, he realized the true realm, that is, the world. What seems to be the detachment of enlightenment actually overturns his entire goal in life, and everything he has been trying for suddenly loses its meaning.
What is even more difficult to bear is the misunderstanding of the beloved Fei Xue. Because he gave up hedgehog Qin three years ago, Fei Xue's relationship with him had already added a gap, and now the broken sword had to prevent the nameless from abandoning hedgehog Qin, and the angry Fei Xue even did not hesitate to turn the sword at the broken sword...
But it was also this spirit that touched the King of Qin, who was shocked and trance-like and had a feeling of having to meet Zhiyin; it also made Nameless suddenly figure it out at the last moment of the assassination of Qin, understand the persistence of the broken sword, and be willing to die with his own body in exchange for the future peace of the world.
In the film, giving up the ideal sword for great love, nameless is undoubtedly the embodiment of the "hero" of the movie name; but at the same time, after Zhao Zhen, the general of the Zhao State, Fei Xue, who painstakingly practiced his sword and dedicated himself to avenging his father, in order to avenge his master, did not hesitate to find Fei Xue to avenge himself, and even those thousands of heroes who sacrificed on the Qin Road deserved the word "hero".
Even the King of Qin, who has always been like a negative character, the most embarrassing character in the story of "Jing Ke Thorn Qin", when he heard that the broken sword was actually the person who knew himself best, he couldn't help but shed a tear, and even willingly let the nameless stab out this sword... Such a Qin king is not only worthy of the later Emperor of the Ages, but also naturally a hero.
"What is the Six Kingdoms, the widow must lead the iron horse of Great Qin to lay down a big territory!"
The ideal ambition of the King of Qin is like this bold words of his, bringing endless shock to people. Especially in today's period of vigorous development of China's comprehensive national strength, this is like a declaration of hope for the early recovery of Taiwan and the realization of the reunification of the motherland, which is Chinese the expectations of the deep hearts.
And for the sake of the world, the sword abandons its long-standing ambitions, and would rather suffer from the misunderstanding and insults of the people of the world, is it not more like the highest ideal "he" that China has always pursued in the international community?
The connotation of "Hero" has only been slowly seen and slowly excavated by people until now, which is closely related to the improvement of Chinese people's thinking and the development of China's national situation!
The reason why Jin Yong's "hero is for the country and the people" is regarded as a classic by netizens is precisely because of this. "Hero" is a Chinese film in which Zhang Yimou combines business and art with one body, and is committed to taking the road of internationalization, and he conveys the concept of "home country and world" through the story of the swordsman abandoning the hedgehog.
Although the plot is not so tortuous and rich, the Kurosawa Akira style of breaking the mystery and the long and long distance of the Chinese painting style are combined into one, which has the charm of "the lone sail is far away and the blue sky is exhausted, only to see the skyline of the Yangtze River".
The contrast of colors is the highlight of the play.
"Red" is Zhang Yimou's best color, "Red Sorghum" and "Big Red Lantern Hanging High" are proof of this, this smear of red in the first story told by The Nameless, is the embodiment of desire, symbolizing complex and changeable emotions, impulsive, uneasy, and may break at any time, just like Fei Xue, played by Maggie Cheung, was jealous for a while and killed the sword played by Liang Chaowei, and even regret it was too late.
The green and white in the other two stories are more vibrant and calm, respectively.
White is a pure color, in line with the theme of great love, bringing people to reminisce and think. The blackness of the King of Qin is solemn and cold, which makes people feel the murderous spirit of the Qin Palace at a glance, and at the same time feel the biting cold, and realize the miserable loneliness that the king must also bear.
Confidant, ideal, love, home country, sacrifice and gain, these words can be described as the key words of the whole film, giving this film a rich connotation. Foreigners may only see beautiful pictures but have no idea of the plot, but as Chinese, it is not difficult for us to understand.
The Flying Snow Sword is the envy of everyone, they share common ideals, and have the same aesthetics and preferences. Although there had been misunderstandings, and even three years of not speaking, when Fei Xue finally killed the sword by mistake, she was still grief-stricken, and resolutely committed suicide on the sword that pierced the sword, and could not sleep together, but after death, she was in the same cave.
The battle on the water filmed in Jiuzhaigou was restrained, steady, and at the same time passionate, the inner turmoil and the courtesy of the action were combined, and finally the sword fell, the heart was fixed, but the gentleman's friendship had been concluded, so only the nameless penetrated the meaning of the word "tianxia" of the broken sword, and the two had the same goal and sacrificed themselves for the world.
The King of Qin and the Broken Sword were also another kind of confidant.
The King of Qin seemed to be sitting in the world, but there was no one in the whole world who understood him. He wanted to end the conquest, but this must be in the form of conquest, swordsmen from all over the world came to assassinate him, and the courtiers under him may not really understand him, when he finally understood that the sword was his confidant, and the nameless man in front of him also understood him at this moment, he finally chose to shoot nameless for the sake of the great cause, and personally killed this confidant, from then on, he continued his conquest of the great cause of dominating the world in all directions, but he was destined to be alone.
The picture of this play is even more superb, and it is the beauty that still amazes everyone even when special effects are everywhere today. In the main hall, a large pile of bamboo Jane fell with the sword qi, the oppressive Qin Palace soldiers, the calm and waveless lake surface of Jiuzhaigou, a drop of water condensed with a sense of story, the back of a red-clad and black-haired woman in the poplar forest with yellow leaves, an empty and lonely pair of master servants on the vast Gobi Desert, and a man and a woman who were snuggled in white...
This is all the result of the crew's hard work. At that time, because the terrain of dunhuang where the filming site was mountainous, the temperature difference was extremely large, and the crew's cotton jacket vests were replaced back and forth, and many people suffered from severe colds. It is this spirit of seriousness and hard work that has made this "Hero".
In today's era when the film and television circle is driven by interests everywhere and advocates fast films to make quick money, it is difficult to see a conscience work like "Hero" that has been sharpened for ten years.