A good movie needs to pay equal attention to content and expression. It needs to be both positive and value-oriented, as well as delicate and vivid performance details. When the two are indispensable, even a master director cannot escape the fate of mistakes.
In the 90s of the 20th century, Chen Kaige became famous with "Farewell My Concubine" and was known as the leader of the "Five Generations of Directors". Over the years, he has been exploring the path of film art. And the new film "Volunteers" is another masterpiece of his tribute to the great historical theme and awakening the national memory.
The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was the first war fought to defend the country after the founding of New China. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have sworn to defend the homeland, and their bravery and sacrifice have become a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese nation. How to reproduce this bleak and magnificent history on the screen is both a responsibility and a challenge for Chen Kaige.
As a director with a sense of social responsibility, Chen Kaige chose to shoot "Volunteers" with the aim of evoking the audience's historical memory. "We must not forget the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country, nor can we forget the glory of the Chinese nation. In his mind, the film has an extraordinary meaning.
Chen Kaige has a strong interest in Chinese history and culture, and he has always wanted to understand the fate and national spirit of the Chinese people through films. As an important historical event in New China, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea deeply attracted Chen Kaige with its patriotic spirit and revolutionary heroism.
In his view, this is not only a history that can be sung and cried, but also an important symbol of the Chinese nation's unity and perseverance. The war sacrifices of the past have become history, but the spirit of selfless dedication of the martyrs is worthy of being remembered and inherited by today's people. This is also the driving force behind Chen Kaige's decision to shoot this movie.
The film began to be prepared last year, Chen Kaige organized a large number of documents to study, and personally went down to the grassroots level to interview veterans to ensure that the film has a high degree of historical restoration. The filming process invested a huge amount of material resources and manpower, and it took nearly one year before it was finally completed.
This commercial masterpiece that gathers many celebrities and big names contains the cultural values and responsibilities that the director wants to convey. Chen Kaige not only hopes that the film will be a commercial success, but also values its significance in awakening national memory and promoting patriotism. This is also the film ideal he pursued all his life.
In the first trailer poster of the film, Li Xiao, a volunteer soldier played by Zhang Xiran, shows people in a weird outfit - a white long skirt and exaggerated makeup, like a "clown". As soon as this poster came out, it was immediately ridiculed by netizens. They questioned that this was seriously inconsistent with the historical theme of the movie.
In this regard, the crew explained that this is exactly showing Li Xiao's growth background. He is an orphan who lost his family in the war, and after being adopted by a **, he was forced to dress up as a clown to please people. This humiliating childhood experience drove Li Xiao to serve the country and become a volunteer.
Behind every volunteer, there is an ordinary person who has been trampled by life. The producers said that they hoped to express the common fate of thousands of soldiers in that era through Li Xiao's personal experience. They are all tragic figures in the torrent of history, and they are also unyielding heroes of reality.
Indeed, the character setting of Li Xiao has its special meaning. He was originally an ordinary person, but he lost his family in the war and struggled alone in a cruel environment. After being adopted, he was reduced to a tool for fun, and this childhood experience is really heart-wrenching.
But it was this torture of fate that inspired Li Xiao's yearning for a better life, and also cultivated his courage to resist oppression and fight for freedom. In the end, he chose to join the volunteer army to defend the country and the people with practical actions and complete his spiritual redemption.
This character setting is very much in line with the background of the growth of many volunteers of that era. They are all ordinary people who were born and died, who have experienced misfortune in troubled times, but still maintain their yearning for light and loyalty to the motherland. Li Xiao can be said to be a typical representative of them.
So from this point of view, Li Xiao's role has positive value. But netizens' ** about the trailer is reasonable, mainly because of the performance method, which gives the audience a bad impression. How to deal with this role in the later stage in order to achieve the intention that the director wants to convey needs to be carefully considered by the crew.
Another highlight of this film is the joining of the young powerful actor Zhu Yilong. In the film, he plays Li Xiang, an instructor of the Volunteer Army, an image of both idealism and heroism.
I hope that through Zhu Yilong, the spiritual outlook of the young people of that era will be shaped. Chen Kaige gave a lot of expectations to Zhu Yilong's role. He believes that Zhu Yilong's introverted and stable personal temperament is very suitable for the character of Li Xiang.
In order to perfectly interpret the role, Zhu Yilong studied hard and deeply understood the details of the life of the volunteers. "I want to experience their courage and fearlessness with emotion. He said that heroism comes from the love for the motherland and the people, which is also the starting point of his acting.
In recent years, Zhu Yilong has frequently won the best actor with works such as "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" and "Undocumented Crime", and his strength has been recognized. And this time, being able to play the role of a volunteer instructor is undoubtedly of special significance to him.
This is not only a rare expansion of the subject matter, but also a precious opportunity to get closer to history and people. For this role, Zhu Yilong devoted himself wholeheartedly, hoping to use his emotional experience to understand and interpret the inner world of Li Xiang, a heroic image.
He read a large number of historical documents on the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and also interviewed living veterans to gain an all-round understanding of the living conditions and psychological characteristics of the volunteers in that era. Zhu Yilong said that it is necessary to grasp the original appearance of history in order to make the character have vitality.
During the filming, Zhu Yilong worked tirelessly and personally completed all the action scenes. He wanted to feel the combat state of the volunteers with real emotional investment and his body. Director Chen Kaige is also full of expectations for Zhu Yilong's professionalism and acting skills, and believes that he will be able to create a character image with rich connotations.
Despite the strong cast, some details of the performance were questioned by netizens. For example, a war doctor played by Zhang Zifeng seems illogical in the scene of eating potatoes. She held the intact potatoes and chewed them slowly, which did not match the extreme environment at that time.
Some viewers complained: "This ** is like a war doctor, it is clearly the image of a pampered eldest lady." "It's true that in a battlefield like that, soldiers gobble up any food they get. Zhang Zifeng's performance is out of touch with historical reality, resulting in a great reduction in the realism of the character.
This problem in the handling of details reflects that Zhang Zifeng still lacks acting skills in some aspects. How to faithfully restore the real reaction of the character in an extreme environment puts forward high requirements for the basic skills of the actor.
More importantly, this exposes Zhang Zifeng's inadequacy in the reconstruction of historical scenes. She didn't seem to have fully considered the impact of the war environment on people at that time, so she rushed into battle to shoot. The performance is too understated, weakening the forging and changing of the scene to people.
This kind of problem also sounded the alarm for the production team of "Volunteers". They had to fully consider the background setting of each character and have in-depth discussions with the actors to ensure that the acting performance was highly consistent with the historical scene.
Otherwise, it is easy to have the details of the performance that is logically short-circuited. This not only affects the look and feel of the play, but also weakens the authenticity and grandeur of the historical scenes that the film wants to reproduce. This is one of the problems that the film has to solve.
Chen Kaige's "Volunteer Army" created with his heart is of great significance and remarkable. We also look forward to its release as scheduled, awakening the historical memory of the Chinese people and transmitting positive energy. But judging from the current ** clips, the movie still needs to continue to refine the details of the performance, otherwise it will be unconvincing.
Let's wait and see if Director Chen can overcome this crisis of "overturning" and complete his historical mission. No matter what the outcome is, "The Volunteer Army" will surely become a work of profound educational significance, worthy of every Chinese to review and remember that singing and weeping history.