Confucio

There has been some commotion around this movie concerning whether it did or did not force Avatar from the 2D screens in China. So many IMDb-voters thought it necessary to vote a '1' for this movie without even seeing it.

It's a shame because it is a really good movie. I wasn't sure myself if a story around Confucius would be able to entertain me for 2 hours but it surely did! It's a fascinating and emotional story about the later years of Confucius, played by Hong Kong-actor Chow Yun Fat. It's shows the man behind the myth.

I was very impressed with Chow's acting. I knew he was a great actor but this role is another milestone in his career. His Confucius is warm and gentle and you really feel his emotions. For his performance alone this film is worth watching.

Beware: it might not be for the usual popcorn crowd, wanting to be entertained with lots of action and superficial story lines. It's an inspirational journey! Go see it!

I love the Asian films and the epic sagas and so when I got ahold of this I watched it right away. I am disappointed in some aspects like story telling. For me instead of focusing on his entire life with much of it wandering they should of focused more on his dealings within LU. Much like IP MAN focused not on the entire story but on the war and IP MANs role during that time. THis film is beautiful to watch and some of the characters are fun but over all an un-inspiring tale of one of the most influential scholars of all time. The problem is the script, not the directing, performances or the photography. So if you plan on seeing this film be prepared to watch a rather long film with great photography, wonderful performances but fails in its lack of storytelling.

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.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I had my expectations set on Confucius the film being a tale of the man himself, one of the greatest and earliest philosophers and thinkers that had vast influence over a number of ideologies today, including the system of ethical governance. The trailer had suggested that besides being a learned man, he's quite the military strategist as well, like a precursor to Zhuge Liang, which of course is way off the mark as far as I'm concerned.

It seems like director Hu Mei had been influenced by a number of war films set in Ancient China from Battle of Wits to Red Cliff, and had been inspired to do her own, even if it had to involve Confucius. Good thing though she didn't put the philosopher, played by Chow Yun- Fat, into a suit of armour, but rather, starts off the narrative focused on his ascension to enviable political positions starting with the Law Ministry, before being Acting Interior Minister for the state of Lu.

A tale of two parts, the first half danced along the narrative tread of political intrigue, with court official envy and being the favourite adviser of the ruler, laying the groundwork for some serious rivalry and treachery to be dished out, especially when a talk of alliance with another state goes awry, if not for a Plan B up in the sleeves to bail them out of trouble. But hold on, was Confucius ever a politician to begin with? I do not know, but it didn't matter much, as there were glimpses of how his mind ticked, with discussions of ideals and ideas with his disciples being some of the highlights that one would have come to the movie for.

The second half though, was a let down. Unappreciated and driven away, Confucius starts his self-exile, and together with a small group of dedicated disciples whom we know very little of save for their names and titles appearing on screen, and most given extremely limited screen time, they wander around the film from city to city, and very much echoed the sentiments of the viewer - when will they settle down and get themselves into some serious classroom teaching? It's a pity that this section of the film decided to focus on how frail and aged Confucius had become with the passing of time, but little more. Pacing seems a little hurried as well, especially when dealing with subplots involving his disciples, with resolution being only a few minutes after.

Even Zhou Xun's cannot save the show, as she's given a combined screen time of not more than 15 minutes thereabout to turn on her charm as the consort of a kingdom that Confucius and his disciples pass through. In other words, a flower-vase role that completely underutilized the talents of this wonderful actress. Chow Yun-Fat cuts an imposing figure of Confucius and probably had what it takes in the first section, before the weak storyline in the later half muted his performance as a senior citizen with major issues to address for himself and his disciples, the first being the basic theories of Maslow in getting food and shelter for his followers.

I figured I would have enjoyed a film about Confucius more if it had taken a more in depth look into his character, his inspiration, his influences (that goes just beyond the churning of learned disciples to execute their like-minded philosophies) and of course, having all these done more through the narrative scenes, rather than through inter-titles which tell a lot more than the film itself. I think one is better off digging out Confucius epics of old, than to watch this spruced by version with very fake looking CGI.

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.