Green Snake (Ching Se, 1993)
Tsui Hark
Hong Kong
98 mins, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)
This is, hands down, one of the best Tsui Hark movies (and this includes all those that made him famous). GREEN SNAKE is a fantasy, love story, drama, and a comment on the inhumanity of blind religious devotion, all spiced up with healthy dozes of eroticism and lust, heterosexual, homosexual, and autosexual. This is a well-crafted film, and although it lacks the usual martial arts emphasis, it boasts lavish visuals that bolster its thematic content.
Monk Fahai (Man Cheuk Chiu) is disgusted with humanity --- the first scene has him presiding over a marketplace, where he sees deformed and ugly people. Obviously, this is not what people look like, but they appear somewhat less than human to the overly devout fanatic who clings to his rigid world structure. The same conviction of his moral superiority drives him to persecution of animals and insects that try to achieve spiritual enlightenment and move up the ladder to become humans. Fahai wastes no time in destroying the 200-year effort of a spider. Although he may appear righteous, Fahai is nothing but a zealous and arrogant bastard. It serves him well when he spots a naked woman giving birth in a forest. In a curious, but ironic, twist of fate, the scene arouses him in very unenlightened ways, which causes no end to his hatred of things physical.
This sets the tone for the attempted transformation of the two snakes. White, also called Sou Ching (Joey Wang), and her sister Green (Maggie Cheung). They try to become human. Sou Ching, who has been preparing for this for a 1,000 years, manages to find a man, the scholar Hsiu Xien (Hsing-kuo Wu), whom she marries. Green, who has a different temperament and much less preparation, has difficulty comprehending human emotions and even keeping up the illusion of her physical form. Contrary to expectations, when Hsiu Xien finally realizes that his wife is a snake, he chooses to stick with her, which irritates Fahai.
The meddlesome monk has taken it upon himself to straighten the scholar and
"free" him (forcibly) from the evil spell of the "non-humans." His zeal is
further exacerbated by his utter failure when confronted with Green's charms.
He drags the hapless scholar and tries to compel him to repent. When Sou Ching
and Green show up to rescue Hsiu Xien, Fahai attacks them, causing the deaths
of the other priests. The excitement of the confrontation causes White to go
into labor and she gives birth to a human child before drowning.
| 
|
The film is a harsh indictment of the blindness caused by rigid adherence to religious (or any other) dogma. It also makes an excellent point about the presumptuousness of our own self-indulgence. White is more human than most of the characters in the film, and even Green becomes so in the end (her statement that she'll return when humans figure out their own existence, is revealing). The monk is a worthless character, although there may be hope for him as he does save the baby.
Overall, an excellent film, which is thought-provoking just as it is visually impressive. Joey Wang is mesmerizing and Maggie Cheung brings such a snake-like presence that one can only marvel at her acting talent. Although Tsui Hark has an addiction to wide angle lenses, the affliction does not seem to bad in this film. For once, the music is actually pretty good too. A good film to see, for sure.
The DVD quality is above average. There are no extras on the disc, not even a menu. The subtitles are non-removable and in addition to the English subs, there's a line of Chinese above them. The translation is fine, without glaring mistakes, but the text sometimes goes too fast and is often not readable against bright backgrounds. The Cantonese track is much better than the Mandarin track, which sounds too clean and crisp, with special effects overwhelming the voices. The transfer is alright, obviously done from an average source. There are some specks, dust, and scratches. At least there isn't excessive pixellation. I would rate the transfer as a bit above average, especially compared with abominations like WING CHUN.
April 17, 2001. BLS