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Traces Of A Dragon (2003)
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Director : Mabel Cheung
Producer : Willie Chan, Solon So
Cast : Jackie Chan, Chan Chi-Long
Narration : Ti Lung
Synopsis :
Jackie Chan grew up thinking that he
was an only child, only to discover later in life that he had two
older sisters. This was followed by the revelation that he also had
two older brothers. Upon finding out about his ‘secret’ family,
Jackie asked his father about his these relations and his parents
life in China. His father did not want to discuss it with him.
Around 1999 Jackie’s mother became quite ill which led to Jackie's
father having a change of heart - he decided that he needed to
tell Jackie the truth about his family history. Traces Of A Dragon
tells this story.
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Review
by Martin Cleary
In his autobiography - My Life In Action – Jackie Chan describes the
fear that discovering that he had two older brothers and sisters
gave him. He feared that he would find out that he was adopted or
some similar terrible secret. The actual truth of Jackie’s parents
backgrounds is just as – if not even more – amazing as Jackie's own
‘rags to riches’ story. As they say, even Hollywood couldn’t write
this. Traces Of A Dragon opens with Jackie's father explaining that
he didn’t want his secrets to die with him, so he finally decided to
reveal to his son his own past. The documentary uses interviews with
Chan Chi-Long (Jackie’s father), and other family members to tell
their collective family history.
Traces Of A Dragon is a fantastic documentary. I was interested in
seeing the film because I am a big fan of Jackie Chan and I am
interested in both his films and in Jackie himself. Traces Of A
Dragon gives us much more than an insight into Jackie’s own
background and his parents previously unrevealed ‘secrets’ - it
provides a basic history of China’s significant political changes
and wars over the 100 years. For anyone not interested in learning
‘history’ - don’t panic. This is a history lesson that doesn’t get
boring, in fact at times it is so surprising that it seems almost
impossible. I won’t reveal too much about exact details of what the
documentary contains, but will say that the Sino-Japanese war, the
establishment of the Communist state and the Cultural Revolution
provide the background for Jackie’s mother and father’s stories.
Both parents had to escape China for different reasons, and between
them have stories of a career in the army, life as a thug,
beheadings, gambling, assassination attempts and selling opium. And
it wasn’t Jackie’s father who was the opium seller!
The film uses quite graphic and violent footage of the Japanese army
invading China and the subsequent Chinese civil war – it’s very
shocking. For viewers – such as myself – this is a really good
introductory lesson in Chinese history. The main tale is told
primarily through Jackie’s father, and hearing the story in his own
words is very moving. Combined with the historical footage, this
documentary packs a mean punch. This is somber stuff. The story is
however told with a sense of achievement and necessity and doesn’t
dwell on sad and emotional moments artificially – nothing is forced.
It is impossible to watch Jackie's older brothers and sisters
talking about being abandoned in China by their parents for years
and not empathize. All of the family members obviously find it
difficult to tell their story – they have all been through some of
the most terrible hardships.
Because Jackie himself is such a well known and familiar character,
it really adds to the film seeing him interact with his family.
There’s no ‘photo-opportunity moments’ – with the exception of one
scene which is supposed to show Jackie in his public persona,
singing karaoke. What we are given is a really candid view of the
Chan family: Jackie’s father speaks
while Jackie sits on the floor and listens as intently as a young
child, and
later we see Jackie taking care of his wheelchair bound mother. For
those less interested in Jackie's fathers background, it is of
course, not too long before the man himself appears in the story and
there is a decent collection of family photographs of the Chan
family living in the
Ambassador’s house in Hong Kong. Jackie’s story is examined -
through his time at the Opera school (again there are numerous
pictures as well as clips of the film Painted Faces) and onto his
initial stuntman career and subsequent move to Australia. When
Jackie decides to move back to Hong Kong then it’s here that
Jackie’s own story really stops as this is the period leading up to
his eventual success which is better recorded in various other books
and documentaries. Jackie’s ‘public history’ is less important here.
If you are already familiar with the story of Jackie’s childhood,
then I can still recommend this as the interviews are very unguarded
and film clips and photographs are very good. Throughout the story
of Jackie's childhood the film juxtaposes his story with that of his
siblings – while Jackie was at the opera school and becoming a
stuntman, his brothers in China were on the streets begging. And the
Opera school sounded bad enough…
The film ends on a slightly unexpected note – which I won’t reveal –
but it displays how honest the documentary makers have been and have
not tried to falsify the actions of either Jackie or his family
members. The 95 minute duration of Traces Of A Dragon go by very
quickly, and are a great encouragement to delve deeper into Chinese
history. It could easily have been much longer but that would’ve
made it harder to watch – it’s subject matter is heavy enough. What
is very eye-opening is that the story of Jackie’s family may well be
both amazing and sad, but it is by no means unique - as their story
is typical of that of thousands of Chinese families.
For casual fans this is an engrossing film, and for Jackie fans it
is very impressive (and intimate) material.
Oh - and another thing – Jackie finds out that his surname is not
even ‘Chan’….
DVD Review - Traces Of A Dragon (German Version)
This German dvd release is the only version that I could find
(cheers Gary!) and while there’s no English writing on the dvd case
or the menu’s (funny that), the film itself has excellent English
subtitles which are grammatically correct. The picture is as sharp
and bright as you could hope, and the sound is always clear – even
when Jackie’s singing karaoke! The
inclusion of Jackie and the filmmakers at the Berlin film festival
is a very interesting accompaniment to the film and rounds off a
decent disc. It would be nice to see a release of this film with
other features – especially a directors commentary – but this is a
strong release. Why the documentary doesn’t seem to have been picked
up for distribution in other markets is beyond me!
Special Features:
Press Conference In Berlin (52mins):
This consists of a press conference on the films release, the panel
of which includes Jackie Chan, the films producer and Mabel Cheung
(the director). The interviews are in German, English and Cantonese
(depending on who is speaking to who) and there are German subtitles
(optional) and an English translator speaking throughout. Jackie
speaks of his discovery and shock at his fathers background, and his
reasons for making the film: originally the project was to be shown
only to his family and so Jackie gives the reasons why he has shown
it to the public. This is a very interesting conference.
Trailers for Traces Of A Dragon:
-English Trailer A (3.15m):
with burnt white English subtitles. Sells the film as Jackie's
fathers’ story.
-English Trailer B (3.12m):
Sells the film by focusing on Jackie relationship with his parents.
-English Trailer C (2.55m):
Sells the film by focusing on Chinese history elements combined with
lots of Jackie.
-German Trailer (2.11m) with German subtitles.
Sells the film as a whole, shows Jackie and his family and
documentary footage of China at war.
Picture Gallery:
These thirteen stills from the film are fairly uninspired as they
are all in the documentary itself, although I’m no fan of ‘stills’
on a dvd anyway unless they’re previously unseen.
Other Trailers:
German ‘dubbed’ trailers for Commandant, Guido Knopp, Farenheit
9/11, Rush Hour, Shanghai Knights, Around The World In 80 Days. It’s
worth watching the Rush Hour trailer just to see Chris Tucker
talking German – it’s quite funny.
DVD Information
Universum Film Release
Content : One disc
Format: Widescreen
Languages: Cantonese / Mandarin
Audio: stereo, 5.1
Subtitles: English, German
Region: 2 (PAL)
Presentation (Cover / Menus): 10/10
Picture: 10/10
Subtitles: 9/10
Special Features: 7/10
Disc Overall: 9/10
Stills From The DVD
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