The Battle of Red Cliff (2008)

Peoples Republic of China

Produced by Three Kingdoms

Icon Home Entertainment

R4 DVD

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Mandarin with English subtitles

This magnificent film by John Woo is one of those wonderful period dramas that we have come to expect from the Chinese film industry. Beautiful scenery, spectacular sets, a cast literally of thousands, stunning CGI – all are used to their best to produce an epic film of the kind that Hollywood has forgotten how to make. It is based on a period in Chinese history when the country was being consolidated into what became the Three Kingdoms.

The Prime Minister of the northern area, Cao Cao, (basically a warlord), used his authority as the representative of the weak and inexperienced Emperor Xian to take most of northern China into the late Han Dynasty empire. The only areas still holding out against his superior forces were the regions south of the Yangtse River controlled by Liu Bei and Sun Quan. In 208 – 209 AD Cao Cao’s forces descended on the southerners and a major strategic battle occurred at the fort of Red Cliff. Cao Cao’s forces were both land based cavalry and foot soldiers and a massive river Navy of up to ten thousand ships.

This story opens as Liu Bei has suffered yet another defeat against the superior forces of Cao Cao. He knows he can only survive with the help of Sun Quan’s army and navy. His chief strategic advisor Zhuge Liang is sent to form an alliance with Sun Quan. With the political side agreed to, it is time for battle.

A small group of Sun Quan’s cavalry is sent to attack the advancing army. They draw a large part of the army into following them and lead them into an ambush in which Cao Cao’s troops are destroyed in a savage, spectacular battle. Cao Cao’s army contains a large number of conscripts and soldiers surrendered from other armies and they are no match for the highly trained troops of Sun Quan.

With his army weakened Cao Cao decides he must now wage a naval battle against the main enemy forces at Red Cliff. His navy forms up facing the fort. The navy of Sun Quan is seriously outnumbered and he finds that his troops don’t even have enough arrows to fight the still-huge northern army and navy gathered against him. Bows and arrows are the main short-range fighting weapons so he must have a large supply on hand or his forces will simply run out of “ammunition”. A clever plan is devised where a group of ships is set up to stage a mock attack on Cao Cao’s navy and is riddled with arrows as a result. The arrows are caught in bundles of straw lashed to the small boats and they return riddled with enough arrows to supply the land forces.

Many of Cao Cao’s ships have been lashed together to give them stability, since the northern forces are not used to fighting on moving, rocking boats. This turns out to be a bad decision. The opening of the main battle involves using fireships to burn the opposing fleet. These depend heavily on the direction of the prevailing wind – guess the wind right and your fireships will burn the enemy fleet, get it wrong and your own fleet will be destroyed. This decisive battle will be decided on which tactician can guess right. It is spectacular and the destruction is immense.

The film cost 80 million dollars to make and was the most expensive Chinese film to date. I must admire the quality of the production, from the careful use of the scenery along the Yangtse river to the beautifully crafted ships to the immensely detailed costumes and armour. John Woo has the skill to handle such an epic and the money was not wasted. This will become a classic of Chinese film.

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