Who
Am I?

Yes. The building is the Willemswerf — a real office tower in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a distinctive angled facade of concrete and glass. The fight sequence was filmed on the actual exterior of the building at genuine height, with the Rotterdam skyline and street level clearly visible below throughout. No green screen or miniature work was used for the exterior fight itself. Chan and his opponents performed the sequence without safety harnesses for the wide shots that establish the height — a decision that Chan has acknowledged was among the most frightening of his career. The building still stands in Rotterdam and can be visited; the exact angle of the rooftop slope matches what is seen in the film precisely.

The two fighters are Ron Smoorenburg and Michiel Luijten, both Dutch martial artists. Ron Smoorenburg is a multiple world champion kickboxer with an elite competition record — his real-world striking speed and power are among the highest of any opponent Chan has faced on film. Michiel Luijten is an accomplished karate practitioner. Chan cast both men specifically because their genuine fighting ability would make the danger in the sequence visible and credible — there was no need to simulate threat when the threat was real. Both men are operating at full speed in the sequence, and Chan's defensive footwork and evasive technique are under genuine pressure throughout. The combination of real height, real fighters, and real exposure makes the sequence uniquely uncomfortable to watch.

Several factors contributed to the film's relative obscurity outside Asia. It was released in Hong Kong in January 1998 — the same year as Rush Hour — and the enormous international success of Rush Hour effectively repositioned Jackie Chan in Western markets as a Hollywood buddy-comedy star, drawing attention away from his concurrent Hong Kong productions. Who Am I? received only a limited Western theatrical release and was largely relegated to home video in most markets outside Asia. Additionally, the film's US distribution was handled without the marketing muscle of a major studio, meaning it never achieved the visibility of Rumble in the Bronx or Rush Hour. Among dedicated Chan fans and action cinema scholars it is considered essential viewing, but it has never received the mainstream recognition its quality deserves.

The opening act of Who Am I? features Chan's amnesiac soldier being discovered and cared for by a Khoisan community in South Africa — the Khoisan being one of the world's oldest indigenous peoples, known for the distinctive click consonants of their languages and their deep traditional knowledge of the southern African landscape. The sequence was filmed on location in South Africa with the cooperation of local communities. The film takes considerable care to portray the Khoisan community with dignity and warmth rather than as exotic backdrop, and the scenes in which Chan's character learns basic phrases and customs are played genuinely rather than for comedy. The name he is given — "Who Am I?" — derives from his inability to answer the question the community's leader asks him, and this naming becomes the film's central motif.