The movie Shaolin Wooden Men begins in a strict Shaolin monastery.
It consists of several young men competing to
be the best Kung Fu master of all time.
The most naive and untalented one of them all
is a young man named Little Mute who
doesn’t speak for an unknown reason.
He struggles to keep up with his fellow
students, making him the laughing stock.
One afternoon, the master orders all his
pupils to do a special task that will help
them learn the famous weightless technique.
He asks them to fetch two whole buckets of
water from a river while wearing heavy iron
shoes that weigh more than five kilograms on
each leg. Not just that but after filling the
buckets, they have to walk a mile uphill.
Once they master this technique, they will be
like birds, able to jump on roofs and perform
aerial acrobatics. Little Mute’s classmates
see that he is excited about the task and
allow him to go first. They are so confident
in his incompetence that they know he will
be the last one to complete the task.
As they had predicted, he fills the bucket
early but can barely walk with the shoes weighing
him down. Everyone surpasses him, leaving him the
last one climbing the hill. Eventually, he even
drops the bucket and sits down hopelessly.
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He has been trying his very best to survive
in the monastery but a failure like this
shakes his spirit. As he thinks about how he
got to this point in life, we are taken to a
flashback. A few years ago, Little Mute’s father
was killed by a masked robber for money.
The killer was a Kung Fu master who beat them
up badly before killing the man. Hence, the only
reason Little Mute joined the monastery is to be
skilled enough to kill the murderer one day.
Lost in his thought, he only comes back
to reality when a nun approaches him.
On seeing that he has given up on
the task she encourages him with
motivating words. The nun’s name is Five
Plums and she is also a Kung Fu expert.
After talking to her for a while, Little
Mute completes the task with great effort.
However, since he is the last one, the
master calls him lazy. He even reveals
that no student in several years has taken
as long as him to complete the task.
Little Mute is made to chop wood
for the entire month as punishment.
While he is doing so outside the monastery, he
is approached by a drunk monk. Initially, the
man blabbers something about perseverance in Kung
Fu which Little Mute has no interest in. But then,
he reveals a secret about the monastery.
The two end up in a hidden chamber behind the
waterfall where only the high-level
masters are allowed to come. There,
an old man has been held prisoner, with
his hands and legs chained to the wall.
To Little Mute who doesn’t
know what the man’s crime was,
the punishment seems irrational and harsh. Two
monks arrive in the cave and give the prisoner
food and water. When they leave, Little Mute
comes into view and helps the prisoner eat.
The gesture wins the prisoner’s trust and he finds
out Little Mute is not one of the Monk’s minions.
He devours the food and asks the kid
to bring him wine the next time.
In the following scene, the best student of
the monastery gets ready for the final task
that every student must complete before graduating
from the Shaolin monastery. The task’s name is the
wooden test where a person must enter a narrow
hallway containing thirty-six Shaolin Wooden Men.
They are mechanical dummies that attack anyone
who enters the hallway with great speed and
strength. Each one of the mechanical dummies is
fifty times faster and stronger than an average
human so the task is extremely difficult.
The student enters with confidence but is beaten
so badly that he has to be carried outside. The
master reprimands him for being overconfident
and lectures everyone else to take it as a
lesson to never underestimate the final test.
The following day during lunch, Little
Mute saves a bun under his clothes for
the prisoner. He also steals a little bit of
wine from the drunken monk. Then, when no one
is looking, he returns to the cave behind the
waterfall and meets the prisoners again.
The man happily drinks the wine and promises
to reward him when he escapes the prison.
The two chat for a long time about the wooden
test. According to the prisoner, the test is a
joke, he claims that he would have torn the
wooden men apart in no time if it were him.
Little Mute listens to him attentively
but doesn’t necessarily believe him.
The prisoner also reveals that the reason for his
imprisonment was he was practicing a new Kung Fu
technique called Lion’s roar. The monks didn’t
like that he was getting more powerful than their
entire lot so they apprehended him.
The next day, Little Mute is assigned
to kitchen duty and tries to steal
wine for the second time. However,
the monk catches him this time and teaches him a
lesson. He is ordered to clean the kitchen every
day until the end of the month as punishment.
After sweeping the kitchen spotlessly clean
for hours, he impresses the drunken monk
and is let off the hook this time. Later,
he again goes to the prisoner with food. Impressed
by his kindness, the man decides to teach him Kung
Fu techniques even though he is chained.
His techniques are primarily different from
that of the monks but Little Mute continues
to learn them with diligence. There are some
principles that the prisoner stands by but Little
Mute doesn’t agree with; like ignoring the rule of
Shaolin altogether and always ending a battle
with a kill. Other than following such rules,
Little Mute becomes the prisoner’s best pupil
and works hard for the next few months.
One afternoon, he is practicing outside the
cave when the Five Plums sees him. She notices
that the Kung Fu style he is practicing is not
the usual one taught in the monastery. It is
dangerous and mostly used by criminals who divert
from the path of what actual Kung Fu teaches.
She advises Little Mute that a man should never
learn Kung Fu to spread violence and evil,
it is a sacred art that one must only
use to defend themselves and others. The
Kung Fu he is learning defeats its purpose,
hence, he will have to unlearn the art.
Five Plums then starts training him in the
Gliding Snake style. The principle of this
style of Kung Fu is the exact opposite of the
style that the prisoner is teaching him. Little
Mute continues learning from both masters and has
the option to choose between their principles.
As time passes, he masters both techniques
and becomes a fighter like no other. One
day after training, the prisoner tells
him that he has learned everything there
is to the Lion’s roar style and is now
ready to face the wooden men test.
