An interview with director Chen Kaige on his latest film The Promise.

*Quotations denote moments spoken by the director.

And although Trier offers up enough ancient architecture and scenery to satisfy even the most picky of tastes, it is a three story house built in 1727 that attracts a countless number of eager pilgrims every year, beckoning for them to touch its façade and roam its halls. This happens to be the birthplace of Karl Marx.

Always a stop for intrigued European travelers, the site has become a strange beacon for Chinese tourists in recent years.

For some time now, Anxious Chinese tourists have transformed this small town into a sort of Mecca. Every day, large groups visit the site, posing for pictures and delving into the origins of the philosopher and revolutionary.

Trier has even offered cultural sensitivity training for its merchants and restaurateurs, providing education on slang and proper mannerisms when dealing with a Chinese client.

It seems odd however that such an influx of Chinese citizens would continue to visit this site due to the country’s adoption of capitalistic ways when dealing with economic matters.

China has forged ahead in recent times to become a dominant world power, and as its prospects in oil, agriculture and technology continue to motivate and influence the world market, the fear among some Chinese seems to be a doing away with the traditional ways of its ancestors.

In a recent issue of the New York Times, I observed a photo depicting desperate Chinese farmers forced to sell their corn along the side of a road due to their land being taken away and replaced by a golf course.

A startling and uncertain illustration of a nation coming of age in the 21^st century.

“It’s silly. How could you sacrifice very good grassland or agricultural field in order to build a golf course? I mean it just doesn’t make any sense. Particularly, look at how big the population is in China. When they are building golf courses that means that those peasants have to leave in order to find another place to farm. It’s a very big issue.”

With his latest film The Promise, director Chen Kaige has morphed the legends of ancient Chinese philosophy into a modern metaphorical depiction of morality and destiny.

Incorporating free interaction between gods and human beings, Mr. Keige allows a timeless tale of love and redemption to be acted out.

The Promise marks acclaimed director Kaige’s foray into the martial arts fantasy genre. The film follows the intertwined fates of a beautiful princess and the three men who fall in love with her: a general, his slave, and a rival Duke. Unbeknownst to the men, the princess made a pact with a goddess in her youth where she rejected the prospect of true love for the promise of riches and power.

As the story progresses, the three characters search deeply to escape the confines of their physical and emotional enslavement in the hope of achieving their often uncertain destinies.

Like much of his previous work. Mr. Kaige molds the elements and themes of the piece into relevant commentary pertaining not only to the story world, but modern civilization as well.

“Well you know, first of all I want to say I picked up the project because I saw that the Chinese market has the potential to be very big. Now that 50 percent of the market is occupied by American action films. I hope that you know we can do something bigger than what we did before, to make sure that we have a certain kind of percentage in that market as well.”

“There is a very high expectation from Chinese audiences. You look at Russia, and there’s no movies made there whatsoever. So I think this is the first motive to pick up this project because I’m not so sure doing a contemporary piece with a smaller budget could really get attention from the audience. There is a wrong thinking, I think, that people could say big is good and small is not good. Particularly in China because it’s popular if you do a small film people will say okay, let’s wait for the DVD. So that’s why I decided to do that.”

“I think from the story point of view I think I was influenced by some interesting Chinese myths. I quite like that because those stories are naively powerful. Meaning that the little bird will throw the stone into the ocean and the ancients believed that one-day it’s going to change the shape of the ocean. It shows the power and energy of the beginning of agricultural civilization.”

“And I got some feedback on the current situation in China. This is my big concern that yes, on one hand we see the huge progress being made economically. But on the other hand, that we pay a very high price to get what we want. Basically we sacrifice our own belief system and traditional culture particularly in order to become more commercial or materialistic that way.”

“So I think those characters are recognizable in China. More or less that those characters are like mirrors that the audience can see themselves in.”

Kaige does not specify the time period in which the story takes place, and in turn creates a sort of arena for the characters and events to develop an array of timeless ideas and struggles.

“I think the story is timeless because this is not really a historic story that the people need to be educated to understand. Like in The Emperor and The Assassin. I’m proud of that film, but the thing is, some people say we don’t know anything about the Chin dynasty. We feel there is a difficulty to understand those characters.”

“But for this film and those characters it’s just timeless that you can say the story is taking place in older times but can also relate it to modern China. If you look at the costumes it’s pretty much fashionable. It’s not really old stuff.“

For the characters of the piece, a desire which seems prevalent in all their hearts and minds is the need for freedom. Besides the physical imprisonment they experience throughout the story, it is the spiritual aggravation which creates the most torment, and perhaps succeeds in igniting the characters motivations.

“I think there is a very important theme of the film which is freedom. Because I don’t think people really understand the meaning of freedom. They could have very superficial ideas about what kind of freedom they can have. I believe almost everyone in this film is a prisoner. Yes, I think the slave, the princess and the general have this invisible prison that they’re in. The slave, because physically he is not free. But from the spiritual point of view you can say he is more free than others. Because his heart is open to the whole world. He’s the one having a golden heart. I mean the golden heart is there. Although he’s not treated like a human being, he’s pretty much treated like an animal, and then I think one day he realizes that I’m also a human being. I can stand up, I can love and be loved by the Princess.”

 “So he really switches himself from being a slave to a hero. I’m talking about the freedom of the heart. I think our heart can be heavens and prison. It all depends on your choice. We’re locked up by many temptations, including myself. I can tell you that when I got a Palme D’Or in Cannes then I was crazy about getting another. I told myself okay, I can get that in a couple of years time. But how stupid I was. But that is the temptation of fame.”

 “So basically this film is talking about the life and the big change in what is happening in China. Many things are unstable, so that becomes more important to know who we are and why we’re doing it.”

It is the lushly photographed environments as well that lend significance to the characters and story.

