The Assassin
(Da ci ke, 1967)

Chang Cheh

Hong Kong

112 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2006 Branislav L. Slantchev

I guess Jimmy Wang Yu and Chiao Chiao must have lost a bet to Chang Cheh or something, for how else can one explain their appearance in basically identical roles in several of his films. It's all for the best, though, because all of them are quite impressive. The Assassin was made in the same year as the more famous One-Armed Swordsman, and even the premises are actually quite similar. Even though the latter film is best remembered now, I think that this one is the better one of the two. It is a bit more enjoyable even if the protagonist sports a full set of arms throughout the entire film, and it is perhaps more satisfying from a dramatic perspective as well. The cool musical score also adds to the proceedings although it may be a bit surprising considering that the sound reminds me of 1960s surfer rock more than a swordplay film. It somehow all fits rather well.

It does not get any more devious than this	Thatch-crossed lovers

The Assassin is based on the real-life story of a famous assassination as transmitted down through history in the mammoth Records of the Grand Historian, which I have not read. In some sense, it is somewhat of a mystery why the Chinese are so bent on celebrating tragic assassins, although this one helps put it into perspective. The real Nie Zheng (here played by Jimmy Wang) bore a grudge against the king for a decade. In order to get close to his target, he studied the zither for 10 years, became proficient at it, and famous enough to get himself invited to the court for a performance. He then murdered the king and got himself offed in the process. From this basic vengeance story, however, legends have arisen and these attribute nobler motives to the assassination, a thread that Chang Cheh picks up in his rendition here.

Your body for a ring, sounds fair?	I am awarding you this unlucky sword

Interestingly, these assassinations usually tend to be justified in terms of Confucian justices according to which the ruler owes his subjects decent government. The corrupt are deprived of the right to preside over the affairs of the population, and can therefore me removed, by force if necessary. This is the background in that otherwise utter dog of a film, Night of the Assassins. The revenge story, on the other hand, has come down strongly in Zhang Yimou's superb Hero, where the assassin's personal motivation is eventually trumped by the realization that if he should satisfy his lust for vengeance, the outcome would be worse for the country (because without the central figure of the emperor, the civil wars would resume). In that story, this Confucian ideal actually overcomes the ancient vendetta drive ensuring a just outcome for the multitude at the expense of the individual. Seen against such a background, Chang Cheh's film is utterly amazing because here it is the individual who keeps on going in order to fulfil what he sees as his destiny, and there's hardly any more to it than that.

Grade appeal	We are from the Ethics Committee

Nie Zheng is the most talented student of Master Wu (Fang Mien). His father is apparently dead, and he as a mother (Lin Ching) and a sister (Li Hsiang-Chun) to worry about and support. He is also in love with Xia Ying (Chiao Chiao) but they have been holding back on consummating their relationship because Nie wishes to establish himself before having a family. A row over the affections of Ying with a fellow student (the ever-treacherous Cheung Pei Shan) who happens to be the son of a local aristocrat ends up with the destruction of the school and Nie's forced exile to a neighboring kingdom. Nie's ambition is thwarted in more ways than one: he is the restless type who longs to achieve glorious deeds and now he is not only without a sifu who can put him on the right track but he is a stranger in another country. Being of low birth, he really seems to have no chance to be anything more than a butcher at a meat shop, even if he has superior swordsmanship skills.

Liu Chia-Liang and Tang Chia	Cheng Lui: the enemy of upper torso clothing

Jimmy Wang cuts an impressive figure as a young man tormented by his inability to achieve what he strongly feels is his destiny. The parallel with Achilles is inevitable: here's a man who certainly would prefer a short and glorious life of some consequence to a long but uneventful and forgettable existence, even if it is with the woman he loves. The conflict between this drive to self-fulfillment and various duties (filial to his mother and sister) and romantic (to Ying) leaves him paralyzed. He cannot overcome his filial responsibilities and is ever obedient to his mother who wastes no time in ensuring that her son is not only safe but also available to ensure her a tranquil old age. Ying herself does not seem to understand what it is that Nie wants and she tends to dismiss his ravings in the vain hope that sex and love would distract him long enough to establish a family that will then tie him down yet again. But the exile changes that as Nie separates from Ying.

You mean I am paid to do this?	Chang Cheh hero in full regalia

In the kingdom of Han, a decent official by the name of Yen Chun Tzu (Tin Fung) runs afoul of the corrupt prime minister who wishes to secure peace with the rising power of Qin through concessions. Yen is in favor of a balance of power stance that would involve the smaller kingdoms uniting fronts to repel Qin (and he will prove right about the rapaciousness of the latter), but that only precipitates his downfall. After assassins kill his son and his son's instructor (Cheng Lui) who happens to be an old friend of Nie, Yen escapes to the same neighboring kingdom where Nie now lives. He wants to recruit Nie, about whose skills he's had an earful, and enlist him in a complicated plot whose aim is the assassination of the Prime Minister (Huang Chung-Shun). This guy's motive is somewhere between revenge and Confucian justice but he's not prepared to quite give his own life to achieve his goals, although he's quite willing to finance the operation.

