John Woo’s historical epic Red Cliff was the most expensive Asian movie ever made. Originally released as a two-part five-hour fact-rich ass-kicking opus, the combined films have toppled domestic box office records, claimed dozens of Asian award nominations, and brought Hollywood grandeur to the bloody birth of modern China. So naturally, the film was cut in half for Western audiences.
Released this May by E1 Entertainment, this DVD includes some bonus material which helps viewers understand the size and scope of the original project. In one of the supplementary interviews, director John Woo expressed his wish to streamline the film’s more intense biographical back stories for those viewers who were too unfamiliar with unfamiliar with the subject matter.
Based on the fabled Battle of Red Cliff, the film marks the fall of the Han Dynasty and the rise of the Three Kingdoms. This brief era of disunity was one of the bloodiest in Chinese history and has since been romanticized throughout Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese folklore. Much like the last century B.C.E., where historical figures of the West like Anthony, Caesar, Cleopatra, Octavian, and Spartacus, inspired a wealth of fiction, fact, and myth, so The Three Kingdoms did for the East.
In returning to Chinese cinema for the first time since 1992, director John Woo wanted to take all the lessons he learned in filming blockbuster Hollywood productions and bring that grand sensibility to a dream he’d be kicking around for nearly two decades. Woo intended this film to alleviate some of the confusion of too many similar names and too many extended dramatic sequences, to become more of a generalized celebration of a rich part of Chinese heritage.
But as a man whose cinematic career has been a blend of Eastern and Western sensibilities, Woo wanted Red Cliff to be more than a domestic rallying cry. As a citizen in Hong Kong, he saw how China’s tradition of cultural xenophobia had limited international recognition of a thriving arts community. With this film, Woo is extending an invitation to other countries to learn about this legendary battle.
Based primarily upon the authoritative text Record of Three Kingdoms, the film explores the emotional complexities and conflicted motivations behind numerous historical figures. After years of brutal civil war, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty has been reduced to a puppet ruler to the self-proclaimed Prime Minister, and General of the Imperial Army, Chao Chao (Fengyi Zhang). The general publically bullies the Emperor into allowing him to openly war upon the last two warlords not yet under Han control, Lui Bei (Yong Yau) from the West, and Sun Quan (Chen Chang) from the Southlands.
As war approaches, an unlikely allegiance between the old and broken Lui Bei and young and ambitious Sun Quan becomes essential. Brought together by Lui Bei’s strategist, Kongming (Zhuge Liang), the allies must use every ounce of their courage, ingenuity, and teamwork to battle Chao Chao’s eight-hundred thousand troops.
Severely outnumbered, Woo creates the visceral visuals to accompany a spectacular series of achievements that the allies overcame. Drawing from historical accounts, the version of Red Cliff released on DVD contains all the stunning wire-work, sword-play, and pyrotechnics of the original battlefield sequences, but with just enough camaraderie between the various armies to get across the universal themes of friendship, honour, and sacrifice at a time of war.
What elevates this film beyond the typical John Woo “gun-fu” firearms and fist-fighting fare is the complexities of the emotions that permeate the back stories of even the truncated Western release. The scenes which best counterbalance the war-torn savagery are the delicate sequences involving Sun Quan’s general, Zhoung Yun (INSERT) and his wife Xiao Qiao (Chiling Lin).
As the narrative unfolds, we learn that all the glorious battlefield scenes are connected to the personal sorrows of Prime Minister Chao Chao. As an idealistic young man, he became smitten with Xiao Qiao, the daughter of his mentor. As the war comes to a climax, she visits Chao Chao and performs a traditional tea service which not only brings about the end of the Han Dynasty, but brings out the truth of Chao Chao’s most secret ambitions.