Knowing that this will be the last time
they meet before Little Mute graduates,
the prisoner gives him a tiny piece of
paper that he wants to be taken to the
cashier of the evergreen medicine shop.
Since it is the least Little Mute can do for
his master, he agrees. Then comes the day when
Little Mute is supposed to take the final test.
Everyone thinks it is a joke until
he goes into the wooden alley and
actually fights well. Using the
skills taught by both his teachers,
he manages to defeat the wooden dummies in
the end and graduates with flying colors.
Before leaving the monastery, he goes to
meet the head monk. For the past few years,
not even a single person has passed the wooden
test which makes the monk believe that Little
Mute is doing something different.
Little Mute doesn’t say anything but
the master eventually figures out that he met
the prisoner. He prays to God for forgiveness
on Little Mute’s behalf and asks if
the prisoner gave him anything.
The man stays loyal to his master
and doesn’t reply. Before he leaves,
he is handed a wooden scroll and is asked
to meet the sublime master in the hills.
In the following scene, we see Little Mute
meeting the cashier of the medicine shop.
Upon reading the message, he instantly recognizes
who it is from. It is then revealed that the
prisoner is none other than Kang, the leader
of the bandits named the green dragon.
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He wasn’t imprisoned because he was a threat
to the monks but because he used his skill
to spread violence and kill innocent
people. In the message, he has asked
the people of his gang to await his return.
Still unaware of this, Little Mute continues
living life as usual. He ends up in a restaurant
where the members of the same gang are misbehaving
with the owner’s daughter Orchid. Little Mute
saves her from the thugs and gains appreciation
from her father. As a result, he is allowed to
stay in their inn for as long as he wants.
One night, the monks of the Shaolin monastery hear
a loud roar. When they rush to check the cave,
they find it empty. Kang has mastered
the Lion roar technique and escaped.
The same night, the members of the
dragon gang trouble Orchid again.
They want to abduct her and present her to their
master as his mistress when he arrives. She tries
to fight them but is ultimately kidnapped.
The following day, Little Mute and a waiter
from Orchid’s restaurant go out looking
for her. On their way, they come across
Kang fighting the monks from the monastery who
are trying to stop him from running away.
Unaware of Kang’s true identity, Little Mute
helps him escape by distracting the monks. The
gang leader is thankful and agrees to help
them find the missing girl in return.
After that, the three go to a restaurant to eat
since Kang hasn’t had good food in a long time.
Suddenly, Kang notices a bald man outside the
house and kills him, assuming that he is a monk.
When the shop owner retaliates, he refuses to
accept his mistake and instead blames the dead man
for being bald. He even kills the entire family
of the restaurant owner in a fit of rage.
Little Mute is shocked as he never thought
the person he respects so much would kill
an entire innocent family. When
he tries to reason with the man,
he and the waiter are kicked out of the house.
Surprisingly enough when the two return to the
inn later, Orchid also returns home unharmed. She
says that the thugs let her go without saying why.
The next day, Little Mute randomly remembers
the scroll that he was supposed to give
to the sublime master.
Without wasting more time,
he goes to the hill and meets the blind
master. On feeling the scroll, he finds
out that Little Mute is Kang’s student. Initially,
he berates Little Mute for choosing the wrong path
but promises to show him the right way.
He then reveals that he was Kang’s master
in the monastery, and the one who taught
the gangster everything about Kung Fu.
However, Kang repaid his master with violence and
began killing people, misusing his lessons.
In the end, he was captured and imprisoned but
the sublime master blamed himself for Kang’s deeds
and blinded himself. He now lives in the hills as
a hermit but is ready to help the monastery if his
former pupil is threatening its safety.
The current head monk is afraid that the
monks have grown old. If Kang and his
gang land an attack on the monastery,
they won’t be able to defend themselves. The
only person who can help them is Little Mute.
Hence, the sublime master hands him a book
containing the ultimate Kung Fu style. It
is the most dangerous and sacred technique
of all which only a few monks are able to
master. In the next few years, Kang and
his people plan an attack while Little
Mute trains in his third Kung Fu style.
He is made to carry three hundred kilograms
of rocks on his shoulder for hours
alongside other brutal exercises.
Under the guidance of the head monk, he
manages to master the style in a few years.
Now, with three different Kung Fu techniques
at his disposal, Little Mute is ready to fight
any battle. Then, one day, Kang and his
people finally attack the monastery.
When Little Mute tries to stop them, Kang laughs,
revealing that he was the one who killed his
father long ago. A shocked Little Mute speaks
for the first time in years. He reveals that
he had vowed to never let a word out of his
mouth until he finds his father’s killer.
The revelation is followed by a final showdown
between Kang and Little Mute. Kang uses Lion’s
roar technique and defends against all of Little
Mute’s snake-style attacks. Initially, the
clashing technique works in Kang’s favor but when
he tries to attack, he faces the same problem.
Finally, Little Mute uses the ultimate style and
turns the fight around. Even after being beaten
brutally and refusing to land any fatal attacks,
he manages to win in the end. To everyone’s
surprise, Kang accepts defeat and is happy that
his only student has mastered his teachings.
However, it turns out to be a ruse
to take Little Mute by surprise.
Kang plans to use the deadly slicing throat move
on him but Little Mute moves just in time and the
attack lands on Kang himself. He dies because of
the impact and his gang runs away in fear.
In the last scene, Little Mute returns to
the monastery and turns into a monk.
