A good brain-burning work is enough to test the depth of everyone's thinking, which is mainly derived from the soul of the original author. First of all, you should understand the history of the expansion of the British Empire by force. Although the surface of the work is that the protagonist is not afraid of life and death in order to prove his dignity, the deeper connotation is to show that unjust aggression not only violates the basic morality and development trend of human society (British Empire VS Sudan Mahdi Kingdom). The disparity of power in the war ultimately ended in a disastrous British defeat is good proof), but also at the expense of the personal well-being of ordinary British people. Above the interests of the country, in the end, legitimate morality should be the criterion (such as our resistance to US aggression and aid Korea). Invading and oppressing other nations, in exchange for nothing but the interests of the ruling class of the British Empire. And the honor bestowed upon the soldier is nothing but a glorious fig leaf for his despicable and selfish misdeeds. Therefore, the true connotation of the original author is deep enough. As long as we ask ourselves such a question, why does the protagonist decide to resign from the military? It has been shown in the film that it is not for the personal happiness of the fiancee together, nor is he really greedy for life and fear of death, otherwise there will be no follow-up experience of being born and dying alone. This is not only to seek moral redemption and insist on one's own value choice, but also to doubt the essence of the so-called glory of the British Empire. After all, history shows everything. The glory of the British Empire is not there. Bullying the weak is not the will of the almighty God in the author's heart. The dignity and glory of human beings must come from their own conscience after all!
Background information on film history
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The war of disparity in power - the British Empire VS the Sultan Mahdi Kingdom
The struggle against British and Egyptian rule led by the Sudanese national hero Mahdi. It erupted in January 1881 and failed in April 1898 due to suppression by British colonial forces. The uprising severely hit the British colonialists and was an important chapter in the history of the modern anti-imperialist struggle in Africa. Mahdi was also respected by the Sudanese people as the "father of independence".
In the early 1820s, Sudan became a dependency of Egypt. In the 1970s, the British colonial power invaded Egypt, and thus penetrated into Sudan. In 1873, King Ismail Pasha of Egypt appointed British colonist CG Gordon as governor of the Sudan. In order to rule Sudan and encroach on Central Africa, Gordon recruited a group of European explorers and retired soldiers as assistants. They extorted levies, and at the same time used force to suppress people's dissatisfaction and resistance. As a result, Sudan's economy declined and people fled one after another. In June 1879, the British coerced the Ottoman emperor to depose Ismail Pasha, and Gordon was forced to resign. Since then, Egypt's ruling institutions in Sudan have been paralyzed. It was in this situation that the Mahdi uprising took place.
In June 1881, Mahdi issued a letter to all parts of Sudan on the island of Aba in the White Nile, declaring that he was the expected savior Mahdi (according to the classic "Haith" prophecy: he is the end of the world. Before the advent, a figure with the nature of a religious leader was the leader of the Muslims. He came to the world to govern the troubled world according to the sacred religious law, to achieve justice, to eradicate tyranny, to rectify all the differences within the *** religion, and to revive the *** religion. Faith, the beginning of a new era, reigned for 7 years. He came from the descendants of Fatu Mai, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Shiites have different views on Mahdi and Sunnis. Shiites believe that the reclusive Iraqi The Maam is the Mahdi who will come again, and will bring justice and equality to a world full of oppression and error. He called for the restoration of the simplicity and orthodoxy of *** religion, and also put forward the slogans of "overthrow the infidels" and "don't pay a penny". As a result, it won the love and support of the people, and the masses of Aba Island participated in the uprising one after another.
