“And this is not the last time that a film with strong Chinese opera connections is prepared to drag itself out any sense of naturalism, away from any shadow of realism, and instead into a world that is evocative, and allusive to the world of the stage.

“For example, if you look at 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, the entire opening sequence depicts a clash of cavalry forces with no horses, and a massacre of Song loyalists presented in a format that seems designed to line them all up, as if facing an audience beyond a proscenium arch. And that’s because 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, like 14 Amazons, is associated so strongly in the Cantonese mind with these opera performances, that one almost expects such distractions, in much the same way, that people seem to be more forgiving, of cartoonish action in films based on comics.

“‘A bridge of human bodies’ is a phrase I have heard before in Chinese military history, and it tends to be used in a much more prosaic fashion, much as Henry V ‘blocks up the walls with our English dead.’ As far as I can remember, I can’t actually recall exactly which author it originates from, or even if it is an official proverb, but I do recall seeing it referring to siege warfare where a pile of bodies becomes the ramp by which a victorious army descends.

“So this sequence frankly carnivalises it, turns it into a literal bridge, of living bodies, who somehow perform the function of allowing all the Amazon’s army to cross this ravine, and it’s, for me, at least, it’s a low point in the film, because it throws realism completely out the window. Not naturalism, because this is clearly a fictionalisation of events, but true realism, adhering to the rules that the text has set for itself. But I think I’m in a minority here, because everybody else thinks this is just bonkers, and suitably entertaining for the cheap seats.”

From my commentary track to 14 Amazons, found in Arrow’s Shawscope #3 box set.