Spielberg went to China to film "Empire of the Sun" in 1987. What everyone envied was that he could close the Bund in Shanghai for three days and let him film the refugees fleeing in Shanghai during the Anti-Japanese War.
In fact, it was not an accident that Spielberg had this rare opportunity in a century.
It should be said that the movie he shot reflected the theme of the War of Resistance against Japan and helped him. After all, in "Empire of the Sun", Spielberg still showed the cruel, violent, and weird tone of the Japanese. The little boy is quite fond of the brave spirit of the Japanese, and because of this, the movie will be criticized a lot in the future. However, the child's ability to judge right and wrong has always been unreasonable.
Moreover, Spielberg’s own intention in making this movie is not to restore the true face of China’s Anti-Japanese War, but to show a young boy in a closed concentration camp, accustomed to seeing the dangers of life, wandering in survival and The edge of death, in the process of physical growth, also carved a severe trauma to the soul.
The war makes a child's innocence and childishness disappear. At the end of the film, the boy who has been baptized by the war has a haggard face and a dull gaze, and even the parents who suddenly come back to him are not surprised.
Although the film did not directly show the Japanese atrocities, the tone of the whole movie still states that the war waged by the Japanese has caused a terrible reversal in the life of a child. From the overall tone, it expresses the Japanese war of aggression against China. The damage to the soul caused by ordinary boys.
It is actually similar to Schindler's List. It is to watch the horror of war and feel the damage of war through the eyes of children. Such a treatment method can obtain a special effect of infecting people.
It was the exposure of Japanese fascism that made Spielberg able to shoot in China.
This good luck is not something that all American filmmakers can enjoy. Just the previous year, in 1986, Madonna wanted to come to Shanghai with her first husband to film the movie "Shanghai Surprise", but the Chinese side simply ignored this, and Madonna had to move the crew into Hong Kong. The Hong Kong set is used to replace the real scene of Shanghai. However, the copycat version of Shanghai in Hong Kong cannot be faked in any way. Madonna has nothing to do, so she can only come to Shanghai as a tourist to experience the style and landforms of Shanghai on the spot.
It can be seen that Spielberg was able to enter Shanghai to shoot, and closed the Bund for three days for him to shoot, which can be said to be rare in the history of Shanghai.
Of course, this is not the only time in the history of the Bund. The author checked the information. In 1951, the film "Unite to Tomorrow", which reflected the support of the Shanghai people’s struggle for liberation, showed the workers' parade in the Bund source area. The scale and panoramic view of the Bund is a real shooting feature that is totally different.
For this shooting on the Bund, Spielberg paid more than $1 million. Judging from the subsequent shooting results, this is indeed a good value for money, because no matter how rich you are, you will not agree to let a city stop its operation and let you shoot for three days.
The investment of more than 20 million U.S. dollars in the entire movie also made Chinese filmmakers' eyes green at the time.
During Spielberg's shooting on the Bund in Shanghai, famous directors such as Xie Jin and Sun Daolin came to the scene at the time, but they were too embarrassed to run to the front. How does Pilberg give directions. The mentality of Chinese filmmakers must be very complicated.
At that time, the investment in a Chinese film was more than one million yuan, while a film by Spielberg actually reached more than 20 million yuan. The staff of Shanghai Film Studio did not count it. This was shot by Shanghai Film Studio in 19 years. The total investment in the movie. At that time, Spielberg's inner impact on Chinese filmmakers was self-evident.
In order to shoot "Empire of the Sun", Spielberg also made full preparations. The crew shipped hundreds of boxes of clothing from abroad for use by foreigners in the film, and the Chinese costumes for the guest appearances were coordinated by the Chinese partner Shanghai Film Studio.
Just like China’s recently filmed "Operation Red Sea", a large number of scenes of foreign troops appeared in the film, which actually turned to the cooperation and collaboration of local film practitioners in Morocco. Today, Chinese people want to make films abroad. When Spielberg came to China to make films, the cooperators on the Chinese side also provided the crew with all the cooperation content they needed based on their familiarity and understanding of the local culture.
On the day of the filming, more than 5,000 extras were organized by the Chinese side. These actors have elderly people, children, and some schools. They directly transported the entire class of students to the scene. A clothing company in Zhenjiang provided all kinds of clothing and equipment. After the change, the whole Bund seemed to be instantly Back to the past years.
