The prelude of the story starts from a vast reed jungle, and gradually penetrates into the interior of the Sixing warehouse from the perspective of deserters. The camera walks on both sides of the Suzhou River. One side is the heroic warriors of the Eight Hundred Years of War, and the other side is the ordinary people who are warriors in the concession on the other side. And foreign reporters, they are all presented in the form of group portraits, releasing a brief arc, conveying the meaning and influence behind the battle.
The movie "Eight Hundred" tells about the last battle of the Sino-Japanese Battle of Songhu during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression - the defense of the Sixing Warehouse. This battle was not an ordinary defense against Japanese pirates and the occupation of Shanghai, but a wartime with political considerations. decision making. Looking at the history, it can be known that the National Army led by Chiang Kai-shek resisted stubbornly, but the defeat was revealed, Shanghai was about to fall, and the Nine Kingdoms Pact was about to be held. In order to obtain the support and assistance of the international community, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the National Army 88 Division 524 The regiment stayed behind in Shanghai and had a contest of disparity with the Japanese army.
Returning to the film, the director has a contradictory attitude towards the expression of the meaning of the war. The content and expression of the political nature of the war are less, and the more prominent is the "performance" value of the war, that is, the emotional function, using the stubborn resistance of the soldiers to inspire the other side. The hearts and minds of the people, the people of the whole country. But as a battle that ended in failure and retreated in a hurry, he did not have the war value in the mainstream sense - defending the territory, defeating the enemy, striving for the prerequisites for the subsequent battle, etc. The identity of the eight hundred warriors is also quite controversial at the moment. And sensitivity, how to restore the real situation of this battle and correct its historical significance, in this film, because of the constraints of many historical narratives, we see many contradictions. The grand narrative angle of group portraits makes the portrayal of heroes and warriors insufficient, and praise becomes impossible.
The meaning of war becomes cruel in the face of defeat and death
The movie can be divided into four parts according to the development of the plot. The first part is the prologue and the awakening of hero consciousness, which explains the background of the four-line defense battle. After several Japanese raids, the attitude of the temporarily incorporated soldiers changed. The second part is that the Japanese army declared war and wanted to capture the Sixing Warehouse within three hours. This is the most tragic war in the film, so that the people watching the war on the other side finally reached a spiritual connection with the soldiers who fought bravely on the other side. When the soldier shouted his name, jumped into the enemy's solid position with explosives in his arms, and defeated the enemy's attack again and again, it was bound to inspire the people on the other side, which reflected the mainstream meaning of war and resisted the enemy's invasion.
However, the third and fourth parts of the narrative—the corresponding plots are flag protection and retreat, the political and emotional functions encounter contradictions, and the predicament of the narrative leads to the dissolution of the original heroic spirit of the soldiers. The flag of the Republic of China sent from the other side, it symbolizes the courage of the Chinese people and the provocation of the enemy. When the soldiers fired their guns in the air and raised the flag, he showed the will of the Chinese people and his stern attitude, but also angered the Japanese army. , increasing the difficulty of guarding the warehouse, and whether it can survive the negotiation of the Nine-Power Pact, has become unknown, although the subsequent plot showed that the negotiation was cancelled and the political significance of the war was dissolved. The most cruel thing is that the superiors ordered Xie Jinyuan to retreat in the fourth part, but the sensitivity of the soldiers of the national army themselves could not give them a perfect heroic ending, which made the retreat seem rushed and embarrassing, and the ending became powerless. The overall situation has been set, and the defeat is a fait accompli, but the cruel thing is that the heroic feat did not lead to a turning point for victory, and the sacrifice of life did not shine in the face of national disasters, but turned into historical dust and then dissipated. The reason for the unclear interpretation of the meaning of the war is largely due to the predicament of Chinese historical narratives. In many cases, we cannot count the dust of history.
Group portraits make the characters thin
The biggest feature of the character depiction of "Yao Bai" is the use of group portraits. There are about 12 main soldier characters and 11 people on the other side of the bank, each with their own unique plot and lines. Depicting distinct characters, this method is very ambitious, and more comprehensively presents the war scene at that time and the mood of each different character, but the problem is also that each character becomes thin and incomplete, and finally becomes a push Plots and tools for igniting certain emotions. Ou Hao's Xiaohubei is the most complete character in the film, from escaping the war, to witnessing the death of a loved one, awakening his mind, and finally to defending the flag heroically repelling the Japanese flying soldiers and finally passing away, the character arc is maximized at the last moment. Released, a Hollywood-style hero role has also been established. But other soldier characters are set for the plot setting. The old abacus played by Zhang Yi, as a deserter in the play, the uniqueness of his character is not presented in the subsequent plots, and only gives him a similar awakening at the end. Rong, who presented the flag of the Republic of China, did not explain much about her background in the early stage, so in the climax at the end, when she took out morphine and ran to the street, she did not seem to have any appeal. We can put the entire film into the functional sequence of narrative for analysis. The text structure of the film is the overlap of two functional sequences. The first sequence is the main narrative line, the story of saving the world. In the film, the soldiers resist the Japanese attack. The group portraits of the characters in the film also focus on describing how they went through hardships and won victory after fighting between good and evil; the second sequence is based on the characters themselves and the hero who undertakes the mission of salvation for self-redemption, in this sequence It requires in-depth characterization of the inner psychology of the characters, and the foreshadowing and promotion before and after the awakening of the mind. Obviously, the soldiers in "Yao Bai" did not have enough brushstrokes and time to present that group of people powerfully, which also led to the placement of group portraits. Like a sky full of stars, it can light up the plot but cannot sort out the outlines of each character.
Only history will keep writing this feat
Just like the dialogue between the commissioner and Xie Jinyuan in the film, history will remember this place and this battle, but these will be left to future generations to comment on. The film "Eight Hundred" indeed reminds future generations of these heroes flowing in the long river of history through images. Their feats, they fought with their bodies, and they used their fearless feelings to dispel the fear of war. These spirits and images have also become After the epidemic, an uplifting booster. It is understandable that "Eight Hundred" is a milestone in the civil war film. It is technically the first time to use a digital IMAX camera to shoot. In terms of image aesthetics, the contrast between the scenes on both sides of the Suzhou River, the night scene of the concession is fading with neon, Yingge and Yan dance, and the other side of the river. It is the ruins and the flames of war, creating a strong visual impact. Years later, the stories and characters about "Eight Hundred" will exist and circulate in the form of images. The story itself is a feat, and so is the act of telling the story.
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