Growing up in the 1960’s during the Chinese revolution. Kaige was forced to work in the neglected landscapes of the country, stripping down the natural vegetation in order to make room for the industrial concerns of the government.

It is his inspiring and regretful encounters with nature that have helped shape his sense of the importance of environment for his films.

“Well I love to say that the environment is very important to everybody. But I guess because the greedy human kind tend to destroy nature in order to develop industry, I mean this is the highest price we will have to pay.”

 “I remember when I was a young kid, I mean around 16, that I was sent to the countryside without a choice because all the young people had to be sent to the country. The place where I went is a beautiful jungle, but our job is to chop the trees down in order to plant the rubber trees. Recently I went back to where I was, and I looked at the rubber trees and I felt very sad. I really regretted what I did.”

 “So that’s why I think I pretty much like to say I’m the one who loves to protect the environment. Recently, there is a saying, we shot 30 shots in Chinese Shangri-la area and some people just to put the blame on me say that I left trash and garbage there. But I don’t know how to react to that, because we have made a deal with the local government. We’ve paid them to clean that up. Maybe because the whole land is covered in snow that they don’t have the time or possibility to do it now. But I feel very sad that the rubbage hasn’t been cleaned up.”

 “You can see in my previous films that the landscape and environment plays a very important role. In The Promise as well. I feel as if I was going back to my childhood when I was surrounded by green grasslands and beautiful trees.”

In the film, all the characters are trying to navigate through the obstacles of war, betrayal and temptation in order to fulfill their own destinies. The idea of fate, and accepting one’s fate, is extremely central to the story, and Mr. Kaige takes great care in presenting this idea thoroughly.

“I must say it’s very different with cultures. Here in the States people are sort of being more brave to face challenges. Here, American culture does not encourage people to believe in fate or destiny. Because human beings can do anything they want. This is the philosophy of American culture I guess.“

“But in China, maybe the political, economic and cultural environment is very different from that of America. Look at the past 200 years of the Chinese history. There is too much sadness and tragedies. So that makes people feel like there is a destiny. Everything is religion. Everything is decided before that happens. So it’s very natural for Chinese people to believe that way.”

“To me, I personally believe, because I’m not very religious but I believe in God. I believe that we did not use to be an animal then eventually became a human being. I don’t think so. There is a destiny. Why there is a destiny is because the destiny will give you more motivation to change, to better and improve your life.”

“You are definitely under a certain kind of control, whether you call that a fate or destiny or not. But it’s there. But, for example, although I’m from a filmmaker’s family, I wasn’t determined to become a film director. I was under the lowest level of society when I was young. But now I am a filmmaker. I’m not so proud of that. I don’t want to be called a master or a celebrity, because that gives me less freedom to live. I’m still sort of a normal man. But, look at my own life. I’ve been convinced that you can fight off your destiny if you want.”

With his father having been active in the Chinese film industry, Kaige was exposed to cinema at an early age. But it wasn’t really the cinematic environment that attracted him to the medium, but rather the desire to relate his experiences and hopes before an audience.

“Because I didn’t really enjoy making a film. When I was watching my father making one, I thought man this is pretty boring because some of the equipment wasn’t really developed at that time. It would probably take four or five hours just to do one shot.”

“I guess what made me a filmmaker was not family or friends. It was not because my father was a director, but life. When you are a young man, you have a big curiosity about this world. You feel there is something very important for you to tell the world. That is the motive. Particularly when I was in the countryside suffering the hardship, lack of food and clothing. I still feel I have a strong connection with this world. I want to make that connection with the world by making a good film. I want to tell people how I see that world. That’s the way.”

“If you think, to be a filmmaker, oh wonderful. One day I could be rich and famous. If you make that your motivator, then forget about it. You can never ever succeed.”

“I think the hardship of life and love makes me a filmmaker.”

With The Promise, Mr. Kaige has explored the controversy surrounding the idea of fate and destiny, choosing to dissect the matter through the passionate trials and resolutions of the characters.

In one of the final scenes, while the slave, general and princess await their fate, poetically bound within view of each other in a courtyard with food and water just out of reach, the Duke comes to mock their misery. He offers the fallen General, once the hero of the land, the opportunity to serve as his personal slave. But the Duke does not realize that the love he has sought to destroy runs deeper than the circumstances from which it sprung; it runs deeper and faster than destiny itself.

“I think that I sort of know my destiny. Because I’m not the one crazy about success. Because there’s two kinds of directors who can have their names in history. One kind is the one always being successful. Their name will be remembered temporarily. The Oscar statue, golden palm, and being loved by the fans.”

“There is another kind. More lonely than the first kind. Crazy about what they believe, and always try to go a bit further and more aggressive and not easy to deal with. This kind of director can be remembered as well. Not because of their success, but because of their desire to develop the new cinema.”

“I think I sort of belong to the latter. You know I always want to try different things. I told myself so what if you get another Palme D’Or. You should make yourself excited first and passionate about what you are doing. This is what I’ve taught myself. So I don’t really expect what the people are dreaming of. I don’t mind if I can get an Oscar or something, but that is not the point. The point is to make the good film. To find something from your own heart. That is my destiny.”

“So you can see that my career is up and down. But it doesn’t matter. Because you should allow yourself to be confused sometimes looking for the new style. Just follow your own heart. That is my destiny.”

 

Warner Independent Pictures and Moonstone Entertainment

Present

The Promise

A film by: Chen Kaige

Cast:

Dong-Kun Jang.... Kunlun

Hiroyuki Sanada.... General Guangming

Cecilia Cheung.... Princess Qingcheng

Nicholas Tse    ....  Wuhuan

Ye Liu  ....               Snow Wolf

Hong Chen...    Goddess Manshen