House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu), released January 2005 in the USA, is a film in the same martial arts/wuxia genre as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long), December 2000.
House of Flying Daggers tells a love story in the Mandarin Chinese language (English subtitles) – the age-old triangle of three lovers – combined with the enduring appeal of wuxia – knights, swords and sorcery. Thre three lovers suffer their passions while on an emotional journey set within the physical dimensions of flowering meadows, deciduous forests, and bamboo groves.
The scenes in the meadows and deciduous forests – birch (Betula spp.), beeches (Fagus sylvatica), and aspens (Populus tremula ‘Erecta’) – grab the viewer’s senses because of their color and vastness. Could China be this beautiful? Is there a part of China that looks almost like autumn in south-central New England (Plant Hardiness zones 5a and 5b, -20¬∞ to -10¬∞F and 6a, -0¬∞ to -5¬∞F)?
Unfortunately, research on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for House of Flying Daggers filming locations shows that the meadows and deciduous forest sites are actually in Kossiv National Park and Lvov, Ukraine. In these eastern European locations, the Plant Hardiness Zones are actually 5a and 5b (-20° to -10°F) and 6a (-10° to -5°F), similar to south-central New England. Therefore, these deciduous forests are right at home in the Ukraine. Are there any plant communities similar to these in China?
The bamboo forest scenes are, however, a pleasing surprise. Director Yimou Zhang remarks on the DVD of Flying Daggers that, Bamboo groves are an inextricable part of martial arts films. It is as though you have to fight in the bamboo forest before you can be considered a true warrior.
House of Flying Daggers contains several long Chinese martial arts sequences set in the exquisite Tea Mountain Bamboo Sea Scenery Park, Yongchuen, Chongqing, China (Plant Hardiness Zone 9, 20-30°F)
On the other hand, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shows sequences shot in Anji Bamboo Forest, Jiangsu, China (Zone 8, 10-20°F). Apparently, both of these bamboo locations are tourist attractions and draw many visitors to their magnificent groves.
The culminating fight scenes are set in the Ukraine meadows. These scenes appear to begin in autumn and end with a heavy winter snowfall. Birch trees in the surrounding forests are weighted down with autumnal colors as the epic fight begins, and end empty and bare. Grief and death, symbolized by blood on the snow charge the atmosphere. The movie ends with a sigh.
Was this last scene great picture making? Alternatively, was it modern computer wizardly? No, neither of these two. Good old Mother Nature, at her finest, directed snow to begin falling heavily early in October, halfway through a scene. As Director Yimou Zhang says, This worried me a great deal because if it snowed for much longer, all the leaves on the trees would be gone. (However,) The snow created the perfect tone for the scene. It’s fate – someone up above wanted it.
©Text and photograph by Georgene A. Bramlage 2007. Reproduction without permission prohibited.
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