The Premise, a Fight for Survival

In an age of famine and war in the middle of 19th century China, three men unite as blood brothers to initially lead 108 men against the ruling armies of their time, succeed and establishes peace. Jet Li is Pang, a general whose troops were slaughtered by the Kui army. He is befriended and becomes blood brothers with the leaders of a bandit army, Er Hu and Wu Yang played by Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, respectively. Pang also develops an attraction for Lian, Er Hu's wife who comforted him when he was at rock-bottom before joining the bandit army. Driven by the basic need for food to survive, the three increase their bandit army to 800, and they forge deals with rich lords for provisions and assistance from their armies in exchange for defeating their enemies. The three's bandit army does the fighting and dying, while the rich lords' armies secure victory in the final wave of attack.

Strategy and the Bandit Army

The Warlords is a tale of brotherhood and how putting a higher value on victory, duty, love and power destroy it. Like students of The Art of War, the bandit army are effective in ambushes, and they, especially Wu Yang, appreciate and put to use Pang's strategy of “Strike, the head, and the body will fall”. Starting out as renegades with the battle-cry of “Get rich, get fed, get laid!”, the bandit army evolves with a code of conduct and become soldiers after the incident at Shu City made them realize that they are at war not just to feed their families but to free people from oppression as well.

The Pivotal Point

The pivotal point of the film is the siege war at Suzhou when Er Hu succeeds in compelling for the surrender of the city from its leader. This happens while Pang and Wu Yang are away forging deals for badly needed provisions in exchange for the taking of Nanking, the enemy's capital and its final stronghold. Gaining the allegiance of 4,000 Suzhou soldiers and the admiration of the blood brothers' own 4,000 men, Er Hu is elevated to a hero in the fall of Suzhou. Though Pang is relieved that his blood brother came out alive in the outcome, he also became wary of the unfolding power shift to Er Hu. Aside from this, Pang cannot fulfil his promise to marry Er Hu's wife, Lian, anymore.

Fall of Brotherhood

Pang always believed that an army only has only one commander and afraid of losing his role, he quickly strips Er Hu from his stature of hero. Pang does this by justifying the massacre of the Suzhou soldiers with the fact that they only have 10 days worth of provisions and still have to take Nanking. By doing this, Pang also shows the uneducated Er Hu a message he obviously couldn't read, a silent intent to show him, Wu Yang and the troops around that he is not qualified to make decisions. Being the lone supporter of sparing the Suzhou soldiers, Er Hu ends up in chains, while the massacre unfolded. He lost the power he did not even realize he briefly had. Being victorious from their campaign, the three blood brothers and warlords are finally placed in unfamiliar ground during peace-time in decadent Nanking and fall to scheming rich lords and the love affair between Pang and Lian.

An Impressive Film

The Warlords has an impressive cast and production. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, as always, are exceptional; however, I am truly impressed and surprised with Jet Li as a dramatic actor and not the martial artist and action hero. The wartime scenes are mainly smoke-filled black and gray reflecting the somber and desperate mood of the period. The main characters in peace-time are likewise generally clad in black rich silk as if they are in attendance to the wake of their brotherhood. Even the tale of their brotherhood dissolves to something farce as depicted in a Chinese opera to the teary eyes of Er Hu in Nanking. The Warlords is a welcome move by Chinese film-makers, freeing them from being branded as just the wire-works and wuxia film-makers.

Afternote

I bought my DVD copy of The Warlords in Hong Kong. It is a Special Edition that includes a photo book of the stars and scenes from the movie.