Shaolin Movie Review
I couldn’t think for a title. It seems to be sort of a mixture between the movie review and personal thoughts.
January 27th, 2011.
Day 2. The second day after I left DGB. It is an interim. In between jobs. Still, I had aplenty of errands to deal with. But procrastination takes the best of me. So I procrastinate delaying the tasks I suppose to complete within this week. Why the hurry when I still got Friday tomorrow?
When you are just being fine being alone, comes the unexpected. For example, last night I went for the midnight show. Shaolin, starring Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing. Directed by Benny Chan, it was full of action. The choreography doesn’t disappoint at all. As for the storyline, nothing to shout about. It was rather tame. A story about repent. From evil to good.
In my previous trip to KK a couple weeks back, I watched the “Eat. Pray. Love” there. Just like seeking enlightenment or an answer to the empty soul, I find there exist the same context from the Shaolin movie. Exception that the subtle message was obviously obvious. The whole context was about searching for soul. Life, as we know… it goes on. Irregardless of what you see it, it is a journey as some said. Still, we are here on this place, what can be done? Play our role here. Like Shakespeare once said,
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;”
Jackie Chan played the monk cook who had no confidence in himself. Considering himself as a mud. So the Abbot asked him, which of these two carry more value? A piece of gold or a pile of mud. To Jackie he said it was the piece of gold had the most value. Abbot being wise himself said, even it to the seeds? We all know the answer, that a pile of mud can be the soil for the seeds to grow.
In the beginning, Andy Lau plays the cruel heartless warlord. He ended up betrayed by his apprentice, played by Nicholas Tse. When he lost his daughter and the wife left him, he started to repent. Through the teaching of Dharma, he found his zen. It was a little too late to learn that. He also realized that the things we want doesn’t equal to the things we need. Something we might have way too much that we won’t be finishing it. The thought of abundance as scarcity. I couldn’t get the grip of his parting words with his wife played by Fan Bingbing. It goes something like this… “Come with affinity, leave with affinity. Then we can live a peaceful life.
It was a form of contentment I shall say. Whatever will be will be. There’s no point pushing it so hard. When it meant to be yours it will. I guess that’s what people called it as fate. Perhaps it is for the best to stay content. I find it is a Zen to reach this state. 
I miss the hug.
As for the movie, 6/10.
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