Director Xu Xiaoming is a famous all-around filmmaker in Hong Kong. He can sing, act and direct, and has made great achievements in many fields. Classic TV series, such as Huo Yuanjia and Zhen Chen, which were all the rage in 1980s, came from him, and early mainland and Hong Kong co-productions, such as Kapok Robe, Mirage, Farewell My Concubine and hurt locker, all came from him. Li Saifeng, a famous Hong Kong opera actress, is her apprentice.
The background of kapok robe is set in the late Ming Dynasty, when the traitors in the imperial court were in power and the Royal Guards killed innocent people. As a result, uprisings continued everywhere, mostly in the name of Shaolin Temple to safeguard justice. In order to control Shaolin, Wang Cheng, the head of Royal Guards, decided to send his right-hand man Qi Tianyuan to Shaolin Temple as the abbot. Then besiege Shaolin and force the old abbot to death. Before he died, the old abbot said that it is useless for you to kill more people. As long as the spirit of Shaolin Temple lasts forever, there will be a day of recovery. Reminds me of the spirit of women's volleyball in the Olympic Games some time ago.
No matter what you do, you must be justified. If you want to be an abbot, you must have a kapok robe as a token of Buddha, otherwise the abbot can't become a monk. On his deathbed, the old abbot entrusted several Luohantang disciples of Huineng to escort the kapok cassock to Huokeji. Halfway, Qi Tianyuan and others chased him down, and the cassock was also taken away. Finally, Qi Tianyuan succeeded the abbot, and everyone jointly killed him, and then Huineng became the abbot.
Qi Tianyuan, played by Yu Rongguang, was originally a disciple of Wu Tangmen. For the sake of wealth and fame, he took refuge in the head of the Royal Guards and was willing to be driven by him. It can be said to be cruel and cruel. I don't care about my master's feelings at all. I also want to kill Wudang Mountain. Kapok cassock was his first film. Born in Wushu, he has a good martial arts background, and the fighting scenes in the play are also very real. Although he played many positive roles in the later period, his first impression was that he was a villain, which was probably doomed!
Xu Xiangdong, played by Huineng, is a "warrior" with the highest academic qualifications in Wulin, and gave up the development of acting career for the sake of study and martial arts research. If he had gone to Hong Kong to develop like Jet Li and Yu Rongguang, it is estimated that there is another martial arts superstar in the film and television circle. Later, he participated in Tai Chi Master, Wing Chun and New Shaolin Temple and achieved good results.
In the play, Huineng meets the Lins on the grassland when she hears the news, and her eldest daughter, Lin Ying, secretly loves them. Later, he was taken care of on the way to escape, because he had disguised himself before and did not show his identity as a monk. However, unwitting Lin Ying liked him more and more, and his father died tragically at the hands of Qi Tianyuan in order to save them.
Lin Qiuping, the actor of Lin Ying, is known as the flower of Tai Chi. She won the Tai Ji Chuan championship in the national Wushu competition six times. She is also a master and shows off her riding skills in the play. I was very shocked and disappointed to learn that Huineng became a monk. The person I have always liked is a monk, and no one can accept it. However, our master Huineng can figure it out that the traitor of the country is in power, and we should put aside the affair of our children and help to uphold justice.
It is false to say that Huineng has no feelings for Lin Ying. At the moment when he was wearing a cassock, when the abbot turned back, he was also trying to find the girl who moved him. But everything is a foregone conclusion, and Huineng can only dream about it in his leisure meditation. And our Lin Ying, perhaps a chivalrous woman like Guo Xiang, finally started a sect of her own.
The martial arts scenes in this drama are also very wonderful. Whether it is the battle between Yu Rongguang and Xu Xiangdong immediately or the contest between Yu Rongguang and the old abbot, it shows the charm of martial arts. The rigidity and atmosphere of Shaolin Temple and the hidden needles of Wudang are very good, which can be called classics, and they are definitely not as good as the so-called five-hair special effects.
Nowadays, it is difficult for kung fu movies to have the realism of the past. They are all dancing with special effects. Without the foundation of kung fu, it's all showy. It is better to review the classics from time to time.