In my Curse of the Golden Flower review I posited that perhaps Yimou's wuxia "trilogy" has an overarching message spanning all three movies, which implies that no single ideology can be applied to governance. Having rewatched House of Flying Daggers, I am convinced of this. In fact, I think this movie takes the idea further and applies it not just to the governance, but to life itself. This movie takes a more personal look at the lives of people who are directly involved in an ideological struggle. On one side we have a corrupt government, on the other side a guild of assassins that fight for liberation. Each group's HQ is represented by a ubiquitous monotone color: grey for the police headquarters and green for the rebels. Between the two locations is vast wilderness with a large variety of vivid colors. The movie is essentially saying that ideology consumes people. Real humanity and consequently real love exist out there in the area between ideologies. Furthermore, it is hinted that the two ideologies are not that different afterall. Both sides wear green uniforms (suggesting, well... uniformity), even though different shades of green. Both organizations ask their followers to make sacrifices for the supposed greater good. The leaders of both organizations are faceless and detached. There is one line of dialogue early in the movie, when Jin, Kaneshiro's character (a government official), tells Xiao Mei, Zhang Ziyi's character, "don't you know the rules?", and later the madam (a rebel) tells Xiao Mei "you know our rules", essentially the same phrase. Both phrases spoken when she is being told to do something she doesn't wanna do. Though snow at the end was a lucky accident during the production, it works really well to continue the color symbolism. Because in the end there's just two men fighting for the love of a woman, everything else disappears in white. He's no longer a county captain and she's no longer a radical assassin. The main characters transcend into the world of pure feelings, unburdened by loyalties, ideologies, beliefs. This is where that theme song starts to make a lot more sense: "A glance from her, the whole city falls. A second glance leaves the whole nation in ruins." There is a lot of visual storytelling in the movie. For example the echo game and the following fight in the beginning of the movie represent the first contact between two lovers in three years, thus being a sort of lovemaking. Another example is how during the first makeout session there is a shot from behind the trees that resembles the POV of somebody spying on the characters. Xiao Mei suddenly stops it, arguing she doesn't know him well enough. In the next scene we find out that Liu, Andy Lau's character, had caught up to them. Moments like these will be difficult to pick up on the first time around, but on repeated viewing they enrich the film with additional meaning. Though, beyond that, of course there's plenty of visual symbolism that has a more immediate impact: Xiao Mei splits the two daggers that are thrown at her in the final scene of the movie. This beautifully tragic metaphor showcases how her rejection of Liu leads her to stay with Jin, but it also kills her. In a way she brings death upon herself, but at the same time she didn't have much of a choice. Aside from all the symbolism, visual storytelling and hidden meanings, the movie also contains amazing fight choreography, gorgeous soundtrack, stellar performances and all the other traits of a masterpiece. Zhang Yimou proves again that he is one of the best film directors ever.