Warriors of Heaven and Earth (Tian di ying xiong), directed by He Ping, is an epic film about an incident in the eighth century along the Silk Route, the principal land route for trade between China and Europe. As the Arabs and the Turks became more powerful in the Middle East, they were able to seize the cargo, so ultimately Christopher Columbus proposed a new trade route. However, the film focuses on a particular cargo, which is not revealed until late in the story--some of the bones of Buddha. Along the Silk Route are fortresses, where the camels, their cargo, and their armed escorts can stay overnight in oases; the need for rest stops is even more essential in the Gobi Desert, where water is at a premium. When the film begins, the Turks have become such a nuisance that the Tang emperor recalls his beautiful daughter Wen Zhu (played by Zhao Wei) to the imperial capital in Changan (present-day Xian); her escort is to be Lai Xi (played by Kanai Kiichi), who went from his native Japan to study martial arts in China some twenty-six years earlier at the age of thirteen. Lai Xi's reward for successfully returning Wen Zhu to Changan is that he will be permitted to return home to Japan, having served a tour of duty as a guardian of the Silk Route for over a decade. However, before beginning the escort assignment, the emperor orders Lai Xi to murder Lieutenant Li (played by Jiang Wen), who disobeyed the emperor's order to kill all Turks who were taken prisoner in a recent battle. Li, who refuses to slaughter civilians, nevertheless continues to guard the caravans. When Lai Xi meets Lt. Li, the two fight to a draw, but they soon combine forces to fend off the Turks who are attempting to seize the cargo, which a young monk at first insists are only manuscripts. The film features several battles, with suspense about who will emerge alive in the eventual clash between Lai Xi and Lt. Li. Titles at the end inform filmviewers that the Tang dynasty was blessed with longevity upon receipt of the sacred cargo. MH
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