Review: Hero (2002) by Zhang Yimou

Hero is a 2002 Chinese wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou and is by far the best cinematography I have ever seen. Hero as a wuxia film has turned out quite differently from my conception of a wuxia film, nevertheless, in a good way.

The term “wuxia” (武俠), which means “martial heroes” usually entails the need for the hero to fight for righteousness or remove oppressors, hence should involve a lot of good versus the evil fighting scenes, such as one hero versus twenty bad guys. Yet, in Hero, I noticed that the fights usually happen between the “martial heroes” instead due to their internal conflicts. Hence, it was pretty much always one-to-one, otherwise one vs hundred thousand of soldiers armed with deadly arrows.

Wuxia genre in my perception is also about violence and ugly death, yet Zhang was able to contain the gory aftermath. In fact, the absence of blood is the reason why watching a sword that has been pierced through the character’s torso seemed less painful. I noted that Zhang tends to bring focus to the character’s facial expression first before revealing the area thrust by the weapon, without a trace of blood-soaked garment.

In fact, I did some research and found out from IndieWire’s interview with Zhang that his intention and message of the film was to convey peace. As such, this might be the reason why Zhang chose not to portray any scenes of bloodshed.

White garment remains clean and dry despite being stabbed in the heart?

Speaking of peace, I noticed the introduction to the concepts of unification and sacrifice in the film. I was able to understand and relate to these concepts because they are often the values taught in Chinese household based on Confucius philosophies. In my opinion, while Nameless was honored for his death because he sacrificed his life for a unified and greater China, the other three assassins should be honored the same too, for willing to sacrifice their lives to defend their country, Zhao Dynasty.

Zhang Yimou’s distinct Cinematography: Colour and Composition

Zhang’s iconic and bold use of colours is hard to be gone unnoticed in Hero. I believe that the ‘colour technique’ used is what makes the film so distinctive and aesthetically pleasing. Personally, I like how different colours were used to define the film into segments, each representing a different version of story told. Besides acting as ‘divider’, I believe that these colours were used symbolically to stimulate the audience’s senses and as portrayal of a character’s development.

Here are my breakdown and interpretations of the colours used in Hero…

1. Red – Represents Nameless version of story and signifies passion, vengeance and rage.
2. Blue – Represents King of Qin’s recount on another version and the ‘truth’ of the story. It signifies struggle, sacrifice and loyalty.
3. Green – Represents Broken Sword’s narration and point of view. It signifies memories and mercy.
4. White – Represents Nameless revelation of truth. It signifies death, mourning and peace.

 

  

Besides colour, the composition of images is another factor leading to the overwhelming aesthetics of the film. One distinct composition is achieved by having perfect symmetry within the frame. Zhang loves to do a wide shot featuring the entire set or scenery, with the subject placed right in the middle of the frame. During close-up for dialogues, characters were often placed in singles, in the middle of the frame. Therefore, the consistent colour and composition technique used throughout the film is what makes the film so visually pleasing to the eye.

 

To sum up, I think that despite superb cinematography, the film lacks essence in character development as I was unable to relate, feel or grieve for the character’s death. Perhaps the lack of background story for each character or the conflicting versions of story is why I am unable to set my understanding for the characters.