Even A Buddhist Must Conquer Evil: The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (1978)

I can mark the occasions on my hand where watching a film that turned out to be more than I expected, even when going into it knowing it had a great reputation.  The film proves to exist in such a vacuum of cinematic perfection and narrative engagement as to radically alter my relatively entrenched set of "top ten film," which for the longest time consisted entirely of obvious classics.  Prior to yesterday, the only two films that proved to be a new degree of perfection were relatively recent cinematic offerings in 2011's Take Shelter and 2007's Secret Sunshine.  These films were so jarringly perfect as to rattle my understanding of cinema and cause me to alter how I had formulated a list of what I already thought consisted of largely perfect, if not near perfect moments in film.  I have in the course of the past year managed to catch up with a large amount of my cinematic blind spots, many of which were quite amazing, works like Rio Bravo and Born Yesterday were phenomenal, but also have a sense of classicism about them that allows me to understand their place in cinema, as well as temper my willingness to subvert my top ten list.  It is when I go into a film not expecting it to be wildly entertaining, profound and personally moving that I tend to have transcendental experiences.  My viewing of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin was one such occurrence.  A film that made the list on the kungu marathon entirely based on a recommendation by RZA on a website in which he listed his favorite kung fu films.  I had already viewed some of his recommendations earlier in the marathon and those he favored were quite enjoyable, however, this film exists in a class all its own, using a highly kinetic style that manages to temper itself throughout by including flares of the melodramatic, but with a decidedly Eastern touch.  I know it is tough to make a case for film, let alone a genre work, to be considered high art, but in terms of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin it is nothing short of cinematic mastery, both proving what is possible in the limits of a genre film, while also considering the larger ability of film to move people on a deep, almost spiritual level.  All of this loquacious rambling comes to one simpler idea, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a cool movie.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a story that has surprisingly seen alterations in the form of early works in this marathon, indeed, Shaolin Temple is almost the same film on paper, focusing on a figure who is attempting to fight of the presence of imposing outside forces on his village.  In The 36th Chamber of Shaolin the figure is San Te (Chia Hui Liu) and the oppressive force is the Tartans, also known historically as the Mongols.  San Te is a young man who after attempting to defend his family from an aggressive attack by the Tartans is wounded and stows away in a shipment of lettuce.  This food is by chance delivered to the Shaolin temple, where it is revealed almost immediately that San Te has been transported.  Initially hesitant of his entrance into their sacred space, the head Abbot suggests that they take in the young man and train him in the ways of Shaolin, although they make certain that his training is as intensive, if not more, than his fellow disciples.  Initially San Te is wildly ambitious and hopes to begin in the 1st chamber of the Shaolin, only to discover that not only is he incapable of comprehending the enigmatic phrases of the highest monks, but that he also cannot grasp how a monk sitting down manages to knock him off his feet and across a foyer.  Accepting his need to start from the beginning, San Te works from the 35th chamber, which is a test of jumping over a set of floating logs before eating, to higher levels that teach him endurance, patience and awareness to the surroundings.  Indeed, San Te is initially quite confused as to why it takes him so long to learn even the fist and foot attacks of Shaolin, but as the various abbott's note, it is training that comes to a collective perfection, that is the backbone of Shaolin style.  After a run of success, San Te is appointed a position of leadership, much to the concern of another abbott, who demands that he can only earn his place after defeating him in a fight, after a few unsuccessful attempts with a bladed staff, San Te discover a new weapon by accidentally destroying a bamboo shoot.  This weapon affords him a win and the chance to choice a chamber with which he would like to oversee.  Not wanting to overstep his bounds, San Te suggest that he create a 36th chamber that is intended to train the citizens in basic Shaolin techniques, an idea that is dismissed and eventually leads to his being banished until he can exact a punishment involving obtaining devotions.  It is during his time outside that he comes to realize he can not only find a ton of willing participants for his new chamber, but that he can finally face the man who killed his father and countless other family and friends.  Using the self-defense based non-attacks of the style, San Te is still able to cause the man to kill himself with his own sword blade, a successful battle that is then followed by his return to the temple with rows of new monks, assumedly part o the new chamber he has created.

