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This is a brief character study on Flying Snow, one of the main characters from Yimou Zhang's film, Hero. Please note that there are huge spoilers below and DO NOT READ unless you have seen the film or are not concerned about knowing what happens beforehand.
People give up their lives for many reasons.
For friendship, for love, for an ideal.
And people kill for the same reasons...
Hero is a beautiful movie, both literally and figuratively. Every time I watch it, I am seized with a feeling of awe over Yimou Zhang's use of color. The color palette in this movie is just so rich, color and light intertwined to evoke scenes of incredible vitality and emotion. Beyond the palette, color is also consciously used symbolically in the costumes of the characters: an entire paper could be written on the color coding in each retelling of past events.
One character in this movie touches me deeper than the others, however, and it's her I want to talk about. Flying Snow. She's the daughter of a Zhao general who was killed by the Qin army, protecting Zhao from assimilation. As a citizen of Zhao, the pride of her people runs in her veins and she believes in Zhao as a sovereign nation. She also believes in vengeance, blood for blood, and wishes both to stop the Qin king from destroying Zhao and to secure revenge for her father's death. She sees the sword as the only way, sees the Qin king as only a doorway of death. Her fundamental failing is a lack of vision. She is a passionate creature.
Red.
The first story is told by the nameless hero, and he paints Flying Snow and Broken Sword in the colors of their darkest passions. While he takes it to extremes, his story is still rife with the truth of how deep Flying Snow's passion goes. His story just deprives her of any vision, which is also a falsehood.
Here is a Flying Snow deeply in love and hate. By following her passions, she has become estranged from her love, Broken Sword, so that they now only reach out to each other to inflict pain. When pushed to the edge and finally told that she is expelled from her love's heart, she reacts in blind, furious pain: she kills her beloved and feels part of herself die with him.
In the subsequent scene in which Moon tries to avenge her Master's death, we see the steel of Flying Snow's soul. She is deep in grief, but she refuses to engage Moon, knowing her powers far outstrip the girl's. However, the girl finally makes enough of a nuisance of herself that Flying Snow helps her "end her life." In this story, Flying Snow herself is the next day killed by the nameless hero.
Blue.
The king counters with his own story, feeling the falsehood underyling the nameless hero's. In his conception of the preceding events, we see a Flying Snow who is ruled by her sense of vision alone. She is calm, logical, and entirely devoted to a higher ideal. This passion of devotion is cold, clinical. She is in complete accord with her love, and their regard for one another is pictured in a highly idealistic light.
While his depiction of her as serenely and thoughtfully devoted to her higher ideal is also false, the king still is correct in his assumption of the mettle of her soul. She is completely devoted to her desires, but she is not supported by the complete agreement of her love.
He also is correct in assuming that Flying Snow would rather injure her love by her own hand than see him die... or stand in her way. She is willing to sacrifice her life and, while she flirts with sacrificing Broken Sword's, she never is truly prepared to follow that route. She has always hoped for something more between them, but is unwilling to sacrifice her inner quest for that something more. This is highly evident when the king depicts her laying down her life without a second thought for a chance at assasinating him.
White.
Once each side has told their own tale, the third side is revealed: the truth. Here we see a Flying Snow in whom passion and virtue merge. She truly loves Broken Sword and wishes for them to share a peaceful life, but she is unwilling to sacrifice her quest for him. She will follow through on what she feels must be done at any cost, and they are far from agreement on what must be done.
And, so, while she will never leave Broken Sword or see him killed, she fights him to disable him. She asks for the nameless hero's help and does not flinch in her betrayal, committing it boldly and with the full expectation that her love would understand this is her and not leave her. She wounds him with regret, but also conviction and respectfully prepares the medicine that will heal him. Then, with the full knowledge that the nameless hero may fail, she puts herself within reach of his sword and believes that he will have the strength and precision to carry through on the plan and bear her quest of revenge to fruition.
Indeed, all goes according to her plan and the nameless hero is in prime position to assasinate the king. But he doesn't, because he came to see a higher vision beyond vengeance. When she discovers this, the foiling of her heart's quest once more, Flying Snow turns on her love, the only one she believes could seed this higher vision:
Broken Sword: "Our Land."
Flying Snow: "Is that all there is in your heart?!"
Broken Sword: "There is also you!"
Flying Snow: "I don't believe you."
O, Flying Snow, unable to see past your anger and the vision in your own heart. Broken Sword is in there too. She forces him to fight her, once more: the sword is all she knows, her heart is full of blades. And, because he knows that it can only end when one of them no longer fights, he allows her blade to pierce him and he falls:
Flying Snow: "Why did you not defend yourself?"
Broken Sword: "So you would finally believe me."
Flying Snow: "Why didn't you block my sword? ... Why didn't you block it? ... Why didn't you?"
But her love doesn't live in his body anymore.
This is the only thing that can penetrate her heart: a grief so huge that it shatters everything in the world for her. Sadly, this is also a pain she cannot survive.
Green.
And, in the midst of all this truth, there is another truth: glimpses of a different Flying Snow. A Flying Snow who was happier, who shared happiness and comfort with Broken Sword even as they pursued their goal of assassinating the king. To see such strength, happiness, and unification makes their closing moments ever more poignant.
Those figures who cleave to the pathway of their hearts have always found a place in mine: Cassandra, Joan d'Arc, Flying Snow, many others. Sometimes they aren't wise. Often, tragedy dogs their heels. But they have integrity, they have purity. They are willing to pursue their hearts through the fire, past most people's ken. Not only do I respect that, but I understand that. It's what I try to do with my own life.
So, Flying Snow captured my heart. She tore it wide open and I ached with her mistakes and wept at her grief and her end. Flying Snow was a proud warrior and the story of her life was a testament to that of the human spirit.
N.B. I took the above screencaps myself from my personal copy of Hero on DVD, however I post them here without permission.