In August 1881, Mahdi's propaganda made the governor of Sudan very angry, he immediately ordered Ahmed to Khartoum to explain his actions, which he categorically refused. The Sultan Governor was furious, and immediately sent a crusade team of more than 200 people to Aba Island to capture Mahdi. Mahdi was calm and witty, and immediately withdrew from the village with an uprising team of more than 300 people composed of farmers, fishermen and handicraftsmen, and took cover in a wood outside the village. On August 12, 1881, when the crusade team swaggered into the ambush circle, Mahdi gave an order, and the insurgents armed with sticks and stones attacked bravely. and escape. Mahdi won the first battle and opened the prelude to the national armed uprising. However, his mind was very calm, and he knew that the strength of the insurgent army was still very weak, and he wanted to avoid premature confrontation with a strong enemy. Therefore, he decisively commanded the insurgent team and moved to the western Kadir Mountains. There are continuous mountains and dangerous terrain, and the poor people around have come to defect to the rebel army. After the uprising, Mahdi led the masses to move quickly to the mountains of Kordofan. Based on this base, we accumulated strength, trained teams, defeated the government troops who came to crusade, and captured Ubaid, the capital of Kordofan Province, in January 1883. In the name of the Egyptian government, the United Kingdom dispatched former British Colonel W. Hicks to lead an army to suppress it. Hicks and Sultan Governor Aladdin led an army of 10,000 troops from Duwaim on the White Nile in September 1883. On November 5, they were attacked in the Ubaid area near Shigan, south of Obaid. The Mahdi army was ambushed. After a morning of fierce fighting, all the enemy troops were annihilated except for 250 who escaped. Colonel Hicks and all the officers were killed on the spot. After the Battle of Shigan (also known as the Battle of Ubaid), the rebels rose to prominence. In December, the governor of Darfur and Austrian R. von Slaine surrendered, the governor of Equatorial Province and German E. Schnitzer retreated to the Central African region, and the insurgents approached Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
In January 1884, the British government decided to send Gordon to stick to Khartoum in order to wait for the opportunity to make a comeback. In February, Gordon arrived in the capital of Sudan. He successively issued decrees and announcements, promising to free slaves, reduce taxes and self-government, in an attempt to bribe people's hearts, and intimidate the arrival of British reinforcements. He also lured Mahdi with high-ranking officials, promised to appoint Mahdi as the ruler of Kordofan Province, and sent a letter of appointment and a set of luxurious robes with him. but was rejected. Meanwhile, in Khartoum, Gordon dug trenches, built walls, erected barbed wire around the city, and sent armed steamboats to patrol to strengthen defenses in anticipation of reinforcements. In March, the connection between Khartoum and Cairo was interrupted. In April, the governor of Bahr el Bahr FM Lupton surrendered. In May, the insurgent army occupied the important northern city of Berber. The army captured Khartoum and killed Gordon. Two days later, British reinforcements were forced to withdraw from Sudan.
After four years of armed struggle, the insurgent army has occupied most of the land in Sudan. After capturing Khartoum, with Mahdi as the head of state, a new Mahdi country, the Mahdi Kingdom, was established, with the capital Yuen Tuman. Under the Mahdi, three caliphs (successors) were appointed. The three caliphs each have their own armies, and the caliph, Abdullah, is the most powerful. In addition, there is a treasurer and a justice each, responsible for financial and judicial affairs. In order to promote economic prosperity, currency was issued for the first time in the history of Sudan.
Mahdi died suddenly on June 22, 1885. Before his death, he appointed Caliph Abdullah as his successor. During the reign of Abdullah (1885-1899), internally, the Caliph Sharif's conspiracy to seize power was smashed, the remnants of political opponents were removed from various places, and the military and political power were integrated; externally, they were resolutely resisting the invasion of foreign enemies. In spite of years of wars and frequent famines and epidemics in the country, he has defended national independence for 13 years. In 1896, British colonial troops using new weapons attacked Sudan again, and the insurgents were defeated at the battles of Dongola in September 1896 and Khartoum in September 1898. In April 1898, Khartoum fell. Abdullah led the remnants to retreat to Kordofan province and continued guerrilla warfare until his death.
In 1899, the United Kingdom and Egypt signed an agreement to jointly administer Sudan. Sudan lost its independent status again, and the Mahdi sects turned to underground activities and became secret sects. The Mahdi uprising lasted 18 years and hit the British colonists hard. It was the largest and longest armed uprising against colonial rule in modern Africa, and it wrote an important chapter in the history of modern anti-imperialist struggles in Africa.
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