Saw The Emperor and the Assassin (Jing ke ci qin wang), a sweeping spectacle type movie but mostly dialog on interior sets, comparable to GWTW in that respect. Interesting that the dynamics are not so much in terms of attack and conquest (well, there's a lot of that too) as willingness to die or to sacrifice oneself. The main resource of China is said to be its huge mass of people, a currency which consumes itself in the pursuit of its leaders' goals, in this case the unification of China into an empire in the third century BC. I liked it for the history lesson, the ancient architecture (apparently intact after 2229 years) and the gigantic battle scenes, but I suspect that the film has an ulterior purpose in choosing this topic: that the Chinese government is drawing an historical example to defend its current policy of unification, particularly in Tibet, by resettling people and by erasing their ethnic and cultural identities. Arguing morality with statistics, one might say.
The portrayal of the strong, surprisingly authoritative female lead was an interesting contrast to our usual supposition about Asian women as abused and suppressed, so some of the apparent propaganda may be intended to have a beneficial impact on the Chinese people's self image, not to mention foreign relations.
I didn't like the yellow overcast on most of the scenes: apparently the same thing Coppola did in Godfather I and II (also in that shabby "sequel" called Godfather III but that's no great loss) to suggest we're looking at the past. I think the movie would be better if it looked better. It does look pretty good though, in terms of sheer commercial grandeur as well as artistic camera work.
The portrayal of the strong, surprisingly authoritative female lead was an interesting contrast to our usual supposition about Asian women as abused and suppressed, so some of the apparent propaganda may be intended to have a beneficial impact on the Chinese people's self image, not to mention foreign relations.
I didn't like the yellow overcast on most of the scenes: apparently the same thing Coppola did in Godfather I and II (also in that shabby "sequel" called Godfather III but that's no great loss) to suggest we're looking at the past. I think the movie would be better if it looked better. It does look pretty good though, in terms of sheer commercial grandeur as well as artistic camera work.