By Daniel Keebler
Last night, September 5th, 2004, I paid $8.50 to watch Chinese propaganda on the big screen.
The movie is called, “Hero,” and was written, directed, filmed and imported from China (what Isn’t these days?).
“Hero” takes place thousands of years ago in ancient China. At the beginning of the film, the narrator states that China was once a divided into many different kingdoms. There was always war between the kingdoms, it says, while showing us an ancient map of China that depicts the different kingdoms. One king envisioned an end to the wars. However, his end to war would cost many lives as he conquered and unified all of China under his empire.
That’s just the introduction.
The story itself is about an assassin who kills the three “bad” assassins who had been trying to assassinate the Emperor (the Emperor who wants to end war by conquering all the different kingdoms – sound familiar?).
As the story unfolds, we find out that one of the assassins has an opportunity to kill the Emperor and end his megalomania and campaign of bloodshed. However, this assassin chooses to spare the Emperor his life. Why?
“Two words,” says the assassin: “Our Land.”
After a deep meditative transcendence of understanding, the assassin realizes that what the Emperor is doing is all for the long-term benefit of “Our Land,” (i.e. – China) and is therefore ultimately good. This assassin is then glorified in the film as a hero.
The ending 10-15 minutes spew propaganda at the audience with the whole lecture about “Our Land,” and a unified China as one.
The first thing I thought when the Emperor explained his reasoning behind his campaign to conquer all of China was, “That sounds like an Islamic-Fundamentalist terrorist group’s credo!” You know, the old, Make Everyone Like Me So We Don’t Fight Anymore routine.
At one point the Emperor learns that there are 19 different characters for the word “sword.” He swears that after he unifies all the kingdoms under his giant empire, there will only be one character for “sword,” so that a much more logical and useful language would emerge.
That’s why the movie is so confusing. This Emperor gets glorified in the film, even though you know (especially Tibet supporters) that freedom doesn’t work like that.
The first thing I said to my friend was, “Well, that makes me think a lot about Tibet.” We later learned that the movie was filmed on-location in China. I could just picture the CCP officials contributing funds to this movie – the most expensive movie ever made in China. It’s perfect propaganda to export to the free world.
Subliminally we learn two enlightening points from the film: #1 – conquering the world through war is a good means of attaining peace. #2 – Ancient China (with all those warring the kingdoms) was a horrible, horrible place compared to the modern, unified, and much more harmonious China of today (see the CCP’s “One China” policy for more detail).
I doubt the Average Joe has any idea what his film is really talking about. After all, it was very very well made in terms of cinematography, music, and story line. But of course, what’s the point of propaganda if the Average Joe can recognize that it’s propaganda?
