William has come to China for rumored gun power, but what he
really needs is trust. Therein lies his vulnerability, even if he views it
better not to trust. Yet it could be that he is just afraid; Commander Lin Mae
thinks so. The protagonist wants one thing, but in order to get it he must
overcome a critical flaw. This is the basic form, or dynamic, of a screenplay. I
submit that because film is an excellent medium in which philosophical principles
can be explored and wrestled with, the protagonist’s vulnerability, raised to a
principle, can efficaciously be more salient in a film than merely in the
immediate struggles of the protagonist. In other words, the principle at issue
in the protagonist’s flaw can play a more expansive role in a film, deepening
it in the process.
Trust, to have faith. Trust is our flag. “Trust in each other,
in all ways, at all times.” This is what the Chinese army is about, Commander
Lin Mae tells William. She asks him to do a physical task—essentially bungie
jumping off the Great Wall—to show that he can trust. He refuses the request,
retorting “I’m alive today because I trust no one.” Not trusting, in other
words, has served him well. Lin Mae then declares, “A man must learn to trust
before he can be trusted.” Yet Ballard trusts William and Tovar enough during
the first battle to cut them loose from being prisoners. They prove trustworthy
and fight with the Chinese against the beasts, saving the west turret. He earns
General Shao’s praise. Implicitly at least, William values trust, or at least
being trustworthy; he does not have to fight the beasts. Opposing Ballard and
Tovar, William decides to stay and help the Chinese army rather than escape.
The former thief, murderer and liar has a character arc—he is changing—and yet
Lin Mae does not trust him. Such trust only comes when he takes part in the
final battle, literally saving her.
I contend that The
Great Wall (2016) could have played more with the issue of trust by teasing
out problems with Lin Mae’s claim that a person must trust in order to be
trusted by others. The film does not reconcile this claim with Ballard trusting
William by letting him go even though he did not at the time trust.
Furthermore, the film could have critiqued Lin Mae’s claim that the people in
the army trust each other. In such a hierarchical organization wherein giving
and receiving orders are the standard protocol, does trust go beyond mere
self-preservation? Lastly, does the difficulty that Lin Mae and others in the
army have in trusting William mean that the army cannot be trusted? If people
in the army only trust each other, which is relatively easy, can they really be
considered to be trustworthy? In short, film need not be so superficial
concerning a basic principle underlying the protagonist’s flaw.
