The Legend of the White Snake Maiden
The Legend of the White Snake Maiden is a Taiwanese production made in the early 90's starring talented Gigi (Angie) Chiu Ngaa Chi and Cecilia Yip Tung. The story is based on an ancient, popular Chinese legend. A white baby python was captured by a snake handler in the mountains. Just when the snake handler was about to kill the python for its medicinal gallbladder, a young herder who was passing by saved the snake's life by bribing the handler with delicious fruits. Seventeen hundred years later, the white python demoness, Bai Su Zhen, attained human form and came to the mortal world to repay this life-saving debt owed thousands of years ago. She sought out Xu Xian, the reincarnation of that young herder, fell in love and married him. The marriage was short-lived however when Monk Fa-Hai, a demon hunter, imprisoned Bai Su Zhen under the Thunder Peak Tower, saying that she has to stay in the tower until the tower collapses and the water in West Lake dries out; but not before Bai gave birth to a son, Xu Shi Lin. The heartbroken Xu Xian, decided to give up the mundane life and became a monk under Fa-Hai to shorten Bai's imprisonment by accumulating benevolent deeds and merits on her behalf. Twenty years later, their orphaned son, Xu Shi Lin, finally learned of this surreal story about his parents. He passed the civil examination and received the honour of The Premier Scholar of the Year. With the decree from the emperor, Shi Lin returned home and set out to plow down the sturdy tower and to dry up the vast lake in order to free his parents.
The producer of this show was able to assemble an incredibly talented cast; the most impressive of which is the presence of two renowned Hong Kong television and movie stars - Gigi Chiu Ngaa Chi, best known for her role of Fung Ching Ching in the TVB classic, The Bund, playing opposite the leading man Chow Yun Fat; and Cecilia Yip Tung, who had won Hong Kong Film's best actress awards in '83 and '91, and the best supporting actress award in '89. The rest of the cast was made up of local Taiwanese actors and actresses, most of whom proved that they were perfectly suited for the roles they were picked for.
Gigi Chiu Ngaa Chi played the gentle and benevolent white python demoness, Bai Su Zhen. First, before I go any further, I'd like to say that I am a huge Gigi fan, so my opinions of her might be strongly biased. I truly think that she's a gorgeous, talented and accomplished actress, and did I mention that she's gorgeous? They couldn't have picked a more fitting person to play this role. With her angelic face and the fairy white gown, Gigi was the perfect appearance of a venerable goddess, which is how Bai Su Zhen was portrayed in the ancient myth. She was able to bring Bai, the model of a perfect traditional oriental female that embodies every praised virtue, to life. The audience will be captivated by her affection and devotion to Xu Xian; her compassion toward strangers; as well as her attentiveness and diligence in being an outstanding wife and mother. In fact, being a loving housewife and a mother of three, playing such a role wasn't exactly a stretch for Gigi since, she perhaps could very well relate to Bai.
In the latter half of the series, after Bai was caged underneath the forsaken tower, Gigi played the rabbit demoness, Hu Mei Niang, who after being mesmerised by a dazzling portrait, decided to take the form of the female inside that picture. This time around, she successfully gave a brilliant performance as the youthful Hu in spite of her real age. Of the two roles, I personally fancied the passionate, seductive and mischievous Hu Mei Niang more. It is truly remarkable to see Gigi breaking the age barrier and bringing back a self that's twenty years younger in Hu. Hu Mei Niang's story is the more heartrending of the two characters; she also sacrificed far more for her craving of love and passion, and received much less than she truly deserved. But either as Bai or Hu, Gigi can capture everyone's heart.
The naive and gullible Xu Xian, and the clever and witty Xu Shi Lin are both played by none other than the gifted actress Cecilia Yip. Yes, that's right; the leading male roles were played by the opposite gender. Although I have to admit that the producer probably wouldn't have found a suitable actor otherwise, because the roles required frequent outbursts of tears which I doubt most actors are capable of. Cecilia delivered nearly flawless performances, in which her femininity is barely noticeable even if one examines closely. Being the Gigi fan that I am, I have to admit that Cecilia is the better actress of the two. Her facial expressions are simply remarkable to watch most of the time; only on rare occasions will they seem a little fake. And in those mopey scenes, her teary eyes genuinely opened up the characters' soul to the audience and let out the profound sadness and overwhelming sorrow inside.
