DVD: Mulan

Mulan, is a young girl living with her parents and younger sister Xiu in her village in China. Chasing a rogue chicken through the common space, when it flies onto the roof, Mulan thinks nothing of following the bird onto the roof, much to the shock of their neighbours. As the chicken flies off the roof and back into its coop, Mulan's father, Zhou along with their neighbours, watches as she slips on the tiles. However, Mulan easily saves herself, her strange display causing people to shake their heads.

That night Mulan's parents argue with her father saying Mulan is young while her mother reminds him a daughter's place is to bring honour to a family through marriage. While Mulan's sister Xiu will have no problems making a match, they will have trouble for an unconventional daughter like Mulan. Mulan's mother is concerned she will be considered a witch.

During her escapade on the roof, Mulan broke a wing off the phoenix located at the entrance to their shrine. Outside that night, sitting by the damaged statue, Mulan's father tells her that the phoenix is the emissary for their ancestors. In folklore, it is consumed by flame but emerges again. Zhou tells his daughter that although her "chi" is strong, it is for warriors and not daughters. He tells her she must "hide her gift away", and "silence its voice." 

Meanwhile, on the Silk Road in northwest China, a lone caravan driver encounters a strange woman, dressed in black. This woman, Xianniang takes on the man's form and travels to an outpost, easily walking inside. The outpost is then attacked by Rourans, who overrun the defenses. Xianniang, the black witch, emerges from her disguise, helping the Rourans to destroy the outpost. She assumes a soldier's form and now travels to the Imperial City in Central China where she appears before the emperor as the soldier.

The Chancellor tells the Emperor that to date six outposts along the Silk Road have fallen in coordinated attacks. This has disrupted all trade and could lead to the collapse of the kingdom. The surviving soldier (Xianniang in the soldier's form) states that the attackers are Rourans, led by Bori Khan who fights alongside a woman whose chi is "beyond imagining". When the Emperor states that he killed Bori Khan, the soldier reveals that it is Bori Khan's son who has taken his father's name and who leads the attacks. The Chancellor reminds him that it is illegal to use chi for evil, however the soldier tells the court that this mysterious woman has trained elite shadow warriors to aid Bori Khan. The Emperor decrees that every family in the kingdom will supply a warrior to create a vast army to protect the people. 

After delivering her message the black witch returns to the Rouran camp and confronts Bori Khan. But he stands his ground, warning her she needs him to get what she wants. Meanwhile at this time, Mulan is now a young teenager who returns one day from riding to learn her family has used the matchmaker to find her a husband. At the matchmaker's home, things do not go as planned when Mulan attempts to hide a spider to calm her sister Xiu who is deathly afraid of spiders. As her family leaves in shame from the matchmakers home, soldiers from the Emperor arrive announcing the edict. As each family's name is read out to receive their scroll, Mulan's family realize that Zhou, partially disabled will have to enlist. 

That night Li attempts to convince her husband to stay behind but he angrily refuses.  Later on Mulan watches her father prepare his armour and sword. He tells Mulan that the phoenix has followed him into battle before and will protect him again. The phoenix will tell their ancestors he has been loyal, brave and true. Mulan laments that if she were son, he would not have to fight. When everyone is asleep, Mulan, dressed in her father's armour, leaves to fight in her father's place. In the morning Zhou's missing armour, sword and scroll indicate that Mulan has left to fight. Unable to pursue Mulan as this would expose her and mean her death, Zhou appeals to the phoenix to watch over her.

With the phoenix's protection and her determination to be loyal, brave, and true, Mulan becomes a formidable warrior, strong enough to challenge the black witch and Bori Khan and change the fate of the kingdom, while bringing honour to her family and her village.

Discussion

Mulan was the much anticipated live-action retelling of the famous Chinese legend about a woman warrior. The film is very appealing visually, with its exotic costuming, rich cinematography, and exciting action scenes and two delicious villains. 

In this retelling, the two main female characters, Mulan and a black witch called Xianniang possess extraordinary "chi" or "life energy". With such a strong chi, they are physically able to do feats that are impossible for other humans. It is the classic battle between good and evil; Mulan who is young and virtuous with her life before her and Xianniang who has been shunned because of her abilities and has turned to evil.

