A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

In a town in the province of Zhejiang in China, in the late Qing dynasty, corruption is rife. The governor cares only about his food, his nine mistresses and his hoard of treasure. Due to natural disasters and infection in the area, the town is flooded with fugitives, weakened and sick, who are ruthlessly exploited while a failing and corrupt government refuses to act. In order to bring back some semblance of justice, doctor Yang Tianchun (Yu Rongguang) uses the alias of Iron Monkey to give back to the poor what he takes from the rich. One night, Iron Monkey manages to ambush governor Cheng (James Wong) himself and relieves him of his hoard of ill-gotten gains, forcing him to take up a paid position and, to add insult to injury, forego his shark’s fin and abalone for – yes, the horror – vegetables.

What passes for law and order is enforced by the Chief of Security, master Fox (Yuen Shun-Yee), who is not a bad man but finds himself enmeshed in the corruption, forcing him to bow and scrape just to get by. He tries to find and arrest Iron Monkey but is unable to do so, though in a comic scene, he brags disingenuously to doctor Yang that he keeps catching him only to let him go again. To add to the political machinations, the governor is told that an official is arriving in town to investigate his administration, prompting Governor Cheng to arrest anyone who has any relation to a monkey, any monkey, however tenuous. A man with a pet monkey is arrested on suspicion of being Iron Monkey. A man who scratches himself is arrested for “acting like a monkey”. One day a stranger arrives from Foshan, a neighbouring town to the prefecture of Guangzhou (romanized in my version’s English translation as Canton), to pick up an order of herbs. This is the famous doctor and Hung Ga martial arts master Wong Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen), who is accompanied by his son Wong Fei-Hung (Angie Tsang*), who will later become a hero of Chinese lore, but in this story is still only a gifted young boy. Kei-Ying is threatened by a bunch of criminal thugs, forcing him into a display of his famous martial arts. Officials see him and arrest him for being too good at Kung Fu, and therefore suspected of being Iron Monkey (despite having only just arrived in town).

The whole sorry mess ends up with a show trial over which the governor presides, threatening prohibitive fines, even corporeal punishment, in order to root out Iron Monkey from this sad group of underfed, poverty-stricken people. When Kei-Ying shakes his head at the proceedings, he is singled out, improbably sentenced to death, and Fei-Hung is ordered to be branded on the spot, when Iron Monkey intervenes. Kei-Ying, convinced that all these innocent people are only being harassed by the authorities because of Iron Monkey, tries to catch him. An wonderful duel of martial arts ensues on the roof, where the two opponents only just steer clear of saying “pleased to meet you” between blows. Iron Monkey escapes (of course), and Kei-Ying, fundamentally a lawful person, petitions the governor to let these innocent people go, as it’s clear Iron Monkey is not among them. He then promises to go find and apprehend Iron Monkey himself. The governor, always preferring a show of force to being wise, decides to put the young Fei-Hung in jail, until Wong Kei-Ying is successful in his quest. A quest which, to no-one’s surprise but poor Kei-Ying, doesn’t exactly make the famous martial arts master popular with the common people. They call him names and refuse to sell him food, until he ends up, uncomprehending and famished, on doctor Yang’s doorstep.

Iron Monkey deftly combines drama, action and comedy. And although it is often very funny, it’s the action sequences that stand out. There is a restraint in intercutting and close-ups, giving us a full view of the fabulous choreography, often with full body shots, showing off the stunts and the almost balletic (augmented) Kung Fu sequences to full effect. It may not quite have the visual poetry of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but though the plot might be a bit clichéd, it has all of the adventure and exhilarating action sequences, making it one of my favourites in the genre. A must see for fans of Hong Kong martial arts films, or even martial arts films in general.

*Yes, Angie Tsang is a woman, and as a girl played the young Wong Fei-Hung. She is a Wushu athlete, and would go on to win the gold medal in the Women’s Wushu Championships in 2005.

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