The central theme of this film is the good of the whole over the good of a few, individual versus collective. The challenge of holding together such a large and great empire as was a challenging for the Qin Dynasty of Xi’an almost 2000 years ago as it was for the Ming, Qing, and CCP of Beijing. Historically coving more land and diverse cultures than most of the empires of the world, holding together the Middle Kingdom has been a great challenge – although not unique. To hold together the vast land the idea that the good of the many outweighed the good of the few was necessary. This idea is embodied by the quote (from the film) “One person’s pain is nothing, when compared to the suffering of all.” This is the ideal which drives the end action of the most powerful figures in the film, The King, Nameless, and Broken sward. In the end Nameless was willing to die to uphold the ideal of one kingdom. This idea of holding together the large territory at all cost is one that has resonated time and again in Chinese history. Used by governments and the Chinese people throughout time the ideal of one nation has been used against dissidents for thousands of years.
In Chinese tradition the Emperor was the sovereign of all under heaven (天下). He was ordained as having the mandate of heaven and thereby ruler of the whole world, starting at the capital and working out to the barbarian tribes. Indeed, until modern times, China was the center of the Asian universe and most of the neighboring nations and tribes had to pay tribute to the Emperor. The film depicts the legend of Qin Shi Huang the historical – but who’s legend is largely mythical - emperor who first unites China (much smaller than it is today). The historical Qin Shi Huang was a lot less self-sacrificing then the legend in the film, spending vast resources and countless lives to build his tomb and accompanying army as an afterlife bodyguard detail (to protect against the many enemies he made in this life.) Since that time the vast territory has gone through many stages of division and unity. In order to maintain the order, peace, and prosperity of unity costly sacrifices had to be made.
The most revered characters in Hero Nameless, The King, and Broken Sword understood this idea of the good of the many over the good of the individual. Broken Sword and Nameless ended up dyeing to prove their belief that the unity of all under heaven was more important than their lives. China (and Asian in general) is seen by some, wither truthful or not, as a collective society instead of an individualist one. In the film the ‘Heroes’ not only understand this ideal but embody it, believing that peace, tranquility, and prosperity would only come after unification and the eventual laying down of arms.
The primary issue hindering the unification if China, then and now, is the vast diversity of cultures which encompassing the land. In the film each of the characters had an avid loyalty to their home kingdom and staked their life and honor on defending their culture. It is this strong since of idinity to one’s ethnic group which hinders the King’s goal of unification. With over fifty recognized identities (although 400 applied to be recognized), it is the since of ethic identity which still creates divides in China today. Ethnic and regional divisions of language are one of the primary dividing factors in China. In the film the king promised to unite the land under one system of language, I goal which was not realized until almost two thousand years later with the spread of standard mandarin –and is still far from universal. In my personal experience traveling between remote Tibetan villages our guides from one village could only communicate to people in other villages with mandarin Chinese, because there is no universal spoken Tibetan language.
This film is a dreamy, ideological film about honor, legends, tranquility, beauty, and Chinese philosophical ideals of inner calm. It is definitely a cheesy ideological film meant to glorify a legend and bestow on the audience a sense of stoic honor and general ‘fuzzy feelings’ which make this film great. In what I would consider to be the most graphically stunning pieces of cinematography I have ever seen, the film creates a dream. Letting you float away in to a world of art, beauty, and honor we wish we could live in. The film makes you believe in a place where self-sacrifice leads to peace, honor leads to glory, and sword masters can walk on water. Blending the world of legend and reality the film creates a dream for the future. Yes, this is one the few films where I let myself drink the cool-aid.
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