Just finishing watching Donnie Yen's latest movie Ip Man. It is a story of a great Chinese kungfu master, the master of Wing Chun, also the guiding master of famous kungfu star Bruce Lee.
The story is set in before and after Japanese invasion in China. Before the Japanese invasion, Ip Man was only a great master without any students. He was a wealthy man and had a comfortable life. The only thing in his mind was to perfect his kungfu strokes.
After the Japanese invasion, he was more or less forced by the Japanese to arise his own nationalism in the bottom of his heart. Then he started to get more involved in the society and social issues, started to teach students of Wing Chun.
It is a touching movie. I have not seen such a good Chinese movie for many years. It is better than Red Cliff, better than Painted Skin. Better than lots of other crappy stuff. Highly recommended.
However, it is great as a movie, it does again raise the hatred between Chinese and Japanese. The unhealing scar of the Japanese invasion of China in the last century is like a ghost that keeps coming back to haunt the people in these two countries. I admire the courage of the Japanese actor Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (池内 博之) for acting in the movie as the Japanese general who was beaten by Ip Man. I am not sure whether the Japanese will view it as an insult to the country and people.
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