Warriors of Heaven and Earth

Plot

The film is set in western China in 700AD during the Tang Dynasty, and revolves around two protagonists, the first of whom is Lieutenant Li of the Chinese army. Li's refusal to kill Göktürk women and child prisoners is classed as a mutiny, leading him to be expelled from the army and to become a fugitive, traveling through the Gobi Desert. Years later, he is saved by the survivors of a caravan which carries a powerful, mystical relic accompanied by a Buddhist monk. Li protects the caravan from Göktürks as well as the overlord of the region, Master An, who is hired by the Göktürk Khan to seize the relic.

The second protagonist, a Japanese emissary, Lai Xi, is ordered by the emperor of China to kill the fugitive, Li. In a twist of fate, Lai Xi discovers that the caravan is on a mission and helps Li to defend it, to ensure that it arrives at the capital safely. They promise to fight each other only after their duty is done, although that battle never comes to pass.

Cast

Awards and nominations

11th Beijing Student Film Festival

27th Hundred Flowers Awards

24th Golden Rooster Awards

Soundtrack

The original score was composed by Indian composer A. R. Rahman. Warriors of Heaven and Earth: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on CD featuring 14 tracks, which include excerpts from the score and 1 theme song, "Warriors in Peace", sung by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai. Following the film's release, the score and soundtrack were released in one album separately, under the title Between Heaven and Earth. The album also include the theme song, "Warriors in Peace", in two languages, which are the Hindi version by Sadhana Sargam and English version by Sunitha Sarathy.

Rahman signed the project after the head of Sony Classical Music suggested he do project for them in the Western Classical mode. While signing the project, Rahman was working with violinist Joshua Bell on compositions based on poems by the Persian poet Rumi. This project was later cancelled. Originally the music was supposed to be recorded in Beijing. But because of SARS, Rahman moved to Prague to record the score.

Rahman has mixed Chinese, Turkish and Indian sounds as the film is about the Silk Route. He says that he wanted to give the Chinese something they had not heard before, while retaining that international flavour. The score is completely acoustic with symphonic pieces and relatively little electronic sounds have been used. Performers of the score include The Czech Film Orchestra and Chinese soloists in Hong Kong. Other instruments, including the erhu, flute, duduk, dizi, taiko drums are featured.