Once upon a time in China (4½ Stars)

This is the first in a film trilogy in which Jet Li portrays the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, who lived from 1847 to 1924. Actually it was a pentalogy, but in the last two films the role was played by Man Cheuk Chiu.Wong Fei-Hung was a doctor who owned a private clinic in Foshan, South China, and he was also a skilled practitioner of martial arts, in particular the Hung Ga fighting style. He is so important in Chinese culture that over 100 films about him have been made in the last 60 years. Jackie Chan has portrayed him twice, in "Drunken Master" (1978) and "Drunken Master 2" (1994). Most notably Kwan Tak-Hing starred as Wong Fei-Hung in 77 films from 1947 to 1981. Talk about type-casting! This is incidentally the record for the number of films an actor has made playing the same character.

In cases like this it's difficult to know how much of  this film about him is true and how much is fiction. We aren't told the date of the events, but it has to be after 1886, the year his clinic was opened. My guess is that it takes place towards the end of the 19th Century. The setting is a town suffering under foreign occupation. We see that the English and the Americans have the run of the city, and mention is also made of the Portugese and the Japanese. Parts of China have been handed over to foreign powers in "unjust treaties". The local police seem to be doing the bidding of the Americans. In the film Wong wants to be a law-abiding citizen, but when he sees that the Americans take the side of gangsters he takes up a stand and battles against the stationed American troops. There are numerous sub-plots, such as the arrival of a rival martial arts artist, and Chinese workers being tricked into going to America where they become slaves working on the railroads.

Although made in 1991, this film has a distinct 1970's style. I assume that this is deliberate, as a homage to the Kwan Tak-Hing films. The fight scenes are frequent and chaotic, interspersed with humour. It's a very enjoyable film, and a stark contrast to Jet Li's other early films like "Fist of legend" (1994).

Click here to view the trailer.