The former character is also injured and later dies. Despite knowing each other for years, they never got together because she was engaged to his brother, who died before they could marry. She tells him to make a wish, and he says that he wants to be back in the desert with her like they were before. Only by letting go can we truly possess what is real.Shu Lien: Not everything is an illusion. Lo did have something of a possessive streak. Parasite's triumph marked the first time a foreign language film won the coveted trophy, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon paved the way, bringing mature themes and melodrama out of the arthouse and into public consciousness while making every genre film director step up their game. While at Sir Te's place, Shu Lien meets Yu Jiaolong, or Jen, who is the daughter of the rich and powerful Governor Yu and is about to get married. For while Jen, Li Mu Bai, Shu Lien, Lo, and Jade Fox each hail from different backgrounds, all of them bear the crushing social expectations of eighteenth century China. During its opening weekend, the film opened in 15th place, grossing $663,205 in business, showing at 16 locations. Green is a color that represents the yin, or female aspect, according to Taoism. "Crouching Tiger" redirects here. You register the exquisite sadness in her eyes as she sees Mu Bai again, a sadness that she consciously puts aside as she attempts, with all the discipline that has been instilled in her, to do whats best for others rather than herself. Jen Yu then jumps off the bridge and glides blissfully through the mists. In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years. With Shu Liens entreaty hanging over her, Jen reunites with Lo one last time and tearfully makes love to him, before leaving behind her comb. Its almost 20 years old, butspoiler alert! At first, their love is passionate, punctuated by violence and attempts to physically dominate one another. The composer Chen Yuanlin also collaborated in the project. [31] It was also released on UMD on 26 June 2005. Complementing the sword is Jens comb, the other prominent physical object in the story. Crouching Tiger is absolutely an action movie; its fight scenes, from the master choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, are intricate and ambitious pieces of art, and the movie exists to showcase them, the . Lee's films all deal with what is below the surface. The film's title refers to masters one does not notice, which necessarily includes mostly women, and therefore suggests the advantage of a female bodyguard. Even more puzzling to me was the simple question of why. If Crouching Tiger was largely rejected in the East, its embrace in the West was rapturous yet qualified. The sword falls into impetuous young hands, heralding the first of Crouching Tigers many exhilaratingly fluid transformations. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon directed by Ang Lee (also,BrokeBack Mountain) is a dual story about the power of the green sword and about two sets of Chinese lovers -- brave Li & respectful Yu following traditional Chinese customs, and the younger desert warrior Lo chasing independent Jen. Lo wishes for them to be together again, back in the desert. It is a co-production between Pegasus Media, China Film Group Corporation, and the Weinstein Company. Incensed, she hops on a horse and chases him across the desert, demanding the return of her comb. He dies in her arms as Jen returns. "[24] The stunt work was mostly performed by the actors themselves and Ang Lee stated in an interview that computers were used "only to remove the safety wires that held the actors" aloft. [47] The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Receiving universal acclaim and a box office hit, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won over 40 awards and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Picture, and won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography,[3] receiving the most nominations ever for a non-English-language film at the time, until 2018's Roma tied this record. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [4] is a 2000 wuxia martial arts adventure film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung. First of all, these are the two principle characters in the . When another asks if she is related to his master, Southern Crane the same man who exploited her own master, Jade Fox she feigns ignorance before mocking him. (The intricately plotted screenplay, adapted from a 1941-42 serialized novel by Chinese author Wang Du Lu, was written by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus and Tsai Kuo-jung.) In an echo of the legend that they spoke about in the desert, she asks him to make a wish. But Li Mu Bai seems oblivious to the misogynistic legacy of Wudan, which weighs heavily on Jade Fox and Jen. He wants her to submit to him and become his disciple, which is just another kind of bondage for her. He's interested in people who have to hide their true selves or their true feelings. