Whether it is for director Feng Xiaogang himself, or for commercial films that appeal to mainstream Chinese value discourse, "Assembly" has unusual significance. As a director known as the "Father of Chinese New Year Films", most of Feng Xiaogang's films have sketchy hypothetical plot routines, as well as a spirit of self-deprecation and jokes that are not without wisdom, but "Assembly" involves serious wars Content and heavy themes, this is a challenge for the director to say. In addition, the "main theme" films that appeal to mainstream discourse values in domestic films are usually difficult to arouse a real resonance with the audience due to various reasons. However, "Assembly" is uncharacteristically, and at the same time achieves a satisfactory balance between mainstream discourse expression and commercial appeal, providing a model and idea for reference in the creation of mainstream Chinese films in the future.
After the film was released, the critics were almost one-sided in applause, and the folk discourse was also praised. For a time, the film became a hot topic. Han's ideological effect is different, and they can't agree, but basically they can reach a consensus that the popularity of "Assembly" is first and foremost due to the fullness of the character of Gu Zidi. It is different from the over-perfect characters in previous similar war movies. The Gu Zidi in this film is a warm-blooded man with flesh and blood, responsibility and affection. He came from a humble background with little education, and he didn't even know numbers, but as a front-line commander, he was not a reckless savage. Instinct slick sophistication. It is no exaggeration to say that Millet Di is indeed worthy of being called one of the most memorable characters in Chinese movies since the new era.
In the first scene at the beginning of the film, he shouted to the national army on the opposite side to persuade him to surrender, asking him to use a gun instead of chopsticks to eat dumplings with them, and the camera continued to pan backwards. When the audience noticed that Jiao Dapeng was eating a flatbread, He couldn't help but smiled knowingly, and Gu Zidi's cunning and wit were about to come out. In the street battle that followed, seeing the critical situation and heavy casualties, when Gu Zidi shouted desperately to retreat, the instinctive reaction and sense of responsibility of an ordinary soldier in the face of the fear of death made the character look more real. And when the instructor was blown away, Gu Zidi, who was in a state of grief and anger, ordered not to accept the surrender, his spirit and brotherhood could not help but make the audience feel his pain. When he was locked up and chewing sweet potatoes, he said to Wang Jincun that he was afraid of being embarrassed. He would drop cannonballs on his head at a high price, guns would run in his crotch, and even gods would have to pee. image. And when he repeated the last battle order to the regiment commander Liu Zeshui, his serious and solemn appearance was immediately different from the previous chat, which made people feel sacred and tragic. Therefore, when the audience understood how Gu Zidi was an orphan since he was a child, how could he be so "paranoid" and devoted his life to "seeking an explanation" for the deceased brothers, all his actions and actions were inherently reasonable. sex. Obviously, for a person who has never had a home, the company, a small group that shares life and death, is like his home, and has irreplaceable special significance, and losing a brother is like losing a relative. responsibility and moral anxieties—which of course were difficult for Millet to face. Therefore, the honor to recover even seems more important than life itself - he is willing to give everything for it. As a result, a simple soldier with an unbearable mission gained the audience's greatest resonance and sympathy. The more he persevered in the face of abstract truth, the stronger the contrast between Don Quixote and a windmill. It aggravated the audience's sympathy for him, and at the same time accumulated deeper and stronger emotional power, all of which will explode at the end.
Although it is related to the theme of war, "Assembly" does not focus on the positive presentation of war scenes like most previous films. In this film, the fierce street fighting is not so much the performance of the victory of the nine companies over the national army, but rather the ruthlessness of the war itself is deliberately intensified and exaggerated. Therefore, when Gu Zidi is placed in such a background, there is a huge difference between him and the image of the soldiers we used to be familiar with, who are shrewd, fearless, and strategized. It is because of this that his on-screen credibility is greatly enhanced, as the audience can intuitively feel his recklessness, fear, slickness, sophistication, and of course, his bravery.
