Confucius Film Review - Grade: a PDF

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Mandatory film review of the movie Confucious. for Professor Ronald Frank and Professor Connerney...

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Confucius Film Review

INT196J: The Sacred and The Secular In East Asia Professor Connerney and Professor Frank October 13, 2015

2 The 2010 film, Confucius was written and directed by Hu Mei. This Chinese film is a historical drama that serves the purpose of portraying a reflection of Confucius’ life. Confucius is a Chinese educator and philosopher and is seen as an icon. The two-hour film is set to show Confucius during the middle of his life to the end of his life. Even though this is a film in the historical genre, it is important to remember that it is still a dramatic interpretation that serves the purpose to entertain the audience rather than providing concrete facts about Confucius and the political state of China. Beginning, the first opening scenes are cuts between an empty cup and students. Eventually water is being poured into the empty cup, and as that is happening music is incorporated into the scene as well as chiming bells. As the bells continue chiming the audience is shown fountains that have water flowing and being poured in a downward direction. Throughout the film every scene that involves water, the water is poring slowly, or is shown as a single drop. This signifies the time passing. Moving on, after the opening scene, and the title of the film, the scene opens to a wide shot of what looks like a classroom. The camera begins to zoom onto Confucius; though he is not shown speaking, he begins narrating. The first thing that he says is that he has grown old, and then the scene fades out. This scene depicts Confucius at old age, in reverie, reflecting his life. Continuing, the plot of the film is Confucius (Chow Yun-fat) serving as the Minister of Law in his state, in the Kingdom of Lu. Being looked upon highly by the Lu authority, the Ruler of Lu, Lu Dinggong (Yao Lu), confronts Confucius that his policies are very effective for the short amount of time that they have been in effect, and that they should be applied more throughout the empire. Lu also informs Confucius of a vacant position, that he will nominate him for, because of his credentials and good qualities as a candidate.

During this

3 conversation, is when what Confucius is saying in the film dialogue can be related back to the actual Confucian Analects.

Confucius speaks of time being the true judge of whether

something is successful or not, how people behave and react to the law, what the law and being civil means, and how the law applies to corruption. The time period that the film takes place in is the Warring States. During that time–in the film– the Kingdom of Lu was going through economic and political changes. One of the first and major conflicts that are shown is that the Kingdom of Lu is divided into three aristocratic clans, which throughout the film are referred to as “the three noble families.” After consulting with the other ministers and the ruler or Lu, Master Kong (Confucius) suggests that the walls between the clans should be put down, and that the state should go back to being unified as one. Curbing the power of the three families will be successful because it will strengthen the throne, and will cut off the dragons’ heads. Unfortunately, being unsuccessful, Confucius is exiled from the Kingdom of Lu; being very loyal, his disciples also leave to travel with Confucius from state to state. From this point on until the ending of the film, Confucius and his disciples spend years traveling throughout China facing challenges. Only close to the end of the film, Master Kong is invited back to his place of birth and his home, to the Kingdom of Lu. The final scene of the film is a transition back into the opening shot of Confucius as a very old man, he has reflected upon his life, and then the camera cuts to a close up of The Master dropping his scrolls, which signifies his death. The historical accuracy of this film is set to give the audience an idea of what was going on in China during the time period, and to give the audience a summary of Confucius’ life as he reflects on it. One of the inconsistencies in this dramatic interpretation is the focus on the meeting between Confucius and Nanzi. Nanzi, Xun Zhou, is the royal consort of the

4 Kingdom of Wei. Even though the addition of this relationship is for entertainment purposes, it was interesting because during the conversation between Master Kong and Nanzi, Nanzi mentions Kong’s strong characteristics and then bows to him.

This is significant and

sentimental because in return, Master Kong expresses his amazement and gratitude through facial expressions, and then also bows.

The film clearly shows many points from The

Confucian Analects, which build the plot of the film, and strengthen the Confucius as a character in the film. The budget for this film was estimated over twenty-two million dollars, and is clearly visible that it was made to be a major motion picture, for all audiences. The acting was impeccable, as well as the sound, wardrobe, and directing, which was only more beneficial to the film and the message it was portraying. This film is showing a biography of Confucius, a brief timeline in China’s history, and narrating an inspiring and motivational story, all while delivering history and entertainment to almost all audiences, therefore it is likely to stand the test of time....