Confucius ... watch this, you must.

This 2009 movie starring Chow Yun Fatt as the famed Chinese philosopher, Confucius confused me. I stereotyped this great sage to enjoy beard stroking, speak in reverse sentence construct i.e. Yoda-grammar ... in slow motion no less and twirls his robe every once in a while. You get none of the above in this flick directed by Hu Mei. Oh but what you do get is A LOT of bowing action ... and I mean A LOT! Everyone bows to each other and they do it SOOOoooOOOooo slowly too. *Yawnzzz* Filmed mostly in He Bei, the story kicks off in the later part of Confucus's life where he was portrayed essentially as a politician as well as a militarist. Known as Kong Qiu then, he was first a mayor for the province of Zhong Du, then a Minister of Law and subsequently the Minister of Internal Affairs where he gets to put his ideals into practice to establish a harmonious governance.


Ruled by the Three Noble Families ... all the time squabbling amongst themselves to gain the upper hand on each other, essentially Confucius was driven into exile. He left behind his family and wandered from state to state with his loyal diciples to spread his teachings while refining his own wisdom. Along the way, they got entangled in political web of deceits, suffered hardship due to starvation and harsh weathers and struggling to survive during China's Warring period. In the end, they was finally invited back by the very ruler who expelled them back to their homeland.

Only in the last 5 minutes of this 2 hour epic do we see Confucius truly as what he is best known for ... a thinker and educator. He died at the frail age of 73 ... surrounded by the scrolls he loved so much. 'If the world learn to know about me, it is because of these scrolls. If the world learn to hate me, it is because of these scrolls'.


Personally, I would rate this movie at 5.5/10. I hope its recount of the historic facts and events were in order. Peter Pau, the cinematographer for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon also did a splendid job in showcasing the visual effects to a very convincing fashion. Oh and then there's the rather mesmerizing theme song by non other than Faye Wong.