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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: }}}; pinyin: ) is a wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") film released in 2000. It is a China-Hong Kong-Taiwan-USA co-production. It was directed by Ang Lee and features an international Chinese ethnic cast of Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. It was choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping and based on the fourth novel in a pentalogy, known in China as the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, by Wang Dulu.

Made on a mere $15 million budget, with dialogue in Mandarin, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became an international success. It grossed $128 million in the United States alone, where foreign-language films are very rarely embraced by the public. The critically-acclaimed movie was nominated for numerous awards around the world including the Academy Awards' Best Picture. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. The score by composer Tan Dun also received much acclaim. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2001.

It was filmed in Beijing as well as the Anhui, Hebei, Jiangsu and Xinjiang provinces of China.

Contents

Plot

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Although a fiction, the story is set in the Qing Dynasty in China, likely during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (circa 1680). Support for this is found in the props, the hair and clothing styles, and the appearance of a telescope.

The story follows two experienced martial arts warriors, Li Mu Bai (李慕白; pinyin: Lǐ Mùbái) (played by Chow Yun-Fat) and Yu Shu Lien (余秀蓮; pinyin: Yú Xiùlián) (played by Michelle Yeoh). Both are in love but feel they cannot act on their feelings because of Shu Lien's marital commitment years ago. Shu Lien was bethrothed to Mu Bai's "Brother in Oath". Although he is dead, the two's relationship is still constrained by commonplace propriety.

Meanwhile Jen (玉嬌龍; pinyin: Yù Jiāolóng) (played by Zhang Ziyi), a Manchu aristocrat's daughter, yearns for adventure, not life as a court wife. Jen is a secret apprentice to the evil warrior woman Jade Fox (played by veteran Cheng Pei-pei), whom Mu Bai has sworn to kill for murdering his master.

At the start of the film Mu Bai leaves his legendary sword Green Destiny to Sir Te for safekeeping. The sword, however, is stolen by Jen. To retrieve it Mu Bai fights with Jen on several occasions, but he refuses to kill her because he sees her potential and wants to train her as his apprentice. Jen also fights with Shu Lien, who spares her out of feelings of love and friendship.

Jen, headstrong in her powers and emboldened by her forbidden love to the desert bandit Lo (played by Chang Chen), consequently does not accept Mu Bai as master nor Shu Lien as a friend. She stands at crossroads of having to resolve her life choices. She must choose between a mundane life as a court official's wife against the love of Lo. She also considers a rebellious (and romantic in her eyes) existence as either an outlaw under Jade Fox or somewhat more assured, but nonetheless unconventional, martial path with Li Mu Bai as a teacher. Her duty or her spirit?

The title Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) is attributed to a Chinese saying which teaches one to conceal one's strengths from others in order to preserve the element of surprise. It also references two of the characters: Jen's Mandarin name (Jiāo lóng) means "pampered dragon", and Lo's (Xiào Hǔ) means "little tiger".

UK DVD cover
Enlarge
UK DVD cover

The fantasy aspect of the film comes into play whenever the three protagonists fight. They possess seemingly magical powers, literally flying through the air as they vault across roofs, running up walls, and moving with superhuman ease. These powers are never clearly explained in the movie but the implication is it comes from the protagonists' training and secret knowledge from the Wudang school of martial arts. This aspect of the film, which is a common characteristic in the wuxia film genre, also lends itself to occasional parody.

In anticipation of the film's hidden ending, the dialog hints that through the Wudang arts, under the right conditions, one might acquire immense hidden power and skill in aerial movement.

Pentalogy

The film is an adaptation of the fourth novel in a pentalogy, or five-novel cycle, known as the Crane-Iron Pentalogy and written by noted wuxia novelist Wang Dulu. The novels in the pentalogy are: Crane Frightens Kunlun; Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin; Sword's Force, Pearl's Shine; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Iron Knight, Silver Vase.

The pentalogy has been adapted into a series of graphic novels:

Production

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon represented Taiwan to compete the Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Award and won the title albeit it is an "international co-production" by Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and USA. It was produced by the following film companies: Asia Union Film & Entertainment Ltd., China Film Co-Production Corporation, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, EDKO Film Ltd., Good Machine, Sony Pictures Classics, United China Vision, Zoom Hunt International Productions Company, Ltd.

Unlike most Chinese films, this one was supported by Sony Pictures and therefore received marketing typical of Western films.

Reception

Despite its international fame, the movie was not as well received in China and Hong Kong as the rest of the world. It was perceived by many as another wuxia movie among countless in the past four decades. Lee's unique directing style in handling subtle emotions was well-perceived by the western world but not appreciated by some Chinese, since it was thought not to fit well into the traditional wuxia style. Also, there was the accent issue, which bothers some native Chinese speakers. Although neither Chow (a native Cantonese speaker) nor Yeoh (an overseas Chinese born and raised in Malaysia) speaks Mandarin as a native language, Lee insisted that the actors and actresses should speak themselves, and not have their voices dubbed. Yeoh speaks with a Malaysian accent, Chow a Cantonese accent, Zhang Ziyi a Mainland Chinese accent, and Chang Chen a Taiwanese accent. Members of the Mandarin-speaking audience complained that they had to read the Chinese subtitles because the actors' accents were hard to understand. In addition, the accents of the actors did not always match the roles in the story, which disturbed Chinese audience's perception since they know well about the intricate differences of dialects and cultural setting.

Awards

Won

Nominations

See also

External links

Wikinews has news related to:

Films Directed by Ang Lee
Pushing Hands • The Wedding Banquet • Eat Drink Man Woman • Sense and Sensibility • The Ice Storm • Ride with the Devil • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon • Hulk • Brokeback Mountain

 

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