Gigi and Cecilia shared terrific onscreen chemistry. Together, they vividly acted out this agonizing and heartbreaking epic love tale. The sparks are especially noticeable between Hu Mei Niang and Xu Shi Lin in the second part of the story. Watching them, one can't help but to be touched by their love, mesmerised by their affection, delighted by their happiness, and saddened by their misfortune. You will laugh their laughter and weep their tears. The compassionate Bai Su Zhen, the infatuated Xu Xian, the selfless Hu Mei Niang, and the dutiful Xu Shi Lin are all unforgettable, and so was the eternal love between them.
Maggie Chan plays Bai Su Zhen's close servant Jade, a green python demoness. I find her to be the most likable character in the story. Unlike Bai, Jade frequently acted out rashly without first thinking about the possible consequences. Her playful personality served an important role in Bai and Xu's first encounter; many of her mischievous deeds also created side problems throughout the series. She had an intimidating and vengeful dark side to her as well, which in my opinion augmented her appeal because sometimes, it is definitely more satisfying watching problems solved with violence rather than with reason. Many will like her for her irrevocable loyalty to Bai Su Zhen. Unfortunately, her screen time was drastically reduced in the second part to make room for new characters; and Jade lost most of her appeal due to significant personality changes when she was reintroduced back into the story line later on.
Monk Fa-Hai who appeared throughout the story was the main villain. I feel that the script writers completely failed in creating a well designed character in him, mainly due to the conflicting nature of his behaviour. In one climatic scene, he was even portrayed as a wicked and cruel monk who felt satisfaction at other people's affliction and misery, which is highly out of character for someone who supposedly had been seeking enlightenment for thousands of years. Also, it was apparent that all his actions were a direct retribution of the conflicts between him and Bai Su Zhen from the past; yet in the end, he was not only exonerated of all his sins, he wasn't even blamed for acting out of self interests. The writers should have made him either the self-gratifying hypocrite or the emotionless enlightened monk, but not both.
Xu Xian's sister Xu Jiao Rong (right) and brother-in-law Li Gong Fu (left) provided much needed comic relief in this otherwise tear-jerking saga. The two constantly squabbled over seemingly insignificant and trivial matters - which reminds people of how laughable some of their own quarrels are. Especially Lee Gong Fu, who never ran out of humorous remarks regardless of the circumstances, while they never seemed fake, intentional or unfunny like I find in other shows. Most importantly, Li's and Xu's unpretentious, honest and tolerant nature is truly admirable, and they provided the contrasts to the villains in the story.
The actor who played Qi Bao Shan (right), Xu Shi Lin's sworn brother, was the only miscast in my opinion. He didn't have much talent for acting, and his performance was too fake and exaggerated for my taste, barely tolerable. The actress who played Shi Lin's spiteful and unreasonable cousin Lily (left), also did a decent job. She grew jealous of Hu Mei Niang after finding out that she and her cousin were engaged before birth by the will of their parents, which made it difficult for anyone to be fond of her since she was always hostile toward Hu. In the end though, one will realise that she was indeed a loving and caring person; and all the flaws she had were merely a magnification of her intense affection for Xu Shi Lin.
Running at fifty episodes in total, this show might feel slightly long for some people. Although personally, I wish it's another fifty episodes longer because I can never grow tired of watching Gigi. The change of characters half way through the show splits the story into two distinctive parts and makes it more bearable for those who hate long series. The dialogues were very well written; however the language feels way too modern, that might disappoint some audiences. Some dialogues were written as song lyrics and sung by the actors and actresses like in an opera or musical; a fairly refreshing approach not done often. The music might not all be ear-catching initially, but after being repeated through the singing dialogues, they definitely will grow on the audience; and gratefully, none of them are awful. Some of the movie sets are very fake, done in the typical old Hong Kong and Taiwan style, though the show was actually filmed on location at the West Lake, so not all sets are artificial. Nothing is special about the costumes except the white gown worn by Gigi as Bai Su Zhen. Then again, it could arguably be the person rather than the gown. The special effects are very outdated and look rather laughable now. Fight choreography, not being the main focus of the show, was very plain. The story is excellent though with lots of inconsistent minor details. I choose to ignore them since they are not crucial to the enjoyable tale. Also, the ending fell flat by not focusing on Xu Xian and Bai Su Zhen, which should have been the major plotline. Like me, you will definitely be disappointed if you were expecting a climatic scene of the reunion between two infatuated lovers.
Overall, I have no reservations in giving this 5 stars on the rating scale. Subjectivity aside, this show definitely deserves at least a 4. The final verdict -- 4/5 with a strong recommendation, especially for those who love faerie tales. Also, nowadays, we just simply don't find that many talented actors like Cecilia and Gigi. It is a must watch for those lucky enough to obtain a copy.
