Hero (Ying xiong)
Yimou Zhang's beautifully shot martial arts epic, Hero (Ying xiong), has such potential for heroine content. Both Maggie Cheung's Flying Snow and Ziyi Zhang's Moon are gorgeous fighters, and the fight scene between the two of them is arguably the best in the film. Yet I couldn't help but be disappointed that the majority of the possible motivations of both characters (depending on whose version of the story they were in) centered around their feelings for a man, Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), with whom Snow is lovers and for whom Moon may or may not have feelings.
The female characters in Hero come off far worse in the first version of the story (told by Nameless) than in the second (told by the King of Qin). In Nameless' version, Flying Snow and Broken Sword are lovers on the outs due to her indiscretion with Sky. After seeing Flying Snow's grief over Sky's death, Broken Sword seeks vengeance by having sex with Moon, who is his servant girl and also seems to be in love with him. A jealous Flying Snow kills Broken Sword, then kills Moon when she tries to avenge his death, and then is killed by Nameless. This story paints both Snow and Moon as irrational and out-of-control, stereotypical female counterexamples to Nameless' stoic and rational behavior.
The second version of the story shows both women in a better light, with Snow in particular treated as a real character with principles who chooses to take part in the assassination plot and is willing to sacrifice her life for her cause. Still, though, neither woman is given as much to do as she could be, given the immense talent of both actresses. Rather, the film is mostly carried by Jet Li's Nameless, who leaves me rather cold.
I am not equipped to comment on race in Hero, as the entire cast is Chinese and I know nothing about Chinese racial politics. It is worth noting, however, that the need for peace and coexistence between various regions of China is the goal of the heroes in Hero, and that the imperialist aims of the King of Qin are not presented in an at all favorable manner. I give Hero two stars for what I assume is an adept handling of racial issues (please comment if I've missed something there, I fear I have), but no additional stars for gender, since the women's roles in the film are limited in ways they did not need to be.
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I think you're wrong regarding the impact of modern Chinese politics on the subtext of the film.
The final message is that the brutal tactics of the qin are ultimately justified in the forced unification of the country. From this- current brutal tactics to prevent political dissidence are also justified.
Many of jet li's movies have a heavy handed pro-chines gov message- it leads to access to governmental resources for movie making. Similar Kòu tóuing is seen in american war films made with support from the military.