MovieChat Forums > Jing wu men (1972) Discussion > the ending is a social commentary on...w...

the ending is a social commentary on...what?

posted 17 years ago by Kichigai-kun
14 replies | jump to latest

Maybe I'm stupid, but at the very end of the film, when Bruce is leaving the school with the police and everyone and he goes outside, there are many people waiting for his with pistols and rifles. He sees them, and in a fit of rage runs and jumps at them. Stop at a freeze frame, and then the gunshots sound. Perhaps this is simply me thinking too hard about this, but if all those people shot at him while he was jumping at them, wouldn't they hit the Japanese and Chinese people behind Bruce as well?!

If this was the intention, was the message that One person's action will destroy everyone who is inactive?

Or that Bruce is a troublemaker and gets everyone killed regardless?

Or is it simply that he has to die or come close to dying in all of his films to make him more of a martyr?

perhaps there's something I'm overlooking or looking too far into here...

[–] taijiquan12 17 years ago

We never got to see where the policemen were aiming, so it's possible that they all riddled his body with bullets or that one or two hit him and that after hitting the ground they continued shooting him. It's also possible that the multiple shots could have simply been an aesthetic choice, which is most likely the case. I often find that purely aesthetic choices in film direction without the greatest amount of thought behind them are often that which is most analyzed.
It's sort of like sci-fi fans asking the creators of the product why something looked a certain way or what function it served. Often the creator will reply "it just looked cool" or "it felt right".

Or perhaps one of your interpretations is right, who knows? I think that the meaning was that Chen Zhen had become an out of control monster that had gone beyond his original purpose of vengance and had now delved into being a murderer. In a karmatic way, all of his hatred came back around to destroy him.

[–] siulooong 17 years ago

Bruce Lee was kind fond of the ending of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the two protaganists come out with guns blazing as they got shot. He liked how the characters sort of went, "screw you!" even though they knew they where going to die. So at the end, Bruce lees sort of saying, "Screw you guys!" with a flying kick.

[–] pking-2 17 years ago

This one is closest: "Or is it simply that he has to die or come close to dying in all of his films to make him more of a martyr? "

He wanted to pay for his sins so to speak. His actions, ultimately, deserved punishment and that was the coolest, most Butch Cassidy-est way to get that done.

No, you're not SUPPOSED to think his friends behind him also get shot. Though, it is poorly staged, and it does look quite likely. They should have changed it a little, because in reality there would have been all sorts of collateral damage with that firing squad.

[–] pmiano100 16 years ago

It also symbolized his heroic resistance and defiance of the Japanese and other colonial powers who dominated China and ruled Shanghai back then. Did no one notice, the crowd of Chinese behind the policemen (many of whom were Europeans), cheering him? He did what he did to deny the Japanese the satisfaction of a show trial that would whitewash the Japanese and make him out to be just a crazy, mad dog Chinese. It was better than sitting in a cell, waiting to hang.

Yes, he was a vigilante and he didn't always think rationally, but the Japanese would have tried to wipe out his school anyway when they refused to close. There was no justice for the Chinese back then, especially not in Shanghai. Going to the courts would have been futile and he knew it.

As for his suicide charge endangering his friends, all very true technically. But he was some distance away, he was up in the air, and we really don't know when the police opened up. I doubt they would have risked nailing the Japanese Ambassador or the Chinese police inspector. It was a dramatic plot device, meant to symbolize a heroic gesture of martyrdom.

[–] mike-2620 16 years ago

I quote the words of the master himself, Bruce Lee talking about Fist of Fury " The glorification of violence is bad.That is why I insisted that the character I played in this film died at the end.He had killed many people and had to pay for it"

[–] pmiano100 16 years ago

Has anyone asked the director, Lo Wei (who also played the Chinese police inspector), about it? Lee may have had different motives, but audiences all over the world cheered his "heroic martyr" death. In the end the new headmaster of Ching Wu said he had been right. They could have ended it with him submitting to the law at the end, instead of committing "suicide by cop".

I respected Lee and enjoyed his films, but his pictures after this one were similar and he didn't die in them. In "Enter the Dragon," he was a hero, even though he committed a revenge killing. America had undergone a series of wars and assassinations and was on one of its periodic anti-violence kicks. Lee needed to placate American audiences.

In "The Big Boss" (AKA "Fists of Fury" in the USA), he didn't die, but was arrested. Few Americans know that it is actually about the exploitation of Chinese immigrant workers in Thailand by Thai businesses, government officials, and gangsters. Going to the police would have been futile then also. In the sense of condemning vigilantism, that was a more appropriate ending.

Please note: I do not approve of "vigilante justice". It's not justice; it's revenge. More often than not, it results in the lynching of innocent people.

[–] maxzorindresden 16 years ago

That's gonna be difficult , Lo Wei has been dead for 12 yrs ;)

Actually he might've died in "Boss" , surely he'd hang & no one would believe the Boss was involved in dirty biz ?

[–] pmiano100 16 years ago

Why not? There were dead bodies, enslaved girls who'd gotten free, and no doubt caches of drugs and money to back up his story. But if your point is that it wouldn't matter in the corrupt Thai culture of that time, it's a valid one.

How about this: Did anyone ask Lo Wei about the ending before he died?

[–] PurpleReign1961 14 years ago

According to IMDB info:
"Because of the movie's racial content and personal disagreements, Bruce Lee quit working with Lo Wei after this movie"
So, anything that Lo Wei may have said about the movie may have been negative.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068767/trivia?tr0738640

"May You Live To See The Dawn"

[–] pmiano100 14 years ago

It would be interesting to know what the racial disagreements were. I do know that the remake with Jet Li was far less anti-Japanese, and in fact the hero's love interest was Japanese. Most people don't know that "The Big Boss"/"Fists of Fury" was a protest film against the maltreatment of Chinese immigrants in Thailand and portrayed Thais negatively.

[–] loghuhhuh 12 years ago

This might have been true 40 years ago, but having lived in Thailand for several years I can assure you that Thai-Chinese are not exploited, and usually make more money and gain a higher social position than their Thai equivalents.

The Thais have been gradually getting richer as a nation for some time - it would be silly to think of them as "oppressors", though.

Google "Shinawatra" if you want to find out how well Thai-Chinese are doing these days. The answer - very well indeed.

[–] pmiano100 12 years ago

No argument there. I was merely explaining what the message of the movie was when it was made in the early 70s. You are correct that the Chinese have found success in Thailand, as they have in the US and most places where they have settled.

[–] diddymuck 13 years ago

Although I'm sure enough answers have been provided by now, the last scene was a point of view shot of the armed police surrounding the building. Bruce's character decides not to be taken alive and jumps at the cops, who as he expects open fire on him. They could have gone a bit further to make this clear but perhaps the expostulation scene was accidentally cut.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

... if all those people shot at him while he was jumping at them, wouldn't they hit the Japanese and Chinese people behind Bruce as well?!

I think you're right. But the film is more interested in staging the stylized Butch Cassidy ending, whereby Chen had to pay for his crimes. The other thing of course is realism is never the most important staging factor in these sort of films.🐭