Released: 1978
Starring: Liu Chia-Hui, Lo Lieh, Wang Yu, Yu Yang, Hsu Shao-Chiang, Wu Hang-Sheng
Plot: A young
student named San Te (Chai-Hui) is drawn by his activist teacher into the local rebellion
against the Manchu government. The government officials suppress the uprising
and liquidate the school, killing friends and family members as well. San Te
seeks vengeance. Wounded in an attack by Manchu henchmen, he flees to the Shaolin
temple and seeks training in kung fu. Initially the Buddhist monks reject him,
since he is an outsider, but the chief abbot takes mercy on the young man and
lets him stay. One year later, he begins his martial arts training in the
temple's 35 chambers.
While the plot itself might not be anything particularly original seeing how
it’s that classic tale, were the wronged man sets out on the path of
revenge, engaging in an elaborate training regime before finally facing off against
those who wronged him. Formalic it might be, but then you would be hard pressed
to find any kung fu movie from this period which wasn’t. Still what sets this
apart from the others is the focus on San Te’s training, which forms the main
part of the film, which the kind of thing I can hardly see Hollywood doing such
a thing with any of the summer blockbusters, yet here it proves to be a highly
effective story device.
As with any good revenge movie, the path of revenge is never
straightforward, as is the case here with San Te initially being turned down
for training by the temple monks, seeing how he is seen as an outsider, but after a year at the temple he is finally given his chance to
train where he is presented with a choice of where to start with the 35 chambers of
Shaolin (no this not a typo as what the 36th chamber is, is revealed
over the course of the film), with each chamber containing a different discipline
of increasing toughness, with the 35th being the toughest, which of
course is where the hasty San Te chooses to start only to predictably have his
ass handed to him by one of the senior monks. However rather than give up he decides to start with the 1st
chamber and work his way through the chambers and so starts the real meat of
the film, as San Te completes each challenge, starting with the water cross,
were to fall in the water means that your forced to dry your clothes before you
can enter the dining hall, meanwhile the limited food is consumed by your
fellow monks who can complete it. While this might seem like a random task to
complete it is the scenes in which San Te tries to figure it out which are
truly engrossing to watch, like each task he completes from fetching water and painting
fences, which were memorably lifted by “The Karate Kid”.
Still this film is not all completing tasks with a
questionable relationship to learning martial arts, as once San Te gets into
the later chambers that he is given tasks with an increasing focus on martial
arts, which also leads to him supposedly creating the three section staff, as a
way of beating one his fellow monks who questioning his skills, after a rapid
rise through the chambers, challenges to him a duel.
What is great about this film though is the journeyit takes
us on, with San Te transforming from an angry and quick tempered youth at the
start of the film to the poise and serious demeanour to a Shaolin master,
especially when he return to his village to teach his common man kung fu so
that they can defend themselves against the regular attack from the Manchu
regime, a belief he is even willing to sacrifice his position in the Shoalin
temple to follow, after proposing it as a 36th chamber, an idea
which doesn’t’ sit too well with the high monks and soon sees him thrown out of
the temple, a plot device which essentially ensures that he is forced to face
those who wronged him in a final showdown.
The martial arts skills on show here are impressive to say
the least, starting with the opening credit exhibition sequence a much used
trademark of director Liu, who also assembles some highly memorable fight
sequences combining scenes of traditional kung fu and weapon use, both which
stand well next to the standout training sequences. It is of course these training sequences which the film rests upon, as it takes the unusual step of making them the main focus, when other films would treat them as having more throwaway value, yet here they only add to the journey we follow San Te on, which again is only further helped by the likeability of Chai-Hui who is completely believable in the part and marks himself out from this early performance as a true star in the making.
Unquestionably worthy of it's cult status, aswell as being viewed as such an important film within the genre, which sadly has only in the last couple of years along with "King Boxer" finally been given the release it deserves, while equally essential for the established far as well as making the perfect starting point for newcomers to the genre
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