Funkula wrote:

The not-so-secret message. Here's the movie's premise: YOU CAN'T BEAT THE GOVERNMENT. EVER. Hm, I wonder how they got the Chinese government to approve such a controversial film.

"I wanted to write about people with warm blood," Mr. Zhang said. "People who have faith and ideals." So what are these ideals? Mr. Zhang quoted a well-known phrase attributed to a Song Dynasty official named Fan Zhongyan: "One should be the first to worry for the future of the state and the last to claim his share of happiness."

Mr. Zhang has not commented on the movie's metaphor for modern politics. But Tony Leung, the Hong Kong actor who plays a peace-loving warrior in the film, made the connection. In an interview with B International, a Hong Kong-based magazine, Mr. Leung said he applauded the message of "peace and human kindness" in "Hero," then reflected on the Beijing government's suppression of a democracy movement 13 years ago. "During the June 4 incident, I didn't join any demonstrations, because what the Chinese government did was right - to maintain stability, which was good for everybody," he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Leung later said that his comments had been taken out of context and that he was speaking from the perspective of his character in the film.