Wolf Warrior 2, a violent, super-patriotic action movie, it is the highest-grossing film in Chinese history. Rogue former special operations soldier Leng Feng finds himself in an unnamed African country when ruthless rebel forces and their white mercenary partners overrun government forces. I don’t want to waste time going into the mundane plot, but suffice it to say that because the Africans are incapable of taking care of their own country, Leng and his fellow Chinese save them from themselves.
I saw this film at a screening for the press and Academy and Golden Globe voters. Wu Jing, who wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film, answered questions after the two-hour film finally ended. I was so disgusted that I couldn’t help but be the first audience member to raise my hand. I asked Wu if Chinese children, who attended the film in droves, would not come away with an extremely negative view of Africans. Wu said the story was about the Chinese heroes and the fact that it took place in Africa was not relevant. Afterwards, a couple audience members thanked me for my question, but they couldn’t understand why Wu, an amiable sort, gave such a weak and foolish answer. But one must keep in mind that when a Chinese citizen who is as high-profile as Wu Jing travels abroad, he is being watched by government agents who will file a report about him when they all return to China. Wu, if he wants to avoid punishment, has no choice. By the way, Wu also said that his motto is that violence is only a good thing in movies, not in real life. Again, I doubt that was the message that Chinese children took away when they left the theater.
