Bodyguards & Assassins (十月圍城) 觀後感

Hooray! I finished grading all the papers and submitting all the report cards today. That also means starting from tomorrow I can take a week off and visit one of the world wonders in Indonesia, Borobudur Temple Compounds. I've been meaning to check this famous Buddhist ancient ruins in the flesh for a long time. Finally I can get away for a few days, recharge my batteries, and get around to it this winter. As you can tell, I'm so pumped up about it.

Although I've been up to my ears these days, I still set aside some time and went to see a great movie called "Bodyguards and Assassins" (十月圍城). In my opinion, every Chinese and Taiwanese citizen should watch this movie at least once because this movie shows how difficult it is to overthrow an authoritarian and autarchic regime, and establish a democratic republic country "by the people, for the people, of the people." Compared to those politicians who only care about their own interests nowadays, the anonymous heroes who perished for the revolutionary movement are so noble and should be remembered and respected for good.

The backdrop of the movie is in early 1900s when the Ching Dynasty was corrupt and people in China wanted to overthrow this impotent and weak empire. To coordinate all the revolutionary forces and successfully overthrow the Ching Dynasty, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who later became the founding father of the Republic of China (中華民國), decides to go to Hong Kong from Japan and discusss more details with prominent revolutionists from all over China. However, the Ching Dynasty gets the lead and sends some assassins. They plan to assasinate Dr. Sun Yat-sen once he disembarks on Hong Kong so that they can nip the whole revolution in the bud. To protect Dr. Sun Yat-sen, eight bodyguards are recruited by local revolutionists. The bodyguards come from different backgrounds and volunteer to carry out this mission for various reasons. However, there is one thing in common. All they all want to do is to distract and mislead the assassins for one hour in the hope that Dr. Sun Yat-sen can have more time to discuss how to launch attacks and revolt against the Ching empire.

The movie portrays how devoted and committed those bodyguards are even though they all know their livs are on the line. However, watching those bodyguards killed one by one still brought a tear to my eye. Their noble thoughts and brave behavior deeply touched me. I'd like to recommend this movie to all of you. It's definitely worth sitting through at a movie theather. Don't miss out on it.

I'll be off to Indonesia tomorrow and keep you guys posted what's going on during the trip. If you are interested, don't forget to come back to my blog from time to time. If you happen to watch "Bodyguards and Assassins", you are also welcome to share your thoughts with me.

"Bodyguards & Assassins" trailers:

1. Trailer #1

2. Trailer #2

3. Trailer #3

4. Trailer #4