Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake Blu-ray Movie Review

The equal rights amendment, Chinese style.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 14, 2012

Is there such as a thing as female chauvinism? To understand what is meant by that question, it’s best to look at the original meaning of the word chauvinism, which initially referred to a belief in national supremacy. In that regard, the Hitler and the National Socialists were chauvinists supreme. But of course the term was adopted and modified in the mid-20th century to male chauvinism, the sort of preening, cocky attitude that gives guys a bad name. In this particular instance, “female chauvinism” might be thought of as a sort of “combo platter” combining elements of both meanings, focused on a movement that is in direct opposition to male chauvinism, the long struggle by women for equal rights. But a subset of that struggle ties in to the original meaning of the word chauvinism, for a lot of Americans seem to think that the movments like suffrage and, later, equal pay and the like started with such iconic figures as Susan B. Anthony, and then passed on to more contemporary women such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. But of course other nations have their own legendary women who have attempted to forge an equal place for women in their own cultures, and many of those women long predate their American counterparts. And so, in one sense, there may be a certain kind of female chauvinism, where Americans believe that only their history with equal rights for women has been of any import. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake should put a quick lie to that premise, as it is a fictionalized but very effective biography of a late 19th and early 20th century Chinese woman, Qiu Jin, who was espousing some basic principals of feminism long before that term ever entered the public lexicon. It might seem particularly odd to think of feminism with regard to Chinese culture, since women seem so preternaturally subjugated there, at least historically speaking. But that only makes Qiu Jin’s struggle all the more moving and all the more prescient, in terms of the huge cultural changes that would occur in the decades after her execution in 1907.

Director Herman Yau takes a page out of the David Lean playbook, crafting an intimate story of an iconic figure who is surrounded by epochal events, and furthermore Yau emulates Lean’s approach in Lawrence of Arabia, starting the story at the end, and then drifting into a series of flashbacks to elucidate Jin’s life. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake actually begins with an ancillary character, Xu Xilin (Dennis To), who has been captured by Qing henchman after having assassinated a Manchu governor. Xilin’s arrest leads the Qings directly to Qiu Jin (Huang Yi), who is ensconced in the fortress like women’s academy where she is ostensibly teaching but in reality is fomenting revolution.

Yau and scenarist Erica Li adopt something akin to that old adage that one’s life flashes before one’s eyes in times of peril or impending death in their overview of Qiu Jin’s story. The film repeatedly ping pongs between “contemporary” events (meaning those surrounding her arrest and ulimate execution circa 1907) and everything that came before. We get an early indication of just what a forward thinker Jin was in a telling anecdote culled from her young childhood when the little girl runs in anger and desperation from the woman her parents have hired to come bind her feet in the ancient Chinese tradition. That in turn leads to her asking her father with no trace of irony why her brothers have so much freedom when she’s required to be submissive and have virtually every waking breath and movement dictated to her.

Part of what may strike some Western viewers especially as an ostensible weakness of the film is the fact that Chinese culture so formulaically subjugated women. It’s almost a parody of a situation that seems to cry out for suffrage and/or militant feminism, so much so that Qiu Jin’s efforts seems to fall under the general heading of, “Well, duh!” But of course we’re gazing back on these events with 20/20 hindsight from a vantage point more than a century removed from when they happened, and across a cultural divide that is perhaps even more epochal. The film strikes a remarkably measured tone in depicting Jin as a crusader without making her efforts seem too much like a dogmatic screed. The fact is that Jin’s nascent feminism played hand in glove with the growing general discontent with the Qing Dynasty and the ultimate overthrow of an Imperial class, leading (several decades later, of course) to the birth of Communism.

This is a hugely sumptuous and elegant looking film which admirably captures the waning days of the Qing Dynasty. The production design is mammoth and detailed and lends The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake an epic visual sweep which helps the film maintain interest even if it is admittedly a bit on the long side. While it’s always to be expected that these supposed historical biographies are going to fictionalize their subjects, the one “addition” here that may not sit well with some viewers is the kind of ludicrous wire work in some martial arts sequences that makes Qiu Jin seems like she’s floated in from a touring production of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Jin was a skilled fighter and trained in some martial arts, but when Lau and Li have her taking on an entire brigade and basically decimating them with a series of rapid fire moves, the film loses some of its credibility. (To be fair, Jin is ultimately captured, but only after she’s wreaked havoc on the invading forces.)

With the United States presidential election season in full swing, one of the recurring motifs has been the so-called War on Women, which, depending on your political leanings, is either a very real threat or a ginned up public relations gambit. What The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake makes frighteningly clear is that there was a very real war of sorts on women in China, for untold centuries in fact, and that the efforts of individuals like Qiu Jin finally helped to bring about something approaching equality. While the film indulges in some perhaps unnecessary melodrama and hyperbole, the fundamental truth of its portrayal of a society on the cusp of a major sea change (or perhaps more appropriate, she change) makes The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake one of those rare historical epics that seems incredibly relevant for our own times.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is one of the more elegant looking high definition presentations of a live action film we've seen from FUNimation, and it augurs well for the company's move to branch out from its more traditional anime fare. The Blu-ray offers some gorgeously saturated colors, though it seems like once again the DI has been tweaked and filtered towards a blue-green side of the spectrum quite a bit of the time. That said, fine detail is really incredibly robust and the spectrum of colors here is amazing, with reds and purples especially vivid. Depth of field is excellent in the many exterior shots and aside from some very minor murkiness in some of the shadow detail, this is a stellar offering that presents a really extraordinarily beautiful film in a nicely popping presentation.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake has two nicely immersive lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio tracks, one in the original Mandarin and another in English. The English dub is actually pretty good as far as these things go, and its mix is almost identical to the Mandarin track, but purists will of course want to stick with the original language. Fidelity is top notch here, and there's a veritable glut of great surround activity, especially in the action sequences. Even the quieter dialogue moments have some nice discretely placed ambient environmental effects which really help to open up the sound field. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented, and the evocative underscore also spills into the surrounds and helps to underpin the drama quite effectively.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (SD; 22:39) is a fairly straightforward featurette offering interviews, a look at scenes being shot, and several snippets from the film. There is one really odd moment where Huang Yi seems to be in a green latex suit, apparently for a green screen element, but where that is in the film is kind of a head scratcher.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake might be too much a niche product to attract a really wide audience, but my hunch is even those who couldn't care less about women's rights or even Chinese history might find themselves swept up in this compelling drama, one that is helped immeasurably by a really opulent physical production and a commanding lead performance by Huang Yi. Herman Yau once again proves himself a master of crafting huge set pieces while never forsaking the intimate human drama at the center of his stories. While The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake might be faulted for overplaying its kind of silly martial arts hand (and feet), the film offers a really interesting look at a fascinating figure who has achieved legendary status in China. This Blu-ray offers excellent video and audio, and even though the supplementary features are pretty slight, this release comes Highly recommended.