Aka:
Dragon Gate Inn
Chinese Title: 龍門客棧
Translation: Dragon Gate Inn
Starring: Shih Chun, Polly
Shang Kwan Ling Feng, Pai Ying, Miao Tian, Hsieh Han, Tsao Chien, Kao Ming, Ko
Fei, Han Ying-Chieh
Director: King Hu
Action Director: Han Ying Chieh
Hong
Kong was also a hotbed for manifestations and protests, in the form of the Hong
Kong 1967 Riots, between communist sympathizers and the police. It started as a
labor dispute, mainly between the unionists of an artificial flower factory, some
of whom were communists. A violent showdown between the workers and management
quickly escalated when the police got involved and the riot took to the
streets. A curfew was imposted and hundreds were arrested. The pro-communist
rioters were encouraged by the local newspapers, who accused the British
government of being fascists and it wasn’t long before the bodies began to
pile, both as the result of police brutality and by the demonstrators, who
started making homemade bombs. In the end, 51 people died and 4979 people were
arrested, 1936 of whom were convicted.
Meanwhile,
the People’s Republic of China was going through its infamous Cultural
Revolution, and the government were up to their necks in the violent activities
of the Red Guard, a group of militant Maoist students who had been given Mao
Zedong’s blessing to “educate” the people. This included murder, torture,
destruction and defacement of historical relics, and all-around terror. Their
psychological campaign against anyone who disagreed with them, including local
police forces, resulted in thousands of murders and suicides. By the beginning
of 1967, the Red Guards had become a liability to stability in China and the
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were given the order to suppress these far-left
fanatics.
According
to King Hu, this project came about both from his fascination with the Ming
Dynasty and from his negative opinion of the popular James Bond franchise, in
which a secret agent with a license to kill was elevated to superhero status. In
this film, a corrupt eunuch (played by Bai Ying of Royal Warriors and Hap Ki Do)
and his secret service entourage, the Jinyiwei[1],
trump up charges against a government oficial and have his put to death. They
try to execute his family, but a few faithful retainers free them and try to
take them across the border. The eunuch dispatches his agents to lay a trap for
them at Dragon Gate Inn, located in the middle of the desert. Arriving at the
inn at about the same time is a righteous swordsman, Xiao Shaozi (Shi Jun, of A Touch of Zen and A City Called Dragon) and two equally-righteous fighters, children
of a former general (played by Hsieh Han and a debutting Polly Shang Kuan Ling
Feng). While both parties initially try to treat each other politely in order
to not show their hands, it’s only a matter of time before the official’s
family arrives and things erupt into violence.
King
Hu has stated that he wanted to make a film in which the Secret Service was
anything but righteous and heroic. In his mind, Dragon Inn is an anti-007 film. Nonetheless, one might see some
parallels between this and the Red Guard Movement of the Cultural Revolution in
King’s native China. On one hand, you had a paramilitary movement like the Red
Guards terrorizing the populace with the government’s blessing, but who quickly
became so destructive so as to threaten the government as a whole had they been
allowed to continue. On the same token, as the Ming Dynasty eventually devolved
into decadence, with the Emperor losing power to his own eunuchs as the years
passed[2].
And so, you had eunuchs with the disposition of a tyrant and armies at their
disposal acting with passive permission, or even without the knowledge of the
emperor, which is the crux of the plot of Dragon
Inn.
The
action here is not the most dynamic you’ll ever see. Once more, it occasionally
feels like a Japanese chambara film
filtered through Peking Opera sensibilities—once more, Hang Ying-Chieh was the
action director—and when our heroes—including a 17-year-old Polly Shang Kuan
Ling Feng—are slicing lackeys down in single swings of the sword, it’s fine.
When they engage in a one-on-one with a stronger opponent, it becomes less
convincing and interesting, almost on the level of an Italian peplum from earlier that decade. The
finale between four protagonists and
evil Eunuch Tso is a good example of this, as the moves become less crisp,
sloppier in execution and not as exciting as a fight against a nigh-invincible
fighter should be. There’s more action here than in Come Drink with Me, so that’s appreciated. I just wish Han
Ying-Chieh had done more to up his game this time around. That said, I must
point out that Polly Kuan didn’t have any martial arts training prior to
filming—after becoming a star with this film, she trained and got black belts
in karate, tae kwon do and judo—and yet she steals every scene in which she has
to wield a sword. It would be a few years before the woman would take her place
among the fighting divas of old school chopsockey movies, but in her debut, she
demonstrates that she already the intensity for the title.
[1] - The Jinyiwei are also portrayed
in the Shaw Brothers classic Secret
Service of the Imperial Court (1984) and Donnie Yen’s 14 Blades (2010).
[2] - This is similar to how to the
Merovingian Dynasty of Frankish Kings lost power to the majordomos, or mayors of the palace, which eventually gave rise to
the subsequente Carolingian Dynasty.
No comments:
Post a Comment