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won four, including Best Foreign Language Film. Courage and sticking to one's values are strong themes throughout the film. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Summary Director: Ang Lee Runtime: 120 minutes Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Wuxia When Li Mu Bai's Green Destiny sword is stolen, he and Yu Shu Lien encounter a physically-skilled, rebellious young person on the quest for freedom. All of it is simply a state of mind.Jen: Stop talking like a monk! And yet, the camera paints a different picture. ", The film was adapted into a video game and a series of comics, and it led to the original novel being adapted into a 34-episode Taiwanese television series. It begins with a plaintive cello solo, followed by . Of all the roles Jen plays, she is most socially acceptedand encumbered as governors daughter. The film premiered in cinemas on 8 December 2000, in limited release within the United States. For both, the dead cast a long shadow. It was released in 2000. Soon after, Mu Bai arrives in Beijing and discusses the theft with Shu Lien. What Jen Yu wants is made clear from the very beginning of the film, but no one is willing to give it to her until she seizes it in that moment:freedom. Your sympathies may be divided initially, but after a while, you start to wish that it could end another way: that Jen could latch onto Shu Lien and take her away, allowing them to escape not as enemies but as allies. Justin Chang has been a film critic for the Los Angeles Times since 2016. Realism was less important to Yuen than clarity and fluidity of motion. After an angry exchange, the two women engage in a duel. As observers would tell it again and again, the sight of these two warriors soaring magically over the rooftops, then engaging in a stunning display of hand-to-hand, wall-to-wall combat, was so captivating that it led audiences at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival to erupt in spontaneous applause. There are some scenes showing uncommon artistry for the typical martial arts film such as an airborne battle among wispy bamboo plants. Jen Yu tries to atone for her behavior by retrieving ingredients for an antidote, but it's too late. Li Mu Bai himself warns that, without guidance, Jen could become a "poison dragon". Now, free of her family, lover, and masters, she roams the countryside as a warrior, living out the fantasy she described to Shu Lien in an earlier conversation: Jen: It must be exciting to be a fighter, to be totally free!Shu Lien: Fighters have rules too: friendship, trust, integrity. The timing of the Crouching Tiger rerelease is surely no coincidence; neither was a screening of the movie at last falls Telluride Film Festival, with Yeoh in attendance. [13] In the contract reached between Columbia Pictures and Ang Lee and Hsu Li-kong, they agreed to invest US$6 million in filming, but the stipulated recovery amount must be more than six times before the two parties will start to pay dividends. Sword of Destiny is based on Iron Knight, Silver Vase, the next (and last) novel in the CraneIron Pentalogy. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (Chinese: ) is a 2016 American-Chinese wuxia film directed by Yuen Woo-ping and written by John Fusco, based on the novel Iron Knight, Silver Vase by Wang Dulu.It is also a sequel to the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.The film stars Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh, Harry Shum Jr., Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Jason Scott . It is ironic that this thief and deceiver is hurt most by the lies of someone she cares about. Both, too, are hostages to social pressures that dictate whom they should love. In a display of good faith Li decides to give his powerful sword, Green Destiny, to his . More than 15 years later, a sequel arrived in the form of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:Sword Of Destiny. The End Of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Explained. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton cites Jackie Chan and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as influences. In a spectacular sequence, he shunts aside all but one and that's the one that kills him. I knew she would intrigue you, Shu Lien says to Li Mu Bai, with a tinge of jealousy, as they discuss Jen. Here, she is rarely shown outside the confines of her plush indoor quarters or horse-drawn carriage. "That's really them in the trees. Perhaps she realized the class differences between them were prohibitive. [38], Some Chinese-speaking viewers were bothered by the accents of the leading actors. Although Jen violently clashes with all those close to her, what makes her fight with Shu Lien remarkable is how similar the two are, and how seemingly little cause they have for conflict. