Sakra (5 Stars)

This is the eighth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It's a historical film that takes place in the 12th Century AD. The Song Dynasty ruled most of China, but it was under constant attack by the Khitans. A baby is found abandoned after a battle. A poor family adopts him, and he grows up to be a mighty warrior, Qiao Feng. He becomes the leader of the Beggars Gang.

One day he's accused of murdering a regional chief. The chief's wife claims to have seen him. A letter is produced claiming that his real parents were Khitans. The beggars eject him as their leader. Qiao Feng goes home to his adoptive parents, and he finds them dead. One of the beggars sees him and accuses him of murdering them. Qiao Feng visits a Shaolin master for advice, but he finds him dead, and he gets the blame again.

Qiao Feng becomes a fugitive. He wants to find out who's framed him for the murders while fleeing from his former friends. At the same time he searches for clues about the identity of his biological parents. Were they really Khitans?

On his journey he rescues a Khitan woman, A Zhu. She's been badly injured in an attack, and he only knows one man capable of healing her, a doctor in his home province. Despite the danger, he carries the woman into the midst of his former friends and asks for her to be healed.

As Qiao Feng says several times in the film, "I'm not a hero, I'm a man who tries to do the right thing".

The action is spectacular, if you don't mind wire fu battles. It's Donnie Yen at his best.