Shaolin Ulysses (2003)
Kungfu Monks in America
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Martha Burr
Directed by Mei-Juin Chen and Martha Burr
Narrated by Beau Bridges

Features:

• Bonus kungfu footage
  
• Animated short on the Shaolin Temple
  
• Filmmaker bios
  
• Filmmaker statement
  

Released by: Docurama
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: By all means see it.

Shaolin Ulysses, an official selection of the Denver and L.A. International Film Festivals, tells the stories of a five Shaolin monks who have journeyed to America for a variety of reasons. The common thread uniting the tale of all five is a desire to bring the teachings of Shaolin Temple to America. The documentary relates a bit of the history of Shaolin Temple itself, and covers the history of each of the monks that led them to the United States.

Guolin, also known as "Iron Saint," came to America to spread the teachings of Buddhism and kungfu as a unified spiritual discipline. To this end, he opened the first Shaolin Temple in America in New York City. Li Peng is an ex-monk, having given up his monkhood to marry a Catholic and start a family in Brooklyn. His focus is more solidly on the physical aspects of Shaolin training, teaching kungfu as a way to stay fit and for self-defense. He leaves the Buddhism to the professionals (his former brother monks), and instead contents himself with martial arts practice and training. Monks Xing Hao and De Shan were assigned by the Shaolin Temple to remain in Houston, TX after a tour stop in 1998. De Shan, a former self-defense instructor to the Chinse police, has taken that training to the cops of Texas in hopes of helping them in their duties. Xing Hao, on the other hand, is keenly interested in China's efforts to get kungfu recognized as an Olympic sport in time for the 2008 games, and wants to make Houston the center of American competitive kungfu. The last of the monks, Xing Hong, was brought to Las Vegas by an American doctor, with the goal of founding a training temple in the city. The doctor, Richard Russell, travels frequently to the Temple in China to regain a degree of spiritual peace that he finds unattainable in America, but he hopes to change all that with the opening of the temple he and Xing Hong are planning.

The documentary poses the fundamental question of whether the monks can change America, or if America will change the monks. Given the material presented, it seems to be a pretty mixed bag. Some of Xing Hao and De Shan's young students in Texas seem more concerned with learning how to beat people up than in attaining any sort of power or discipline from their study. Dr. Russell, despite his insistence that he really appreciates the Shaolin way of life, lives alone in a mansion and drives a Ferrari, bemoaning his inability to find the peace and simplicity that the Shaolin Temple can provide...and sees absolutely no irony in that. Most successful seems to be Guolin, whose temple in New York seems to be the most natural outgrowth of the original Temple.

The tale of these monks is an interesting one, and the filmmakers (mostly) do a great job of disappearing into the background and letting them tell their own story. The only exception lies in the cinematography. The entire film is full of blurry, jerky camerawork, the likes of which is typically reserved for badly-made music videos. With a core of docu subjects that are among the most physically gifted and graceful human beings on Earth, the best thing might have been to forego the motion-blur effects, and avoid the tight close-up quick cut bullshit that plagues modern action flicks. Stand back, take the camera with you, and let the Shaolin types strut their stuff without "artistic" interference.

The DVD itself is great, packing nearly an hour of kungfu footage in as a bonus, along with a short on the Shaolin Temple itself and some background info on the filmmakers. The picture is crisp, except in such spots as the creators deemed it prudent to screw things up on purpose, and the audio is clear. As might be expected with five Chinese subjects, much of the film is in Chinese with English subtitles, but the translations are perfectly sensible and straightforward, so I suspect little gets totally hosed in the translation process.

For those that would like to learn more about Shaolin itself, this is perhaps not the disc. The focus is entirely on the attempt to bring the teachings of Shaolin to the United States, and only cursory backstory is provided on the Temple or its history. On the other hand, if you're already conversant with the basics of Shaolin history, this documentary is an excellent follow-on, giving a glimpse into what steps Shaolin is taking to survive through one century and into the next. It's top-notch documentary work, as we've come to expect from Docurama's releases. The only real reservation I have in recommending it whole-heartedly is the occasionally irritating camera play.