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen. In a world where heroes can fly, its unclear if the literal meaning of Jens withdrawal is transcendence or self-annihilation. When he eventually returns empty-handed to Beijing, Lo discovers that Jens feelings for him have changed. By choosing to withdraw from the world, she reestablishes her agency and her ability to make choices consistent with her values. She hated Lu Mi Bai's master because he was willing to sleep with her but not train her. This is after a lifetime of betrayals and poor treatment. While these battles are mostly bloodless, one character is killed by a blade to . She grudgingly realizes that she has to rest for a moment with him, and he's clearly drawn to her immediately. [69], The theme of Janet Jackson's song "China Love" was related to the film by MTV News, in which Jackson sings of the daughter of an emperor in love with a warrior, unable to sustain relations when forced to marry into royalty. (More than a few also dinged Hong Kong stars Yeoh and Chow for their conspicuously imperfect Mandarin.). Disguised in male clothing, she is accosted at an inn by a large group of warriors; armed with the Green Destiny and her own superior combat skills, she emerges victorious. The movie grossed more than $213 million worldwide and became the most successful non-English-language film of all time in the U.S., a title it has yet to relinquish. For most of the film, though, it is Li Mu Bai, not Jen, who wrestles with this spiritual question. Forget about us, even the crew from Beijing thought this was all weird."[40]. The New York Times reported on December 16, 1999 that it took dozens of takes to get the sequence where Jen rips off the sleeve of Iron Arm Mi right. Finally, when someone introduces himself with the same last name as her fianc, she is so incensed to even be reminded of her arranged marriage that she launches into a violent frenzy. Life of Pi is a survival epic. She sets poison dart traps in her cave. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was the movie that had it all - love, mystical weapons and out-of-this-world fight scenes. But after Li Mu Bais death, her view changes. Upon arrival in Peking, Yu happens upon Jen (Zhang Ziyi), a vivacious, willful politician's daughter. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also opened the door for a number of similar art-house action epics in America, with Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggersamong the biggest successes. Yeoh is a well-known figure in the world of action cinema, having starred alongside Jackie Chan in Supercop 2, in addition to appearing in movies like Tomorrow Never Dies, Gunpowder Milkshake, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and, most recently . The governess is the criminal and killer JadeFox in disguise (played by Cheng Pei-Pei), who killed Li Mu Bai's master and many others. But defy it he does. "[24], The film specifically targeted Western audiences rather than the domestic audiences who were already used to Wuxia films. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: how Ang Lee's martial arts classic mixes sword fighting, romance and female empowerment Director Ang Lee combines Western and Eastern storytelling and genres with. By contrast, it proved a major critical and commercial disappointment in Asia, where Lees contribution to the well-worn wuxia annals struck many as an anemic, inauthentic, Western-pandering imitation. The movie is haunted by that question, as well as the debate it implicitly invites between Eastern and Western traditions. Film Journal noted that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon "pulled off the rare trifecta of critical acclaim, boffo box-office and gestalt shift", in reference to its ground-breaking success for a subtitled film in the American market. Twenty years after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's release, Korean director Bong Joon Ho's Parasite won Best Film at the Oscars. Even something as simple as a closeup of Shu Liens foot stomping down on Jens mid-battle tells the story of the film in miniature: One woman wants to take flight, but the other keeps dragging her back to earth. Li Mu Bai quits his monastery because there's something he can't let go of: his love for Yu Shu Lien. But it didnt win for Lees direction or for best picture; it would be another 19 years before a non-English-language movie, the South Korean thriller Parasite, would finally snag the academys top prize. For this is a movie about, among other things, the mysterious inflections and operations of time: Its about how a furiously kinetic fight scene can make the world stand still, and how years of silent suffering can pass by in an instant. Li Mu Bai feels obligated to pursue vengeance for his deceased master, killed by Jade Fox, even if it costs him his life, as well as his opportunity to be with Shu Lien. If theres a reason Yeoh and Zhang are so powerfully matched in Crouching Tiger, its that the tension between Shu Lien and Jen not just as individuals but also as representatives of dueling generations and worldviews takes organic shape through their conversations and fight