Although we sadly missed it in the theater, we made up for our failing tonight by renting Hero, a gorgeous martial arts epic out of China. Everyone should see this movie for its visual excellence alone. This is a beautiful film.

The movie is the story of Nameless, a sword-wielding hero in the era of Chinese unification. The movie is structured around a conversation between Nameless and the King of Qin, the man who will unite the nation, become China's first emperor, and build the Great Wall -- Nameless has killed the three Zhao assassins who have hunted the King for the last three years. Before Nameless can receive the promised reward, the King requests that he recount the tale of how he bested the assassins.

As we circle around different versions of these flashbacks -- in a technique I've seen referred to as the Rashomon effect -- we find that the truth may be unexpectedly complicated.

Jaimee's favorite scene -- probably the movie's most visually stunning -- was the wonderful leaf fight between Snow and Moon (you'll know the one when you see it). I liked that one a lot, but my favorite remains the early battle between Nameless and Sky in a place called a "chess house" that is seemingly really a Go house -- and the structure of the fight itself is suggestive of a Go battle, filled with attack and defense, move and countermove, anticipation and retaliation. It made me want to play some Go.

The movie's calligraphy scenes are also incredibly well-crafted. Who would have thought calligraphy could be made to seem so essential?

The movie has been widely criticzed (both in China and by many American critics) as a "paean to authoritarianism," but I think these people are failing to read the movie properly. These characters are facing tragedy regardless of what they do, because the choices they make are impossibly complicated ones. The movie -- as with any successful work of art -- doesn't blindly ratify anything. All these characters are flawed; all their choices might be second-guesed.

The claim of many critics that the emperor is the movie's ultimate hero -- that the movie uncritically ratifies the authoritarianism of Chinese empire -- is needlessly reductionistic, and completely misses the point. Things are infinitely more ambiguous than that.

For more on this, check out this article (WARNING: contains spoilers): Is Hero a paean to authoritarianism? (The short answer: No.)

In any event, highly recommended.