Green
Snake
1993
Director- Tsui Hark
Cast- Maggie Cheung, Joey Wong, Vincent Zhao, Wu Hsing-kuo
Based on a
Chinese folk tale, Green Snake is the story of two snake spirits that take the
forms of beautiful young women.
White Snake (Joey Wong) is 1,000
years old and seeks out a relationship with a local school teacher whom she
views as a nice and honest man. White’s aspiration is to move along the karmic
wheel and become a human and sees her relationship with the school teacher as
part of that journey.
Green Snake (Maggie Cheung) is
much younger (only 500 years old) and as such is impetuous and flirty. Not
interested in being human, she still enjoys being a snake. She sets her sights
on a young, powerful Buddhist monk. White warns Green about the folly of this,
as the monk has little tolerance for non-humans and is a powerful demon hunter.
White pursues her romance with
the school teacher and Green becomes jealous for what she doesn’t have. She flirts
with the school teacher, creating tension between the couple and her sister. What’s
worse, White has hidden her true nature from the school teacher who doesn’t
seem to have what it takes to handle the truth, forcing White to live a lie to
hold on to love.
Wanting a romance of her own,
Green decides to turn up the heat with the monk. He indulges her flirtation,
believing his willpower can resist her erotic charms. He fails miserably, and
instead of accepting responsibility for his own weakness, he turns his anger on
the snake sisters, vowing to destroy them.
At first glance, Green Snake is similar to the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy. Tsui Hark produced those
films and directed Green Snake. Joey Wong stars in all of them. All take place
in a fantasy feudal Chinese setting. But the similarities are all superficial.
Chinese Ghost Story is an
optimistic story, essentially saying that love can conquer all, even death.
Green Snake, on the other hand, tells us that love doesn’t have much of a
chance against prejudice, fear, and religious zeal. The demon hunting monk is as
single minded and self-righteous as any European witch hunter.
The hope for growth, and it’s
pain, is also a central theme. Early in the story, the monk comes across a
spider that has been working hard to reincarnate as a human. The monk dismisses
the spider’s efforts and condemns it to restart its work on the karmic wheel.
As White becomes more human, the gap between she and Green becomes apparent. A
wedge is driven between the sisters through no one’s fault.
Beyond its central themes,
Tsui Hark spends a lot of effort constructing beautiful visual images. The
special effects aren’t nearly as convincing as Chinese Ghost Story, but Green
Snakes’ sets are vivid and almost other worldly. Chinese Ghost Story, by virtue
of its story, was set in dark, gloomy surroundings. Green Snake is quite bright
and vibrant, which, in the end, just serves to highlight the somber message it
is juxtaposed against.
Green Snake isn’t as entertaining
as Chinese Ghost Story (which is, in my opinion, the best thing to have come
from the hey day of Hong Kong cinema with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 other
films). Green Snake is a harder film to watch because of its somber message.
But it is thought provoking and moving and worth a view for any fan of folk
horror, Eastern mythology, or classic Hong Kong cinema.
Want more? Check out a review of the entire Chinese Ghost Story saga here:
