User Reviews

"Moving through the gaps and spaces of your mind"

This is an excellent BBC documentary series showing the different types of martial arts from different parts of the world talking to the various grand masters. An everyday guide to martial arts this series explores the many way martial arts is practiced and used with the body and the mind. To give an example Chris interviews the last living ninja just outside Tokyo. They also explore the benefits of chi in martial arts. Chris speaks to the various grand masters trying to get them to reveal their secrets. Some of the people he meets and what they can do defies all conventional knowledge and wisdom and will definitely put any skeptics to rest.

Fans of the recent influx of martial arts films like Hero, Crouching Tiger, Kill Bill, The Matrix and even Star Wars will be intrigued by this as it puts the methods used in the fighting scenes into practical use. This is a must watch for any martial arts fan or anybody remotely interested. This series will definitely make you think.

I was hoping for a documentary in the vain of "Warriors" on the history channel. That is, a documentary about how the different martial artists practice their arts, how they work, and so on.

Instead we are presented with a 'documentary' that has more religious garbage in it, in the guise of 'mysticism', 'chi', and 'body energies'. After about 2 minutes I had enough, but having recorded it on the PVR, did a 'flick through to see if it gets better." It did not. The 'finger wrestling' was my favourite I think. The 'kung fu' master would wrestle with his pinky and 'throw off the centre of gravity' of his assistant, then the host would try, and fail. But at a 'touch of the master' the assistant would again roll over because: 'I could feel the energy. It was something X-files happening there."

Why is it that martial arts requires spiritualism? Why is it that we need to convert to "chi" in order to understand why person X can punch really well?

If you're after a good documentary about the martial arts and their methods, this isn't it. If you're after a show about chi, energy, and other hocus pocus garbage... step right up.