“Empty your mind. Be formless like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. If you put water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. It can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee
Directed by Bao Nguyen, ESPN Films presents Be Water, a new documentary about Bruce Lee, the cinema superstar and martial arts legend whose life was cut tragically short. In conjunction with the Bruce Lee Family Archive, Be Water, a reference to Lee's philosophy about martial arts combat, offers a comprehensive look at the charismatic leading man and powerhouse athlete who took the world by storm.
The American born Bruce Lee was raised in Hong Kong and was forever a man caught between two worlds. He would spend his career building a bridge between East and West. Lee began his career in the entertainment industry at a young age. His father, who did not appreciate Lee's developing interest in martial arts and acting, sent him back to America in hopes that his son would forge a different path.
Bruce Lee was a master of the martial arts combat known as Wing Chun. Lee studied other forms of combat and idolized Muhammad Ali whose boxing moves Lee incorporated into his own work. Originally Lee had plans to start a nationwide chain of martial arts schools but at a Long Beach Tournament he was spotted by hairdresser Jay Sebring who told his client producer William Dozier about Lee. Dozier had been looking for an Asian actor to appear in the television series The Green Hornet. Lee auditioned and got the part.
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| Credit: Bruce Lee Family |
The rest should have been smooth sailing for Lee but it was anything but. Lee had everything going for him. He was handsome, charming, incredibly fit, a supremely talented athlete and had an on screen persona that was just electric. But being a Chinese American with a thick accent held him back in an industry that was just not ready or willing to accept him. Lee understood that making it in Hollywood was the Holy Grail of success. He went back to Hong Kong to make films hoping that would elevate his star power. There he proved that he was a film star. Bruce Lee was about to take Hollywood by storm with Enter the Dragon and his work on an upcoming feature film Game of Death. Tragically, he died in Hong Kong at the age of 32. He didn't live to see the success he could have in Hollywood or the legend that he would become.
"I'm sure that my father did not fully appreciate the behemoth he was up against. How deeply systemic it is. That said I don't think he was naive. He just believed in himself so deeply. He knew he had something to share that was worthwhile. He knew how hard he was willing to work." - Shannon Lee
Be Water is one of the best biographical documentaries I've ever had the privilege to see. And I don't make that statement lightly. Nguyen does an incredible job chronicling Bruce Lee's life and career, weaving in Lee's struggles as a Chinese-American man and the treatment of Asians in the entertainment industry. There are moments that are just infuriating like seeing how Lee had to fight to get dialogue for his character Kato in The Green Hornet and how he lost the role in the TV series Kung Fu to actor David Carradine. Throughout the documentary we get a sense of Lee's free spirit, his love for his family, his natural confidence, outgoing nature and strong work ethic. Lee was a proactive participant in his journey; never complacent, always fighting for better roles and representation.
The documentary is solely made up of archival footage including clips from his films and television appearances, home videos, audition tapes, family photos, interviews, newsreel footage and more. It is narrated by the interviews with those who knew him best including his daughter Shannon Lee, his wife Linda Lee Caldwell, his brother Robert Lee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nancy Kwan, close friends, film producers and others. If you watch this film, do not stop before you get to the end credits. Perhaps the best end credits I have ever seen. I really love what Nguyen did with this. It was quite touching and I was very moved. When you watch the film you'll know what I mean.
"As a child of Vietnamese war refugees, I grew up in America where depictions of Asians and Asian Americans were through a very skewed and narrow lens... It wasn’t until I saw a young man named Bruce Lee onscreen did that all change. I saw someone who looked like me for the first time, with an unapologetic confidence and magnetism that resonated on every inch of the silver screen. Since then and through the making of this film which has taken me over 5 years, I have learned about the racial struggles that Bruce Lee had to overcome to become a cultural icon and it has always been my hope to share his personal story with all the fears, struggles, and vulnerabilities that made him human." Bao Nguyen
Be Water premieres on ESPN as part of their 30 for 30 series on June 7th at 9 PM EST.
