Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Confucius Blu-ray Movie Review

Confucius say, "Stop with the explanatory subtitles already!"

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 1, 2012

The Chinese philosopher Confucius is probably best known to Western audiences for the ubiquitous “Confucius say” joking aphorisms which have been a staple of stand-up routines since—well, maybe since the time of Confucius himself (jokes which probably understandably rankle those of Asian descent, so hopefully I haven't offended anyone with my obviously non-serious headline above). And so an epic biographical film helping to elucidate just who this iconic figure really was would seem to be a great idea. The problem with a film like this is that the culture in which it takes place already has a better idea of its subject matter than the world at large, and so has a better understanding of background and context. Just imagine for a moment how an American film about, say, Valley Forge would play to Chinese audiences. They might understand the basic concepts, and even glean the general (no Washington pun intended) outlines of the characters, but they may not fully intuit the nuances of the story. Something similar is probably going to confront Western audiences as they make their way through the labyrinthine but often fascinating Hu Mei film Confucius. One element which is obviously included to help guide viewers along, though it ends up being completely distracting, is the ubiquitous use of identifying subtitles which are pasted over the image with alarming regularity in order to identify various characters and provide quick “snapshots” of where we are and what’s going on. This is exactly the same problem that hobbled another relatively recent Chinese epic, albeit one placed in a considerably more contemporary timeframe, 1911. It’s incredibly difficult if not outright impossible to get swept up into a story, no matter how compelling it is, when one has to stop every few seconds to read explanatory subtitles which sometimes flash by too quickly to read without pressing the pause button.

Director Hu Mei (one of only a few women to have helmed a picture of this epic magnitude) mentions in one of the featurettes accompanying the main feature on this Blu-ray how difficult it is to draw an audience into a film that takes place some 2,500 years ago. Whether or not it was a wise decision, Confucius further removes the audience from a sense of immediacy by presenting large swaths of Confucius’ life story as flashbacks, in a gambit highly reminiscent of The Egyptian, among many other films. (In fact, for those who have seen The Egyptian, the comparison becomes even more apt with Confucius’ closing scene which is in its own way almost a carbon copy of The Egyptian’s ending moments). Confucius further complicates things by having a somewhat roundabout narrative style that wanders here and there through various timelines, slowly explicating Confucius’ rise from local government official to renowned scholar and philosopher.

This is epic biographical filmmaking in the grandest Hollywood sense of the term (which is meant as a compliment, not disparagingly), and it must be admitted that Confucius manages to ultimately draw the viewer into the rather prescient thinking of the philosopher-sage, something that becomes more visceral after the nonstop onslaught of explanatory subtitles lets up about a half hour into the film. Chow Yun-fat might seem like an odd choice to play a role this intellectual and introspective, but he offers an extremely compelling portrait of a man attempting almost single handedly to drag his country (kicking and screaming) out of time honored traditions (like burying slaves alive with their masters) that no longer make any sense (if they even did to begin with).

Confucius has been the subject of at least a couple of mini-controversies, neither of which may be as important as some may have alleged. The film itself made headlines when the Chinese government yanked Avatar off of countless Chinese screens in order to make room for Confucius’ theatrical debut (a debut that had in fact been planned for several months previous to when it finally premiered). Once the film did come out, and especially after Western audiences began seeing it, there was a minor hue and cry about the film’s purported Communist leanings. While there is an undeniable through line drawn from Confucius’ thinking to the current state of affairs in China, my personal take on this matter is that it’s decidedly more cultural than political. Confucius is, after all, a national hero for China, and one would expect a little nationalistic propagandizing to accompany a film portraying someone this iconic in a nation’s collective consciousness. One might argue about the historical accuracy of this approach, but it is probably not as politically motivated as some might have thought.

