Bending boughs of bamboo trees fill the screen. The clank of swords pierces the rustling of the leaves. A woman and a man spring from branch to branch, intent on their duel, the sky their backdrop. This scene epitomizes the spirit of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm).

Lee blends Chinese martial arts and romance to create an almost celestial film in which the actors literally soar to rooftops and treetops during no-holds barred fight scenes. The combat dazzles. The romance enchants. The characters captivate.

Based on Chinese legends of a warrior class encompassing men and women, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon revolves around a sacred sword, the Green Destiny. Its owner Li Mu Bi (Chow Yun Fat) returns to the home and trading business of Yu Shulien (Michelle Yeoh). These great warriors share an unspoken love. But Li experienced a dark vision while on a retreat and decides to retire from martial life. He entrusts Yu Shulien with delivering the sword to a respected elder in the city.

Someone, however, steals the Green Destiny from its new home. Yu Shulien confronts the young warrior, dressed in black and wearing a mask, and attempts to recover the sword. This first fight scene sets the tone for the action to follow. Yu Shulien and the masked thief run up walls, hop from roof to roof, twirl up into the air and battle each other using martial arts techniques.

Yu Shulien fails to retrieve the sword, but suspects the warrior's identity. Prior to the theft, a district governor and his wife arrived in town to arrange the wedding of their daughter, Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi). Jen and her governess (Cheng Pei Pei) lead secret lives, which ultimately intertwine their fates with those of Li Mu Bai and Yu Shulien. A young man (Chang Chen) who breaks into Jen Yu's bedroom one night adds more mystery to this seemingly cloistered woman's life.

The choreography of the combat in this multi-awardwinning epic -- especially the sword fighting -- amazes. And so it should. Yuen Wo-Ping, a recognized master of designing martial arts sequences for movies, including The Matrix, created these graceful and yet fierce scenes. One fight sequence, however, which takes place in a restaurant, plays for laughs.

Ang Lee prevented dubbed voices for American audiences, preserving the movie's integrity. To the foreign ear, the tones and inflections of the classical Mandarin Chinese dialogue create music as vital to the film as the haunting sound track, which features Yo Yo Ma on the cello. This combination heightens the mystical quality of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee creates an ethereal world. Enter it.

Lynn I. Miller

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