When a wave of more than 5,000 refugees swarmed the streets, even photographers from the United States were shocked. But he can’t help but admire Spielberg’s ability to control. It is in such a chaotic situation that Spielberg methodically and timely captures the elements needed in the big scene, using it as the background, to express the little boy and the The progressive process of separation of parents always grasps the psychological context and process of the main character, allowing the character's mentality to rise and fall with the waves of the refugee tide. The whole scene is grand and magnificent, but it is closely linked to the central character and sets off the main plot. It can be said that Spielberg fully recorded the shock brought by the big scene into the film. Spielberg seems to be spending more than $1 million in renting a venue, but if it can be transformed into an image on film, then the investment is worth it.
When I went to China to make a film, the Chinese side wanted to review the script. Chinese affirmed the definition of Japanese fascist atrocities in Spielberg's script, but it also pointed out that the film did not adequately account for China's resistance. For this reason, we have seen that in the scene of the refugee tide, Spielberg also added some scenes of Chinese guerrillas sniping on Japanese people from high buildings.
The insertion of these lenses is very blunt and hard to be called reasonable. Because the Japanese army in the film invaded and occupied the British, French and American concession known as an isolated island after the Pearl Harbor air raid. At that time, Shanghai had already fallen. It was just a foreign concession that the Japanese had not yet invaded. In the film, several Chinese in guerrilla attire appear on the roof to block the Japanese soldiers. What is the point?
Spielberg's perfunctoryness is also evident from this. The movie quickly explained that after a burst of random guns, the guerrillas fell to the ground and died.
But Spielberg did a disgraceful thing on the Bund. Maybe I think I can do whatever I want with the money. Maybe there is a kind of pretentiousness of being a great Hollywood director. Spielberg actually imitated the actions of the Japanese in the process of shooting on the Bund, and burned on the scene. Toxic chemicals such as rubber and asphalt, the tall buildings on the Bund were submerged in thick smoke, and the unbearable breath floated in the air.
Shanghai citizens did not buy Spielberg's account and reported the serious environmental pollution at the filming site to the environmental protection department. The environmental protection department immediately dispatched and came to the scene to negotiate with the film crew.
Spielberg may still have a little arrogance of foreigners in China, and he ignored the persuasion of Chinese law enforcement agencies. The security guards of the film crew even used movies to reflect the attitudes of the times to China and tried to stage a full-scale martial arts. . Chinese law enforcement officials did not persuade themselves in front of the Hollywood platoons. Instead, they took up environmental protection laws and told the film crew in a reasonable manner, and finally forced Spielberg to accept a fine of 50,000 yuan.
Later, the Chinese partner of the film turned a corner and reduced the fine by 35,000 yuan. It can be seen that the US crew is still carefully calculating the expenditures other than those used for filming. In this way, the film crew of "Empire of the Sun" was punished for filming in Shanghai, which has become a classic case of environmental protection in China. This case must be mentioned in almost every book involving environmental protection.
Environmentalism is a concept advocated by the West after embarking on the path of development. However, after Spielberg came to China, he recklessly ignored the environmental protection in the core areas of Chinese cities. The arrogance of "one set of words spoken and another set of actions implemented" is still displayed inertia.
Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" did not truly reflect the Chinese equally and objectively. The scenes of resistance of the Chinese people added in order to pass the Chinese censorship completely contradicted the historical facts, and the result gave people a feeling. It's blunt and ridiculous, and Spielberg did not really respect Chinese laws at the shooting scene, and even the basic common sense not to harm the shooting environment was not complied with, which reflected a kind of self-esteem hidden in his bones. tendency.
Hollywood's attitude towards China reflected by Spielberg has not changed its appearance in essence over the years. To truly express the Chinese people's inner feelings and spiritual temperament, it is also necessary to rely on the Chinese people to bring Hollywood film technology to my use and realize the spiritual aspirations of the nation. What is gratifying is that Chinese filmmakers have been working hard to catch up. For example, "Wolf Warriors 2" and "Operation Red Sea" can see the efforts of Chinese films to catch up with Hollywood, and even Spielberg has to be in front of these films Keep a bit of respect. At this time, whether China is an element or an image, Hollywood is truly worthy of respect. At that time, Chinese elements and actors will not be the same as soy sauce in Hollywood movies. set up.
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