"Red Cliff" (赤壁) is a must watch for a history buff like me. Granted, not everything is based on historical fact, but still, normally epics like these would not deviate too much from actual facts. So when I watched the show on Sunday, I sat through the whole show anticipating every scene.
Years ago when I had to do a crash course on China history, then later read up on all the dynasties, I became rather confused over the similarities of certain characters. For instance, Xiang Yu (项羽) and Liu Bang (刘邦). They existed around the end of the Qin dynasty (秦朝) (the first real dynasty). Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were partners and friends but Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Han dynasty (汉朝).
I believe most of us are Han Chinese (汉人) - the majority group. About 92% of all the Chinese in the world will be Han Chinese. The language and characters we know are Han characters. Just imagine if Liu Bang was defeated instead, the entire course of history would change, and would we then be considered Chu Chinese (楚) (Xiang Yu was heading the kingdom of Chu), speaking and writing Chu characters?
Anyway, after reading the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (三国演义) and the power struggles amongst the various clans - Liu Bei (刘备), his two sworn brothers Guan Yu (关羽) (the God of War) and Zhang Fei (张飞), his alliance with Sun Quan (孙权) of the Kingdom of Wu (吴国), his advisor and good friend Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮), with the ambitious Prime Minister Cao Cao (曹操), who later defeated almost all and put his elder son Cao Pi (曹丕) as emperor.
The famous story went that Cao Pi wanted to get rid of his younger brother Cao Zhi (曹植), and told him that if he could compose a poem in seven steps, he would be spared. So the younger brother did compose a poem about brotherhood in seven steps, and Cao Pi had no choice but to spare his life. I still remember this is how the poem goes :
Anyway, in "Red Cliff", it is not so much of the battle between Cao Cao's brood, but the strategy and planning, plus getting the alliance of the Kingdom of Wu to fight against Cao Cao's armies. The military tactics were pretty well strategised, and the actors mostly acted well, especially Takeshi as Zhuge Liang (still think he is too good looking and young to play Zhuge Liang, but at least he is witty enough). Tony Leong (of Infernal Affairs) did a great job playing the top military strategist Zhou Yu (周瑜).
The name "Red Cliff" is not exactly a cliff, but the fort where Zhou Yu was holding up for Sun Quan, and where Cao Cao was intending to break apart. Much of the military training and negotiations were at Red Cliff, thus the title - as it was the essence of the whole show and military campaign.
Overall, a great movie! One of the best epics I have seen! Now I can hardly wait for the second part to start screening, but that will be around end of this year or early next year at least!
Years ago when I had to do a crash course on China history, then later read up on all the dynasties, I became rather confused over the similarities of certain characters. For instance, Xiang Yu (项羽) and Liu Bang (刘邦). They existed around the end of the Qin dynasty (秦朝) (the first real dynasty). Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were partners and friends but Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Han dynasty (汉朝).
I believe most of us are Han Chinese (汉人) - the majority group. About 92% of all the Chinese in the world will be Han Chinese. The language and characters we know are Han characters. Just imagine if Liu Bang was defeated instead, the entire course of history would change, and would we then be considered Chu Chinese (楚) (Xiang Yu was heading the kingdom of Chu), speaking and writing Chu characters?
Anyway, after reading the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (三国演义) and the power struggles amongst the various clans - Liu Bei (刘备), his two sworn brothers Guan Yu (关羽) (the God of War) and Zhang Fei (张飞), his alliance with Sun Quan (孙权) of the Kingdom of Wu (吴国), his advisor and good friend Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮), with the ambitious Prime Minister Cao Cao (曹操), who later defeated almost all and put his elder son Cao Pi (曹丕) as emperor.
The famous story went that Cao Pi wanted to get rid of his younger brother Cao Zhi (曹植), and told him that if he could compose a poem in seven steps, he would be spared. So the younger brother did compose a poem about brotherhood in seven steps, and Cao Pi had no choice but to spare his life. I still remember this is how the poem goes :
煮豆燃豆萁， 豆在斧中泣， 本是同根生， 相煎何太急。
Anyway, in "Red Cliff", it is not so much of the battle between Cao Cao's brood, but the strategy and planning, plus getting the alliance of the Kingdom of Wu to fight against Cao Cao's armies. The military tactics were pretty well strategised, and the actors mostly acted well, especially Takeshi as Zhuge Liang (still think he is too good looking and young to play Zhuge Liang, but at least he is witty enough). Tony Leong (of Infernal Affairs) did a great job playing the top military strategist Zhou Yu (周瑜).
The name "Red Cliff" is not exactly a cliff, but the fort where Zhou Yu was holding up for Sun Quan, and where Cao Cao was intending to break apart. Much of the military training and negotiations were at Red Cliff, thus the title - as it was the essence of the whole show and military campaign.
Overall, a great movie! One of the best epics I have seen! Now I can hardly wait for the second part to start screening, but that will be around end of this year or early next year at least!
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