Chris Crudelli travels through the Far East to gain further knowledge about martial arts. He learns about kung fu, ninjas, tai chi, dim mak and various other martial arts.
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I'm guessing lots of people clicked on this link as they were curious. Despite the publicity for this show and its appearance on BBC 3, unless you had a digital service or free view, you couldn't watch this amazingly interesting series. As people may know from my recent Jet Li reviews, I'm a big martial art fan. When this appeared on television I caught a couple of the episodes and enjoyed them so much that I bought the whole season on DVD comprising of 12 episodes.
The series is an exploratory look into the world of martial arts with a focus on secrets, styles, masters and also a variety of easy moves to perform for self-defence. Chris Crudelli is the man who leads you through this genuinely enlightening journey. He has studied martial arts for over 30 years and runs his own martial art school in Birmingham. He is also a master of esoteric energy which involves the movement of chi (the body's internal force and energy flow). Many westerners especially cannot understand this concept, but he lived in China for many years and demonstrates that his knowledge is certainly formidable and convincing.
However, this is not just a showcase for Chris Crudelli. The main crux of the program follows Chris to China, Japan, Korea and the Philippines, amongst other countries, to discover their martial arts practices and cultures. He meets genuinely astonishing masters of the martial arts world who share, some for the first time on television, some secrets of their particular martial art. Some of the styles that are covered throughout the series are: Wing Chun and Wing Tsun, Philippine stick fighting, Knife fighting, Taipei Special Forces combat (these guys are unbelievably dedicated and proficient) Karate, new martial arts that are developing, Samurai, Ninjitsu, Muay-Thai and many others. Rather than just a platform for showcasing their skills, Chris Crudelli analyses the philosophy behind their movements and mindset.
As an example, a group of Chinese martial artists use chi to avoid harming themselves with Swords, spears and broken glass. The building up of energy and channelling to various areas makes certain parts of the body extremely resilient. One man demonstrates that even a spear pushed into his neck cannot injure or pierce his flesh. There are many instances where you may ask yourself, 'Is this real?' and the answer is almost certainly 'Yes'. The people have conditioned their bodies, much like the Shaolin Monks, to a seemingly superhuman state.
Protection and self defence are also a part of the program. Chris goes to many areas around England to show how, using simple and sometimes original techniques, you can defend yourself with ease without any previous fighting/martial art experience. Defending against a throat grab from behind, a car jacking, a knife or bat are some of the many procedures he teaches people. Chris actually goes to different types of jobs and teaches the workers martial art skills that would be beneficial to their particular job. He teaches estate agents how to defend themselves when they are showing someone around a house and proves that a hairdressing salon naturally contains many weapons for self-defence against would be attackers/molesters/cheapskates.
Sadly the DVD contains no real extras except for episode selection and animated menus which are fairly standard for most DVD's. It's a real shame as it would have been very interesting to learn more. The series really promotes curiousity.
Not only did this series enlighten me to other cultures that were previously alien to me, it gave me some additional knowledge to defend myself in case of an attack. To watch accomplished healers that use traditional medicines to cure any injury is very fascinating to watch and opposes many Western medical practices. If you want to learn to defend yourself, explore new cultures or learn lots more about the fascinating world of martial arts, you would be hard pushed to find a better program that combines all of these elements so well. Not only are the techniques shown awe inspiring, but is a good education into the often secretive world of martial arts. It shatters the concept that many people have of martial arts solely focusing on the fighting aspect - it is a way of life for the body and mind promoting health in all aspects. Highly recommended
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