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 top me if you've heard this one before: Boy sees
father killed by evil warlord. Boy escapes to Shaolin Temple to learn kung
fu. Boy gets payback. Of course, there's more to the plot than that, but not
much. This is a pretty standard kung-fu movie with a couple of major
distinctions.
Between 1974 and 1979, after
Nixon had opened up China, the Chinese National Wushu Team toured the world,
including the White House, and people got to see what all the fuss was
about. Wushu is the catch-all term for Chinese martial arts, and as a sport
it takes the motions and athleticism of combat martial arts and turns them
into a sort of performance art. During performances, kids and adults would
demonstrate classic weapons techniques and hand-to-hand styles.
One of these kids was Li Lian Jie, a prodigy who went
on to win gold medals in the Chinese National Martial Arts Contest from
1974 to 1979. Then the government produced a kung fu movie based on a folk
tale about the monks at the legendary Shaolin Temple. Li was tapped to
star, and the entire cast was filled with performers from various wushu
teams in China. The movie came out, became a huge success that spawned two
in-name-only sequels, and Li Lian Jie was dubbed Jet Li. You don't like
wirework? I'm not crazy about it either. You don't like obvious stunt
doubles? Ditto. So grab a copy of "The Shaolin Temple", put the
thinking side of your brain on hibernate, and watch some of the most
amazing stuff you'll ever see in a kung-fu movie.
So what do you get when you have wushu athletes
instead of actors in a kung-fu movie? Some of the finest, real
martial arts action ever put on film. You get a hint of it at the start,
when we see a pack of teenaged monks practice with fighting sticks, moving
in perfect timing with one another like a tougher version of
"Riverdance." Once the fighting really starts, characters
go at each other, armed and unarmed, with the speed, grace and precision
that can only come from a lifetime of practice. And the background for
most of the action is beautiful rural Mainland China, not some studio set,
and that alone gives the movie a feel that's different from what was
coming out of Hong Kong at the time.
If you've only seen Jet Li in his recent English
language movies or in his 1990's Hong Kong action films, "Shaolin
Temple" will be a special treat. Only 16 at the start of film
production, it's amazing just how young and spry he looks. This is Jet
before his many injuries and during his physical prime, when he was
arguably the finest wushu artist in the world. There are hints of the
superstar he would become and his character's transformation from a brash,
vengeance-fueled kid to a Shaolin warrior monk who finds inner peace is
dead-on. It's all even more remarkable when you consider this was his
debut film.
The story is routine, but supposedly based on an
actual legend, a fact that is stressed in the pre-title sequence. However,
anyone familiar with China's present policies in Tibet and its treatment
of that country's Buddhist population may recognize some disturbing themes
in the story. Unlike Buddhists portrayed in past martial arts movies, the
monks here, despite being the good guys, have no qualms about killing,
eating meat, drinking alcohol and in one case, even fathering children.
And when this conflict of faith is brought up, there's usually some
dialogue that suggests Buddhism can be cast aside in certain real world
situations.
I can only imagine the reaction of a devout Buddhist
at the sight of monks eating dog meat and drinking wine while chattering:
"As long as Buddha is in your heart, it doesn't matter what you
do." This approach is to be expected considering the politics of
the film's country of origin, but it does compromise an otherwise
straightforward plot with some extraneous moments, most notably in
the insertion of a musical number (!!) during one of the early training
montages.
The movie is also conflicted in its attitude toward
the monks. On one hand, they are brave and skilled warriors capable of
superhuman feats, but they're also depicted as wide-eyed, grinning
simpletons who blindly sacrifice their lives and the founding principals
of their religion for the Greater Good. That feels a lot like
period commie propaganda, which is ultimate what "Shaolin
Temple" is.
So if you want to see Jet Li before he was Jet Li in
the movie that made him a star, and don't mind some Commie propaganda
elements, then track "The Shaolin Temple" down and enjoy. Just
don't think too much about the dog meat.
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