1911 : Révolution

I saw this film on Oct. 9th. 2011. It moves quite quickly at the beginning and there is a lot of war action portrayed in the failed attempts to overthrow the Qing Empire. Chartracters are all identified and that is the only part of the film that detracts from the viewing. The film is in Chinese and by the time you have read the subtitles the characters names are gone. The film is enjoyable if you know Chinese history of this period and if you don't it can be just a series of talking and action scenes and can be quite confusing. Sun yat-sen is the main character but Jackie Chan does get to be more than just an action figure. If you want to more about this period of Chinese this would be the movie to spur you on or illustrate better what was going on in China at this time. Yuan Shi-kai is one character who has appeared in a lot of historical films portraying this period and his actions are as always ones of greed and betrayal.

Jackie Chan celebrates the milestone of the 100th film in his career with the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, significant for ending the reign of the Qing Dynasty and ushering in a new era with the founding of the Republic of China. Simply titled '1911', the expensive historical epic sees Chan taking on the role of General Huang Xing, who was leader Dr Sun Yat-Sen's deputy and commander of the revolutionaries in several cities across South China.

Besides starring in the film, Chan also bankrolled the US$30mil drama and serves as 'general director' alongside TV director Zhang Qi- so let it be known that this is also Jackie's passion project. Nonetheless, good intentions do not a good film make- and '1911' is an excellent case in point. Meticulously researched and assembled to make it as authentic a depiction of history as possible, it is nonetheless underwhelming and lacking in heart, spirit and most of all passion. It is also less a film than a history lesson, and far less compelling than its peers 'Founding of a Republic' and 'Beginning of the Great Revival'.

Yes, it is ostensibly modelled against the latter two similarly big- budget historical pictures that have taken a momentous chapter in China's history and turned it into crowd-pleasing blockbuster entertainment with a who's-who list of actors in roles both large and small. But even with 'Founding's' screenwriters Wang Xingdong and Chen Baoguang, '1911' lacks the finesse of both its genre predecessors, attempting too strenuously to squeeze as many characters and plot lines as possible into its two-hour running time.

We have no qualms with the film's method of introducing its characters with on screen captions, but there are just too many in here to even matter. Indeed, the sheer number of them means that some like Jaycee Chan's Zhang Zhenwu, Yu Shaoqun's Wang Jingwei, or Dennis To's Xiong Bingkun have less than a minute of screen time, and disappear as quickly from their audience's mind. The objective of honouring these martyrs and their respective contributions to the revolution is admirable, but some judiciousness should very well have been exercised to ensure that those given mention do make a difference in the film too.

The consequence of portraying so many characters at once is also that the first half of the film feels extremely haphazard, fast-forwarding from one event to another with little continuity. In fact, this film probably takes the crown for being most heavily reliant on text throughout its duration to explain each and every sequence, and the ill- conceived technique results in a film that feels oddly like watching a history textbook unfold before one's eyes. It doesn't help too that editor Yang Hongyu likes to interrupt scenes just as they are building up with flashbacks or parallel yet unrelated events, effectively preventing the audience from engaging with the characters within.

And even though history is supposed to be an objective and dispassionate exercise, that is no excuse for the lack of any true emotion in the film. Busy juggling the mammoth cast and characters, neither Jackie Chan nor Zhang Qi seem to have paid much attention to the development of the key roles- Huang Xing, Xu Zonghan and even Sun Yat-Sen. Their definition here is essentially one-note- whether the wise intellectual (Sun) or the brave military commander (Huang) or the quiet yet strong-willed wife (Xu)- and you're not likely to feel any differently for any of the characters before and after the film. The only interesting character amongst them all is General Yuan Shikai (Sun Chun), depicted as shrewd and cunning in brokering the abdication of the feudal throne.

In truth, for all its promise of being a gritty war movie a la 'Saving Private Ryan', it is the political struggles in the last days of the Qing dynasty between the provisional president Sun Yat-Sen and Yuan Shikai that proves the most intriguing. Crammed into the last half hour of the film, this particular theme emphasises the challenge of instituting a new political regime which would replace a system more than 2000 years old. In contrast, the battle scenes lack intensity or any genuine thrills for that matter, often drowning in melodramatic music to demonstrate the heroism of the outnumbered and outgunned revolutionary forces against the Qing's military might.

And we suspect that Jackie Chan fans may be most let down by that, since we do expect much better from the veteran actor who's given us some of the most thrilling action movies in the 80s and 90s. Instead, Chan spends most of the time in the film looking old and aggrieved, with only a brief fight between Chan and three men coming close to the old Jackie we've grown to love. What's perhaps even more perplexing is that while Chan gets top billing, his role as Huang Xing is overshadowed by Winston Chao's Sun Yat-Sen and Sun Chun's Yuan Shikai- not simply because both Chao and Chun are better dramatic actors, but also because there is more screen time devoted to both.

