To xueyun Zhao, Chinese culture says, children have to obey their parents, so the truth is the monk Chi Kong that you mentioned ,his life's history just like what your thinking, he became monk after his parents passed away, so movie is a movie only.
watching this, I see that the monk is a selfish, irresponsible, immature person.. He's becoming a monk has left his parents and wife in such a sorry state, at least he could have waited for parents passed away first and make appropriate arrangent for his wife too.
xueyun zhao No you are a little bit wrong because you don't know the reason why he chose to be a monk. It's because his last life is a Buddha. So he was born to be a monk in this life. It seems he had no choice. That's his fate. It seems he chose to be a monk but sadly, he couldn't choose his life.