Narratively speaking, the film's explanation for Gu Zidi's "axis to the end" character and behavior is also reasonable. After the war, on the battlefield site on the south bank of the Wenhe River, when Gu Zidi heard that there was a huge difference in the treatment of "martyrs" and "missing", his behavior of insisting on "correcting the names" of his brothers was in line with the simplicity and honesty of this character. deep character. Especially when he met Wang Jincun's widow, the motive to justify the hero's name became more abundant. More importantly, as mentioned above, Gu Zidi, who was once an orphan, had one of the most secret wishes in this long process of "correcting his name", which was to find the "home" deep in his heart again. . Formally, this home may be the Nine Company, or it may be enlarged to the entire army or even the country itself, and the act of posthumously recognizing them as martyrs is a ceremony for this abstract home to re-accept these orphans. This ceremony is so important because it legitimizes the millet fields—there is nothing more important to an orphan than to regain the embrace of home.
"Assembly" also does a great job in shaping the characters and portraying the image through details. For example, in several important appearances of platoon leader Jiao Dapeng, he was eating pancakes, and Zhao Erdou's appearance was also eating pancakes. It is precisely because of this similarity that Zhao Erdou's understanding of millet land has been shortened. In the film, when Gu Zidi laughed and said that Zhao Erdou was "just like a starving ghost, just like a brother under my command", Zhao Erdou was obviously startled, that is, this short gap bought Gu Zidi time to recall that. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the existing plot development to resolve the friendship between Zhao Erdou and Gu Zidi that is about to develop further. Therefore, the details of eating a pancake in the film are not just used to explain the characteristics of the characters, but contain great energy to advance the turning point of the plot. In addition, the steel helmet also assumes a similar function in the film. In the first street battle, Gu Zidi asked Jiao Dapeng to gather some steel helmets to go out to investigate. Before Jiang Maocai was about to jump out of the trench, another comrade also replaced the felt hat on his head with a steel helmet. Life is of great significance, and it is precisely with this kind of detail that when Gu Zidi and the audience later saw that these steel helmets were used by coal diggers to collect urine, the anger and humiliation in the middle came naturally, and it was not difficult to understand. And then the plot of Gu Zidi and Sun Guiqin washing steel helmets by the river has laid a good foundation for the subsequent plot.
As far as video is concerned, the handling of the tones in "Assembly" is quite different from that of other films of the same genre. In the previous descriptions of domestic war scenes, the use of brilliant and magnificent tones has almost become a practice, while the overall tone of this film in street battles is gloomy and bleak. The method of using color to correspond to ideology is quite different. It should be said that at this point, the authenticity and artistry of domestic war scenes have taken a commendable step. The appropriate use of color contrast in the film also adds a lot to the mood of the audience. When Gu Zidi, holding a steel helmet in his hand, stumbled up the mountain-like pile of coal, shouting, "No one will prove it for them, I will prove it, I will prove it!", the camera first followed from behind, then gradually rose, and then looked down from the air. , in the picture, the protagonist's washed-white military uniform is so powerless against the large black area of the coal pile, just like the many difficulties on his way to "rectify his name", the absurdity and unsightly fate of his fate is heartbreaking.
In this film, director Feng Xiaogang does a great job of consciously using images to render emotional themes. One of the most obvious visual echoes is that when Gu Zidi set off towards the south bank of the Wenhe River with the mission in the dark, in a medium shot of the follow-up shot, he was holding a torch and looked back as if he had realized something. Go, in the firelight, something indescribable flashed in his eyes, with a hint of excitement and a hint of worry. At the end of the film, in the long-awaited assembly trumpet, the picture is superimposed into that scene again. The difference is that this time the image has been upgraded. In slow motion, the inexplicable emotions that the audience felt before followed. Time is stretched and strengthened. At this time, for the audience who have fully understood the plot, this unforgettable moment of looking back seems to contain too much sympathy and bitterness. In an instant, this look back seemed to condense Gu Zidi's life. In his footprints one by one, the tragic fate of a hero was sublimated. In the restrained gaze of the camera, the viewer's long-held emotions are slowly released.
On the whole, "Assembly" has achieved good results in the film's artistic expression, mainstream ideological orientation and commercial appeal. The reason is mainly due to its reference and appropriation of commercial film experience. In this film, the street fighting scene successfully draws on the experience of the world's excellent war films, and uses the production team of the Korean film "Taichi Flag Flying", combined with localized expression habits, to produce the most exciting Chinese film so far. of the battle scene. In addition, by setting Gu Zidi as a person who is not understood and lacks identity, the film takes advantage of the general public's psychological habit of sympathizing with the weak, thereby resonating with the audience to the greatest extent possible, developing between the development of individual expression and respect for mainstream discourse norms A satisfying narrative mechanism.
View more about Ji jie hao reviews
