Kong Zi

And I'm not only talking about the years this tries to put in here. It's over 2 hours, but of course those two hours could never be enough to capture every complexity or all of his teachings. One thing is for sure, as an established actor, you almost couldn't imagine anyone else playing that role. Not saying there aren't other talented guys (Tony Leung, Andy Lau and more), but it seems Chow Yun Fat was the right choice, because he is also known in the West (and because he can act too of course).

The story moves along nicely, we also get quite a few action scenes thrown our way. There is a lot of drama and also a few nice resolutions. Some of the teachings get shown and you can see that most people had great respect for the master back then too. Which of course makes it almost impossible to believe some of the things that happened to him. They seem to be very particular when it comes to dates, but I'm sure they were creative in the times in between. A nice little movie, but I think if you want to know more about him, you'd be better off reading a book.

Many people that write on here about films such of this almost have too 'expert' a view. As has been said elsewhere, it is a real epic and the performance by Chow Yun Fat is exceptional. Whilst there is always going to be debate about accuracy, style and even politics about such a film, for lovers of sumptuously shot cinema and outstanding acting, it will be a joy to watch and will open up Confucius the man to many more people. It is actually being widely released in the UK on DVD and Blu Ray on Monday 4th October on the Cine-Asia label, so will be really interesting to see what a much wider audience makes of it. Personally, I think that people will appreciate its quality and see it for what it is - a very well made historical epic movie.

Confucius lived in violent times. He is shown reacting and taking moral stands, often putting himself at risk. And also suffering and losing, which makes it much more realistic. Probably it isn't accurate historically, but there is also not much solid detail about his life. (And no one can be sure if Lao Tzu even existed, never mind teaching Confucius, as is done here.) The man's sentiments have been somewhat modernized, but not unreasonably so. It does show what was positive about him, given the era he lived in.

The film begins with Confucius as an old man, thinking back. Then we see him in his early 50s, being promoted from Major to Minister for Law in his home state of Lu. He is confronted with ethical issues after saving a slave-boy who was due to be buried alive with his former master who has just died. The story then takes many twists and turns and remains interesting.

the extremely bad thing about this movie is Chinese government try to control movie market and push it eagerly. in order to do it, Chinese government forced hot movie Avator out from cinema. as a result, there is no doubt, Chinese internet users initiate a movement to boycott this movie. they say: we don't have votes. however, we have cinema tickets. so, box office of this movie is horrible now. that is also why so many people give it a very low vote, such as 1 out of 10. i consider this movie as an victim. without Chinese government's "support", the box office will be much better.

the stories of Confucious are horrible, full of fake stuff. Confucius is THE most famous ideologist and educator in Chinese history. you can not see it in this movie. he is not a politician or militarist. However, it is very sad to see Confucius in this movie he is a politician and militarist, rather than an ideologist and educator. this will mislead so many people to recognize him, especially young people and non-Chinese.

the CG is horrible, too. you can see scenes of the movie are copied from other movies.

i am a Chinese. it is sad to see Confucius is deformed like this in order to cater somebody's taste.

This is the film that the film bureau of the PRC's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television wanted to pit against Avatar? Really??? This film wouldn't even last five seconds against Judge Judy.

Here is what I learned from the film: Confucius would have made a perfect litigant for Judge Judy's binding arbitration, 'make belief' court, being sued by his wife for back child support and breach of contract by his 'students.' The film portrayed Confucius as a 'bum'--as Judge Judy would say--who abandoned his wife and children after becoming unemployed. He then meandered all over the feudal kingdoms of ancient China, turning down job after job for the next few decades or so while taking on more students to service him, even when he had no funds or resources to see to their education. In his defense, Confucius say: "I want to change things!" However, other than the fairly common desire to see an end to the perpetual conflicts between warring principalities that characterized the Spring and Autumn Period, it is not entirely clear in the film what specific changes he wanted to affect or how his teachings were going to bring about those changes. In fact, other than dispensing one liner fortune cookie wisdom, when did he actually 'teach' in this film?

Now let's put this film into context. As the PRC's communist ideological framework crumbles under the reality of its free market political and economic reforms, the post-socialist Chinese state 're-discovers' once banished Confucian ideals as a way to attempt to re-align its political authority with a moral authority, re-unite the disparate social and political elements of Chinese society, and distinguish the uniqueness of its modernization from Western industrialized countries. But even as a propaganda film meant to promote social values that would reconcile the PRC's authoritarianism with market capitalism, this film fails. It fails because the story was badly scripted and delivered by an over-dramatic acting style reminiscent of the last generation of period Chinese films. It's not smart or stylish, but is desperately trying to be in order to reach a new generation of Chinese movie-goers who would rather be stupefied by films like Avatar instead of being stupefied by films like this.

Two stars, for the women in the film - the only aspect of this film that was not profoundly irritating.