be honest, I was apprehensive before going to the theater. The question I am most worried about is: Can Zhang Yimou tell a good story? Watching Chinese movies, I was worried about such a problem, and it was funny to think about it to such an extent. But it is indeed true.
I have watched too many blockbusters about the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Except for the movie "The Devil Is Coming", which was not approved for screening by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, I was amazed. Can't tell a story. In addition to "destroying an enemy with one shot", the rest is full of crooked melons and cracked dates, wretched and short Japanese devils.
I often look silly at the movie screen. The main reason is that I don't understand: Why did such an idiot army, when it invaded China like no one else, the smart, wise and brave Chinese, why did it take 8 years to fight against Japan? What I worry about is that Zhang Yimou will turn out the story of this routine, spend a lot of money, use a lot of bombs, bullets, and super luxurious special effects, and then pack it aside.
Another worry of mine is whether the movie will be made into a movie "The Erotic Patriotism of Thirteen Hairpins" (the same guy who criticized Yu Qiuyu's works as cultural Lipstick, enough to run Yu Qiuyu), has become Zhang Yimou's new formula: eroticism + violence + national suffering theme + patriotism?
Although I had watched the four trailers before, my confidence in Zhang Yimou had greatly increased in my heart, and I felt that he would not be so retarded that he would fall directly into the mouth of a guy who babbled before watching the movie, but given that he is in "Hero" After the poor performance, confidence is still not enough. And, to make matters worse, I recommended my wife to watch the trailer, and she blocked me back by saying, "Which movie's trailer isn't great?" Fortunately, when I said that I would go to the movies at night, she did not refuse, which gave me more or less reassurance.
Okay, let's gossip here first, let's turn to the topic.
2.0 Encounter, let me see the real Chinese
movie. From the beginning, it was an unexpected encounter station.
There were only a dozen people left in the teaching team led by Instructor Li. They are being ordered to evacuate outside the city. At the last moment when they are about to leave the city, they encounter a pair of Japanese troops chasing the schoolgirl. To fight or not to fight? Fighting means the entire army will be wiped out. If you don't fight, you will watch students become targets of rape by Japanese soldiers, or they will be shot dead.
Instructor Li didn't seem to even hesitate, and ordered the shooting. This war was extremely brutal. When the Japanese soldiers in the brigade appeared and drove their tanks on a rampage, the Chinese army had only one choice left: to temporarily block the speed of the Japanese army with flesh and blood, and win the opportunity for the students to escape.
The performance of the Chinese military is not disgraceful. Although they were remnants, they quickly threw them from the flanks and the roof, and made firm resistance. The remaining few people lined up in a vertical line and rushed towards the enemy. The people in front blocked the bullets with their flesh and blood, and won the opportunity for the people behind to get close to the enemy tanks.
Watching them fall one by one, my eyes started to get wet. When the last person finally got close to the tank, and at the moment of falling down, he pulled a grenade and blew the tank up, tears started to flow out of my eyes.
What touched me in this encounter was not only that our soldiers did not back down, but wrote down their love for this country with blood and courage. More importantly, I finally saw the frontal resistance of the Chinese on the battlefield - the brother we finally recognized, the national army.
Over the years, what I have been familiar with is the tunnel warfare where one shot is changed for another position, and the guerrilla warfare where there is no shadow after a while. I always thought that China's war of resistance was won in this way. Today, I saw that in fact, this war was caused by our brother who had been infamous for decades, and more blood was shed.
In the back, the only surviving soldier, Instructor Li, had a separate sniper battle. His wisdom and courage won him an opportunity to save the students. This episode also made my eyes moist and full of sadness. This kind of moving and sad, not because of the plot, but because of its truth and cruelty.
The war that started, all of a sudden, pulled our hearts and souls into the war of the year, and put them naked under the sharp bayonet of the Japanese invaders. Before the screen, we began to struggle and suffer with the soul in the movie.