Precisely because we are huge fans of the star, it pains us to say that Jackie Chan's 100th movie fails to live up to its expectations as a milestone film in his career or as a tribute to a significant event in modern China's history. Better suited as a TV movie on the History Channel than a lavish blockbuster epic, '1911' could be useful as educational material for those looking for an introduction to the founding of the republic- anyone else will likely be disappointed.

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This film in a word is a mess.

The problem with a lot of historical dramas in general is that their historical scopes are too big to fit neatly into the format of a film. 1911 suffers the same weakness as many other recent "propaganda" movies from mainland China: Irrespective of their propagandistic flairs or contents, they are all trying to cover everything and quickly into a usual 2 hrs duration, a task impossible if not improbable to do well. One has to question how much creative freedom Jackie really had with directing it but even without outside pressure, we can intuit that even Jackie won't want to be liberal with a source material so sensitive and "weighty".

I am not going to delve into the history as you can find better information elsewhere but judging this historical film purely as film, it is unsatisfactory at best. If you want to learn about the 1911 Revolution then perhaps this film would give you a rundown of its historical development; it is mostly centred from the perspective of the revolutionary faction led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the founding father of modern nationhood and democracy in China.

As required, you would see plenty of explosions and scenes of war, albeit distributed rather evenly throughout the film, providing as bits of "action" before or after the "civil" and political acts by Sun Yat Sen and the other "players" in the political manoeuvres. The film is littered with bits of textual information supposed to fill you in on the historical facts and significances, but if you are not a fast reader, all of it would fly past your head unless you are a professor in the study of the Revolution. So right off the bat you are witnessing an educational material that lacks substance and depth but only provides you with a general picture and even incomplete at that.

With the typical colour filtering for battle scenes, you are treated with the usual grittiness of war. It is very apparent you are supposed to feel the up welling of emotion as men and women sacrificed their lives for the revolution but if anything, the scenes are so short that before you have the chance/time for up welling, it is over. All we know is that battles were fought, people died, and we move on to the (politic) next part. As a historical book, that is fine, as a movie, it does not work. (Granted some scenes might have been touching but within a film world crammed up with similar attempts at dragging out your inner weak spots, we are emotionally fatigued at best to be moved so easily.)

One would also be appalled at the film's treatment of westerners. They are stereotyped/caricatured and acted awkwardly, seemingly only needed for their appearances and that none of the people hired to act knows how to act. (I mean come on, this is the 21th century, aren't we smart enough now to see through all the old stereotypes and know that people aren't paper cutouts?)

Along with that comes some bad acting on the part of the Chinese casts, where most of them are either wooden or overly melodramatic, some even managed both. Even the Doctor at certain parts of the movie came out awkwardly.

Cinematography. This might be much more centred on my own personal opinion but I find some of the cuts and techniques trying too hard, focusing on style rather than lending itself to the story and the scenes. A lot of potentially good scenes are ruined by fast cuts and awkward transitions which in some cases even provide some hilarious results on a film so centred on seriousness, making it somewhat a deadpan.

I applaud Jackie for taking on directing but maybe perhaps this is not exactly the source material to work with. Personally I find historical films problematic in ways of execution, especially one about politics and dare I say revolutions? There is no way not to read a film like this in propagandistic terms. But then again can there be politic without propaganda? Maybe this one could be read as an irony? The solution to this is: Just don't take on so much, stop making epic political movies all together and give us something much more substantial than the emotionless husks we are always being offered in, dare I say, "sanctioned" art? (But in the case of China, this might be harder than one could imagine.) It is much better to focus on the smaller characters tangled within all these big events, see things from their eyes and get to understand the big picture. The detachment from human emotionality and focusing on the large picture history book-esque is only going to alienate people. For this story, as much as the personage of the doctor is "monumental" and of his endeavours, focus on Sun Yat Sen himself more, his personal struggles, what happens behind doors. Granted this would basically take the film into another direction but political epics just do not work.(At least I haven't seen it work. Western directors already understood the difficulty and infeasibility of trying to cover everything at once. Personally I haven't seen any western films done this way or similarly. If you have seen a successful one, please let me know, I want to learn.)

If a metaphor could be used for this film, then it is akin to watch the scenes outside a fast moving train. Some scenes are nicely shot, well acted, and some sidelined characters having much more commanding presence than the main ones (In this case, I am speaking to the limited screen time roles played by Joan Chen as Empress Dowager Longyu and Chun Sun as Marshal Yuan Shi Kai), but the train is just going too fast for you to take a good look. All this makes you rather be out there...

