Summary
Bang Quy Phi(Tai Linh), another beautiful girl who was well mentioned in the history of China. As an emperor's concubine, her beauty helped her conquered an important position within the six palaces. Relied on her status, her father, Bang Hong, never looked at anyone in the eye. As his greed became endless, he secretly helped the nearby nation with the plan to invade China. When the emperor was informed on this matter, the Bang's family was sentenced with the death penalty and every member was beheaded except for Bang Quy Phi. Since she was the emperor's favorite concubine, the royal trial was conducted. By the Great Queen's decision, Bang Quy Phi was sentenced to death where she was ordered to be strangled by a rope till dead.
Review
Although the story is based on a part of the Chinese history, the movie was not all accurate. The Vietnamese version tended to be misleading by presenting Bang Quy Phi as a loyal concubine. In history, she and her father were both traitors and did deserve to die. Other than this flaw, the plot was quite interesting. Tai Linh's performance was excellent as always � however, I liked her 1991's last scene singing better. On the other hand, her acting was definite superb in the 2000's version. Overall, I prefer the latest version since it has a smoother script and a better supporting cast.
From a film making perspective regarding all of Bao Cong's stories, I have been pondering on one questions for some times. When I was younger, my friend and I used to watch or heard about all sorts of cases solved by Bao Cong. In the past five years, we have seen Hong Kong television broadcasting stations like TVB and ATV produced long Bao Cong series. Well, our question is how long did this person live? I mean each story shows him solving one case after another, but yet he didn't look a bit older! Neither was his hair nor beard turn white!!!!!
Interesting Fact(s)
Tai Linh & Vu Linh have remade this movie at least twice already. To my knowledge, they have also done part of the play in other special programs. This must be their favorite story.
Personally, I don't like Bang Quy Phi in history. She was anything but an appreciative person. However, I absolutely loved Tai Linh performance in this role and it's one of my most favorite characters of hers. For that reason, the poem below was created especially for this love story. However, since it was written in the poetic Chinese method, the translation might not be correct or too accurate. (Note that the English translation is written above)
