by HELEN GEIB
Wong Fei-Hung has the perhaps dubious distinction of appearing as a character in more movies than any other historical figure. Wong (1847-1924) was a Kung Fu master and doctor of traditional Chinese medicine in Guangdong Province (a/k/a Canton) who became a Chinese folk hero for his martial arts prowess, revolutionary fervor, and compassion for the poor. Fictional Wongs have featured in more than 120 movies celebrating the real man’s accomplishments and exploits – and inventing many new ones.
Most of the movies are part of a post-war, two decades-plus and nearly 100 entries long Hong Kong series starring Kwan Tak-Hing. Subsequent decades have brought movie series of average length, single films, and TV series, and in the common way of the Hong Kong film industry, both dramatic and comedic depictions. Two great Wong films to achieve international popularity paired him with his father Wong Kei-Ying, also a renowned martial artist. Iron Monkey (1993) imagined Wong as a boy (convincingly played by female martial arts athlete Tsang Sze-Man); Donnie Yen took the part of Wong Kei-Ying. Jackie Chan played a youthful Wong in one of his best films, Drunken Master II (1994) co-starring Ti Lung in the father’s part.
But the greatest of Wong Fei-Hung’s cinematic adventures is the “Once Upon A Time in China” trilogy starring Jet Li and produced, directed, and co-written by Tsui Hark. Once Upon a Time in China (original Hong Kong title Wong Fei Hung) was released in 1991; Once Upon a Time in China II followed in 1992 and Once Upon a Time in China III in 1993. The trilogy was a box office smash that inspired a flood of imitators, while the renewed vitality of the historical martial arts film genre in the early 1990s cemented Tsui’s reputation as an industry trend-setter. Jet Li’s performance in Once Upon a Time in China catapulted him to superstardom.
The first film hews the closest of the three to the historical record. It is set in Wong’s home city of Foshan with the action concentrated around Po Chi Lam, his martial arts school and medical clinic. Like the real man, the film’s Wong is a respected community leader, dedicated healer, and great martial artist with many apprentices; he is famous for the breadth of his martial arts skills and his mastery of the “shadowless kick” technique. Principal supporting characters include romantic interest “Aunt 13” (so-called as a respectful form of address to a relative by marriage) and several disciples. The second and third films take Wong, Aunt 13 (played by Rosamund Kwan), and two of the disciples (played by Yuen Biao and Jacky Cheung in the first film and less well-known actors in the sequels) on the road; II to a medical convention where they meet China’s revered revolutionary leader Sun Yat-Sen and III on a visit to Wong Kei-Ying.
Wong Fei-Hung the man’s turbulent times and solid revolutionary credentials readily lend themselves to politically charged storytelling, as well as to drawing contemporary political and social parallels. The trilogy is unusually politicized for a Hong Kong film, advocating a broadly non-partisan, anti-authoritarian, and anti-imperialist Chinese nationalism. Tsui’s nationalism is grounded in pride in and respect for uniquely Chinese ideals and traditions, but explicitly rejects stagnation, insularity, and reflexive hostility to foreign ideas. While the tensions generated by looking back and looking forward, turning in towards China and out towards the West drive the films’ broad-canvas stories, Wong Fei-Hung the character is the ultimate battleground, the final triumph his personal reconciliation of tradition and modernity.
The trilogy, and especially the first and second films choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, is renowned for its – many and consistently excellent – martial arts action sequences. The Po Chi Lam courtyard in the rain fight and the ladder fight in Once Upon a Time in China, performed by Jet Li and Yee Kwan-Yan, are among the genre’s very best. So too is the climactic pole fight in Once Upon a Time in China II performed by Li and Donnie Yen.
The Hong Kong film industry in the 1990s was never slow to capitalize on a money-maker and many commercially successful films have sequels in name only. The “Once Upon a Time in China” series has a IV and V with Vincent Zhao in the starring part. Li returned for the sixth and last entry (a/k/a Once Upon a Time in China and America), a genre parody directed by Sammo Hung that follows the slapstick adventures of a temporarily amnesiac Wong in the American Wild West. While IV-VI bear more relation to the series progenitor than some Hong Kong sequels, as they are also Wong Fei-Hung movies and there is some degree of continuity in front of and behind the camera, the story begun in Once Upon a Time in China is completed with the trilogy.
New releases this week: Defiance, He’s Just Not That Into You, Revolutionary Road
