A few days ago, my family and I watched a goofy yet profound movie called Shaolin Soccer. A group of Shaolin monks, after spending years learning the Shaolin way of life and promising their master to do good and promote the Shaolin philosophy, ends up living among the dregs of Hong Kong society, just barely scraping by. Well, one guy does well as a businessman but only by living a life that totally denies everything Shaolin.
One monk who has not given up, kept coming up with schemes to get their message across to the busy and pre-occupied people of Hong Kong. As he explained, if people lived the Shaolin way, they could avoid injury should they step on a banana skin, park cars with ease in Hong Kong's streets and do their mundane jobs with speed and grace. His explanation is illustrated by a goofy sequence of people attempting all that with and without Shaolin. At one time he manages to recruit one of his brothers to sing songs about Shaolin in a bar which quickly devolve into a riot. As they are beaten up, they wondered if their songs were too "directional". Basically, his brothers avoid him whenever they can.
He makes his living as a rag picker, the lowest of the low in Hong Kong, without even enough change to buy sweet buns. One day, he sees a young bun maker using chi and Tao at work. Her motions are sheer poetry and dance and he bursts into song and tells her she is beautiful. Since she has purulent, seeping acne, she thinks he is crazy. She spends all her time hiding behind her hair, not looking anyone in the eyes and making amazing sweet buns.
Everyone at the shop and the monk breaks into a really goofy dance sequence reminiscent of Michael Jackson etc. while the bun girl looks on.
Eventually, the guys stumble onto soccer and realize they are amazing and unbeatable as a team. Their chi is so strong, the ball bursts into flames as it soars through the air. They enter a tournament and defeat scoffers and demons. (In Chinese mythology, demons are beautiful women with facial hair and yes, there is a hilarious scene of them playing against these demons.)
In the final match, they meet Team Evil, owned by someone who is the Chinese version of Satan.
Well, you'll have to watch the rest of the movie to see how it turned out. The bun making girl saves the day for them.
There are several themes running through this movie: incorporating spirituality in daily life; the strength of brotherhood; how despair can make us forget who we are meant to be; how beauty is both inside us and all around us.
All throughout the movie, I kept thinking this is a great metaphor of Christians living in Canada. Of course, I don't think that's what the film makers had in mind when they made this movie. :-)
One monk who has not given up, kept coming up with schemes to get their message across to the busy and pre-occupied people of Hong Kong. As he explained, if people lived the Shaolin way, they could avoid injury should they step on a banana skin, park cars with ease in Hong Kong's streets and do their mundane jobs with speed and grace. His explanation is illustrated by a goofy sequence of people attempting all that with and without Shaolin. At one time he manages to recruit one of his brothers to sing songs about Shaolin in a bar which quickly devolve into a riot. As they are beaten up, they wondered if their songs were too "directional". Basically, his brothers avoid him whenever they can.
He makes his living as a rag picker, the lowest of the low in Hong Kong, without even enough change to buy sweet buns. One day, he sees a young bun maker using chi and Tao at work. Her motions are sheer poetry and dance and he bursts into song and tells her she is beautiful. Since she has purulent, seeping acne, she thinks he is crazy. She spends all her time hiding behind her hair, not looking anyone in the eyes and making amazing sweet buns.
Everyone at the shop and the monk breaks into a really goofy dance sequence reminiscent of Michael Jackson etc. while the bun girl looks on.
Eventually, the guys stumble onto soccer and realize they are amazing and unbeatable as a team. Their chi is so strong, the ball bursts into flames as it soars through the air. They enter a tournament and defeat scoffers and demons. (In Chinese mythology, demons are beautiful women with facial hair and yes, there is a hilarious scene of them playing against these demons.)
In the final match, they meet Team Evil, owned by someone who is the Chinese version of Satan.
Well, you'll have to watch the rest of the movie to see how it turned out. The bun making girl saves the day for them.
There are several themes running through this movie: incorporating spirituality in daily life; the strength of brotherhood; how despair can make us forget who we are meant to be; how beauty is both inside us and all around us.
All throughout the movie, I kept thinking this is a great metaphor of Christians living in Canada. Of course, I don't think that's what the film makers had in mind when they made this movie. :-)
