Ip Man

For those of you who know me well, you would know very well that I don't understand nor speak a word of Chinese. So you can imagine what happens when the subtitles in a Chinese movie are inaccurate - to say the least. Yes, do remind me never to get the early, closely original edition of a Chinese movie.

I didn't understand a word of what was going on! It was incredibly frustrating because the subtitles in English were a direct translation of the Cantonese dialogue and, at other times, it differed vastly from the original meaning. For example, 'wong suk' was translated directly to 'prosperity uncle' and 'tai kor' was translated to 'Kayu' which left me wondering what was going on in the translator's minds...

However, I feel that the lack of subtitles allowed me to appreciate the movie a whole lot more than I thought it would. It made me think and observe even more than I usually would when watching a movie. Because I didn't get the dialogue served up to me on a plate, I had to really observe the acting and subtext and also analyze the structure of the plot to understand what was going on.

And you know what? I really, really enjoyed the movie. The plot and characters were 3-dimensional unlike a lot of the kung fu movies we get these days. The visuals were well-thought out (remember the feather duster?) and the acting was spot on and I say this with certainty because I could still follow the story without understanding the dialogue. Yes, Donnie Yen truly outdid himself in this one... I see them sweeping the awards for this one.

I found out towards the end of the movie that this was based on a true story. I think that the film makers and especially the script writer did justice to it. The humourous moments were very well scattered in the movie keeping it light where it needed to be. And the rest of the time? Why, you'd spend most of it on the edge of your seat gasping at the plight of Ip Man and also gawking at the precision of his kicks and punches - frightening, yet beautiful.

It made me think about and admire those people who stand up for what's right even though they know it may cost them their lives. However, Ip Man had one thing that made him sure of himself in the face of adversity - his skill in kung fu. I think that's how regular people achieve greatness. I would be so lucky to even find the one thing I can be sure of in life.

This was certainly a tale from Chinese history worth telling to the world.

TIT BITS: I've just discovered that the screen play was written by Edmond Wong who, incidentally, also wrote the screen play for Dragon Tiger Gate. Also, according to Wikipedia, there's going to be a sequel portraying Ip Man's life in Hong Kong and that either Jay Chou [???] or Aaron Kwok is being considered for the role of Bruce Lee.