There are
two Red Cliff movies, so it’s only
fair that I have two A Little TLC(w) posts in lieu of the reviews I already
wrote. Last time was a Favorite Characters post on Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s character Zhou Yu, and today, we’re
looking at the relationship in the films between him and Zhu-ge Liang (some
Zhou Yu-Zhu-ge Liang-related spoilers.)
From the
start, the circumstances between these two are perilous. They back different leaders – Zhu-ge Liang is
a strategist for Liu Bei, while Zhou Yu serves as a viceroy under Sun
Quan. The two kingdoms aren’t in
conflict with each other at the moment, but it’s a contentious time, and land
and resources could certainly bring them to blows sooner rather than
later. However, Zhu-ge Liang is the one
who has the vision that the two leaders need to unite their armies in order to
beat back the tyrannous Cao Cao, and he convinces his lord to send him south to
try and broker an alliance.
Getting
Sun Quan, the young southern duke, on his side is no easy task, and in order to
do that, Zhu-ge Liang first has to win over Zhou Yu, who has the duke’s ear and
can bring him around. As soon as these
guys are onscreen together, they’re wary of one another but also impressed with
what they see. Zhou Yu notes Zhu-ge
Liang’s frankness and cool practicality, and Zhu-ge Liang admires Zhou Yu’s
integrity. However, it’s not over
training maneuvers that they decide to come together. Zhu-ge Liang proves himself to Zhou Yu by
helping one of his horses through a difficult birth, and the two later bond
over music. Playing the qin together,
they don’t come to any agreements about the war, but Zhu-ge Liang leaves for
the night convinced that Zhou Yu is in, declaring that he heard Zhou Yu’s
answer in his playing.
That’s a
rather unconventional way to become allies in a war together, but hey – it
seems to work for them. There are a lot
of competing voices from both sides of the blended army, but it’s always Zhou
Yu and Zhu-ge Liang who are the strongest voices of reason and intuition. Both have an immense talent for strategy,
though each brings his own skill set to the table; Zhou Yu is a great observer
of human behavior and can predict Cao Cao’s next moves, while Zhu-ge Liang employs
his knowledge of science to use the natural world to their advantage. Each has his moments of brilliance, where the
other just sort of sits back and admires his ideas, and they also work
incredibly well off each other. They
often take a thought together, passing it back and forth and fine-tuning it
until it becomes what their army needs.
I love how eager each is to listen to what the other has to say – this
is, by and large, a partnership without ego, and each would rather be right
together than surpass the other.
Which
isn’t to say that all is love and brotherhood between them. Running beneath their interactions – unspoken
most of the time, although they do discuss it with each other on occasion – is
the fact that their ultimate loyalties tend different ways. It’s all well and good coming together to
fight Cao Cao but if, in the future, Liu Bei crosses swords with Sun Quan,
Zhu-ge Liang and Zhou Yu will find themselves on opposite sides. Both hate the idea of fighting the other,
which they openly admit to one another, but they also make it clear that they will fight if it comes down to it. As such, the alliance between them is deep,
full of respect for each other’s knowledge and abilities, but it’s also
fragile, subject to the whims of their individual leaders – all in all, it
makes for a really intriguing dynamic between them.
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