BULLET IN THE HEAD
Dir : John Woo
Starring : Tony Leung [Chi Wai], Waise Lee, Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam

Bullet in the Head is a story about Ben, Paul, and Frank, three best friends who share everything. In the opening scenes, we can see that they live carefree lives, not caring about the world around them. They frequently get into trouble, fighting with gangs. In the opening sequence, we also see that Ben cares about his girlfriend, Paul wants success in life, and Frank has no cares at all (he takes a beating in the head from his mother, which will be brought back later). One more scene in the opening is one of the three racing down the docks on bicycles. They get to the end of the pier, Frank almost falling off, but is saved by the other two. They are truly the best of friends. But all that changes, when, on Ben's wedding night, Frank tries to obtain money to pay for the wedding. But on his way, he runs into Ringo, a gang leader who wants the money. In the process of trying, he breaks a bottle over Frank's head. This is the second time we see him take a strike to the head. (John Woo is noted for using repetetive elements in his movies.) But both of these will heal in time. And as Ben says later, he can share the pain (after slamming his own head into a wall). In sharing this pain, Ben goes for revenge, killing Ringo. This forces him to flee Hong Kong, and as the three of them share everything, Paul and Frank go with him. Before leaving, Ben tries to get his newly wed wife to go with them. But as he tries to meet up with her, they are caught up in a war protest. This is Woo's political commentary on the event of Tiananmen Square. The riot is brutal and bloody. But even with all this going around him, Ben is only concerned with his girl. They part ways, her saying that it is the same in all parts of the world. At this point, Ben starts to see the violence around him, but does not fully realize how bad it is.

The trio flees to Vietnam, hoping to lay low and smuggling goods to gain fortune. But once again, they are caught in a mess as an assassination takes place, and they are amongst the suspects. They watch in horror as the culprit is executed on the spot with a shot to the head. As he falls, a statue of The Pieta (the Virgin Mary holding Christ just taken down from the cross) can be seen in the background. Woo often uses Christian symbolism within his movies. Ben once again begins to see the reality of consequences for their actions. Later, they meet a singer from Hong Kong, Sally, who was forced to stay at a night club against her wishes. Ben asks her if she needs help, and she accepts. They meet later at a bridge, where another war protest is taking place. Once again, a riot ensues, and the two are caught in the middle. Flashbacks of the previous riot run through Ben's mind as he sees senseless violence around him. The scenes are more brutal and bloody than the previous, as though Ben was having an even deeper understanding of what's happening.

The "Three Musketeers," as they could be called, meet their D'Artagnan in Luke. Luke is the only one who tried to help Sally, but because he was alone, could not do much. But now, with Ben and Frank, he's sure he can get her out. However, Paul learns of a chest of gold, and greed begins to overtake him. He begins to care less for the others and only for himself and his gold. In classic John Woo style, the four rescue Sally and get the gold with guns blazing. As they're fleeing, they come across an bridge which is under attack by the Vietcong. In their car, they try to make it across, refugees asking for help around them. The friendship begins to break here, as we see Frank and Ben giving money, while Paul tries to shoo them away, pushing them aside.

In the next few scenes, they are attacked on a beach as they try to flee by boat. Paul, unconcerned with anything but his gold becomes troublesome to the others. Sally dies in the process. On the boat, they witness Paul's greed, as he threatens to shoot Ben rather than lose his gold. For the third time (second was during the rescue of Sally), Frank stands up for Ben, offering himself first to be killed. But Paul backs down. Again they are attacked, and forced ashore. They have an opportunity to escape, but cannot because of Paul's attachment to the gold. Luke, however, gets away.

The most intense scenes comes as the three are captives in a Vietcong camp. They are interogated about secret CIA files hidden in the box of gold. They witness executions of several prisoners. The reality of war and violence is now very clear to them. Frank is completely scared, shaking and whimpering, Paul tries to be strong, but is also scared. Ben, scared himself, is the only one with any control and calm left. Frank is forced to shoot down US soldiers who are tied up. He tries to resist but cannot. The tables are turned, as Ben now offers to take Frank's place. However, they force Ben to shoot Frank. Ben promises Frank that they will all go back to Hong Kong together or none will go at all. And a daring escape ensues. Luke, with US soldiers as backup, come to their aid. Paul gets back his gold, but to save his own life, shoots Frank in the back of the head and later, shoots down Ben along with innocent villagers in order to steal a boat and get away. Luke is able to get Frank medical attention and save his life. Ben is found by some monks and restored to health.

Ben tracks down Frank with Luke's help only to discover that Frank is practically a vegetable. He survived, but the bullet remained lodged in his head. Frank is in absolute agony now. He must take drugs to stand the pain in his head. Once again, we see the injury to his head. But this isn't something that will go away or can be shared. And Ben knows it. He wants to end Frank's pain and is about to shoot him in the head when Frank moves the gun to his chest instead.

Ben goes after Paul for revenge. They go into a car chase along the docks. Flashbacks of the opening scene of the three racing on bikes appear. But this time, the race isn't for fun. In this final "battle," the scene is very bloody. It's a major contrast to the opening fight where no blood at all could be seen. Now, the two are bleeding all over. It ends with Ben having to kill Paul. He cries then yells in anguish.

Although Bullet in the Head didn't do well at the box office because the audience felt it was too intense, Woo feels that this was his best film yet. It was his comment on the Tiananmen Square massacre, as well as his constant themes of brotherhood, maturing, and death within his movies. We see the brotherhood of the three, then four change with passing events. Through Ben, we see a maturity come about as he witnesses the violent world around him. And we see the theme of death within the riots, executions, and war scenes throughout.

-JoE-
©1999 JMR