|
Right after I saw "The Battle Among the Clans" for the
3rd time, I was diagnosed with high 'Eddie-fever' which could
only be cured by watching more of his series. I was up for pretty
much anything that featured even just his hair. I decided to give
"Rage & Passion" a try, although I already knew
that Eddie was gonna go buh-bai after the first 2 episodes.
To my relief, the rest of this series carried through in a very
satisfying way, to a point where it became one of my favorite
series from the 90's. The series intricately showed the heartfelt
love story of each character and how a good friendship ended up
in a destruction. It's a story about Wong Jung Yeung (later dubbed
Central Divinity when he is older and more powerful in terms of
kung fu). More specifically, the love story between Wong Jung
Yeung & Lam Chiu Ying. The entire series is heartwrenching
and angsty to say the least. Every major character's action is
driven by love. The English title, therefore, fits the storyline
perfectly.
The only thing I really minded was the fast, headache-inducing
cinematography every time Ekin and Gallen busted out with their
kung fu moves. Other than that, I like this series the most out
of all the Jin Yong novel-based series not written by Jin Yong
himself.
TVB, around this time, came up with series that were similar
to "Rage & Passion" in nature: side stories of the
existing Condor Heroes trilogy. To name a few, there are:
- Mystery of the Condor Heroes (1993): a tale of Wong Yeuk Si,
his love, his disciples, his life, and Au Yeung Fung.
- Condor Heroes Return (1994): a tale of Duen Ji Hing & Hung
7 Gung.
- Legend of the Golden Lion (1994): a tale of Tse Sin, Golden-Haired
Lion King of the Ming Sect (Heaven Sword & Dragon Sabre derivative).
- Rise of the Taiji Master (1996): a tale of Cheung Sam Fung
before he founded Mo Dong.
All these series may not be entirely faithful to Jin Yong's original
literature. Some may even come as a big disappointment to Jin
Yong fans. But as stand-alone series, I think most of them fare
pretty well. This (early 90's) was the time where TVB seemed uncertain
with their direction and started remaking some of the series based
on Condor Heroes trilogy, as well as the above prequels and sequels.
Most of them are short (20 episodes or less) and should be viewed
strictly for their entertainment value. If you try to compare
them with the original works of JY and make the timeline fit,
you will probably end up getting pretty confused.
Back to Rage & Passion....
The Story of Wong Jung Yeung's Parents
Wong Jung Yeung should've never been born, as his father Tin
Sang (Eddie Kwan) was to be the next leader of the Taoist sect.
He did not deem himself to be a leader material, however, as he
had fallen in love with a blind girl he helped cure, Yeuk Si (Vivian
Chow). Through an accident, she got pregnant, but he had to desert
her inadvertently in order to fulfill his master's wish. They
reunited later, but got trapped in a cave-ish (I want to say this
is the Ancient Tomb) place later.
In this cave they established a happy life, until one day, they
coincidentally found the manual of 9 Yum Jun Ging. After their
baby was born, Tin Sang went outside to renounce his position
as the sect leader and hand over the manual to his eldest sect
brother, Seung Sang (Lai Hon Chi). But their evil 2nd sect brother,
Yuen Sang (Lam Seung Mo) was after the manual, as he had been
collaborating with the Gums all along. Yuen Sang set the sect
on fire and held Yeuk Si and her baby as hostage, to have Tin
Sang exchange them with the 9 Yum manual. Tin Sang & Yeuk
Si died in the process and their baby was left to be raised in
the hands of Seung Sang. As for the manual...
The Story of Lam Chiu Ying's Parents
Seung Sang was constantly chased after by a woman named Lam Ying
Siu (Mary Hon), who happened to be Yuen Sang's younger sister.
She was a nun as Seung Sang was a taoist, but that did not stop
her from pursuing him. Seung Sang rejected her love, as he wanted
to devote his life to Taoism. After the chaos back at the sect
where his sect brother, Tin Sang, and his wife died, he got stuck
with their newborn baby and the 9 Yum manual.
Yuen Sang set off the aphrodisiac to lure the manual out of Seung
Sang, and he ended up doing the deed with Lam Ying Siu. Of course
when he came back to his senses, he didn't remember anything and
denied having to take responsibility for Lam Ying Siu. This really
pissed her off, so she stormed off with the 9 Yum manual. Seung
Sang went after her and the manual got split into 3 ways among
her, Seung Sang, and Yuen Sang. Seung Sang was then pushed off
the cliff by Yuen Sang and was injured. He kind of went cuckoo
after the incident, but still managed to raise the baby.
As for Lam Ying Siu, she became so bitter about her unrequited
love that her hair turned all white (it's the stress I tell you!).
She gave birth to a girl, whom she named Lam Chiu Ying. Her only
mission in her life was to have Chiu Ying kill her own father,
Seung Sang.
The Next Generation...
The baby grew up, learning weird moves from the manual by his
adopted father, Seung Sang. He was raised in the mountains, so
naturally, he was curious about the world outside. He met and
befriended a Gum prince, Yuen On Fung (Gallen Lo). Fung was educated,
well-mannered, and compassionate about the Chinese people. He
was also the one who finally came up with the name Wong Jung Yeung
for his new friend.
Jung Yeung & Fung both fell in love with the same girl, Hok
Mo Sheung (Lo Man Yee). Mo Sheung was the daughter of a general
who wanted to fight off the Gums. He was now missing and she was
being raised by her mother (Wu Mei Yee). Her mother hated the
Gums, so she preferred Jung Yeung's company over Fung's. But Mo
Sheung eventually chose Fung as her love and remained good friends
with Jung Yeung.