3.0 Under the bayonet, those shining souls
Next, three groups of people began to arrive at the church one after another: the female student studying in the church, the American John, the mortuary teacher, and the dusty woman from Qinhuai River. These are people from three worlds, and in a peaceful and prosperous world, or under normal circumstances, their destinies have no chance to intersect. But in the war years, when everything was disrupted, and there was no safe corner in the whole world, they just collided unexpectedly.
Let's talk about female students. Before that, their world was white, so pure that it didn't touch a trace of dirt. The most typical representative is Shujuan. She should be born into a rich family, Bingxue is smart and proud. Therefore, whether it's sloppy John or the prostitutes of Qinhuaihe, she actually looks down on them and doesn't bother to deal with them more. The only thing that made it difficult for her to raise her head was that her father promised to buy tickets for the classmates and send them out. However, her father broke his promise. Moreover, because of the trust of the classmates in her, they missed the opportunity to escape. But this alone is enough to knock her from the clouds into the dust.
John, on the other hand, is just a gangster who wants to make a fortune. His temperament and mentality are close to George's second-rate. He came to church just wanting to make money. At the same time, I also want to find a bliss among the fourteen women I met unexpectedly.
Fourteen women from the Qinhuai River hid in the church to avoid the war. But at any time, in the eyes of others, they are a group of people with no humanity, no dignity, and dirty souls. Yes, they are a group of people who live by selling their flesh. In fact, they themselves see it that way. Therefore, in the cellar, they don't have much to take care of, and they can immediately lay out mahjong and turn the church into a Fengyue Field exuding the breath of Qinhuai River.
But everything changed because of the intrusion of the Japanese.
The students wanted to go into the cellar. But there are fourteen Qinhuai women in the cellar. The Japanese soldiers chased too close, and if they entered the cellar, they would have exposed the fourteen people inside. Shu Juan glanced at the cellar, and finally led the female student upstairs. This decision saved the people in the cellar, but brought the disaster to himself. Japanese soldiers arrested female students everywhere. One female student fell from the upstairs and died when she was struggling. At a critical moment when everything seemed hopeless and the students were about to be raped, Instructor Li sniped at the opposite side of the church, distracting the enemy and saving them.
This is the first human torture experienced by this student who has never experienced suffering. And this time, it will accompany them until old age. It is also possible that in the future, their guilt will play a role in compensation and balance.
John, who had nothing to do with himself and just wanted to make a fortune, watched the students die in front of him and began to stand up and protect them.
This is the first transmutation experienced by greedy and selfish people in this church.
When the Japanese officer Hasegawa arrived and sent troops to guard the church, everything seemed to be going in the right direction. But the people in the church did not know that the students were actually surrounded by gifts, just waiting to be hunted.
In the cellar, the pain of Pu Sheng, the injured child left by Instructor Li, aroused Cardamom's sympathy. She treats him like a younger brother and takes good care of him.
This is the first time that the seemingly dirty soul in this church has begun to sublimate.
When Pu is seriously ill and doesn't seem to live long, Cardamom sneaks out to find the pipa string. She wanted to talk to Pu Sheng about a piece of "Qinhuai Scenery" before he died.
This is the second sublimation of the dirty souls in this church.
Worrying about the safety of cardamom, Yumo begs John to find cardamom. After refusing and struggling, John went out to find cardamom. In the end, what he saw was the corpse of Cardamom who was stabbed to death on a chair after being gang-raped. John only took back the bloody strings, and told Yumo that the cardamom strayed to death.
This time, this is the second transmutation that this greedy and selfish person has experienced.
When it was finally clear to everyone that the female students eventually had to go to the celebration banquet set up by the Japanese army. Shujuan organized everyone to jump off the building and was persuaded by the women of Qinhuai River to come down. After arguing, they finally agreed to go to the meeting collectively instead of the female students.
This is the third sublimation of this group of dirty souls. At this time, their souls have become noble and selfless, nobler than the most noble souls in the world.