In ancient China, as Mulan's father Hua Zhou warns her, chi is for warriors, not women and that only a son can wield chi. Using her chi will bring shame on their family and she will be considered a witch, so he tells her she must "silence its voice". This shame and banishment has already been experienced by Xianniang, who we learn, was driven out of her home "like a dog", her abilities scorned. 

When the two meet, during Mulan's first battle, it is a young Mulan facing defeat at the hands of a more experienced and powerful adversary. Xianniang tells Mulan that her lie - posing as a male warrior,  has violated the virtue of being "true" and has poisoned her chi. Mulan is not true to who she is - a young woman with a powerful chi, but instead has chosen to hide her powers as a man. This has already caused Mulan internal conflict but she is afraid to reveal her true self because she knows this will bring about disgrace to herself, her family and her village. Her motivation, to protect her father, while noble, has broken the warrior code of "loyal, brave and true." The black witch defeats Mulan in this first encounter, but the protection of the phoenix saves her from death. Mulan now makes the crucial decision to return to the Imperial army and reveal herself as a woman warrior, to be true to who she is. This being true to oneself is a popular message that resonates with many but does have consequences.

Fortunately, things go differently for Mulan than they did for the black witch. Although she is initially rejected by Commander Tung, her fellow warriors, Po, Honghui, Yao, Cricket and Ling stick by her. Mulan is allowed to lead a crack force of warriors to aid the Imperial city and save the Emperor.

An unexpected plot twist occurs during the battle for the Imperial City. Xianniang, seeing that Mulan has been accepted for who she is, brings about an unexpected plot twist in the movie - she changes sides, and saves Mulan's life by sacrificing her own. This action seems out of character, as she has been portrayed as a ruthless, cruel witch who kills at will and who is determined to overthrow the Emperor for her own power - although that's never been quite explained either. Her sudden reversal and her betrayal of Bori Khan, comes about, as the Imperial City is being attacked, her goal almost achieved. This action seems incongruous for the character, although one might argue that witnessing Mulan achieve what she wasn't able to, might be the reason. 

Mulan has thrilling action scenes with plenty of wire work by the stunt actors, to achieve the gravity-defying moves of scaling vertical walls and flying horizontally through the air. The movie is also exceptionally well cast; Yifei Liu is a sensitive, courageous Mulan, Donnie Yeo is tough and wise Commander Tung, Li Gong is the evil Xianniang, Jason Scott Lee is a deliciously wicked Bori Khan, and Yoson An plays Mulan's admirer, Honghui. Well known American actress, Rosalind Chao is Mulan's mother Hua Li, while veteran Asian American actor Tzi Ma plays Mulan's father Hua Zhou.

Sadly Mulan never made it into theatres due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it's probably just as well. It's difficult to support a movie filmed in China with its crackdown on Hong Kong protestors and human rights abuses involving the Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities.  In addition, the film was shot predominantly in Xinjiang, where there are concentration camps for Uighur Muslims. And actress Yifei Liu has come out in support of the suppression of demonstrations in Hong Kong. This movie was viewed on DVD from a library.

For this reason, viewers are advised to forgo watching this move and instead enjoy a far better retelling of this legend by reading the novel, Mulan by Sherry Thomas. The storyline is superb and there is just a hint of romance in the story, something the live-action Mulan stayed away from until the very end.

Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas

Hua Mulan lives in a small town in the north with her father, her little brother Murong, their servant Auntie Xia and her thirty-year-old son Dabao. They used to live in the south, in a house on Lake Tai but left after Mulan's father was severely injured in a duel that left him paralyzed. Mulan's twin brother, Muyang died when they were infants, shortly after her father's injury. Mulan was recorded as having died and she took her brother's place and his identity.

