There are few martial arts movies that I have ever really enjoyed.Knowing that martial arts began in India and are deeply rooted in religious beliefs the fare that the West is heir too with flying everything and heroism is not actually accurate. But I am struck as with movies made about knights errant or any military theme, how adherence to an idea of duty is so fixed into the human mind.
And it is always duty to something other than one’s own self and that something always takes on the spirit if a core belief. So duty to a king or leader, family or group becomes the dutiful person. It is what they choose to define themselves by in the final battle to explain their steadfast adherence to their mission.
It is to me the intellectualisation of the pack animal instinct. Rudyard Kipling wrote a beautiful poem about wolves in which he says ‘the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack’. It is something not to be forgotten and it is something drilled into us from babies. Our entire idea of nation is predicated upon this and our ability to wage war stems from it.
Of course duty makes for great heroes and good movies. It makes Empires and strong countries. But it doesn’t make a world.