Mulan - a misfit, a maverick

Disney movies, animated or not, are a revolution. Their characterization that harnesses the latest technology, is a visual treat. Usually the stories revolve around the loss of a parent that eventually strengthens the progeny to rise up to the occasion. This has been customary since the era of 2D animations of Bambi and Lion King to relatively contemporary ones like Good Dinosaur. The twist in the story is lent by a villainous arch-enemy who encumbers the endeavours of the protagonist. Often, vestigial virtue in a good-guy-turned-bad is a tenuous link that relegates this formidable antagonist to a crouching coward and brings about the downfall of his men or assembly of his savage army, not unlike Darth Vader and his grandson Kylo Ren who were instrumental to the fall of the sickening Sith in the epic Star Wars.

Mulan, sketched in similar lines, doesn't break away from this format. However, the déjà vu is tempered by an agile Mulan's acrobatic moves, her machinations in warfare, and fast paced parkour chasing a chicken and later the witch-turned-falcon that leads her to her nemesis Bori Khan. The underlying message runs deeper too - one may have exceptional power to draw on, but it's the individual's choice to harm or heal the society with it.

Personated by Liu Yifei, Mulan doesn't lose a parent, but her dad, once a valiant and revered soldier, is now too senile to execute imperial orders of joining the royal army to incapacitate Bori Khan. Bori Khan and his army clothed in black, and racing sinewy black stallions are embodiment of macabre of death and depredation. They raze cities to ground and ruthlessly butcher people and their protectors alike. He is seemingly invincible with Xianniang on his side. Xianniang, portrayed by Gong Li, is a witch with warg and shape-shifting capabilities, who colludes in his wrong doings in exchange of his promise to carve a respectable place for her in a society that has thus far shunned and stigmatised her for her unusual powers.

From her tender age Mulan pulls off jaw-dropping feats due to a strong chi in her causing her to be a social misfit, like Xianniang. After she grows, she doesn't find it easy either to comply to finding a match, which is de rigueur in the contemporaneous society. A maverick, Mulan decides to stand up and hold the hose for the Hua family in his father's stead, but incognito, as the army allows only boys to enlist in conscription. This choice of hers to heal and not harm, unlike Xianniang, brings the crucial message home.

Her chi is her power, an animated phoenix is her muse, and a coterie of fellow soldiers who she trains with is her helping hand. She weilds them and puts her acts together to protect the emperor and his dynasty from the marauders and ruthless murderers of Bori Khan's infamous gang.

But all her good intentions and her very life goes for a toss until an ounce of virtue, still remnant in Xianniang, saves the day. Xianniang's wistful sighs and hopeful wishes peppered throughout the digesis act as foreshadowing towards her noble ending. That iota of her unwillingness to serve Bori Khan, a modicum of her irresolution in contrivance against the emperor, a scintilla of her doubt in her motives (the ilks of which kills Peter Pettigrew in Harry Potter) snatches away the pie from Bori Khan during his final bolt on the emperor. And though she has been assisting and abetting Bori Khan, her final sacrifice renders her inexpiable villainity venial since it allows Mulan to successfully extricate the emperor enmeshed in a death trap set up by Bori Khan. This brings honour to her village and her family, the very thing she puts her neck on the line for.

Though the chi in Mulan that renders her indomitable and extraordinary has been criticized by many saying it undermines Mulan's character, it's categorically conveyed throughout the movie that everybody possesses chi and it can be leveraged to enhance one's potential to the fullest.

The young viewers can get easily steeped in a simple storyline of Mulan's ascension to nobility from being socially unacceptable. They get transported for a while to a world replete with the legendary leader's lore and lure touched up with Disney's conventional magic and animation. The cast does a decent job in bringing to life the wrath of Bori Khan, composure of emperor, tenacity of soldiers, humbleness of villagers, and longing of Xianniang. Cinematography, screenplay, and the sylvan settings along with the subtle sound tracks, knock the ball out of the park like any other Disney movie to regale a wide band of viewers.

Dona, Sydney, July '21