Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Directed and written by  Chia-Liang Liu

Hong Kong : 98 minutes

Produced by the legendary Hong Kong studio of the Shaw Brothers Chia-Liang Liu's Eight Diagram Pole Fighter is an extraordinary visual spectacle which helped to create the template for Asian martial arts films for the next quarter of a century.

As is often the case with films in this genre the plot is pretty much irrelevant and/or nonsensical : here a family of eight brothers and their father set out to prevent an incursion into their homeland by a rival family. By the end of the battle six are dead : one of the remaining brothers has been sent mad by the experience and returns home to be nursed by his mother and two sisters. The remaining brother is missing (and presumed killed) - he later emerges in the local monastery run by pole-fighting monks who develop their skills to keep them safe from wolf-attacks.

A quest is then undertaken and revenge is sought for the murder of the six brothers.

The story (obviously) only exists as the framing device for a number of fight scenes - but those fight scenes are breathtaking in their choreography, direction, execution and photography.

The film grabs back the martial arts thriller from the long shadow of Bruce Lee and the likes of seventies movies like Enter The Dragon ; there's no attempt here to pander to Western tastes. The film is set firmly in it's time and place (rural, pre-twentieth century China) and makes no concessions. You either go with the assumptions made or get left behind.

The opening battle scene sets the tone for the rest of the film : it's a heavily stylised encounter played out against an obvious non-natural background. 

The action is absurdly skillful and gymnastic as you can see here :

There's an obvious line from here to the likes of House Of Flying Daggers (2004), Ip Man (2008), Crouching Tiger...(2000) and Hero (2002) although, because the film is so little known and rarely shown in the UK, Eight Diagram Pole Fighter rarely gets the credit which it deserves.

A thoroughly mesmerising spectacle that will draw you in and keep you entertained for the whole of it's running time.