Chen Kaige?s Sacrifice
Created: July 28, 2012 Last Updated: July 27, 2012
Xueqi Wang in the historical drama ?Sacrifice,? a film about a court doctor who saves the life of the newborn heir to the throne when the child?s family dies in a coup. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Sacrifice
Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Ge You, Hai Qing, Fan Bingbing
Running Time: 122 minutes
Language: Mandarin with English subtitles
Generally ascribed to Yuan Dynasty playwright Ji Junxiang, ?The Orphan of Zhao? is the first Chinese play to be translated in Europe. It was even adapted (quite liberally) for the French stage by Voltaire. Profoundly tragic but also rather violent in places, it has timeless elements that continue to appeal to audiences.
Celebrated auteur Chen Kaige vividly captures both qualities in his grand, big-screen version, ?Sacrifice,? which opens this Friday in New York.
General Tu Angu is not a man to take the slights of the Zhao clan lightly. Framing the patriarch and his son, General Zhao Shuo, for the murder of the ruling duke, Tu uses the outrage as pretext for wiping out the Zhao clan.
A swifter, more awe-inspiring massacre you are not likely to see on film any time soon. However, he misses two of the Zhaos?the young general?s wife, Princess Zhuang, and her newborn baby. Sacrificing herself for her child, Zhuang entrusts the infant heir to her doctor, respected commoner Cheng Ying.
As fate would dictate, Cheng?s wife has also recently delivered. Suddenly, having a newborn is dangerous business and Cheng has two. In a truly biblical turn of events, Tu orders all the town?s babies to be collected at his palace to be duly vetted. Through a catastrophically Shakespearean turn of events, the Zhao and Cheng babies essentially trade places.
\>");Growing up as Cheng Wu, the presumed son of Dr. Cheng, the Zhao orphan knows nothing of his birthright. However, unbeknown to the boy, the doctor is grooming him to take his vengeance at the appropriate time.
To do this, he plays a dangerous game?entering the service of the Tu retinue and manipulating his nemesis into serving as Cheng Wu?s godfather. Needless to say, some rather messy issues of filial loyalty arise.
Some have often knocked Chen?s films as pretty but rather bloodless historical dramas, but this is absolutely not the case with ?Sacrifice.? While the period trappings are as richly detailed as ever, there is also plenty of blood.
In fact, the first act is quite a spectacle of mayhem, segueing into a tense cat-and-mouse game in which the fate of the city?s infants hang in the balance. Yet, it ultimately settles into a stone-cold revenge drama.
Featuring several of Chen?s semi-regulars, the film?s talented ensemble is equally adept at the stately tragedy and the gutty action sequences. As Tu Angu, Wang Xueqi is in his element. Ruthless yet charismatic, he is the sort of villain viewers find themselves identifying with, in spite of themselves.
While Ge You might be better known to American audiences for his shticky work in ?Let the Bullets Fly,? he wrings real pathos from his performance as Dr. Cheng. And while her character is not long for the world, Fan Bingbing is a typically ethereal presence as Princess Zhuang. Yet, it is mainland TV star Hai Qing who really lowers the emotional boom as Cheng?s equally ill-fated wife.
Admirers of Chen?s Chinese Opera sagas ?Farewell My Concubine? and ?Forever Enthralled? should still appreciate the classical elegance of ?Sacrifice.? It is based on a play, after all.
Likewise, fans of more action-driven Asian cinema should never get bored with the relentless scheming and vigorous swordplay. Indeed, Chen integrates the intimate and the epic halves quite masterfully.
Highly recommended for fans of literate historicals and the wuxia genre, ?Sacrifice? opens this Friday (July 27) in New York at the Quad Cinema.
Joe Bendel writes about independent film and lives in New York. To read his most recent articles, please visit http://jbspins.blogspot.com
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Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/movie-review-sacrifice-271454.html
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