Synopsis
The much anticipated beautiful martial arts film against a Danish landscape, Fighter showcases Gao Xian's sumptuous choreography Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and true-to-life spectacles. But the real deal is the director's scrupulous dissection of, and delicate insight into, a life behind all that splendidness! Aïcha, a Danish physician of Turkish descent, has fallen head over heels in love with Kung Fu. Challenged by her familial view of the male-female head-on combat as a taboo, she sneaks out of her home to train in Kung Fu. Bad news travel fast: her unisex martial arts training stirs controversies in the intricate Muslim society, a web of religion, culture, caste and gender. Focusing on a female body as a material for physical training and exposing the Muslim bonds and family-before-me illusion, Fighter is really about Aïcha's fights with herself. (SOHN Hee Jeong)