Alright screw it, let’s talk about Ip Man.Ip Man goes like this: Ip Man is the master of

Alright screw it, let’s talk about Ip Man.Ip Man goes like this: Ip Man is the master of Wing-Chun in the town of Foshan. He doesn’t have a kung-fu school–despite being better at fighting than all the masters of all the kung-fu schools–but he proves his skill once and for all by defeating the leader of a group of bandits who have been going around town beating up kung-fu masters to prove they’re better and form their own school. But then World War II rolls through, specifically the Sino-Japanese War part of it, and Foshan gets occupied by the Japanese.Needing money, Ip Man takes a job working in a coal factory. And then he hears that the Japanese, eager to develop and show the superiority of karate to kung-fu, agree to give out rice bags to whoever is able to beat one of their karate champions. Ip isn’t much interested in this competition, until the Japanese unfairly execute one of his friends. Then he decides he needs to these occupiers what’s what. And when the gang of bandits return and harass his friend, he’s convinced to teach some of the people of Foshan the Wing-Chun style.So.Ip Man is not the story of Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee. It is certainly a story about the man who trained Bruce Lee. It had one of Ip Man’s sons as a consultant, but as far as I can tell the events that make up the Plot of this movie didn’t, strictly speaking, happen. It makes for a very fun story, and a great kung-fu movie, but I feel weird knowing that it’s basically inventing a story about a real man who lived within the past century. And to be fair, sure, American movies do this kind of thing all the time, and I’ve railed against the people who are always demanding historical accuracy for film. Yeah, making a story that involves much more kung-fu fighting–that’s a good thing, I think. Maybe it feels off for me because it’s more recent than something like The Patriot.There is one thing that really gets to be though, and that’s the ending–when describing the ending of the war, and the Japanese surrender, the film (or at least the translating subtitles) frame it as China finally defeating Japan. And, uh… I don’t want to disregard the effort of the Chinese in the war and the courage they showed in fighting Imperial Japan. But they weren’t the ones that defeated Japan in the end.I also have very strong feelings about the Chinese government right now, and its rather forceful attempts to build a national identity. So I’m struggling a bit with a Chinese movie that’s a heavily fictionalized story about a real person in a real historical conflict from the past century that goes out of its way to exaggerate the deeds of the nation and present them as THE sole warrior culture that defeated the Japanese in World War II.Then again, American movies do this all time, don’t they? The American War for Independence certainly didn’t go the way it does in The Patriot. And Chinese audiences don’t seem to mind movies like Transformers which are very, *very* nationalistic and pro-America. So maybe I’m overthinking it? In the case of The Patriot it’s a purely fictional character, but it involves real events and it’s clearly inspired by specific real people, so maybe it’s not that much of a difference?I don’t know. You decide.And for all of this though, I’m definitely missing the point of what a review should be, and that’s whether or not a movie’s good or worth watching. In the case of _p Man I will admit that the movie is pretty good. It’s a martial arts movie that contains fantastic fight scenes but doesn’t really feel over-the-top and ridiculous.I like Donnie Yen’s Ip Man. He’s a guy who isn’t setting out to be a hero or even make a name for himself by setting up a kung-fu school, despite clearly being the best martial artist in town. Ip is having trouble balancing his love for martial arts with his family time, and not doing great. And he doesn’t even really feel like fighting the Japanese until he sees that people he cares about are getting hurt, and that he can do something about it.Also, that fight scene in which he duels the bandit and his son rolls in on a tricycle to let him know his wife’s concerned about things in the house breaking–that’s delightful.If you like martial arts movies this is basically a must-see, I think, because it’s a tribute to a man who taught arguably the greatest movie martial artist of all time. If you’re not a martial arts aficionado then it’s still a pretty cool action movie. Given the current world stage right now I have some issues with its nationalistic approach to history and World War II, but it’s still overall a good movie.And it’s always good to watch Donnie Yen beat up some douchebags, I guess. -- source link

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