This film has tons of through lines involving commentaries on how to lead a proper life, many of which pull directly from the Buddhist religion where this film expressly borrows its narrative ideas.  The first and perhaps the most important narrative element seems to be an identification and embracing of humility.  San Te begins the film as a wild young man whose long hair and desire to exact justice lead to his being near-fataly wounded by the Tartan leader.  This, however, does not end his humility, because it is an act by a terrible person who used guile to assure the violence.  It is not until he is stifled by a resting abbott that San Te begins to even consider that he might need to put his privilege into check.  Indeed the 35th chamber of the Shaolin temple exists purely to teach this issue to its students, reinforcing the problems of assuming entitlement.  In this chamber their ability to eat is predicated upon possessing an unusual skill.  San Te cheats at first and attempts to ignore the rules to eat, because he has  not the humility to understand that eating is a privilege he had been afforded prior.  Once he learns this key element to transcendence, other elements become attainable.  Moving upward he learns the value of persistence and an understanding that while it is ideal to help other people in their movement towards their enlightenment it is necessary for them to experience their own trial and errors.  In more unusual moments throughout his training, San Te must understand the beauty and aid of learning a rhythm and methodology in relation to larger endeavors.  Indeed, fighting is not really an element of the Shaolin way, but instead learning to harness literal weight and metaphorical rage, into means to avoid death for those involved. One of the more hilarious scenes in the film involves San Te moving through the "head" chamber which is where he must repeatedly head butt sacks full of rocks and finish by offering a devotion to Buddha.  This may seem self-destructive but the overarching suggestion that such an approach takes on the attitude that one must literally be headstrong while also using their head to be intelligently sound is one of the major lessons he is able to extend to his prospective students when he is on force sabbatical from the temple.  In a bit of brilliance he comes to understand that training for Shaolin results in lessons that occur both in the confines of the chamber, as well as in daily engagements, suggesting that his newly added 36th chamber was not unprecedented, but indeed quite normal to the way the teachings of Shaolin evolve and extend beyond small, inclusive groups.

Key Scene:  It is tough to pick any singular chamber, because they are all so wonderful.  I personally liked the candle on the fulcrum sequence, but any of the moments could have been the key scene.

This is the best thing I have seen on bluray.  Hands down.  The added commentary by The RZA, which is highly informed and inquisitive is merely and extra incentive to get the film.

Never Take Your Eyes Of Your Opponent...Even When Bowing: Enter The Dragon (1973)

So as August roles around I find myself dreading the prospect of school, not because I hate being a graduate student, on the contrary I enjoy it very much.  Instead, it is more of a hesitation, because for the first time in quite awhile I am genuinely busy and finding productivity rather rewarding, notably with one certain publication and at least two highly probable ones in the works, school and study is starting to finally shape into something meaningful. I dread school, because I know my desire to achieve will lead to a series of existential crises rooted in a misguided assumption that everything I do will be short of perfection.  Nonetheless, I hope that this forward momentum I have gained in the past months moves with me through August and onward.  As such, I knew that a welcome way to afford some comfort and ease with the upcoming stresses of school would be to do yet another film marathon, deciding to fill in a cinematic blind spot, this time kung fu/martial arts films.  Hell, I even made a hashtag to chronicle the entire event on Twitter, which is afforded the absurd name of #kungfubacktoschool.  I decided upon this particular film, first because next to Bollywood it is easily my most unseen category and fixing this has long been a plan.  Secondly, I have some bizarre belief that if I watch enough of these zen heavy films, along with some of the more post-modern comedic takes on the genre I will come to possess a world view that will allow me to deal with the stresses of wild self-expectations in the upcoming school year.  I know it is wild, but there is a surprising amount of earnestness in this particular endeavor, not that I do not like my other marathons, this one just seems too perfect to pass up.  I will, however, be engaging in a few previously planned blog-a-thons throughout so when a review of Spellbound or The Blob sneaks in do not be off put.  I might even read a book or two on the genre just to make myself well-rounded on the topic.  At the very least I will come to better understand the world of bad dubbing and Wu-Tang Clan samples, and I figured there was no better place to start this marathon than with the granddaddy of all kung fu flicks, Enter the Dragon.

