A troupe of Chinese opera performers harbor a revolutionary who attempted to deliver money to his associates. After their red junk and her crew are destroyed by government forces, the troupe goes into hiding until they are strong enough to set a trap for the official responsible.
In China, when the red junk comes to your port, you can expect to see a spectacle of performing arts from daring martial arts to tales of betrayal and intrigue. The South Shaolin Master is a large scale production that offers all that and more.
Lin Hai Nan (Chiu Jian Guo), a revolutionary fighting against the reigning Ching Dynasty arrives at a Buddhist temple to deliver a large sum of money. It turns out to be a trap set by the local Ching official who has his mind set on that cash. The money ends up in the hands of a crazy monk who runs off while Lin, who is wounded, hides out at the local pier. Meanwhile, the same official attempts to bully a visiting Chinese opera troupe into performing exclusively for him. But after finding Lin, they skip town in their red junk. Having recovered from his wounds, Lin sends the official and his men running after the troupe has fallen into an ambush. Lin’s considered a hero by all the troupe members except for the troupe’s trainer who witnesses the woman he loves flirting with Lin. At their next stop, the trainer informs local officials about Lin and Ching forces surround the troupe as they perform for a massive crowd. Hearing of this, the troupe members stage a bloody fight that puts the crowd into a panic, allowing them to slip through the official’s grasp. Unfortunately, the remaining members of the troupe and their children in the junk are not so lucky. With their boat destroyed, Lin and the rest of the troupe make their way on foot to another Buddhist temple where its discovered that the missing money has turned up in the proper hands. Awed by the monks’ abilities, Lin and the troupe train furiously in order to get revenge. Having entered a rowing competition run by the official, the troupe attacks the guards while Lin chases down the official.
Watching The South Shaolin Master is like watching a classic Liu Chia Liang film, but with a much larger cast, better cinema work, and no cheesy sets. Is the martial arts that good? Well, its certainly debatable. Chiu Jian Guo has some superb skills and his movements are genuinely fast. Many of the other actors’ skills appear to be more performance oriented, although this generally works in the film since, most of them are playing Chinese opera performers. Early on there is a short, but outstanding example of monkey kung fu and although the final fight is staged without much fanfare, each of the two actors put on an impressive show.
The cinematography and camera work is excellent, often enhancing a scene that would otherwise be ordinary, such as the use of roving overhead shots. Thanks to being filmed and financed in mainland China, almost the entire film is shot on location and features scenes you would never see in a Hong Kong production, like the destruction of a huge floating junk or a dozen massively long row boats engaged in a frantic race. The soundtrack by Kuan Sheng You provides a fitting accompaniment to the film’s grandeur.
The story itself is fairly routine and with so much time spent on orchestrating these large events in the film, little attention is paid to characters themselves, which keeps the viewer at a distance. Also, the story is resolved too easily, giving the impression that the writers ran out of time or ideas. The South Shaolin Master is essentially a high class, classic kung fu film. It doesn’t break new ground but is a very polished and entertaining film, nevertheless. It almost makes you wonder what Liu Chia Liang could have done with the same amount of resources.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Genre: Kung Fu • Qing Dynasty • The South Shaolin Master (1984) • wushu
- Bill Keogh
