Ip Man (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #65

"Although martial arts involves force, Chinese martial arts are Confucian in spirit. The virtue of martial arts is benevolence".

The film begins with a kite flying over the rooftops of Foshan. What better image is there to symbolise the carefree life that the Chinese lived in 1935? People were happy. Martial arts were practised in the streets. Ip Man, the film's hero, lives in a large mansion. Nothing is said about the source of his wealth, but he doesn't need to work. He spends his time at home with his wife and son. He practises kung fu, more accurately Wing Chun. He doesn't even teach his martial arts, although many of his friends encourage him to open a school.

Food plays an important part in the film. In the opening scenes we see Ip Man's family enjoying luxurious meals at home. It's unlikely that the wife cooks the food herself, because they have house servants. Cooking is below a fine woman.

Everything changes in October 1938. The Japanese occupy Foshan. Instead of kites, Japanese aircraft are in the sky over Foshan. Ip Man's house is confiscated and used as the headquarters of the Japanese army. Instead of opulent meals, Ip Man's wife has to scrape rice out of cooking pots. Ip Man has to get a job shovelling coal.

Ip Man has his hardest fight when he's challenged to a duel by the Japanese General Miura.

The film shows the atrocities of the Japanese occupation, but it doesn't sink to the level of a propaganda film. General Miura is a noble man. He wants a fair fight. Under other circumstances he might have been Ip Man's friend. Unfortunately, not all the Japanese are as noble as him. Colonel Sato shoots Ip Man when he defeats the general.

The film isn't just the story of Ip Man. It's the story of China from 1935 to 1938, with Ip Man standing in the middle as a moral anchor. In the chaos of the Chinese occupation the Chinese are divided and fighting against one another. Ip Man calls on his countrymen to stand united as Chinese, though not always successfully.

This is an excellent film. It deserves to be higher in my list, but I say that too often.

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