Enter the Dragon, is a set of stories within one larger narrative, although it is clear that the narratives focal point is placed on Lee (Bruce Lee) an experienced and zen-infused Shaolin fighter whose skills lead to his being hired by what appears to be the British government to enter a fighting tournament in an unspecified Pacific island, where he is to take down the infamous Mr. Han (Kien Shih) a mob boss and martial arts expert who is assumedly engaged in some large scale sex trafficking.  Yet, the tournament attracts far more than Lee, indeed drawing the attentions of urban kung fu expert Williams (Jim Kelly) who appears to be entering the tournament to remove himself from the racially heated climate of America, where he as a black man could be attacked purely on those grounds alone.  Along for the voyage to the island is Roper (John Saxon) a compulsive gambler who sees victory in this tournament as a way to pay of his ever growing debts.  Needless to say, their arrival is met with less than ideal results as it becomes clear that the tournament created by Mr. Han is far from orthodox, instead featuring a series of his henchmen, including the bulky and impenetrable Bolo (Bolo Yeung) and the maniacal O'Hara (Robert Wall).  Lee, Roper and Williams, however, all prove quite adept as fighters displaying considerably different styles, while quickly destroying their opponents in their various bouts, all the while Lee endeavors to find out what Mr. Han is doing on the island, while also avenging the loss of his sister Su Lin (Angela Mao) in the process.  This espionage leads to paranoia on the part of Mr. Han who initially suspects Williams to be the operative, thus having him killed, using his dead corpse as an attempt to convince Roper to join his army.  Roper refuses and instead begins aiding Lee in the process of taking down Mr. Han's army, which includes Bolo and thousands of trained fighters.  Eventually, Lee chases Mr. Han into the underworld of his island, where the two duel it out, Han changing his weapons throughout due to missing a hand, which he replaces with various claws.   Ending in a wild fight in a hall of mirrors, Lee remembers a piece of sage advice from his sensei that affords him a technique to kill Mr. Han, thus returning to help Roper quell the last of the lackeys.  Both completely their desired requests, Lee's vengeance affirmed and Roper's escaping of debt almost certain.

Enter the Dragon, in most of its structure is a far from subtle film, particularly when it wants to consider issues of oppression and power in the way of economic privilege.  Indeed, Mr. Han is a person of insane wealth, having far more in common with a Bond villain than with his fellow martial artists.  This decadence is noted by Williams when he suggest the absurdity of an island dojo, when he can see people in the harbors of China barely scraping by, again obvious but certainly an enjoyable theoretical framework for such genre film.  However, it is in Mr. Han's being similar to a Bond villain that I cannot help but think of this movie as being heavily invested in issues of body politics, primarily how and who occupies the space of the film.  Sure one cannot help but acknowledge the physique of everyone involved, from Bruce Lee's insanely taut slenderness, to Williams' wild abdomen it is a film that rejoices perfection, at least in the physical sense, because it is clear that only a portion of this relates to moral validity.  Considering that figures like Bolo are bursting out of their bodies so jacked that it appears inconceivable, reflects not just their villainess nature, but their mental fragility as well.  The narrative seems inclined to suggest that Bolo is physically threatening, but far from mentally competent.  Similarly, the female bodies that occupy the film are dealt with intriguingly, not void of problems, but far more aware of the politics surrounding the feminine than many texts from the same era.  It is worth considering why Su Lin commits harakiri at the end of her scene, considering that she has fought valiantly and is not to be ashamed.  The reason it appears for her death is to avoid the shame of sexual being sexually defiled, by Ohara.  This takes on issues of intersectionality to varying degrees, but fails to attack them in regards to the larger narrative.  Finally, one must consider the figure of Mr. Han whose amputated hand serves as a metaphor for his otherness and is suggested as a reason for his insanity, but it is this missing body part that seems to drive him to his wildest actions, never really explaining why he is a villain who consumes, other than very vague suggestions that such actions fill a void in his lacking.  Sure this takes on phallic symbolism and sure it helps to make him have a cool weapon for the final fight scene, but it also allows viewers to create a villain by noting his deformity, one that he seems perfectly willing to exact upon others. If one then adds the final mirror sequence to the analysis, it becomes a full on moment of body, self-identity and the manner in which fracturing that can help transcend a moment, or avoid, to extend the metaphor, a depression or loss of self-worth. Again, it is not dealt with deeply, but Enter the Dragon does look at various forms of disability, each earning their own space, although they all bow to the perfect bodied figure in the end.  Problematic sure, but it is far more engaging a text than most and daring in its depictions for the era.

Key Scene:  The mirror room fight is a classic moment and has to be one of the greatest shot and choreographed fights in all of cinema.

This bluray is a must own, although there appear to be multiple versions.  I would say go for the cheapest option, but that is often a bad method of approach.  Also, somebody buy me this movie's soundtrack.