Mulan's father began training her to fight when she was very young in preparation to fight a duel. The story begins with Mulan meeting her future adversary secretly at a cleared area near an abandoned shrine, three days after the Lantern Festival. It has been two years since they last crossed swords. Her adversary, Yuan Kai has been the one to arrange these meetings. He has brought his sword Sky Blade, but Mulan has only a cheap bronze practice sword and not Heart Sea, "the priceless family heirloom that is at the root of the enmity" between them. The two fight, testing each other's abilities until their lanterns blow out, ending the session.

Half a month later, Mulan and her father receive a letter from Yuan Kai stating that he will not be able to partake in the scheduled duel due to the impending conflict with the Rouran. Before Mulan and her father can decide how to respond, they learn that an imperial messenger will be arriving in the village soon and that every house must send a messenger to the marketplace. Mulan, disguised as a man, arrives at the marketplace along with the rest of the village men. They are informed by an Xianbei messenger that the Rouran are invading and that "each household is to contribute an able-bodied male for the realm's defense. No exceptions. Conscripts are to report tomorrow at dawn."

Suddenly Mulan is gripped with the realization that her family has no able-bodied male. Her father is paralyzed, her brother Murong is too young and Dabao has the mind of a child. She knows she will have to be conscripted. On her way home, Mulan quickly purchases the best horse she can find. At home she tells her family of her decision to volunteer. Mulan's father gives her several weapons including the family heirloom, Heart Sea.

When Mulan reports for the conscription she has them change the name on the list from her dead brothers, to her own of Hua Mulan. Mulan along with hundreds of conscripts being the long march in columns to an encampment containing thousands of other conscripts. She cannot help but wonder if Yuan Kai is among them.

Once in the encampment, Mulan hears talk about someone called "the princeling" having arrived. She also begins to realize being a woman in a large war encampment with thousands of men is going to make if very difficult to hide her sex. How will she escape being discovered. But then an unexpected opportunity presents itself.

When Mulan first sees the princeling, she is stunned at how familiar is his movements and mannerisms are to her. They remind her of Yuan Kai, but she tries to put this out of her mind. Accompanying him is a large man named Captain Helou who treats the princeling with great respect and deference. Suddenly, a soldier comes forward to request a chance to demonstrate his martial arts skills with Captain Helou. Helou of course easily defeats the young soldier. Mulan decides to challenge Helou, requesting that he shoot three arrows at her from a pace of fifty feet, which she will catch with her bare hands while blindfolded.

The first two arrows that Captain Helou shoots, Mulan easily catches. But on the third shot, Mulan discerns three arrows coming directly at her with great speed. Stunned, she yanks out her sword, Heart Sea, slicing through the arrows and catching one of the broken shafts. When Mulan removes the blindfold she discovers that it was the princeling on his horse using a more powerful bow who shot the arrows. Furious, she approaches the princeling who asks her name and inquires if she wishes to join them. Hua Mulan agrees, realizing that this will get her out of the encampment.However, little does Mulan realize that she has embarked on a journey with her long feared nemesis, the young man she is fated to meet in a duel. It is a journey of self-discovery, revelation about her family's past, of redemption, forgiveness and love!


Discussion

Magnolia Sword, is a superbly crafted version of the Mulan legend/folktale.  Author Sherry Thomas has managed to blend history, romance and adventure into a captivating tale for teens and adults alike. Thomas, who grew up in China, writes in her Author's Note that she "chose to infuse it with elements of wuxia, a uniquely Chinese literary genre that explores themes of honor, sacrifice, vengeance and forgiveness through the adventures of almost mythically adept martial artists." And in this regard, Thomas succeeds beyond imagination!

Although the story is about the legendary female warrior Mulan, Thomas has created an interesting backstory that forms the basis of the plot for this retelling. Hua Mulan is fated to meet another highly skilled warrior Yuan Kai in a duel in which the winner will claim two special swords. Mulan's family has one sword, called Heart Sea, while her opponent's family, the Pengs have its mate, Sky Blade. The Hua and Peng families have been rivals for generations, fighting over the two swords.

