For most of the world, life is an endless battle. There are precious few who enjoy existence in a comfortable parentheses. Indeed, we here in the West can look to the beginning of our literature: The Iliad. Rage. Yes, it is the most intense disgust possible. Perhaps there are few who take the rage to heart.
It often stems from lies. Honor. Respect. Sympathy. We do not like it when our fellow humans are sacrificed. It gives birth to divine disgust when we see innocent people murdered.
Yes, some remember. Some take it to heart. And some search for the answers. They know the story is a lie. It does not honor the dead for them to be buried in lies.
From the start of this film we see Bruce Lee clawing through the lies just as he claws through the dirt which covers the casket of his dead teacher. Perhaps few can understand this sort of devotion.
There are very strong emotions which cause such lasting connections. The emotions are imprinted in our memory. We become bound to others. It is our duty to honor them in life and death.
Let’s face it: the Japanese chose poorly. How on earth did they ever (with a good conscience) ally themselves with the country which nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Likewise, F.D.R. let those men die in Hawaii. His policies might have been in the best interest of the people, but he was a cynical bastard. The blood of Pearl Harbor will forever be on his hands.
And so, we have an ethnic, nationalistic slant to this film. It is China vs. Japan. And to a lesser extent it is China vs. Russia.
The setting is Shanghai. A man returns in a white suit to marry his fiancée. But when he returns, he returns to disaster.
In some respects this film has a rather fumbling plot compared to The Big Boss, but overall it is quite an artful film. Lo Wei’s direction is generally very good.
Paul Wei perfectly plays the sniveling traitor Wu. Wu is a translator…basically the opposite of Sibel Edmonds. Though Bruce Lee initially maintains his composure when taunted by Wu, Lee soon enough returns the gift.
We must remember than Gift is German for poison. Just as Mist is German for shit. Dick, by the way, means fat.
Yes, the bearers of gifts turn out to be intimately acquainted with poison. Perhaps we can find hints of their Nazi leanings in Lo Wei’s direction. The Japanese seem to have an unfair hold on procedural law in Shanghai at this time.
There is another fleeting bit of cultural symbolism when Chen (Bruce Lee) is refused admittance to a park. He seems to simply want a thoroughfare to return to his school (after schooling the Japanese dipshits). Yet now he must answer to a Sikh guard enforcing a “no dogs and no Chinese” policy for the commons. And so we have a short bit of China vs. India.
Ah, but we risk so much by playing the hero. The true heroes often lose everything. That’s what they don’t show you in the Hollywood version. At least in Hong Kong, they seemed to know that life is a constant battle. There is such a thing as honorable defeat. Defeat rarely enters into the Hollywood lexicon when describing the protagonists.
But then arrives on Earth the phenomenon of the fist of fury. It is strength. It is passion. It is torque. It is velocity.
When Chen discovers the truth, he kills the murderers. But that is not enough. It’s time now to track down the enablers and the grand conspirators. Lee does just this. Talk about cleaning house!
Listen to “Peace Frog” by The Doors. Sure, it’s great rhythm guitar from Robbie Krieger, but the lyrics might be Jim Morrison’s best. Blood in the streets. Up to my knees. Up to my thigh. I’m not sure if Morrison ever read Gérard de Nerval, but it wouldn’t surprise me. It’s hard not to think of Nerval and Vlad Țepeș when seeing Lee gradually string up body after body from that lamppost.
But let’s talk about more pleasant things, shall we? Like Nora Miao, for instance. She is so beautiful in this film. And what a cute name! I can’t help conjuring a cat to mind…Chairman Miao perhaps.
On the humorous side we have Inspector Lo and his two assistants…sartorially identical to Bogart from the neck up. The disconnect comes when seeing their fedoras juxtaposed with traditional Chinese garb. It is truly surreal! Marlowe as Mar Lo.
The Russian connection comes from a visiting martial artist named Petrov. We must remember that Putin joined the KGB in 1975. Likewise, before Vladimir became a sixth degree black belt (or red and white if you want to get closer to Russian colors) in judo he trained in the Russian art of sambo (beginning around 1966). So perhaps the Petrov character is a lucky match to current world leaders.
The villain of the film, Suzuki, propagates a massacre of Chen’s school (which bears a striking resemblance to the thuggery from The Big Boss). What’s new is the Inspector Clouseau aspect of Lee’s persona. We see him in disguise as an elderly newspaper salesman, a telephone repairman (!), and a rickshaw driver. There is even a Chaplinesque visual humor to the telephone company employee portrayal–almost like an invocation of Jerry Lewis.
What is more, director Lo Wei eventually adds a further mystical dimension to Lee’s fighting prowess when his hands move with psychedelic tracers trailing in blurred wonder. But for every true hero a firing squad awaits. In the end, perhaps it’s better to run towards the bullets.
-PD
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