Cake or Death!	Hen-pecked by filial duty

So the interesting development has to do with Nie. When Yen shows up and swears him into a blood brotherhood, Nie is not fooled that this strange behavior by a high-ranking aristocrat toward a poor peasant is altruistic. Yen admits as much but would not reveal his agenda when he realizes that Nie would not leave his mother and sister. However, a couple of years later his mother is dead and his sister is married, so Nie hurries to his brother and puts himself at his service. At this point, he has no idea what it is that Yen would have him do, but he's pretty sure that it will be something important, and it is all that matters to Nie. When Yen finally shares his plan, Nie is ready to sacrifice himself. And here's the interesting rub: there's no desire for revenge (even though his friend was killed, Nie is never shown to be driven by the wish to avenge his death), there's no pretense that there's some high political goal (Nie can hardly be expected to understand the complicated politics involved), and there's no notion that he's doing this out of sense of justice (even though he does eventually witness the wanton cruelty of the Prime Minister, it is long after he's fully committed to the cause). In other words, Nie agrees to do it simply because it is a deed that is likely to be remembered, and so it will serve to realize his desire to achieve something worthwhile in his life.

The tough undercover life of an assassin	My secret plan is for you to die for me

Now, it is entirely regrettable that his idea of achieving something worthwhile is limited to dying in some glorious battle. This martial ethos is perhaps alien to many of us these days when there are alternative paths to fame, although most are not nearly as glorious. But in this Nie is fairly typical as a heroic character: Achilles himself does not cut a very sympathetic figure with his pride, petulance, and overbearing ego. And yet we all know about him, and so Nie is right about one thing: a violent deed can make one famous. Although his decision to forfeit his life to give it meaning is not entirely egoistical (at least he did wait for his mother to die), he is not blind to the pain he will cause the woman who loves him. In an astonishing turn of events, Ying actually comes to accept his tunnel vision and decides that if she's going to have a few days with him, they might just as well live them out as if they are years. This, of course, means having sex. Probably lots of it. But in the end he must leave and she's reduced to an ornament to his departure. She is simply too insignificant to derail him from his self-charted course to glory and death.

He is totally not enjoying himself	Would drive any man to assassination

Now, Nie is not portrayed as some unfeeling brute. In fact, he cannot bring himself to enjoy the welcome of a bunch of multi-functional female musicians and a user-friendly concubine (Chao Hsin Yen). But his undeniable love for Ying is too weak when compared to his ambition. If he is ready to give up his life to archive his purpose, there's no surprise that he will even give up the woman he has loved all his life. This ruthless self-negation and determination make for a powerful figure indeed, and yet, in the end it is not Nie that is the most memorable heroic character. It is not even Ying, who by this time is pregnant with his baby and who has essentially agreed to spend her life as a single mother (who would have her with some bastard child). It is Nie's sister.

This long sword reminds him of his girlfriend	A true hero has a horse and a woman

After the final bloody confrontation, Nie is forced to commit suicide before which he disfigures himself so the imperial officials would not be able to track down his family for retribution. It sort of defeats the entire purpose of remaining in history since one cannot well be remembered if he's an anonymous corpse. (Although this matters little to Nie who's one of those rare remarkable individuals who do not require external acknowledgments to affirm his achievement, he's entirely self-motivated and what matters to him is that he knows he has done something great.) Still, the true heroism is revealed when his sister decides to claim his body, knowing full well that this means inevitable death. She reasons that unless she does that, nobody will know Nie's identity, and therefore his name will perish forever even if his progeny survives. So she resolves on a bold deed: she does claim his body, proudly announcing his name to the crowd, and then commits suicide before the imperial soldiers can capture her.

The many fashions of an assassin	Pendulum-fu in action

I find this selfless and utterly unexpected sacrifice to be much more compelling that Nie's tunnel vision of himself. Whereas he has dreamt all his life of dying gloriously, his sister's dreams have been much less likely to inspire an ancient chronicler to write about her: it's not clear that she's ever wanted anything more than to live happily with her family. And yet her behavior makes her the stuff of legend. In a single night, she resolves to throw away everything she has in order to make her brother's existence more than what it was. The scenes with Ying sobbing desolately and mourning her loss while the sister calmly sits and sews are particularly powerful. One of the women wails and bemoans her tragic loss, while the other has decided to make this loss meaningful through her own sacrifice. She is serene in her resolution, and as such becomes a much more sympathetic figure than the weepy Ying, and no amount of last-minute romanticizing her would help (I wish Chang Cheh had omitted the last scene where Ying goes back to the place she last parted with Nie to smell the blooming flowers). In the end, it takes a woman to fulfill Nie's destiny.

Public unsanitary intestine examination	The real hero of the story

The Celestial Pictures DVD is very good. The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen at the usual 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The colors are vibrant and the transfer looks excellent with no visible damage to the print or pixellation from the compression. The Mandarin soundtrack is also without blemish, and the optional English subtitles are pretty decent. The extras include the usual lot---trailers, talent files, a photo gallery---plus the Chang Cheh documentary that pops up now and then on these films (I think I've seen it at least on three discs) and a small text feature about the legendary assassin. Overall, a quality release of an excellent film that deserves to be seen.

January 9, 2006