René Viénet, Can Dialectics Break Bricks?

Martial Arts and Marxist aphorisms meet head on in René Viénet’s 1973 Situationist ‘détournement’ of a chop-socky Kung Fu movie. Taking Doo Kwang Gee’s ‘The Crush’ Viénet replaced all the original dialogue with lines like “Afterwards… The Workers Councils will be realized in generalized self-management,” turning a tale of warring clans into an hilarious yet thought-provoking account of the proletariat’s struggle against the nefarious bourgeoisie. Their most fearsome weapon is not the Shaolin style but the awesome power of dialectics. A subversive blow struck against the ruling classes? Or a dopey prank? You decide.