THE BARE-FOOTED KID is a Shaw Brothers co-production and a remake of Chang Cheh’s DISCIPLES OF SHAOLIN. With cast members that include Aaron Kwok, Ti Lung and Maggie Cheung, not to mention choreography by Lau Kar-leung, this is a remarkably fine production with a story that actually has bite.

Kwok plays Kuan Feng-yao, a naive and shoeless beggar with impressive fighting skills. He is in search of Tuan Ching-yun (Ti Lung), a fugitive who was a friend of his father. Kwok finds him working at a dye factory run by Miss Ho, played by the always charming Maggie Cheung.

A powerful official named Ke Hu-po (Kenneth Tsang) is trying to take over Miss Ho’s factory at all costs and resorts to extortion and violence. Feng Yao attempts to defend the factory, but ends up causing Miss Ho to lose face through his thoughtless actions. He is even suckered into working for Hu-po who offers him money and new clothes. A political struggle between Hu-po and another individual results in Ching-yun being used as an expendable pawn after his criminal past is made public. Distraught by Ching-yun’s fate, Feng-yao redeems himself by turning on his employer.

This is slower-paced martial arts film with more drama at the onset thanks to the direction of Johnny To. As the subtle story unfolds, the intensity builds up to a powerful and tragic ending that has more significance thanks to the carefully layered character development. Everything hinges on Kwok’s performance and he does a fine job of playing a simpleton who through his own ignorance, causes a lot of grief for himself and his friends.

He goes through several phases beginning with idealism. Trying to help Maggie Cheung by returning her deed to the factory using force doesn’t get the approval he seeks, leading to disillusionment. This turns to anger and he decides to use his martial arts skill for material gain. But his indirect role in Ching-yun’s death fosters despair. Finally, we see Feng Yao “wake up” from his state of self-loathing and the best quality in Kwok’s character emerges which is self-sacrifice.

Maggie Cheung is stunning in her role of a woman who shares a love with Ti Lung’s character, but keeps it hidden. For his part, Ti Lung gets to do two things he’s great at, playing a character of noble spirit and giving the best martial arts performance since his days at Shaw Brothers in the ’70s.

The fact that characterization is so strong in this film only enhances those limited fight scenes, all masterfully directed by Lau Kar-leung. Lau successfully merges the old school techniques he perfected over a decade earlier with the glitzy wire-fu that emerged in the early ’90s. Although Ti is past his prime as a martial arts star and Kwok is not a strong martial arts performer, Lau brings out great performances from both of them.

THE BARE-FOOTED KID is a thoughtful kung fu film with an unusually strong story that winningly delivers a message that strength and fighting ability are useless without morality and sound judgment. While the viewer may be wishing the title character had come to his senses sooner, the final outcome is satisfying. I recommend this film to anyone tired of the infantile plots and uninspiring characters sadly all too common within this genre.

REVIEW: Bare-Footed Kid, The (1993), 8.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

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