scenes alike. [43], The film is ranked at number 497 on Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. Something many of these films have in common is the imaginative, dynamic, and sometimes whimsical fight choreography. The lack of hurry is crucial, not only to the storys distinctive flow and rhythm but also to its meaning. Image via Sony Pictures Releasing Chow Yun-Fat stars in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as Li Mu Bai, a seasoned warrior that wishes to leave his life of killings behind him. Master Bo makes the acquaintance of Inspector Tsai, a police investigator from the provinces, and his daughter May, who have come to Beijing in pursuit of Fox. Instead, I was surrounded by an endless sorrow. Her last request is denied. Jade Fox trains her in kung fu, but Jen Yu isn't interested in having a master. Even in this cathartic violence, though, she is still reminded of the larger society and her place in it, despite her best attempts to avoid it. The most violent part occurs at the end where someone slices at a woman attacking him and blood churns out toward the screen briefly. If you were among those who saw the movie on its initial release, lured by reports that Lee had made the most kick-ass action picture in years, you might have felt a twinge of impatience at those first 15 minutes of dialogue-rich, action-free scene setting. Mu Bai is able to take the sword in only one move, but Jen reneges on her promise, and Mu Bai throws the sword over a waterfall. Perhaps she recognized that her training and potential as a warrior could never be fully realized with him. Hulk is a superhero movie. To return to her training at Wudan would be to subject herself to the schools legacy of exploitation. One evening, a masked thief sneaks into Sir Te's estate and steals the Green Destiny. But I like to think Jens faithful heart means Los wish can still come true perhaps not in this world, but some other, where, free from her fathers soldiers and free to realize her unlimited potential as a warrior and a lover, she can return to the desert with Lo and be happy. It is from a poem of the ancient Chinese poet Yu Xin (513581) that reads "", which means "behind the rock in the dark probably hides a tiger, and the coiling giant root resembles a crouching dragon". Here was a mainstream, critical and commercial success whose conclusion, if taken literally, was the protagonists suicide. Without rules, we wouldnt survive for long.Jen: Ive read all about people like you. Ang Lee, a world-class director working at the top of his elegant form, has done something thrilling. When the interviewer, Craig Reid, remarked, "My mother-in-law has this strange Sichuan-Mandarin accent that's hard for me to understand," Yeoh responded: "Yes, provinces all have their very own strong accents. It was initially a film slated for small, art-house theaters because of Ang Lee's reputation for films like The Ice Storm, but also because films released with subtitles tend to automatically wind up there. During his first visit to Shu Lien, Li Mu Bai confesses that his meditation did not bring him the peace he expected: Li Mu Bai: I came to a place of deep silence. It is based on the Chinese novel of the same name serialized between 1941 and 1942 by Wang Dulu, the fourth part of his Crane Iron pentalogy. The story of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon seems to involve several characters, including Fox, Jen, Mu Bai, and Shu Lien. He is the author of the book FilmCraft: Editing and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. In further play on this theme by the director, Jade Fox, as she dies, refers to the poison from a young child, "the deceit of an eight-year-old girl", referring to what she considers her own spiritual poisoning by her young apprentice Jen. This means that the movie was popular over a long period of time or even gained popularity over time. The more Ive watched, the more Ive seen just how much change Jen undergoes as she seeks to reconcile the conflicting identities within her: governors daughter, lover, apprentice, warrior, sister, and monk. Eventually, though, the reality of their class differences sets in. [45] Lee says in his films that nothing can remain secret forever, and you can only repress emotions for so long. Following a protracted battle, the group is on the verge of defeat when Mu Bai arrives and outmaneuvers Fox. While superhero films started to gain traction right around the same time as kung fu films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed the game by adapting superhero stories around different genres. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon instead focuses on the tension between family duty and historical misogyny that limits women's roles. Additional Materials About This Episode: The History and the Environmental Issues The film Save the Last Dance came in first place during that weekend, grossing $23,444,930. The Green Destiny is returned to Sir Te. Out of societal obligation and guilt, they never took the first step, but he's ready at the beginning of the film. In spite of this, Li sees great talent in Jen as a fighter and offers to school her in the finer points of martial arts and selflessness, an offer that Jen promptly rebukes. During Jens rampage at the inn, each of the fighters watch helplessly as the Green Destiny splits their weapons into pieces. His mastery of the Wudan curriculum and his strong code of ethics contrast him sharply with her master, Jade Fox. For all the extraordinary physical virtuosity of her performance much of which she delivered, astonishingly, while recovering from an ankle injury Yeoh for most of the movie simply invites us to watch Shu Lien thinking and feeling. 1 at that stage, she was tired of living a double life. After one last try in public that nearly gets him arrested, Lo is sent to wait at Wudan and sees Jen Yu one last time. (She and Zhang would later play a different kind of teacher and student in 2005s misbegotten Memoirs of a Geisha.). Poison is also a significant theme in the film. Some of those films have deeply political themes, like the nationalist imagery of Hero. This film was first screened to much acclaim at the 2000 Cannes, Toronto, and New York film festivals and became a favorite when Academy Awards nominations were announced in 2001: Tiger snagged ten nods and later secured four wins for Best Cinematography, Score, Art Direction, and Foreign Language Film.CREDITS:TM \u0026 Sony (2000)Cast: Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle YeohDirector: Ang LeeProducers: Po Chu Chui, Ping Dong, Li-Kong Hsu, William Kong, Ang Lee, Philip Lee, David Linde, Er-Dong Liu, Kelly Miller, James Schamus, Wai Sum Shia, Quangang ZhengScreenwriters: Wang Du Lu, Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus, Kuo Jung TsaiWHO ARE WE?The MOVIECLIPS channel is the largest collection of licensed movie clips on the web. "Most of the time you can see their faces," he added. Feb. 17, 2023 A couple of years ago, for the 20th anniversary of the wide release of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," its director, Ang Lee, reflected on how he approached what became his. Jen Yu reveals to her master that she could read the kung fu manual that Jade Fox had stolen. This reflects the movie's word-of-mouth success and appeal to a number of different audiences. Ive only one breath left.Shu Lien: Use it to meditate. The selfish actions of Jen Yu result in the death of Li Mu Bai, just as he had declared his love for Yu Shu Lien. [18] Thus, the film is shot for a balance between Eastern and Western aesthetics. Her parents want to marry her off to a powerful family in order to improve her father's reputation, but don't care about her feelings. And it also confirmed that the Taiwanese-born Lee, coming off several acclaimed English-language dramas including Sense and Sensibility (1995) and The Ice Storm (1997), had pulled off another of the chameleon-like swerves that would come to define his career. A flashback reveals that in the past, when Governor Yu and his family were traveling in the western deserts, Lo and his bandits raided Jen's caravan and Lo stole her comb. Jen Yu will never return. Where does Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fit in? After Li Mu Bai is killed, Shu Lien spares Jen and sends her to visit Lo at Wudan Mountain. Or perhaps you were drawn in by the classical refinement of the filmmaking, the understated gravity of the performances, the realistic sense of grounding in an utterly fantastical world. At one point, Jen cries out, Wudan is a whorehouse! That's never happened before in my life. Michelle Yeoh in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon., Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon., Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon., Chang Chen in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Morgan Freeman criticizes Black History Month and the term African American, Armie Hammer sexual-assault allegations being reviewed by L.A. prosecutors, Vidiots returns: L.A. institution reveals opening date for new movie theater, video store, Waynes World is not the film Penelope Spheeris wants to be remembered for, The actor, the hairstylist and the eye surgeon: Drugs and death in a Malibu beach house, Have guests in town? As she comes across an inn frequented by fighters, Jen seems determined to single-handedly tear down the patriarchal warrior society around her. Jen leaps from the bridge, falling into the mists below. When a young boy does it to save the lives of his parents, he knows it works the moment he jumps he doesn't die, he just floats away, never coming back. As opposed to the gritty crime thrillers directed by John Woo and Ringo Lam in the 1990s, wuxia mines Chinese history for its martial arts action. Not Hollywood, not L.A., not the country, At 19, he won a local school board seat. The director is Ang Lee, and the country of origin is a co-production between: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States. My master would say there is nothing we can hold on to in this world. Even when Li Mu Bai indicates an exception could be made for Jen, Shu Lien falls back on another patriarchal excuse, saying that Jens husband might object to her studying there. To escape the stifling confines of her life, Jen secretly trains to be a fighter with her master, Jade Fox. