(Underrated Three Kingdoms film) Hua Tuo and Cao Cao 1983 - 华佗与曹操（1983）

Hua Tuo and Cao Cao （华佗与曹操）is a 1983 Chinese historical movie directed by Huang Zumo produced by the Shanghai Film Studio.
The film is, imo, easily one of the best Three Kingdoms related films made, and is likely the first truly "modern" cinematic take on the titular Late Han Dynasty/Three Kingdoms era characters, explicitly drawing more from history rather than the popular folklore like Romance of the the Three Kingdoms.
The events surrounding Hua Tuo and his interaction with Cao Cao are stick pretty accurately to the actual historical record.
While it might not seem all that special, and the film seems pretty humble by today's standards, I think it still stands out as a great character piece, where the strength of personality of the eponymous characters, their merits, weaknesses and flaws drive the story forward in a cohesive and thought-out manner.

Zheng Qianlong's Hua Tuo embodies the classic ideal image of a Chinese literati, smart and farsighted yet still compassionate and honorable, with also the pridefulness and bullheadeness that comes along with it.
Wang Hongshen plays one of the most underrated takes of Cao Cao by far, arguably the first screen-adaptations of Cao Cao that doesn't fall to operatic cliches, but instead delivers an interestingly understated yet still effective version of the character. While he doesn't have the sheer presence and charismatic aura of Bao Guo'an's Cao Cao in 1994's Three Kingdoms (but who does honestly), Wang Hongshen is instead a very grounded interpretation, one where he lets his words and acts speak for themselves. Even if not exceptional, he paved a way to many modern interpretations of Cao Cao to come.

The movie also also holds up as one of the historically authentic depictions of the Han Dynasty China. Its props, set design and costuming can all be traced to real historical research and archaeological excavations on the Han Dynasty China.
In fact, few historical productions even today can boast as much almost devotion to the historical source material as this film does.

Due to my penchant for armchair history, I decided to thus compile a visual gallery of the various historical props and set-design in the film (with names & commentary): https://imgur.com/gallery/tQxE3P0



Unfortunately the RAWs that are available are not the best in terms of quality and colour-grading, as film preservation is still something not many figured out and this film is essentially "Abandonware" now, so you will have to bear with me.