The other notably epic Asian spectacular making the cinema
rounds in the US this season is He Pings WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND
EARTH, a thickly hewn and sprawling spectacular less
philosophical and much more earthly than HERO but just as
compelling. Along the lines of Koreas splendid MUSA THE WARRIOR,
this film tells of warfare, intrigue, and honor in the Gobi Desert.
(A Japanese emissary is sent to the Gobi desert to execute a
renegade soldier. When a caravan transporting a Buddhist monk and a
valuable treasure is threatened by thieves, however, the two
warriors might unite to protect the travelers. -imdb.com. As with
HERO, the 2003 film has been available on Region 3 DVD in Asia for
some time). An unusual choice for composer is Indias famed
Bollywood maestro, A.R. Rahman, who has composed a thoroughly
Western styled orchestral score, given cultural echoes through the
unique sound of a Chinese erhu. But the approach is thoroughly
Western orchestral, a vibrant and lavishly adventurous score,
accentuated by large choir, that takes the Asian melody of the erhu
and creates out of it a full-blooded adventure theme that gives the
film and its story an impressive, larger-than-life sensibility.
Like Duns HERO, Rahmans WARRIORS score is intricately textured,
using the array of acoustic sounds in his orchestra to create a
depth of orchestration and persuasive range of sound to create a
very rich and evocative musical delineation that supports the
storys multiple levels. Its often a quite mesmerizing and
affecting score.
Sony Music Japan has released the soundtrack CD, which is performed
by the Czech Film Orchestra and Chorus. The
The Japanese edition of A. R. Rahman's score included Chinese and
American versions of the soundtrack's vocal song.
CD includes a Chinese version of the main theme song, Warriors in
Peace," sung by Jolin Tsai, and an English version sung by Sunitha
Sarathy. Interestingly, when Sony decided to market the score in
the US and UK (evidently before the film was rushed into domestic
release in the aftermath of HEROs success), the label downplayed
the soundtrack aspect and released it as Rahmans "first major
orchestral piece,"
inspired by "the historic passage known as the
silk road,"
"drawn from music he created for the score for the
Chinese film, WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH." In fact, the American
and British CDs are musically identical to the Japanese edition,
with the same original soundtrack performance by the Czech
orchestra and chorus. The one curious exception being that a Hindi
version of the theme song, sung by Sadhana Sargan, replaces the
Chinese version appearing on the Japanese CD. All three versions of
the song are fabulous.
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