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), by Ang Lee tell a story of some of the most magical warriors that lived during the Qing Dynasty, in Qing China. When we first started the movie, Cheng Pei Pei was going to have her accent, and Chang Zhen was going to have his accent, and this person would have that accent. Jade Fox and Jen Yu both obviously hide their strengths from outsiders, and Jen Yu hides her true strength from Jade Fox. Id heard many people sing the films praises, highlighting its beautiful love story, breathtaking cinematography, and ensemble performances. The cheeky thief steals a valuable comb right out of her hands. I couldnt bear it. I couldnt go on. And this year, a record four actors of Asian descent have received nominations: Hong Chau (The Whale) and the Everything Everywhere All at Once trio of Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and, at long last, Yeoh herself, who became the first self-identifying Asian performer to be nominated for lead actress. Shu Lien and Mu Bai have long had feelings for each other, but because Shu Lien had been engaged to Mu Bai's close friend, Meng Sizhao[10] before his death, Shu Lien and Mu Bai feel bound by loyalty to Meng Sizhao and have not revealed their feelings to each other. The last scene of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has perplexed audiences for decades. After seeing Jen fight Mu Bai, Fox realizes Jen had been secretly studying the Wudang manual. But soon it blossoms into a warm and intimate connection. It's true ofHulk, who has always been a metaphor for hidden anger. Hidden Dragon = Jen. The next morning, Lo finds Jen standing on a bridge overlooking the edge of the mountain. Her identity as a woman is crucial to the movie, because of how poorly she was treated by men. [71][72], The character of Lo, or "Dark Cloud" the desert bandit, influenced the development of the protagonist of the Prince of Persia series of video games.[73]. What led to the ebbing of the art-house kung fu film? Michelle Yeoh reveals that she initially thought director Ang Lee's idea for one fight scene in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a joke. Shu Lien forgives Jen, telling her to go to Lo and always be true to herself. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is based on an early 20th century novel by Wang Dulu, unfolds much like a comic book, with the characters and their circumstances being painted using wide brush strokes. In many respects, they are mirror images of each other. [3] On 12 January 2001, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon premiered in cinemas in wide release throughout the U.S., grossing $8,647,295 in business, ranking in sixth place. Mu Bai mortally wounds Fox, only to realize that one of the needles has hit him in the neck. The principle actors/actresses are Yun-Fat Chow, and Michelle Yeoh. When the reality of her arranged marriage becomes too much to bear, she flees her family to roam the countryside as a warrior. It's among the all-time "leggiest" movies, meaning the ratio between total domestic box office gross and their largest weekend gross. Jade Fox could understand the diagrams, but Jen Yu's ability to understand everything meant she had secretly surpassed her teacher years earlier. Then, the next morning, Lo finds Jen standing on the bridge over a big gorge. Even after having watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon countless times over the years, I was still ill prepared, on my most recent revisit, for the sudden rush of emotion in the movies final moments. She pursued him to his desert cave to get her comb back. Jen visits Shu Lien, who tells her that Lo is waiting for her at Mount Wudang. As the film ends and the landscape of granite peaks slowly fades to black, its hard not to feel like Jen has finally found peace. Adding a cruel dimension to her decision were her final words to her lover, Lo, standing beside her: Jen: Do you remember the legend of the young man?Lo: A faithful heart makes wishes come true.Jen: Make a wish, Lo.Lo: (closing his eyes) To be back in the desert, together again. Of all those in Jens life, Shu Lien seems to be the only one with no designs on possessing her in one form or another. Although he leaves his meditation to pursue his love for Shu Lien, Li Mu Bai cant seem to fully commit to the physical world, the world of sensation. I had come to a place my master had never told me about.Shu Lien: You were enlightened?Li Mu Bai: No. Jen dives after the sword and is rescued by Fox. Our hero, standing atop Wudan Mountain, poised to realize everything she's struggled for, chooses instead to leap. 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