Zhou Wu

I watched this movie in the greater context of the main actress, Liu Yifei's film career, so my opinions and what I take into account may differ to other viewers who see this film in isolation. For me, this is very much her coming of age story, where she went from her sudden rise to fame through the Chinese WuXia TV series, Tianlongbabu as the key damsel in distress, to her present day role as the leading protagonist in an English speaking role where she carries the action and narrative. As a movie, it is also her trial by fire as she is plagued by real life politics, both from abroad, where she is seen as too pro CCP as seen by her support of the Hong Kong police, and in China, she is seen as playing in a movie that didn't feel quite native Chinese. For me, this background just gives this movie that much more edge to me, because there is so much on the line for her. She demonstrated solidarity with a man from the Mainland the Hong Kong protesters decided not to take chances with in case he was a collaborator. Whether or not he was, that is still unclear, but he was presented as a victim of protestor brutality. And that won Liu Yifei's sympathy, for which she suffers censor for overseas. Whatever the case in the end, what is clear to me is that like the Mulan in the movie, the real world Liu Yifei is forced to make very many tough and very compromising choices, where her personal convictions can lead her into a place where she faces threats, both from home and abroad (just like the Mulan in the film, facing the physical threat of death at the hands of the invading barbarian army, as well as the psychological threat of being found out to be an imposter, that is, a young lady masquerading as a man, which leads to a threat of disgrace for Mulan that she thinks of as a fate worse than death). Certainly, this is not the classic black and white story people are used to for Disney classics. Nevertheless, may it be that like the phoenix that protected her in the movie, may she also be protected in real life so that no matter how bad things look, she might yet come out of it smelling of roses.