Cheap The Emperor's Shadow (DVD) (Xiaowen Zhou) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Emperor's Shadow

There were a lot of things in the movie that just plain did not make sense (and these things had nothing to do with translation). A lot of things just are not explained whatsoever. The movie starts out with Gao Jianli's mother breastfeeding both Gao Jianli and Ying Zheng. No information whatsoever as to how on earth Ying Zheng got from his probable birthplace in modern-day Shaanxi province all the way to the kingdom of Yan, a few hundred miles away, in the present-day areas of Hebei and Liaoning provinces, Beijing and Tianjin. The movie goes forward about 12 years to Gao Jianli just hanging around a prison courtyard playing the guqin.........I know it was a period of war and conquests but what on EARTH is this kid doing hanging around a jailyard?! And then a whole bunch of people are brought in and proclaimed as Qin captives to be executed. Among them (what a coincidence!), and positioned for execution right next to Gao Jianli (what a coincidence again!) playin' Jailyard Guqin, is Ying Zheng! Now hang on a second.....two minutes ago it looked as if Ying Zheng had been raised and maybe born in Yan, but here he is being hauled in with these other people from hundreds of miles away.

There are countless other things in the movie that are along the same lines - bizarre happenings that are totally unexplained and you can't necessarily figure out, even if you have (like myself) a good knowledge of Chinese history.

While the guqin music in the movie is nice (although a little redundant), the scored music in this movie is horrendous. Zhao Jiping usually is very tasteful with his usage of music in film, but this is an exception for sure. The authenticity of the setting, both in time and location, is ruined by the scored music, which consists of totally Western-style melodramatic orchestra+chorus for the most part. I love how when the army sings the Qin anthem (totally Western sounding) they're all Western operatic baritones!!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK! I know it's supposed to be this grandiose epic movie, but at least try to be real. This is the sort of stuff that you'd see in an old American movie from the 40's and 50's like Spartacus or The Ten Commandments where a group of supposedly average people open their mouths to sing a song and out comes Joan Sutherland and Kurt Moll. One reviewer said (in other words) that the orchestration helps in enhancing the magnitude and large scale of events going on. You can use Chinese music in the exact same way. What was Zhao thinking? Totally cheesy, unrealistic, and melodramatic as hell.

I do have to point out that they got authenticity in the areas of costume and props, but the music is just horrible.

Also, I speak Mandarin, and some of the translations are reallllllly bad. And speaking of Mandarin, I think that a little clarification on correct spelling with Pinyin (romanized Chinese) is in order for some of the previous reviewers. The guy's name was Ying Zheng. Ching is an outdated or Taiwanese way of spelling either Jing or Qing in Mandarin (qing if you forgot the apostrophe between the ch and the i). The kingdom in which Ying Zheng was king and where he later proclaimed himself the first emperor is called Qin. Note, it is not called QinG (or Ching/Ch'ing for our apparently Taiwanese reviewers) The first emperor of Qin is correctly written: Qin Shi Huangdi. Sorry, but I just can't handle these butcherings of Chinese spellings.

A good movie if you want to learn a little about Chinese history, as it portrays Ying Zheng as who he most likely really was: a ruthless emperor who was willing to stop at nothing and kill thousands upon thousands in order to unite the Warring States.

Overlooked epic
When this movie was made in '96, it was the most expensive ever attempted in China, and it certainly shows on screen. With a cast of thousands, a powerful score and sweeping scenery, the effect is truly breathtaking.

It is essentially an allegorical tale about the power of the state and its relationship with intellectuals and artists. Much of the drama and characterisations are highly symbolic, with Jiang Wen and Ge You acting opposite each other as polar forces. As such the characters of Ying Zheng and Gao Jianli are highly idealised and not very convincing.

Zhou Xiaowen has also made a point of departing quite far from history to create this film.

Powerful, sweeping epic ...
This is a surprisingly good and overlooked movie. I'm not altogether sure how historically accurate it is, but it does a fine job of depicting the brutality employed by the then ruling dynasty in order to unify China. It deftly weaves within this the intricate story of the emperor's love for his daughter and his childhood friend and their ill-fated love affair.

The acting is top notch, especially Jiang Wen's portrayal of the emperor. He convincingly conveys his cruelty while allowing us to believe the love he has for his daughter and childhood friend. I never question the conflict within him because his portrayal makes it believable.

Though the backdrops and sets seem almost muted compared to the larger-than-life emperor, this movie still manages to sweep you away in the stunningly lavish and rich scenery. The cinematography is top-notch.

The film is long but worth sitting through for a truly great film.