Two generations earlier Kai's grandfather Peng hoped to end the duels by arranging a marriage between Mulan's father Hua Manlou and Peng's daughter. However, Mulan's father was in love with another woman. He refused the marriage offer and married the woman he loved, Mulan's mother.  This meant that the duel now had to be fought between Peng's daughter and Manlou. However, before the duel could be fought, Peng's daughter became very ill and her sister stepped in to fight Manlou. She won the duel, seriously injuring Manlou. When she approached Manlou to retrieve his sword, he acted dishonourably and threw two hidden weapons, poisoned bronze lillies at her. She died from the poison. Peng's daughter who fought Manlou was Yuan Kai's mother. So now that the children, Mulan and Kai are grown, they too must fight the duel to see who will possess the swords.

Mulan knows none of this until she is accepted into a special band of warriors led by a princeling whom she is certain is the opponent she must fight in the duel. She has met this opponent several times but their faces have always been covered so she cannot be entirely certain. The princeling takes them to his home where Mulan learns his real identity and the truth about the duel years ago from his aunt, the woman her father refused to marry.  Mulan now knows that the princeling is Yuan Kai. Mulan believes that the princeling does not know she is a woman.

However there are several twists in the story. Shortly after Mulan's father returned from the duel, Mulan's twin brother, Muyang died. Wishing to keep this a secret, Manlou had Mulan take over her dead brother's identity, training her to be a skilled martial arts warrior. What Mulan does not know is that Yuan Kai knows she is a woman disguised as a male warrior. He made this discovery years earlier when he travelled to Mulan's home on Lake Tai and witnessed a young girl in a boat who transformed herself into a young warrior.

However, most of this is revealed gradually throughout the story, drawing the reader into the story. What is the true identity of the princeling and does he know that Mulan is a girl warrior? As the story develops, from the warrior band's mission to scout out the movements of the invading Rouran to the discovery of a traitor in their party and the impending invasion of the imperial city, Mulan must make a decision.

When Mulan learns of her father's dishonorable behaviour during the duel years ago she is devastated and filled with shame. Her initial decision is to remain at the Great Wall in relative safety, feeling she has done her duty by enlisting and keeping her promise to her family to stay safe and return. However, this decision makes Mulan feel conflicted. She has not been trained "in yiqi, the code of honor and brotherhood that governs righteous conduct for men." After all she is a woman, expected to lead a life serving men. Her conduct is to be "judged almost entirely on her chastity, obedience, and self-effacement." However Mulan decides to continue with the princeling and his elite band, looking at herself as someone who is a person who has skills to offer. "Brotherhood might be unique to men, but loyalty, devotion to friends, and a sense of fairness are not."

Mulan expects Kai to be filled with a spirit of vengeance and is surprised to find he is not. When she questions Kai as to what made him no longer want to kill her father, he astonishes her by replying that he never wished to do so. "What would I have done, by killing your father, except make things worse for his family? And what would I have done, by wanting to kill him, except make things worse for me?"  Kai eventually reveals that once he discovered he was to fight Hua Manlou's daughter "in the guise of her brother", he wished that they "could have met under different circumstances." And so both Kai and Mulan put aside the old enmity between their families and work together to save their country. And ultimately to unite their families with forgiveness, compassion and redemption.

Thomas has done a superb job of crafting the characters of Mulan and Kai. Both are honorable, intelligent, disciplined and loyal. Their relationship develops and matures gradually over the course of the story, from two adversaries who do not trust one another to friendship and then to a delicate and tender love born out of forgiveness and mutual respect. Their story is timeless and the themes of forgiveness, compassion and repentance, enduring.

Magnolia Sword is a bright spot in young adult literature and might very well be the best book written for teens this year. This novel would hold up well as a screen adaptation.

Book Details:

Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas
New York: TU Books     2019
348 pp.

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey

Wild Orchid is an unpretentious little paperback novel that is a well written recounting of the Chinese legend of Mulan by well known author, Cameron Dokey. One of the novels in the Simon Pulse "Once Upon A Time" series, Dokey's poetic prose is well suited to the telling of such wonderful legends and fairytales as Mulan and Scheherazade.

