China syndrome

Chinese military epic Red Cliffhas triumphed over off-screen dramas and mudslides to become the most successful Chinese film ever. Now it's marching to a screen near you. CLIFFORD COONANreports from Beijing on John Woo's magnum opus

THE intricacies of Chinese political life during the chaotic final days of the Han Dynasty, and details of how a Chinese emperor dispatched troops in 208 AD to crush his enemies to the south, may not initially seem primed to grab the undivided attention of an Irish cinema-goer. But this is no ordinary costumed epic, this is Red Cliff, at €55 million Asia's most expensive film ever, and a war movie on grand scale directed by John Woo, Hong Kong's top director. Its swashbuckling run in Asia has made it the most successful Chinese film ever.

The success of Chinese historical war epics or movies with heavy martial-arts themes such as Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang Yimou's Heroand Tsui Hark's Seven Swordsmeans the language and imagery of this genre are not as alien as they once might have been.

Red Clifffeatures some of the biggest names in Asian cinema, including Tony Leung, who has featured in Hero, Lust, Cautionand In the Mood for Love. One of Leung's finest roles was in the movie that many consider to be Woo's masterpiece, Hard Boiled.

Red Cliffalso features Japanese star Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen and Lin Chiling, and also involved Woo's long-time collaborator and producer Terence Chang.

Irish audiences will get to watch a two-and-a-half-hour version of Red Cliff. In China audiences, myself included, watched the epic drama in the format Woo shot it for the Asian market, which is in two two-hour instalments. I can only presume that the shorter version will lose some of the slightly confusing political elements of the longer Asian version, and will big up the swordplay and military clashes.

Historians reckon one million soldiers took part in the battle of Red Cliff, the bloody confrontation that gave birth to China's Three Kingdoms, when China had three rulers. At times it seems Woo has gathered a similar number for the shooting of Red Cliff, his first film in Chinese since relocating to Hollywood a decade-and-a-half ago.

The beauty of shooting in China, home to 1.3 billion people, is that finding extras is never a problem. The government, keen to encourage more film-making, especially co-productions with foreign companies, is generous in allowing People’s Liberation Army soldiers to take part. Indeed, why spend millions on blue-screening a battle scene with expensive software, when you can real Chinese soldiers for a lot less?

The movie had a difficult birth. Bad weather (torrential rains washed away part of an outdoor set in Hebei in northern China), on-set tragedy (the death of a stuntman) and cast walk-outs all combined to put a pall over the picture’s production.

Those walk-outs included Leung, who left early in the production, but then rejoined, plus Chow Yun-fat, one of Hong Kong’s most bankable stars, who pulled out in mysterious circumstances.

There were fears the production was cursed. But the movie has prospered , due in no small part to a busy promotional schedule which saw the Red Cliff crew zipping around Asia to raise the movie’s profile.

Red Cliffhas had a fantastic reception in China. The first instalment of the series debuted in Asia on July 10th 2008 and took €33 million at the box office within a month. The second instalment took 15 million Yuan (€1.6 million) in mainland China within 10 hours of opening. The state-run China Film Group said it was "like printing money".

A stirring tale of political intrigue, with scheming viceroys, cunning generals, brave warriors, plague, war and glutinous rice balls, Red Cliffhas shaken off its curse and is now taking on the West.

Red Cliffopens today.