John, who used to only wear makeup for the dead, gave serious makeup to the Qinhuai women for this selfless salvation. At this time, he was not actually putting on makeup, he was wiping the dust on the surface of those noble souls. When he finished wiping them and restored them to their purest form, John also completed his third transmutation.
In it, there is also the thirteenth hairpin that should not be missed - the little boy George who disguises himself as a woman. The little boy who was faithful to the mission given by the traveling priest - to take care of the schoolgirls - had always felt guilty for not taking care of them. At this time, he finally had a chance - to go to the meeting instead of the female student. He knew that there was no return. But he wasn't afraid, didn't look back, and went just like that.
The Japanese army's car drove away, and what they took away was not a group of depraved women and a boy disguised as a man, but a group of immaculate souls.
4.0 Emotion and Desire, Love and Sex
In the trailer, when I saw the priest and the Qinhuai woman have a sex scene, I was very worried whether it would spoil the story.
This is a film about war, a story related to the Nanjing Massacre. We know that there are rapes, burning and looting. But there will never be passion and lust, love and sex.
But it actually appeared.
But when I watched the movie, I felt a little regret: the part about John and Yumo's sex was a little too short, a little too restrained, and even a little anticlimactic.
Although this seemingly impossible and no chance love came too hastily and too short, it was absolutely pure and true.
Why can't a soul that has been transformed three times in a row before God and a soul that has been sublimated three times collide with love?
A man who has just fallen in love and wants to make up for him and send him into the tiger's mouth, why can't he seize the last chance and enjoy sex? Love and sex are inseparable. Now that you're in love, it's time to enjoy the sex that accompanies love. Moreover, such a time, so short, just use a look at the eyes to pass it off in a hurry? This is an injustice to a 13-year-old woman who has gone through untold hardships, threw away all humiliation and unbearableness, and restored her inner sincerity and purity to 13 years old.
Therefore, it is not only necessary to have sex, but also to be warm, bold, and persistent. Love, because of sex, will be engraved deeper, remembered longer, and reminisced longer.
This piece of love reminds me of "Soldiers on the City". Before departure, Vasili and Tanya secretly had sex among the resting soldiers. That almost became the only sweet and easy-to-remember beautiful episode in that brutal war.
Yumo and John's, too.
5.0 Black and white, warm colors in a cold world
In fact, before watching the movie, I was worried about another point, which was the tone of the movie.
Think, Schindler's List, in black and white. "The Devil is Coming" is also mainly in black and white, only at the last moment, it turned into color.
War, especially Nanjing, which is being slaughtered, should not appear in color. In the movie lens, it should be cold, dark, black and white.
But Zhang Yimou found a point of support: Shu Juan's perspective.
Zhang Yimou used this as a fulcrum to pry and propel the entire film.
The first time Shujuan saw the Qinhuai women walking in was behind the broken stained glass. In a world that was completely shattered by beacon and smoke, there was actually a group of beautiful women, just like that, they walked in without any scruples. How can these businesswomen who do not know the hatred of the country, know that this is a black and white world?
Later, when Shujuan was chased upstairs by Japanese soldiers, tore her clothes and was about to be raped, instructor Li beat the Japanese soldiers to death from the opposite side and rescued her. Shujuan looked out from the broken stained glass, but saw no one, but saw the shattered house when Instructor Li was dying, and the colorful silk and satin flying in the air along with the shattered rubble.
When the thirteen hairpins (the twelve women in Qinhuai and George who disguised as men) got into the car with the Japanese soldiers, all Shujuan could remember was the appearance of fourteen women who had come in with a splendid appearance. At this time, the ones who walked in were different from the ones who walked into the church at first. At that time, although they were bright on the outside, they were actually empty inside. At this time, they were like what Shujuan saw when they sang "Qinhuai Scenery". From the inside to the outside, they were colorful and exuded the light of humanity.
2011.12.15
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