[KFCC] 36th Chamber of the Shaolin Review

Story: During the Qing dynasty, a young student named Liu Yu-De feels hopeless because of the oppressive Manchu forces. His school teacher motivates him to join the rebel causes and a patriotic feeling overwhelms him as he can now do something to help his people. Unfortunately for them, the Manchu forces did not take long to discover that something underground was happening in the small town. In the attempt by the Manchu to capture the rebels, Liu’s fathers and his teacher get killed. Liu barely manages to escape the raid, but now his only goal is to avenge the death of his father. To attain this goal he decides to go learn kung fu in a Shaolin Temple.

But his training is much harder than he expected. The rules of Shaolin are very strict and Liu Yu-De will have to pass through all the 35 chambers, in order, before he can finally complete his training. Each chamber is specially designed to challenge an aspect of the human endurance. However, Liu will also discover that not only physical training is important but every gesture of daily life also applies in the hard discipline of the Shaolin.

Review: During the time when cinema lost its biggest martial art star ever, I’m referring to Bruce Lee of course; martial art movies were no longer very appealing to general audiences, and started to fall in popularity. That was until a movie came out and pushed the martial art cinema to a new level of popularity. 36th Chamber of Shaolin is still considered by many to be one of the most famous and respectable kung fu movies ever made.

Directed by no other than a real kung fu master, Lau Kar Leung tells a martial art story filled with historical facts mixed with old shaolin legends. Having studied martial arts from his parents, Lau Kar Leung put his martial arts talent behind the camera instead of in front like many other martial artists of his time. In fact Lau Kar Leung’s father’s teacher was a close disciple of the real Wong Fei Hung.

Story wise, 36th chamber may not be the most sophisticated; in fact it is a very simple story that was inspired by a traditional legend. This same legend has influenced countless of movies made both before and after. The story explores the tale of a young man who seeks revenge and the myth behind the walls of the Shaolin Temple. Mysteries such as how the monks trained, where strange and effective weapons such as the three-section-staff come from, and how the monks perceive those who live outside of there walls are all revealed. It’s a very entertaining development to watch and you will soon forget about the small flaws of the simple storyline.

Liu Yu-De is a very interesting character to watch evolve among the Shaolin. Played by Gordon Liu, Liu Yu-De appears at first as a very simple young man, but the more we know about him the more we can see that he posses an incredible determination that will help him greatly during his years of training among the Shaolin. Except Liu, who was inspired by a real life character in Shaolin history, there are not many other characters that are as memorable, however it is not really a flaw as the story is about Liu’s character after all. On a side not, Gordon Liu will be portraying two roles in Quentin Tarrantino’s movie Kill Bill.

If the story is so simple and the characters unexceptional, what makes that movie so memorable? Well, it is quite obvious that the action scenes are an important aspect, but I really think that it has much more to do with the great mixture of elements. Of course, as a kung fu movie, the fighting is very well executed with long camera shots and great choreographies. The fights are realistic, energetic, and very entertaining. A great spectacle that will please all kung fu fans for sure. However, even if the fights are of excellent quality, the training sequence steals the show. 36th Chambers is the ultimate training Kung Fu movie. The training sequence supposedly show us how the monk trained in the temples, but I am a bit sceptical as to how accurate their portrayal truely is. Did the monks really train with these techniques? I don’t know, but I can tell you that the idea made an excellent movie that should be watched by anyone who is interested in Kung Fu movies.