Swordsmen of the Passes

To continue the theme - the greatest piece of Mandarin language cinema I have yet to witness. Swordsmen of the Passes is a series of movies that stand entirely on their own. The themes do reach into other 'episodes'. Can be watched alone or in entirety. Each episode appears to have it's own creative team & set of actors.

Some grace must be given. The lead female is invariably a young village beauty. The lead male a scruff, poor man of town. His moral grace is second to none. When viewing Swordsmen of the Passes, I was happy to let this fly. Without doubt, I would not extend this to my favourites (US TV, French & Spanish cinema). As a viewer I (perhaps mistakenly) subscribe to the belief that the hand of the artist has been forced in Mandarin cinema. In comparison to US cinema, the situation is almost identical. The last US movie of note I have seen is American Beauty. The tide of ideologically motivated US movies is not to be underestimated. However, I don't give the movies this grace. US cinema is the poor cousin of US TV. US TV is a world leader. It is an amazing reversal of traditional 'values'.

The moral fortitude is I feel a 'cultural' reflection. It is the ideal that is communicated through the actions/movie. I always prefer movies that ignore/circumvent this childish angle. My point above is that I feel that Mandarin China & the US are stuck in the same hole. The movies are a form of brainwashing for their own citizens & others. I see it as the continuation of Imperialism. Perhaps I am going over the top, but this is how I see it. I have not witnessed the same tainting of Cantonese movies. I hold these in a different light, to generalize further.

So, to the actual review. The lead male will stand up to a corrupt bunch. In Episode 1 - the magnificent 'Pitchfork' - taxation on salt. I forgot to mention the medieval setting. Complete with weapons and copious quanities of fight scenes. Each element is well done. The fighting (one man against massive odds) is always exciting. The story, although predictable, easily weaves itself.

Director: Jianya Zhang - just 1 episode, couldn't find the others :(

Producers: Li Bolun, Buting Yang, Xiaogang Feng (ditto on lack of info)