Prepare for battle! In this pulse-pounding training anthem from Disney’s Mulan, Captain Li Shang rallies a rag-tag group of recruits with bold commands to be “plus violent que le cours du torrent” and “plus puissant que les ouragans.” On the surface it is a classic montage song: soldiers learn to shoot arrows, scale poles, and harden their resolve before facing the Huns. Beneath the booming drums, however, hides Mulan’s secret. Disguised as a man, she must meet Shang’s tough standards while proving that courage and discipline are not limited to any one gender.
The repeated refrain about becoming “real men” pokes at rigid ideas of masculinity. Each boastful line—be fiercer than torrents, hotter than volcanoes—highlights society’s narrow expectations, only to be quietly subverted by Mulan’s success. By the end, the message is clear: true strength comes from balance, ingenuity, and heart, not just brute force. The song turns a lesson in martial arts into a celebration of self-belief and the power of redefining what it means to be a hero.