Zhao shi gu er

"SACRIFICE" is Chen Kaige's third adaptation of China's stage plays. Set in the Warring States period, the opening sequences show an excited Dr Cheng Ying (played by the cool and talented Ge You) welcoming the birth of his son. As the court physician, Cheng Ying is also thrilled about delivering the child of General Zhao, whose wife Zhuangji (Fan Bing Bing) gives birth at a tragic time when the mutinous General Tuan Gu (Wang Xueqi) stages an elaborate assassination of his lord and pins the blame on General Zhao. This gives Tuan Gu the perfect excuse to wipe out the entire Zhao clan.

However, the newborn Zhou prince - and heir to the throne - is placed in the care of Cheng Ying (Ge You), forcing Tuan Gu to order all babies in the city be rounded up as hostages. In a cruel twist of fate, Cheng's own baby is killed, and poor doctor is left to raise the Zhao boy, nicknamed Bo'er, as his own. As a form of revenge, Cheng schemes to have Bo'er become the godson of Tuan Gu so that the boy may one day learn the truth and claim the throne.

The first half hour of the movie is totally riveting. The tale of Tuan Gu's betrayal is lavishly portrayed in detailed settings and sets. The assassination conspiracy is mind-bogglingly complicated, involving a killer dog, a poisonous insect and a case of harmless wine. These court intrigue scenes alternate with those involving Cheng and the birth of Zhuangji's baby, raising the movie's tempo and our pulses, culminating in Cheng's shocking 'sacrifice'.

Indeed, after this sort of build-up, what follows has to be somewhat of a lull. Still, director Chen Kaige tries to work up our anticipation with the 'revenge' plot involving Cheng, a rather mellowed Tuan Gu and the Zhao boy, Bo'er. The pace slackens a great deal here and it is Ge You's performance that keeps our minds from wandering off.

Chen keeps the revenge plot morally ambiguous (and not very convincing) but the sacrifice of one's son cuts deeply into China's audiences who have experienced the Government's one-child policy. The play "Orphan of Zhao" from which this movie is adapted, was a feudal propaganda that exalts loyalty to the aristocracy. Chen's adaptation offers an interesting study on how fatherly love can be used as a tool for vengeance, to cultivate pain and regret. "Sacrifice" is not Chen Kaige's masterpiece, but it is worth watching. (limchangmoh.blogspot.com)

I started watching Chen Kaige's "Zhao shi gu er" ("Sacrifice" in English) knowing almost nothing about the plot, and even less about the Spring and Autumn period of China's history. That made a lot of the movie a little hard to follow, but the clever action scenes made up for that. This story of treachery involving a general's son in the Jin duchy is one of the many historical movies from China incorporating intrigue and swordfighting (to my knowledge it doesn't count as a wuxia film).

If the movie has any downside, it's that it goes on too long. Eventually, all the battles start to wear thin. Even so, I enjoyed most of it. Not any sort of masterpiece but likable enough.

While the premise was quite good, I felt that it was poorly executed, given that, as the minutes went by, I became less and less interested in the characters.

If you like the genre, it's well worth watching. Otherwise, there are better ones out there.

The first 20min or so has a style which made the continuity rather poor; perhaps, the Director was trying to portray multiple threads of timelines progressing simultaneously but it gave me a highly fragmented feel.

Beyond that, the movie progressed sequentially in a single thread and was aptly performed. Wang Due Qi, as usual, is a highly skilled actor and his dialogs are superbly executed.

Enjoyed it quite a bit.

I have to admit that I am a fan of Asian cinema in general and the so-called "Eastern" movie in specific. Though "Musa" will remain my favorite genre movie, this one is pretty decent too. I do agree with another commentator that the movie switches paces after a very fascinating and fast start. I don't think it is a bad thing generally speaking, though.

While not without flaws (and story points/turns you might agree with), the story in itself is fascinating and as also pointed out by others there are quite some commentaries to todays politics. And movies are always a good medium to throw punches, especially if packed like that (playing in the past that is).