Hero

The film, Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou, is a chinese martial arts movie which includes intense sword fighting along with defying gravity. The movie begins with the protagonist and the king with a conversation and a series of flashbacks on the protagonists adventure. The protagonist in the film, Nameless, played by Jet Li, is rewarded by the king for supposedly defeating the three most wanted assassins, Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Sky. These three killers have sworn to kill the king until Broken Sword realizes the true meaning to swordsmanship. Nameless tells the King of Qin a fake story on how he retrieved the weapons of the assassins but the king quickly figures out Nameless' lies and figures out that Nameless plotted out a plan with the other assassins so Nameless can come closer to the King and kill the king. However, Jet Li's character hesitates and refuses to kill the king because of Broken Sword's persuading words, "All under Heaven," and the King's statement of how he too understands the final achievement of swordsmanship and how he wants peace in the world. Flying Snow, disappointed at Nameless and Broken Sword, wanted the king to be dead and ends up killing Broken Sword because he wanted to make her believe in what he believed and decided to kill herself so she could be with him forever. In the end, Nameless is killed by the King's army under the command of King Qin but he is buried with honor and the King unites all of china and brings peace to the country.

This film definately contains alot of action scenes and violence but different from many western films because the director of Hero did not include blood in most of the scene or even when someone would get stabbed with a sword, blood was not shown which can represent the local trends in chinese cinema. Another local trend is that the movie expressed alot of emotion through the vivid colors used by the director. Some significant colors that were portrayed in the movie were red, blue, green and white. Some global trends that were depicted in the movie is that the themes used in the film were very similar to the themes in American films such as Love, Sacrifice, and trust. The theme of love seemed to be an important factor in the film because you constantly see the love relationship between Broken Sword and Flying Snow. Although they had opposing views on whether to kill the king or not, in the end, they both loved each other and died for each other.

Amelie is a French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film is about Amelie a girl who grows up with a odd childhood. The only friend she really has while growing up is her imagination. This leads her to grow into a rather shy adult. She becomes a waitress in a Montmarte cafe and mostly stays to her self in her spare time. She finds an old box of treasures in her home which belonged to the apartment's previous owner. She decided to give it back to him, but in a mischievously and magical way instead of merely returning it. After seeing the man's reaction when he finally recovers all of his long lost childhood memories Amelie decides to devote her life to helping the people around her. She goes on to help people such as her father who is obsessed with a garden gnome, a failed writer that sits all day in the cafe she works at, she befriends an elder neighbor who never leaves his home, and a man who has lost his photo album who later becomes the love of her life.
Amelie uses many editing techniques and bright colorful lighting to give off a magical feeling, making the movie very dazzling and enjoyable to watch. When the movie opens up it shows many different events that all happened the same second that Amelie was conceived. Whenever the film introduce a new character it pauses the story and gives a background story and subplot on the character, telling what they like/dislike and their quirks. The movie seems a little scattered at parts but in the end it all wraps up nicely and makes the subplots all twist into a good story.
Amelie definitely appeals to international audiences because of its unique storyline and colorful screenplay. It also mixes many internationally recognized themes, such as love and finding oneself. Over all it was an amazing movie and definitely deserves the recognition that it received.