A Little TLC(w): End of the Road (1993)

Okay, so I have a strong suspicion that I wouldn’t find this film more than mediocre under any circumstances, but I do have to disclose that the copy I found of it was causing me some aggravation.  IMDb lists the main language as Min Nan (a particular dialect, one variant of which is Taiwanese,) but my copy was in Cantonese, meaning that all the dialogue was dubbed.  Now, if the film was made in a different language, Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s dialogue might very well have been dubbed regardless.  But even if I’m disappointed when, say, he’s in a mainland movie and his Mandarin is dubbed, I get it and I accept it because that’s the way the movie was made.  It bugs me more when I’m getting a version of the movie that wasn’t what the filmmakers created, and while the dubbing was reasonably good (the dialogue was well-timed to the lip movements,) it still didn’t feel quite right.  Add to that some truly atrocious subtitles – in addition to general errors, there were some sentences that I straight-up did not understand at all – and I wasn’t in much of a mood to be generous to the movie, none of which was its fault.

In 1954, Chinese nationalist forces in what was then Burma, along with a number of anti-Communist Chinese civilians, have given up arms and find themselves somewhat waylaid in Southeast Asia.  They’re waiting to be sent to Taiwan for repatriation, but in the meantime, they’re starving in an area filled with disparate hostile forces, drug smugglers, and little food.  Many of the soldiers, under the guidance of General Hau, train to join Thailand’s military and continue the fight, while others join up with unsavory forces and still others just want to get away from all of it and find a home for themselves.

I’ll admit to not knowing much about this geopolitical situation, so it took me a little while to get my bearings and figure out the ins and outs of what was happening.  And there’s some interesting stuff here, to be sure – I feel for the Chinese soldiers and civilians stranded without a country, and some of the characters and the relationships between them are fairly engaging.  Also, Ng Man-tat, who also appeared in Chinese Midnight Express, is in it, and that’s neat.  But while individual moving parts work for me, the film as a whole doesn’t.  The direction is pretty overwrought, which makes it hard to make it seriously.  The super-dramatic music that starts blaring whenever someone Dies Significantly, for instance, made me laugh more than anything else.

So where does Leung fit into this?  He plays Fan Long, one of the nationalist soldiers and a major supporting character in the film (early on, he seems like he might be the main focal point character, but the film is more of an ensemble piece, and he’s a lot less prominent in the second half.)  After having escaped a prison camp, he joins the other stranded Chinese and begins to take an interest in a lovely young schoolteacher, but his first allegiance is always to himself – he can make bad decisions for short-term gratification, and his authority-bucking attitude doesn’t win him any favors with General Hau.

What interests me about this character is his first scene in the film.  Imprisoned with several other Chinese soldiers, he catches a chicken through the bars of their cell and starts to eat it raw.  He shares a pieces with another captive but chastises the man when he in turn offers it to his sick comrade, reasoning that the prisoner is a goner and there’s no sense in wasting the meat.  That’s the scene that helps me understand Fan Long’s actions later in the film, why he flouts authority, why his loyalties are fluid, why he sometimes works counter to his own happiness.  He’s been through hell, but he’s a survivor, and nearly everything he does is with that in mind.  If it won’t increase his chances of keeping himself alive, it’s extraneous – nice if he can get it, but he’ll throw it over if he needs to.

Fan Long might be the grayest character I’ve seen Leung play so far.  I’d call him self-serving rather than outright bad, but this isn’t the guy you necessarily think he’s going to turn out to be when he’s having a meetcute with the teacher.  That’s noteworthy for me; still, there’s nothing too challenging about the role, and while Leung plays it well, it’s nothing to really write home about.

Recommend?

In General – Naw.  Some good ingredients, but it doesn’t add up to a good recipe.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Not really.  Just not enough of note – playing a bit of a darker character makes him stand out a bit, but I’m pretty sure I’ll find better examples of that in better films before I finish going through his filmography.