The Return

The Return is a film that can definitely be openly interpreted, and after watching this film I have come up with my own presumption. In the first scene of the movie, it is very obvious that even at a young age, masculinity is important. The movie opens up with a group of boys that are jumping into the ocean from a high tower. One of the boys, Ivan, is scared of heights and will not jump from the tower. The next day all of his friends, including his own older brother, Andre, make fun of him. They call Ivan mean names like coward and pig. Ivan and Andre get into a fight and race home.

The next thing we learn in the film is that the boys have been without a father most of their lives, but their mother tells them that he has randomly come home and their father is inside. We don’t really know why Andre and Ivan’s father has been gone for 12 years. Their mother tells them he is a pilot, but a more mature audience can tell that she may be using that explanation just merely as an excuse to hide the real truth.

When the family sits down to have dinner, my impression of the father was that he seemed to be pretty rough around the edges. After he encourages his 2 young sons to drink a glass of wine, he then tells them that he will take them on a trip with him. Andre is very welcoming of this new man showing up in his life, however, Ivan is quite hesitant and distrusting. The boys pack their things for a trip to go fishing with their father and set out the next day.

The 3 of them encounter several conflicts along the way. In every situation, the boys’ father’s solution is always very bold. It is obvious that Andre and Ivan have been raised by their mother, and maybe a little spoiled. When the car gets stuck in the mud, they all have to get out and push the car out. The father acts as if the boys should just automatically know what to do in such a situation. His temper rises when the boys don’t exactly know how to do their part. Also, when Andre and Ivan are waiting for their father outside of a restaurant with his wallet that he gave to them to hold onto, which we note has a lot of money in it, they get robbed. The father chases down the thief and seems disappointed that neither of his sons want to punch him.

It is also very easy to tell that the Russian culture is especially strict. Ivan is very rebellious towards his father, and when he continuously complains about wanting to stay in a certain area to fish, his father kicks him out of the car and leaves him there alone in the rain. Thankfully, he later picks him back up.

When they finally arrive at their destination, an island, it seems as though the boy’s father did not take this trip only to bond with his sons. The father goes off into a forest by himself and digs up some boxes. We never find out what exactly he is retrieving.

At the end of the film Andre and Ivan get in trouble with their father for being several hours late returning from fishing. Andre is to blame because he had the watch and it was his responsibility. The boy’s father begins to get physical with Andre and it upsets Ivan. He runs off through the forest and climbs up a tower while his father chases after him and Andre follows. Ivan accidently pushes his father and he falls off a high ladder and dies.

In my opinion, at the very last of the film, I saw that the boy’s father really did care about them. I don’t know why he was gone for 12 years, but if I had to guess I would say that he was a criminal. He was obviously an alcoholic because he carried a flask with him everywhere, he made a stop along the trip to meet with a man which seemed to be very shady, and like I stated before, he carried a lot of money with him in his wallet. Also, The boy’s mother did not seem happy to see their father at the beginning of the film. I think he was gone because he was in prison, but when he was released he wanted to try and be a part of the family again. The father would have taken this trip to the island with or without his sons, but he chose to bring them along to possibly bond with them. I think that money was in those dug up boxes that he buried before he went away, and he wanted to bring it back home.

Hero

My favorite part of the plot was the clever story that Nameless came up with to try and deceive the King of Qin. The film is pretty clear and easy to follow. We know that there are a group of assassins that have sworn to kill the King of Qin. It scares him so much that the King offers a great reward for their defeat so that he can be at peace again. The King is very impressed when Nameless displays the weapons of the assassins and claims to have killed each of them. The film begins to go into scenes of flashbacks as Nameless tells his story.

The first assassin killed went by the name of Long Sky. Nameless challenges Sky to a duel and wins. He takes his spear and then travels to Zhao, which is considered to be the enemy city. He walks into a calligraphy school intending to find Flying Snow and Broken Sword. These two were assassins, and lovers. This is where I became really interested in the film. I like action, but the type of film that can really draw my attention is a good drama. Nameless proceeds to inform Snow and Sword of Sky’s death. Nameless also claims that Sky had a dying wish for Snow, which was to avenge him. Sky and Snow had a one night affair that deeply hurt Sword. In attempt to gain revenge on Snow, Sword purposely has sexual affairs with one of his students, Moon, in front of Snow for her to see. I think this is pretty classic in movies, yet always seems to hook the audience. Nameless tells the King that Snow was so angered that she killed Sword. At this point he has 2 assassins down, 1 to go. Nameless had Snow exactly where he wanted her because when they battled, she was so emotional and shook up, just as he suspected, he won. Snow was the last and final assassin to die.

I appreciated the lack of blood and intense fighting scenes that a lot of martial arts films have. I liked there was a romance involved and I liked Nameless’s tale of an affair brought out of secret, revenge, pain, and death. It really proved to me that not only are these actors and this actress extremely physically fit and masters of martial arts, they are also very capable of expressing and portraying great emotion, which was really nice to watch in the film.

I also think that the producer did a really good job with all the special effects, imagery, and music. The battle scenes in Hero are different from many other films. Not only does the film focus on the fight, it focuses deeply on the surroundings. For example; a drop of rain, or vividly colored autumn leaves blowing in the wind. I love how we are able to see the pure technique of the actors when the battle is in slow motion. The music chosen for the film put a really good touch on it. Drums are used to really make us build up anticipation and the nice smooth sound of violins being played really made me feel the characters different times of sorrow.