Jung Yeung met Lam Chiu Ying while trying to save her from Yuen
Sang's evil disciples. She hated him at first, but slowly grew
to like him. But things were made difficult for her because she
had been brainwashed by her mother to kill Seung Sang, who she
did not know was her own father yet. Remember that Seung Sang
is Jung Yeung's adopted father, so killing him would mean the
end with Jung Yeung.
(I have to confess something - it's been a while since I last
saw this series and I only rented it because of Eddie Kwan &
Vivian Chow in the beginning. Which means, I don't remember what
happened in the middle too clearly. So I'm just going to fill
in what I do remember and wing it rest of the way.)
Jung Yeung made friends with Chow Bak Tung (Wayne Lai). Chow
Bak Tung was the disciple of Yin Sang (Lee Sing Cheung) back at
the Taoist sect, who was the youngest sect brother of Seung Sang,
Yuen Sang, and Tin Sang. When Yin Sang discovered the identity
of Jung Yeung, he wanted Jung Yeung to carry on the sect as the
rightful leader. But that meant he couldn't have a relationship
with Chiu Ying.
Later on, Seung Sang gained his memory back, but was killed by
Yuen Sang because of the 9 Yum manual. This made Lam Ying Siu,
who, after all these years, still had the love/hate thing going
on for him, go crazy. Jung Yeung misunderstood Chiu Ying for killing
his adopted father, because she was at the scene when it all happened.
He lashed out at her without listening to her and they parted.
So here was Chiu Ying, who realized she had been trying to kill
her own father all this time. Her mom had gone crazy, and the
only person she ever loved didn't believe her words of truth.
She was grieving so much that her hair turned white. (Andy Hui's
music in the background adds to the sad atmosphere). Her mom,
Lam Ying Siu, was later killed by her brother Yuen Sang (the two
never really got along that well). This scene was particularly
sad, because as Lam Ying Siu saw what had happened to her daughter's
hair, she realized that love had turned both of them into angry,
bitter women.
Jung Yeung later realized that he had made a mistake, but it
took a while to earn Chiu Ying's forgiveness. After the two reconciled,
Jung Yeung didn't want to become the leader of his sect anymore.
Not that he ever wanted to in the beginning; it's just that his
sect uncle, Yin Sang, reminded him of the responsibility he had
to his nation and being the sect leader was a good way to unite
all the Hans to retaliate against the Gums. Jung Yeung decided
to leave everything behind with Chiu Ying and the two relocated
in the same cave where he was born.
What happened to Jung Yeung's friend, Fung? He too had his own
dilemma. His love Mo Sheung's father had turned up. Although he
fiercely opposed their relationship, he gave in, on one condition
- that Fung would utilize his power as a Gum prince and all of
his resources to save the Han people. Fung had promised this,
but he was starting to thirst for more - more power, higher kung
fu, which meant having a hold of the 9 Yum manual. He collaborated
with Yuen Sang and learned the crash course, which was 9 Yum White
Bone Claw. Learning this turned him highly nasty at times.
Fung and Jung Yeung began drifting away because of their conflict
of interest: after all, Fung was a Gum prince and Jung Yeung was
expected to be the leader of the anti-Gum sect. Fung and Mo Sheung
got married, but when Fung felt that the walls started closing
in on him because her father kept on pressuring him to carry on
with his promise, he ended up killing her father. Chow Bak Tung
later found the evidence that Fung had killed Mo Sheung's father,
which exposed Fung's true identity. He had changed into a power-hungry,
evil man.
Towards the end, Fung sent his men to wipe out the Taoist sect.
Only Chow Bak Tung survived. He went to notify this to Jung Yeung,
who was reluctant to get involved. Fung also accidentally killed
his wife while practicing his evil kung fu. Her death was very
gruesome, I could hear her neck bone cracking! Fung was devastated
by what he had done. Mo Sheung asked Fung if he had killed her
father, and died happily when he said he didn't. This part always
made me sad, because I sensed that she knew somewhere deep in
her heart but just didn't want to believe it.
Fung was now upset and blamed Jung Yeung for everything, including
Mo Sheung's death. I think it's because Jung Yeung had been the
one who warned Mo Sheung about Fung and how he killed her father.
Fung went to Jung Yeung and confronted him. In the process, Fung
attacked Jung Yeung, but Chiu Ying stood in the middle and blocked
the attack. It was a fatal blow, because earlier, Chiu Ying had
rid herself of all the kung fu she possessed because now she was
happily settled with Jung Yeung and didn't need to fight anymore.
This gave her black hair back, but since she had no kung fu, her
body could not take Fung's attack.
This was the final straw for Jung Yeung. He placed Chiu Ying's
dying body on the chilled jade bed and went to a duel with Fung.
Jung Yeung was a strong fighter, which I have conveniently forgot
to mention - he did know part of 9 Yum Jun Ging since his adopted
father had the portion of the manual.
Fung actually did not die in the duel, although he was losing.
Instead, he killed himself, because he just could not take the
fact that he had killed his own wife. He bellowed "Mo Sheung!"
as he committed suicide.
As for Jung Yeung, he had nothing left (honey, there is always
Chow Bak Tung!). He decided to become a taoist himself and founded
the sect.. umm... forgot the name, but it's Quanzhen in Mandarin
I think.
I like the last few words he muttered. He said that he would
leave Chiu Ying's body on the chilled jade bed because it would
preserve the corpse. The last scene shows him in his taoist outfit
walking up the mountain. And the narration:
"Turned around at the sound of the wind, but nothing was
there."
|
