timespace coordinates: 208 AD Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu that dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty
Directed by John Woo
“The Battle of Red Cliffs (also known as the Battle of Chibi, 208 CE) was the pivotal engagement between the forces of Northern China led by the warlord Cao Cao (l. 155-220 CE) and the allied defenders of the south under the command of Liu Bei (d. 223 CE) and Sun Quan (d. 252 CE). The battle is considered the turning point in the conflict between various warlords who assumed control of their regions and then extended their reach in the waning days of the Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE). Cao Cao was defeated by the southern coalition and driven back north, ending his dream of unifying China under his rule.“~Joshua J. Mark.
I somehow completely missed out on this masterpiece, and I would still not have seen it if it weren’t for the IMDb List of Martial Arts Movies of All Time. John Woo needs no introduction, and this two-part, 5-hour-long epic is considered by many a masterpiece of war cinematography, and I cannot disagree with that. This entire epos focuses on just one segment of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義, attributed to the 14th-century Chinese writer Luo Guanzhong 湖海散人, part of the 4 classic novels 古典小說, the best-known works of literary fiction of the pre-modern Chinese literature, loved and cherished by millions, and adapted into countless movies, games, animations, manga/manhwa examples in China, Japan and Korea. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the only classic Chinese I have not read, and an acquaintance just told me that, in his view, it was the most exciting of them all.
There is a lot of Chinese cultural background to get all the intricacies of this amazing epos, but I think one can easily lie back and enjoy it to the fullest. One can also maybe supplement the viewing and get more into the story by trying out the 1999 arcade game MAME ROM that is available online. Looking back, the turn of the millennium must have been probably the golden age of the arcades with Knights of Valor 1 and 2 being prime examples of the side-scrolling brawler issued by the Taiwanese developer IGS. Most of the routes feature branching paths, and yes this actually brings me to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, which is a “river novel” branching with affluents and rivulets like a literal mighty river (think Yangtze of Huanghe), of 800,000 words, 1000 characters, and 120 (mostly historical) chapters. While KoV might remind one of other beat ’em up’s (especially the CAPCOM and SNK ones), because of this branching nature of the game, no playthrough will be the same, and depending on where you go and who you choose, you might end up losing more lives than usual. Well, ok, the games might be actually dull and repetitive after a while because of the power meter mechanic discharging too fast, but I still loke the characters, the colors (!), gorgeous backgrounds and the fact that it plays in the world of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Anyway, back to John Woo’s epic rendering of the Battle of the Red Cliffs 赤壁. Two things: 1 – it is for me basically a very good introduction to warlordism that has been plaguing China during both historical and XX century times. Warlords make great characters, but they have been draining and what, imho, is an expression of fragmentation and secessionism, not to say civil warfare strife and ultimately corruption (which like Isabella M. Weber wrote in her magisterial How China Escaped Shock Therapy – was rampant on the KMT controlled areas).
[Evolution of territory controlled by Chinese states between 190 and 280 AD from wiki]
Warlords acted like a federation of military dictatorships that the young Yannan Soviet had to combat in parallel with the eliberation war against the Japanese occupiers. Warlordism is not peculiar to China by any means, and we can identify it in other parts/historical moments. I can only recommend watching it now, since the US distribution cut nearly 140 minutes of it, and it got completely locked in ghetto-izing it as either artsy dedicated to aficionados and critically aware buffs of Asian cinema or trash fodder for the action-loving braindead. It was a total disrespect to one of the greatest living directors. One might also mention that previously Woo’s movies where absolute machoistic spectacles, while here there are quite a few notable female characters.
The Three Kingdom period was one of the most instable and disastrous periods of ancient China, with plagues, widespread famines and civil war scarring the country but there were many technological advances, sometimes credited to Zhuge Liang – such as the wooden ox (a precursor of the wheelbarrow) and improvements to the crossbow (repeating crossbow).
Europe had its own period of warlordism during various periods. For example, during the Afghanistan War, when the mujahedin and various warlords first fought the Soviet army and then turned against each other, till the Taliban came and got rid (partially at least) of warlordism. There is also a theory about warlordism giving way to statehood. One can also imagine warlordism into the future, which is basically the world of Mad Max and Into the Badlands. In our era, several contemporary conflicts could be associated with warlordism. I have written elsewhere (BG) about today’s military Keynesianism and the centrifugal forces of capitalism, leading to what I would call “mercenary neoliberalism” with the privatisation of the army, my two examples being Constellis, formerly Blackwater and Wagner Group (we even had a Romanian example in Potra, meaning that Romania has finally joined the rest of the globalized world not to say the EU who is complicit with the Lybian warlordism).
OK, enough with these digressions, Red Cliff presents an incredible scroll of Chinese history in the making, and not only that, we get hints of both scholarly and courtly life, peasant suffering during the wars, and also the exceptional role of strategists, music, and Confucianism at the end of the Han dynasty. Yes, the fights and mass choreography are just glorious and unique, such a pleasure to have John Woo back from his Hollywoodian quest, while realizing that he had to compete with both LOTR and other epic movies, Red Cliff is just unequalled in its cast and even philosophical, aesthetic, and moral/ethical questions it raises. Of course, it is a highly romanticized version of what must have been a very bloody affair, with much suffering brought to the surrounding populace, not to mention the troops who were completely exhausted, sick, and not used to the Southern climate, with tremendous loss of life and environmental costs.
The whole Chinese world is in a constant disequilibrium and of order at the margins of chaos, and tremendous odds and unifying China seems to be a very distant prospect. It is really never clear who will have the upper hand, and also if Legalism or a thinly veiled Legalism, as Confucianism was promoted by Cao Cao during that age. It is probably the most widely read novel of late imperial and modern China.
And as I have not read, I abstain from giving or speaking about its characters, but all of them are household names in East and SE Asia. The famous opening “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been” (話說天下大勢．分久必合，合久必分), was apparently added in later editions.
I distinctly remember the words of strategist Zhuge Liang in one of the museums I visited in Chengdu, China, a few years ago, words that schoolchildren in China know by heart. Only to take Zhuge Liang as a historical figure and John Woo’s masterless addition to that pantheon (played flawlessly by Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro) can completely say that this is one of the best movies I watched recently.
Portrait of Zhuge Liang, Ming Dynasty, painted on silk, 192 cm in height and 95.6 cm in width, now in the collection of the National Museum of China 《汉诸葛亮立像》轴，明，绢本设色，纵 192厘米，横 95.6 厘米，现藏中国国家博物馆 (wiki)
TimeSpace Warps 