When asked which conflict has been the bloodiest in the history of humanity, the consensus answer is invariably the Second World War. When pressed for the second bloodiest, the typical response is the First World War. However, this is a misconception; the dubious honour actually belongs to the Taiping Rebellion, a conflict that tore China apart between 1851 and 1864. By most conservative estimates, this civil war claimed the lives of between 20 million and 30 million people, effectively doubling the body count of the Great War and dwarfing the casualties of WWII. Its demographic and economic consequences for China were indescribably destructive, and most historians assert that the war made the major contribution to what would later be known as the Century of Humiliation. Yet, despite the staggering scale of this tragedy and its profound impact on the modern world, there have been relatively few cinematic depictions of those events on either the big or small screen. One of those rarities is The Warlords, a 2007 epic directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan (Tsui Hark’s brother-in-law).
The film opens during the late stages of the war in the early 1860s, setting the tone immediately with the chaos and despair of a nation under siege. We are introduced to the nominal protagonist, Pang Qingyun, played by Jet Li. Pang is an officer in the Imperial army, a man who has seen his entire battalion slaughtered by Taiping rebels. He survives the carnage by playing dead, a harrowing ordeal that leaves him shellshocked and tortured by the survivors' guilt. Roaming the war-ravaged countryside, he encounters wandering peasants and meets Liangsheng (Xu JIanglei), a beautiful woman with whom he spends a night in an abandoned house. Later, he crosses paths with Zhao Erhu (played by Andy Lau) and Jiang Wuyang (played by Takeshi Kaneshiro), the leaders of a group of peasants who have turned to banditry to support themselves by raiding Taiping supply convoys. Upon arriving in their mountain stronghold, Pang is surprised to discover that Liangsheng is actually Zhao’s wife. When Imperial troops raid the stronghold and seize all the peasants' food, Pang proposes a pragmatic solution: he suggests that Zhao and Jiang form a militia that would fight the rebels for the Qing government in exchange for money. They agree, and the three men swear a blood oath to treat each other as brothers.
This alliance forms the crux of the film’s narrative engine. Their militia force, despite initially lacking firearms, begins to score spectacular victories against much larger Taiping armies. These successes, however, make other Imperial commanders and Qing Dynasty top officials jealous and wary of Pang’s rising popularity and political ambitions. The narrative then pivots to a series of escalating crises, the most pivotal being the order to capture the heavily fortified and well-defended city of Suzhou. After a year of bloody siege, Pang’s force is completely demoralised, running out of food and supplies. In a desperate bid to end the stalemate, Zhao infiltrates the city in disguise to kill the Taiping commander. He succeeds, only to find that the enemy is in the same conditions of starvation. The Taiping commander agrees to be killed by Zhao in exchange for his men's lives being spared after surrender. However, Pang, who has barely procured ten days' worth of supplies that he intends to use for an attack on the rebel capital of Nanjing, decides not to honour the promise. Instead, he orders a massacre of the prisoners. Jiang reluctantly carries out the order, while Zhao, in disgust, threatens to desert. Pang justifies his decision with a ruthless pragmatism, arguing that he cannot afford to feed prisoners and that the capture of Nanjing—which could end the war and years of people’s suffering—is the morally correct choice.
Nanjing eventually falls, but the victory is soured by political infighting. Defying Imperial authority, Zhao pays off his army with confiscated money rather than filling the imperial coffers. Pang is eventually rewarded with the title of governor, but the Imperial officials express their displeasure with Zhao’s insubordination and hint that he should be eliminated. When Pang agrees and Jiang learns of the plans, he also discovers that Pang had been having an affair with Liangsheng. He tries to save Zhao, but in the end, his blood oath compels him to punish treachery in a way that leads to tragic bloodshed.
From a technical perspective, The Warlords is a spectacle that belies its director's usual forte. Made in a Chinese-Hong Kong coproduction with a very large budget, the film’s production values are most visible in the large battle scenes in the first half of the film. Although not as massive as those in Red Cliff the choreography is quite impressive, and even more so considering that there was little CGI used. The reconstruction of mid-19th-century warfare vividly shows the old world embodied in swords, spears, and arrows giving way to the new world of rifles and artillery. Notably, the scene of the siege of Suzhou resembles a depiction of trench warfare in the Great War, offering a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of military tactics.
Like many East Asian films dealing with warfare, The Warlords does not shy away from explicit violence and plenty of gore. There are numerous scenes depicting the suffering of ordinary people, with innocent civilians being killed, and what is relatively rare for Chinese films, young women being raped. In this particular case, such disturbing content does not seem exploitative; rather, it matches the historical record and clearly shows the audience the true nature of that traumatic episode of Chinese history.
However, regardless of how impressive this reconstruction might be, the film is conceptually undermined by its script. Chan was inspired by Blood Brothers, a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts film with the same period setting and a plot similar enough to make The Warlords look like a remake. Chan attempts to frame this catastrophic historic event through a relatively conventional drama that includes a love triangle. He fails to find the proper balance between the broader scope of history and the personal issues of the characters. As a result, some of the characterisation suffers, particularly in the case of Pang. His transformation from a shellshocked survivor and noble idealist into a ruthless and treacherous pragmatist is not well-explained; the audience is simply expected to accept the shift without sufficient grounding.
In terms of acting, Jet Li does well what he can with his role, though he is somewhat hampered by the script's lack of nuance. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, however, are much better as his blood brothers. There is a palpable chemistry between Jet Li and Xu Jinglei, who is very credible as the rural Chinese femme fatale. Their interactions carry the emotional weight of the film, grounding the epic stakes in human emotion.
The biggest problem for The Warlords, at least if the Western audience is concerned, is the lack of historical context. The Taiping Rebellion is, for all kinds of reasons—much of it having to do with it not fitting into the ideological parameters of either Chinese Communism or Chinese nationalism—largely unknown in the West. Very few people would understand what is going on or who is fighting whom. Chan’s film also tries to simplify the conflict by completely removing external forces, including the Ever Victorious Army of Western mercenaries, which under the leadership of the famous British soldier Charles Gordon, played an important and rather controversial role in the Siege of Suzhou. By omitting these details, the film reduces a complex geopolitical struggle to a simple three-man drama, which limits its educational value for those unfamiliar with the period.
Despite its flaws, the film was well-received by East Asian audiences, especially in Hong Kong, and later received top film awards both in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In the end, The Warlords can be recommended for the fans of Asian cinema and historical epics, although at least some familiarity with mid-19th-century China is required to properly enjoy it. For those willing to overlook the character inconsistencies and the simplified historical narrative, it offers a visually stunning and emotionally resonant look at one of history's bloodiest conflicts.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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