The Boxer Rebellion (1976)

The Boxer Rebellion (1976)
aka: Spiritual Fists; The Bloody Avengers
Chinese Title: 八國聯軍
Translation: Eight-Nation Alliance

 

Starring: Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, Leung Kar-Yan, Jenny Tseng, Hu Chin, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Bruce Tong Yim-Chaan, Li Li-Hua, Sun Yueh, Tsui Fu-Sheng, Liu Wei-Bin, Richard Harrison
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Lau Kar-Leung

This was the last collaboration between Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-Leung, released after the latter had struck out on his own as a director. The movie is based on real events, in which an anti-foreigner contingent referred to as Westerners as Boxers went on a government-approved campaign to stamp out foreign influences in China. They believed that through martial arts and magic, they could become invulnerable to bullets. Things came to a head when they sieged the Legations region of Beijing (chronicled in the Hollywood film 55 Days at Peking). That ended with the armies of 8 foreign nations beating the Boxers back and iniating a horrible act of "punishment" against the Boxers.

The film deals with three martial artists (Chi Kuan Chun, Alexander Fu Sheng, and Leung Kar Yan) who sympathize with the Boxer movement, but can't stand the charlatan bastard (Johnny Wang Lung Wei) in charge of operations. The first half deals with the beginnings of the movement, and how WLW's character is able to manipulate the Dowager Empress into giving them their blessing. The siege on the Legations Region (the core of the so-called Rebellion) is only mentioned, and all we see of the eventual fall of Beijing is a fight between Leung Kar-Yan and some Japanese soldiers. The rest of the movie deals with Operation Punishment, led by German General Waldersee (Richard Harrison), which led ot the unjust killings and rapes of hundreds of innocent people, especially at the hands of the Russians and Japanese.

Action-wise, the movie is pretty solid. Fans of Southern styles should enjoy Alexander Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan-Chun's hung gar. The former puts emphasis on the Tiger-Crane form, while the latter uses the Five Animal Form (similar to what they did in Five Shaolin Masters. There's a lot of fighting involving the heroes using rifles as clubs.

The movie is, unfortunately, unsatisfying in dramatic terms. The movie sets up a lot about how much of a liar and a cheat Wang Lung-Wei's character is, allowing hundreds (if not thousands) of men to die pointlessly just to further his ambitions. He then disappears from the greater part of the last half in the movie, showing up at the very end just so Chi Kuan Chun can fight him. The whole Boxer Movement is one big clusterf*** of tragedies. I mean, the Chinese were already getting treated like second-class citizens in their own country, and then when "punishment" was exacted following the Siege of Beijing, people who had nothing to do with the Boxers were beaten, raped and murdered. Then there's the leader of the movement, who convinced his followers that the Gods would protect them, only to not bat an eyelid when they were mowed down by the dozens by modern weaponry. And the Boxers on the whole were no Saints, proving to be little more than Government-sanctioned thugs.There's just so much material that the movie tries to pay lip service to, that a lot of it is jettisoned or barely touched upon, even in a 137-minute film, the second-longest kung fu movie I've seen so far. Flawed, but still fascinating.