House of Flying Daggers (2004) - Review by Matthew Kibel

History of the Film

House of Flying Daggers was a film released in 2004 and directed by Zhang Yimou, who also directed the film Hero (2002) which has been mentioned in the class previously. The film falls into the genre of wuxia, a Chinese genre with a focus on great chinese martial artists. The film grossed 11 million dollars in the US box office and then ended up being even more successful in the home video market. It also garnered a lot of critical praise. It takes place during the Tang Dynasty in the year 859 AD, and revolves around a rebel group called the House of Flying Daggers. Two police officers are tasked with finding the group, a task thought to be impossible because they are currently in hiding. However, they hatch a plan in which one officer arrests a blind dancer who is suspected to be the daughter of the previous leader of the group and the other one breaks her out, hoping she’ll lead him to the rebels' hiding spot. Long story short the one officer falls in love and kills the other officer and the blind dancer, who is neither blind nor the daughter of the previous leader, sacrifices herself to save her lover.

Historical Analysis

House of Flying Daggers is a movie that does not pretend to be grounded in fiction, however by placing their setting in an actual period of ancient Chinese history they took some aspects of life in the Tang Dynasty to incorporate into the movie. As far as the actual plot, the House of Flying Daggers is a completely fictional organization. However, the Tang Dynasty did face a rebellion during the end of their reign, the An Lushan rebellion. And as far as having a corrupt government, there were instances of eunuch advisors in the Tang Dynasty gaining enough political power to hold actual government officials hostage. The scene which contains the greatest amount of historically accurate aspects is a scene in which the officers are introduced to the blind dancer. Its depictions of courtesans who had entertainment skills and madams who would take care of the girls was accurate to history. Another aspect that was accurate was the clothing and makeup of the women, which was directly taken from the fashionable styles and traditional makeup practices of the late Tang Dynasty.