CATEGORY
documentary
DIRECTOR
Bao Nguyen
COUNTRY
USA, Great Britain
RUNTIME
105′
YEAR
2020
VERSION
o.v. with Italian sub
Be Water tells the story of Bruce Lee’s life, focusing mainly on the difficulties he faced due to the racism and intolerance towards Asian people that existed in the United States, particularly in the world of Hollywood. Stock footage, interviews, family photos and the testimony of three people particularly close to him – his wife Linda Cadwell, his daughter Shannon Lee and his student Kareem Abdul Jabbar – provide an engaging narrative that manages to capture Lee’s charisma, his passion, his philosophy and the eternal beauty and wonder of his art. The title of the film, Be Water, comes from one of Lee’s most famous quotes: “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend”.
Be Water racconta la vita di Bruce Lee concentrandosi prevalentemente sulle difficoltà affrontate a causa del razzismo e dell’intolleranza nei confronti delle persone asiatiche esistente negli Stati Uniti, in particolare nel mondo di Hollywood. Immagini di repertorio, interviste, foto di famiglia e la testimonianza di tre persone a lui particolarmente vicine – la moglie Linda Cadwell, la figlia Shannon Lee e l’allievo Kareem Abdul Jabbar – regalano un coinvolgente racconto che riesce a catturare il carisma di Lee, la sua passione, la sua filosofia e l’eterna bellezza e meraviglia della sua arte. Il titolo del film, Be Water, viene da una delle citazioni più famose di Lee: “Non essere un’unica forma, adattala e costruiscila su te stesso e lasciala crescere: sii come l’acqua. Libera la tua mente, sii informe, senza limiti come l’acqua. Se metti l’acqua in una tazza, lei diventa una tazza. Se la metti in una bottiglia, lei diventa una bottiglia. Se la metti in una teiera, lei diventa la teiera. L’acqua può fluire, o può distruggere. Sii acqua, amico mio”.
