A movie that is not very well-known in China, but left a deep impression on me.

Hollie 2022-07-08 20:26:46

I watched "Dunkirk" two days ago, and it was very unpleasant. This reminds me of this movie I saw many years ago. This movie is not well known (in China), but it left a deep impression on me when I saw it.

At the beginning of the film, with a gunshot, the protagonist ran out of the forest. He was the only one who survived the battle, but his mood was low and negative, he applied to leave the front line, but was appointed as a recruit platoon leader. So, he can only take a group of recruits with no battlefield experience and teach them how to survive on the cruel battlefield. What has he been through before? How did he master these battlefield survival skills? do not know.

A row of recruits grew rapidly under his leadership. And the protagonist still looks preoccupied every day, repeatedly following up with his superiors to retire. In the end, he was asked by his superiors to complete a daunting task as a trade, completing the task to retire (too long, and many episodes in between to remember). So he still set off with his men without hesitation.

The battle was fierce, and in the end, only the glasses and him were left in the entire row, and he was seriously injured! He asked the glasses to drop him to give him a treat. After a gunshot, the film returns to the beginning, except that the one who ran out of the forest is replaced by glasses. At this point in the film, the audience completely understands what the protagonist has experienced before. It turned out that he was also led by veterans, learned various skills, learned to fight bravely, and finally experienced the same life and death with his comrades, and even sent his comrades on the road by himself, so he was silent, negative, and depressed most of the time, because He was under too much psychological pressure. In the end, the glasses took over the protagonist, completed the reincarnation, and continued everything about the protagonist.

In this film, the protagonist is an iconoclastic figure. Most of the time, he has no sense of honor and responsibility as a soldier. His motivation for completing the task is not to end the war, not to fight against fascism, not to be comrades in arms, but to be able to keep himself alive. Compared to war films like Saving Private Ryan, the film's protagonist is clearly too selfish. However, this is also human nature. The main reason why the protagonist escapes is because he has the burden of killing his comrades with his own hands. Although this is not directly indicated in the movie, it has been clearly explained from various aspects. This is ordinary human nature, killing his comrades, so he feels guilty, and at the same time has a huge sense of tiredness of war. Under the same background of the great war, the portrayal of ordinary human nature is much better than "Dunkirk".

One more digression. Why do many war movies made by Laomei have similar plots? For example, in "Saving Private Ryan", the quarrel of the squad after the death of the doctor, such as the field platoon~~~ That is because the wars that Americans participate in are not wars to defend their own country and liberate their own people. Therefore, these soldiers who participated in the war will have such emotions when they encounter difficulties. They can not fight these wars. China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and Liberation War was different. Countless Chinese soldiers and civilians sacrificed their blood for the liberation of the nation. Is there war weariness? there must be. But there must also be characters like the heroes in the main theme movies in China, whose belief is to make China's future better. Recently, I have seen a lot of Weibo posts on the monument of the party. So, let’s not say that Chinese people can’t make works of art that “reflect on war” like Americans. It’s not that Chinese people can’t make art works, but the war faced by Chinese people is fundamentally different from that of Americans! !

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Extended Reading

When Trumpets Fade quotes

  • Lieutenant Colonel: Where's Lt. Lukas?

  • Lieutenant Colonel: How you doing, Roy?

    Capt. Roy Pritchett: I'm fine sir. I can stay.

    Lieutenant Colonel: I think you need a rest.

    Capt. Roy Pritchett: Everybody here needs a rest, sir.

    Lieutenant Colonel: Captain, this conversation was over the first time we had it and it is just as over now.