Being billed as Jackie Chan's centennial film - well it depends on who's counting since IMDb.com listed it as the number 109, but seriously, who's counting? - it was a shrewd career choice to have made it an epic in both scale and story, an extremely well made piece of historical drama filled with political intrigue and a fine cast fleshing out their period roles, and to coincide it with the centennial year of the historical milestone it is based on as well, being the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that ultimately overthrew the Chinese Qing dynasty and ended more than 2000 years of Imperial rule in China. It could have been Rush Hour 4 or Police Story 6, but Jackie Chan had got grander ideas, so good for him.

With the aforementioned centennial celebrations of sorts, there are countless of films being released based on historical characters and incidents in the run up, with big budgeted, and undoubtedly easily labelled as propaganda films like The Founding of a Republic and its sequel The Founding of a Party boasting big name stars in its line up to draw record audiences. The latest yet to hit the big screen here, but soon enough unless the incessant playing of the trailers start to put people off, would be the story of Qiu Jin who was an anti- Qing revolutionary, in a film titled The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake directed by Herman Yau, and it is Qiu Jin who interesting enough, actually opens this film, which may make those unfamiliar with her character scratch their heads for a little while.

In a gist 1911 chronicles the fight by the Tong Meng Hui led by Sun Yat-Sen (Winston Chao) and his band of brothers to start a revolution against the corrupt Qing government who have so far been making plenty of concessions to foreign powers since the Opium War, with the country decaying morally and economically, the poor leading really miserable lives. If you're been watching Chinese cinema set around the era, you'd be fairly familiar with the strife and struggles of the Chinese people in and around that period, and this film centers itself around the failed attempts, and successful forays in leading an armed and bloody revolution to eject the corrupt leaders from their throne of power in Beijing.

Sharing director duties with Zhang Li, Jackie Chan despite being his 100th film which you may think the limelight should fall on him, somehow successfully dissolves into his General Huang Xing role, and didn't mind playing second fiddle to both Winston Chao's Sun Yat-sen and the life-changing events that unfolded in 1911. In many scenes you'll forget about Chan being Chan in his charismatic presence, even toning down his usual repertoire of stunts and moves that he's so well known for in his films, to ground himself very much in reality given it's an historical epic, providing only a glimpse of his old self in just a single scene no doubt to trademark this as a Jackie Chan flick. It's an admirable effort of restraint here, and once again allows Chan to showcase his serious side and acting chops since his successful Little Big Soldier.

The narrative also unfolded fairly evenly, with the first third of it unfolding in an interesting use of time and space rather than what you would think would be the usual chronological unravelling of events. I guess it goes to show the coming of age and maturing of contemporary Chinese mainstream cinema in adopting more creative techniques to their art and craft, and this dedication to accuracy and details show. With classy visual effects and beautiful art direction, the entire film became like a walk through time and history, with stuff you read about in the history books being brought alive. The film tried to cover as much ground as possible, and realistically read like a fast-forwarded synopsis of given key milestones being played out on screen, and the rest breezed through in the use of many inter-titles to fill in the gaps between scenes, which you may need a magnifying glass to read.

And where would the fun be if not for its ensemble cast, some inevitably only get limited air time, such as Ye Shao Qun, Jaycee Chan and Dennis To in very blink and you miss moments. Sun Chun playing Yuan Shikai almost steals the show with his portrayal as the power-hungry general who is biding his time with his allegiance, holding the Qing court ransom with his demands, and stalling his actions for the rebels, providing that level of political intrigue as a shaky alliance based on promises and the integrity of men come into play. Joan Chen also excelled in her role as the Empress Dowager (to think that many years back she was the Queen in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor) and was a delight to watch how ineffective the entire dynasty rule had become behind the closed doors of the Forbidden City, while the other female actress in Li Bingbing as the wife of Huang Xing came off as far too lightweight in her nursing role. Winson Chao continues in his typecast role as Sun Yat-sen, portraying him in umpteenth film projects, though at no point you'll doubt his charismatic air and gravitas brought into the role.

1911 challenges Chinese filmmakers to dig deep into their history to tell stories based on its own contemporary, formative years. Even Singapore is finally getting into the act with its own 1965 film project, and I suppose any film industry worth its grain in salt would have these films lined up under its filmography that allows for a critical and artistic look at troubled times before, the ideals held then, and the struggles many took to bring us to where we are today. It may not be Jackie Chan's flashiest role or film, but definitely one of his classiest and dignified one yet. Highly recommended!

A historic film that doesn't work out well. Despite its rigor and historical interest, it's a not-so-smooth, confusing and uninteresting film. It seems to me that they had problems in the editing and it's a shame because it has an intense and modern scenography in the battle scenes, good interpretations.

It looks like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces are forced to fit together and don't quite belong there, resulting in a confusing picture. Who knows if because of having so many directors...

It could have been a great historical epic, but it's not...