Hero Movie Review

Hero Movie Review
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Hero Movie Review
Whenever directors decide to make a movie, they always seek for a message they can communicate to their audience. The goal is often to relay some information which the audience is expected to interpret. The Movie Hero is not any different as it also sought to communicate something different and significant regarding the history of China. China’s history is quite rich and dates back thousands of years back. The country is known to be greatly influenced by its history and some of the values upheld in China today date back thousand or hundreds of years. The hero was released in 2002 and is directed by Zhang Yimou. The movie has several themes and builds on each one quite well. From the onset, the movie is quite interesting and captures the audience with its dazzling and cinematic history. The movie’s beauty of photography is one that earned it respect in the industry and Hollywood as well. The film was not only nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category, but it also got the nomination for the Golden Globes awards.
The plot of the Movie
The movie follows the exploits of one man who is a martial arts expert. The man’s character is played by Jet Li a man who has graced the screens of major cinema venues around the world with his movies. Jet Li plays the role quite well as a nameless warrior who is on a mission to avenge the death of his family. With his mastery of the sword, Jet Li, who has no name in the film shoulders the nation’s burden and pursues a goal that is way above him and one that has been retold for a long time now. The nameless warrior takes on the sworn enemies of the king with the aim of eventually getting to the king, which he does, but then instead of doing what he wanted to do; he leaves the king alive in the hope of uniting the whole of China. Nameless wears the crown of hero, and even though he dies an assassin, he is buried a hero and one that China remembers to this day. However, what was the most interesting bit in the movie? While it is true that the aspect of heroism as depicted by Nameless makes up for a good paper, I believe the color symbolism in the movie overrides any topic. The director makes use of different color themes in the movie, which appears strategically throughout the movie. Thus, this paper seeks to analyze or focus on the colors that were used in the movie and their overall effect or influence in the movie.
Color Symbolism
Red
The first color that is dominant in the movie and that appears often is red. Red is a color that is often used to signify love, passion, intensity, joy, among other meanings. In the movie, red dominates the scene that introduces Broken Sword and Flying Snow to the audience. The two, first of all, are lovers and it can be argued that red is used in these scenes to showcase the love between these two. Their love for calligraphy accentuates Their love as per the scene, and this comes out as they continue to do their work despite the Qin army and their attack.
Additionally, the color red dominates the calligraphy classroom where the students seem oblivious of the wave of attack from the Qin army. While at some point the students did run away, they come back and continue to pursue their studies oblivious to the fact that they could die. Their passion for calligraphy is indeed something that is exemplified by this act of defiance. At one point, the teacher tells the students to stand their ground. “Please remember, their arrows might destroy our town and topple our kingdom, but they can never obliterate our culture.” He continues to tell them that “today, you will learn the essence of our culture” (21:43 – 22:00). Their passion for their culture appears to win their hearts as they continue with their calligraphy knowing that they could die if they stay in the classroom.
Other instances of red that are significant to the story are Broken Sword’s moment with the paint brush. Broken Sword is dressed in red and is also painting using the red ink. While at the time the words do not seem to mean much or have any impact on the plot of the movie, his movement, and concentration while being rained on by arrows shows his commitment and desire to finish what he started despite what was around him. The words which came to be interpreted as “our land” ended up influencing the history of China and became ingrained in the minds of the Chinese to-date. Broken Sword loved his country and, in the end, it is revealed that he shared a vision with the king who was to unite China. His passionate movements and desire to finish his painting leads one to believe in what he was doing and, in the end, the entire country of China believed in what he was doing.
Love is also communicated in the movie through the color red. As Nameless was giving his version of what had happened, it was revealed that Flying Snow and Sky once knew each other and this made Broken Sword angry. He felt betrayed and thus decided to act by cheating on Flying Snow. The incident is also depicted with the color red, and the beddings are also in color red which shows the intensity of the moment. However, at the same time, Flying Snow is seen crying because she sees the whole thing. After sleeping with his assistant, Broken Sword rudely asks her to leave something that hurts her because it appears that secretly, she loves him and her tears confirm this as she leaves. Love is also depicted in the scene where Flying Snow and Broken Sword’s assistant fight. The two fight and in the end, Flying Snow defeats the assistant and in that instance, the surrounding changes to red. Both of them loved Broken Sword and hence the color in this particular instance.
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