Law against humanity in Peter Chan Ho-sun’s Wu Xia

Session 3: 7.11 Portraying the Human: Panelist 1This paper explores the cinematic treatment of law, justice, morality and human relationships in Wu Xia (2011). Wu Xia is not just another Hong Kong martial arts film; in fact, it has only three fight scenes and is dialogue heavy. From its stunningly detailed visual recreation of a Chinese rural village in 1917, its incorporation of medicine and physics in its action elements, to a refusal to infuse black and white morality in its character development, the film stands out in its realism. The paper argues that the film ridicules a legalistic approach to justice and places the practice of law at opposite extremes with humanity. I will analyse its jurisprudential musings about free will, punishment and blame attribution for human behaviour. Since the film is a mainland Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, I will also compare the language used in the two different versions released in Hong Kong and mainland China and interpret the contrasts in their respective social, political and historical contexts.postprin