Born in the year of the monkey, Mulan lives on her father's estate in rural China. Mulan did not know her father, Hua Wei, while growing up because he was a great soldier who lived at court with the Emperor. She knew he was very courageous but did not know personally what her father looked like or who he really was. Her father had been fighting against the Huns, a fierce tribe determined to over run northern China.

The Chinese emperor, known as Son of Heaven, saw his beloved son, Prince Jian, captured by the Huns and Hua Wei had rescued him. Son of Heaven granted Hua Wei permission to marry for love. He did so but while away with the emperor, his wife gave birth to Mulan and died. Hua Wei's grief was so great that he has not returned home in thirteen years. He also forbade anyone to speak the name of his beloved wife, so that Mulan does not know her mother's name.

In the years Hua Wei is absent, Mulan grows into an intelligent, courageous young girl who wants to learn more than just what women are normally taught; she wants to learn how to read and write. When she is seven years old, Mulan meets Li Po who shows her how to write and read, teaches her how to use a sword and most importantly to excel at archery. Everything Li Po learns from his tutor he passes on to Mulan, including how to become disciplined. Mulan also learns everything that she needs to at home, how to cook, sew and do embroidery, although she greatly hates these domestic tasks. Li Po and Mulan become close friends, promising to remain so for life.

One day, Mulan's father returns home unexpectedly. The Huns have been defeated for the time being, although Hua Wei has told the Emperor that the son of the dead leader will return to avenge his father's death. Hua Wei has been seriously injured and because of his views about another impending Hun attack, has been ordered home by the Emperor. He arrives home with a friend, General Yuwen Huaji.

At first, Mulan's relationship with her father is not good. Mulan has felt all these years, that if she were a boy, her father would have returned home sooner and more often. She feels he is not proud of her and does not love her. His seeming indifference to her when he arrives home, wounds her deeply. However, as time passes, it becomes evident that Mulan's father, Hua Wei not only has a serious leg wound but also has still not come to terms with his grief over the loss of his wife many years ago. When Mulan tends to her father's leg wound, he thanks her and their relationship begins to develop from that point on. Mulan's father comes to realize that his daughter is very special and takes over teaching her once General Yuwen leaves, taking Li Po with him.

Mulan's father eventually remarries and his new wife is expecting a baby. As he predicted, the Hun's are raising an army to attack China leading the Emperor to send notice that every family must send a man to fight. This means that Mulan's father will have to serve as a foot soldier and will likely not survive the battle. Mulan makes the decision to disguise herself and go in her father's place.

When Mulan arrives at the valley where the battle is expected to take place using the name Hua Gongshi, she is taken to serve with Prince Jian, the Emperor's youngest son. Prince Jian does not know Hua Gonshi is a girl but is impressed with his skill with the bow and arrow. Mulan/Hua Gonshi volunteers for a critical mission that will determine the outcome of the battle. 

Unexpectedly, Mulan finds herself falling in love with Prince Jian who is so much like herself. Facing the Huns in battle will take all her courage, but will Mulan have the courage to tell Prince Jian her true identity and her feelings for him?

Discussion

Told simply in Cameron Dokey's beautifully expressive style, Wild Orchid, is beautifully written, capturing the very essence of this legend through the well drawn voice of Hua Mulan. Readers can easily identify with Mulan's struggle to measure up in her father's eyes, experiencing her hurt at being abandoned and ignored.  Mulan's attempts to forge her own path outside of her culture's expectations for women is a theme that resonates today. In Mulan's world, women were expected to dress and behave a certain way, to marry by the age of fifteen. But Mulan wants none of this, instead recognizing where her talents are and attempting to remain true to herself.

Dokey draws each of the central characters equally well through the use of dialogue and action. Hua Wei is a crusty, battle-hardened warrior who is a romantic at heart. Li Po is Mulan's best friend, who remains supportive and helps Mulan develop her talents. Prince Jian is portrayed as a warrior with integrity and courage, who must forgive Mulan for the breach of trust between them.

Wild Orchid combines a great storytelling with interesting characters to make this one of the best novels of the Once Upon A Time series.

Book Details:
Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey
New York: Simon Pulse     2009
199 pp.