Be Water: An Inspirational Documentary

So far, none of the 30 for 30 ESPN documentaries disappointed me. All of them have very unique life stories, and they produced consistently high standards. That’s how we decided to watch a documentary called “Be Water “. It was an extraordinary documentary with so many beautiful messages. It was about Bruce Lee’s life. I wasn’t a Bruce Lee fan; besides, I didn’t even know who he was.

When we started watching the documentary, it didn’t take us long to see his strong personality and how much he cared for and respected his nationality. He was born in the USA because his father was performing Chinese opera in the United States during that time. He grew up in Hong Kong, and due to his father’s job, he became an actor in his early years. He also trained in martial arts and learned Chinese Gung Fu. Later on, he moved to Seattle for his university degree and started a new life in the USA.

He was extremely nationalistic and cared about how Chinese people were seen in America. He did his best to promote his culture, his traditions and especially Gung Fu. He gave martial art lessons to his friends to introduce his beautiful culture. His goal was to open martial art schools, which he did. He gave Gung Fu lessons to the American people and shared his philosophy with them.

He found his way to Hollywood through his martial arts success but as a co-star. Even though he was very talented, at that time, Hollywood was not diverse and open to foreign actors. The documentary also shared how African American and Asian people were treated in America. I felt like nothing has changed because 60 years later, we still see similar scenarios.

Some days, he couldn’t find any roles, but he still never accepted a role that involved humiliation to his Asian heritage and culture. He was very outspoken and wanted to contribute more to his films. When he realized that he couldn’t make it in Hollywood, he went back to Hong Kong. He became extremely successful. He still had his goals and his plan was to come back to the USA and make his movies to be able to share with the world Chinese Gung Fu and cultures through his movies.

During the documentary, he had a nice conversation with one of the reporters I loved the most:

Berton: “Do you consider yourself a Chinese? Or American?”
Lee: “You wanna know? A human being.”

It is a must-see documentary. As you watch, you will see that at a young age, Bruce Less was an inspiration for millions of people. He was not just an actor, a martial art master, or a philosopher. He was a real role model and an example to everyone with his life. It was a beautiful story. I hope my kids will be very proud of their heritage and appreciate their Turkish and British traditions and culture, like Bruce Lee.