Putting aside any extraneous elements playing into the reception greeting Confucius, the film does have some inherent problems, including a mishandled quasi-romance story with a consort named Nanzi (the incredibly lovely Zhou Xun), a relationship which probably never happened and which led one of Confucius’ direct descendants to file a lawsuit against the filmmakers. The film does try to have its epic cake and eat it too, balancing more intellectual pursuits against a couple of huge set pieces, including a battle sequence which turns into a game of wits rather than muscle. The film is staged extremely well, including some sumptuous cinematography by Oscar winner Peter Pau, and performances are also uniformly excellent. If the film never quite manages to emotionally affect, that’s often the case with these huge epics that seek to humanize characters that are so iconic most people can’t feel a connection to them.

Confucius Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Confucius is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. From a purely cinematographic perspective, this is one stunning high definition presentation, with amazing depth of field, good looking CGI in several green screen elements, deep, robustly saturated color, and pleasing fine detail. So why "only" the 4.0 video rating? For a couple of fairly bad issues, one of which is certainly compression related, the other which is something of a head scratcher. In terms of the easily explained issue, the transfer suffers from at least one instance of really horrible aliasing, one of the worst ever examples I can remember having seen, at approximately 1:00:04 into the film, when a bunch of soldiers are moving across the frame carrying upright spears, which shimmer and separate into quasi-parallel lines. In terms of the less easily explained anomaly, occasionally this transfer has a weird, milky white ambience pouring over the extreme edges of the frame (on both the left and right), something that becomes extremely evident in darker scenes, where black levels are nowhere near what they should be. I'd say it was a contrast issue, except that it comes and goes with no rhyme or reason and I personally can't come up with a logical explanation for it. Overall, this is an impressive looking release, but these two issues may leave some videophiles less than pleased.

Confucius Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Confucius provides two lossless audio options, both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes, one in the original Mandarin and the other an English dub. As I usually recommend in situations like these, only those who absolutely can't abide reading subtitles should stick with the less than stellar English dub (and let's face it, you're going to be reading subtitles anyway—the explanatory subtitles are encoded in the video and are inescapable). The Mandarin mix is beautifully rendered, with some very nice immersion, especially in the outdoor scenes, where a variety of ambient environmental effects are quite well utilized. The film was obviously post-looped (in fact one of the featurettes shows this happening), so at times dialogue doesn't quite match lip movements, but fidelity is always strong and dynamic range is amazing at times (the film can go from the gentle whisper of a breeze through a courtyard to a huge battle cacophony). The score is also very appealing in this film and sounds excellent in the 5.1 mix.

Confucius Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• From Chow Yun-Fat to Confucius (HD; 7:10) takes us behind the scenes with the actor and features interview snippets with Hu Mei.


• A Woman, A Bosom Friend (HD; 7:04) focuses on Zhou Xun. This shows some ADR sessions as well as the cast rehearsing.


• Chaotic Period of Spring and Autumn (HD; 8:41) features Hu Mei discussing the challenges of making an epic like Confucius.


• From Chow Yun-Fat to Confucius Special Edition (HD; 6:59) offers more behind the scenes footage with the actor.


• The Politicians (HD; 7:12) looks at the political context of the film, including a look at actor Chen Jianbin.


• Animal Stars (HD; 7:43) might be troubling to ASPCA aficionados, but features a lot of behind the scenes shots of various scenes with animals being filmed.


• Progressing in the Snow (HD; 6:26) offers a look at one of the big set pieces of the film, including an interview with DP Peter Pau.


• The Warfare (HD; 7:06) features shots of some of the battle scenes, including some of the green screen material.


• Original Trailer (SD; 1:43)


• Trailers for other FUNimation Releases

Confucius Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Confucius is a large, sometimes lumbering, affair, but it's notable for a remarkable and perhaps unexpectedly convincing lead performance by Chow Yun-Fat, as well as a really impressive production design and visual sweep courtesy of director Hu Mei and cinematographer Peter Pau. The film is too distant from its subject for its own good, despite its valiant attempts to humanize this icon and make him a "regular guy", so to speak. But that's often the case with historical biographical epics such as Confucius. While there may not be much emotional connection to the character in the long run, the film is inordinately impressive from a visual standpoint and lovers of this sort of fare will probably enjoy Confucius a great deal. With solid (if occasionally problematic) video, great sound and some appealing supplements, this release comes Recommended.