Inspired by the craze for kung fu aroused by Bruce Lee in the 1970s, “Ring of Fury” is the first and only martial arts film from Singapore staging the local karate champion, Peter Chong. The movie was shot in 1973, but the censorship rules of the country at the time considered it incompatible with the effort deployed by Singapore to flush out criminality and put an end to vigilantism and banned it. The ban lasted for 32 years before it had its first showing, expected for a long time, in 2005 at the Singapore International Film Festival.
“Ring of Fury” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
Fei Pah, a simple pasta vendor, refuses to pay the protection fee imposed by the local gang led by a man in an iron mask, a decision that has dire consequences, with his house getting burned down and his mother killed. Around that time, and just before despair takes over, his uncle takes him under his wing and teaches him martial arts. After a time of rigorous training, Fei Pah returns and begins his revenge against the people who harmed him and his family, eventually forcing Iron Mask first to bring in his best fighters against him, and then to kidnap his girlfriend. After some tribulations that have his friends believing he has sided with the bad guys, the inevitable showdown begins.
Already quite low-budgeted, and in a style that looks like a combination of a Bruce Lee film, a Shaw Brothers production, and a western, “Ring of Fury” is definitely of the ‘so-bad-it-is-good' variety. Starting with the melodramatic base, continuing with the classic training session, the one man beats them all sessions and the dystopia/western finale, almost all narrative elements point towards the same direction. Add to that the unreasonably-looking Iron Mask (who wears this huge thing in his head, and another mask below that), the effort to add speed to Peter Chong through abrupt editing, the way he beats Iron Mask with a spread, and a number of other absurd notions and scenes, and you have the backbone of a movie that is bound to make you laugh out loud as you enjoy what is happening on screen.
At the same time though, the two directors have also managed to include some social commentary behind all the action here, with the total absence of any kind of policing and the troubles the fact brings to the poor and weak actually being one of the main narrative elements here. Furthermore, the identity of the man with the Iron Mask also adds some intrigue in the movie, although the secret is not exactly that difficult to realize, after a point at least.
Also of note are the locations implemented here, with the house of the villain, the training site, and most of all, the quagmire-type location by the river where the finale takes place, being impressive to look at, with DP Ayyakannu taking full advantage of them, in order to present a number of memorable scenes. The funk/rock music also works excellently, particularly in the music-video like scenes, and in general, in terms of entertainment, everything offered here is top notch.
Expectedly, neither the acting nor the story make much sense, but in the end, this is not important at all, as fans of (low-budget/retro) martial arts films will definitely have a blast with this one.
