Watching the Perfect Ip Man

Propaganda movies are movies that aim to inspire people to subscribe to the agenda or ideology that is being portrayed. The Nazis are expert in the field of propaganda that many Germans were fooled by their twisted ideology. Communists also utilized propaganda movies during the Cold War. The Ip Man movies that watched were not propaganda movies but they gave me a feeling that it is.

Ip Man is the master of Bruce Lee. He originated from Foshan and escaped to Hongkong when Maoists took over the Chinese government. Ip Man established the martial arts of Wing Chun.

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I first saw the Ip Man movie while am riding a bus on the way home. The fight scenes are superb and I can see that the actors are well-rehearsed in their stunts. I also enjoyed watching the whole movie from the time when Ip Man defeated the Northern master, Jin Shanzhao, to his fight with Japanese general Miura at the end of the movie. I wanted to watch the whole movie, that’s I am glad when my brother brought not only one but all of the Ip Man movies.

Ip Man has three movies. The first movie is set during the time when Japanese soldiers invaded mainland China. Ip Man 2 is set after World War and at the time when Ip Man is establishing his dojo in Hongkong. Ip Man Zero is about the young Ip Man and was set prior to Sino-Japanese War.

Each movie has excellent fight scenes at the each end. Ip Man Zero has intense fight between Ip Man and the Japanese instigators. Ip Man 2 has a fight between Ip Man and a Japanese general who is a karate master. Ip Man 2 has a fight between Ip Man and a famous British boxer. Ip Man won all those fights.

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Ip Man vs the boxer.

What I noticed about the Ip Man movies is that Ip Man was portrayed as a perfect person. He is the one who saved the country from the evil plans of the Japanese. He is the one who upheld the pride of whole Foshan against a Northern martial arts master. He is the one who defeated a Japanese general and inspired the people to fight the Japanese. He is the one whom all Hongkong masters depended on when standing against foreign pigs (the British colonizers). Having a perfect character is not a problem in a fictional movie. Ip Man movies, however, are supposedly biographical. I can’t believe that the true Ip Man can do all those things. A perfect Ip Man in the movie made me feel that I am watching a propaganda film and not the biography of the man.

My complaints are minor and can be ignored if Ip Man movies are treated as fictional. I enjoyed the watching all of the three Ip Man movies. The fight scenes didn’t disappoint because they are few of the best fight scenes that I saw in a Chinese movie. The movie is very colorful and shows how colorful the Chinese culture is. The Ip Man movies made we want to learn Wing Chun.

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