Old Week
Abstract: The film version of "Across the Yalu River" was released on December 17, although it is a set of shooting with the TV series of the same name, but there is a novelty in the structure of the film, in the two and a half hours of panoramic reproduction of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there are three highlights in the film that are worth affirming, but there are still many details to be improved.
Figure 1: Poster of the movie version of "Crossing the Yalu River"
The film version of "Crossing the Yalu River" was released on December 17, although it is a set of shooting with the TV series of the same name, but there is a novelty in the film structure, in the two and a half hours of panoramic reproduction of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there are three highlights in the film worthy of recognition, but there are still many details to be improved.
First of all, let's talk about three highlights, the first is the use of flashbacks in the structure of the film, starting from the signing of the Korean War Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, recalled in the first person tone of peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the Volunteer Army, this narrative technique is very innovative, and Peng Dehuai was appointed as the commander and political commissar of the Volunteer Army from October 8, 1950, until he left office in September 1954, although he returned to China for treatment twice due to illness, and Chen Geng and Deng Hua acted as commanders. However, the commanders of the volunteer army in the three-year War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea were all Peng Dehuai, and the first to fifth battles in the stage of the movement war, as well as the Battle of Jincheng in the stage of the battle of the positions, were also personally commanded by Peng Dehuai, and it was Peng Dehuai who finally signed the armistice agreement on behalf of the volunteer army, so Peng Dehuai was the most qualified to be the narrator, which also has a greater sense of historical substitution than the narrator.
Figure 2: Peng Dehuai in "Crossing the Yalu River"
Figure 3: Peng Dehuai on the Korean battlefield
The second highlight is that Ridgway's performance is also very positive, without deliberately ugly. Ridgway succeeded Walker, who died in a car accident in December 1950, as commander of the U.S. 8th Army, and in April 1951 succeeded MacArthur, who had been removed from His post by President Truman, as commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, until May 1952, when he was transferred to the nato armed forces as supreme commander. As soon as Ridgway arrived in Korea, he encountered the third campaign launched by the volunteer army, and in the face of the fierce offensive of the volunteer army and the low morale of the "United Nations Army", he resolutely gave up Seoul -- the new official was able to abandon Seoul with such boldness when he took office, organize the troops to retreat in an orderly manner to rebuild the defensive line, and pay attention to the overall situation rather than the face of the individual, and he was definitely a general. In the face of the US army abandoning Seoul and retreating in a big stride, many people were confused, and there was even a "march to Daejeon!" in the volunteer army. The idea of a light enemy who rushed into Busan to drive the US troops into the sea in one fell swoop, but Peng Dehuai said in his memoirs that he felt deeply worried and frightened when he saw the US troops abandon Seoul, which was also very rare in his life. Although Peng Dehuai's tactics are somewhat simple and crude, he has experienced hundreds of battles and accumulated actual combat, and his judgment of strategic issues is still quite sharp. Abandoning Seoul, at this node, Ridgway and Peng Dehuai can be described as chess opponents!
Then Ridgway immediately found and summarized the characteristics of the volunteer offensive that can only last for seven days, and accurately analyzed that this was the logistical support difficulties of the volunteer army, and could only rely on the minimum supplies carried by the soldiers to maintain the operation for seven days (the US military called it "shoulder logistics"), and immediately adopted a very targeted "magnetic tactic" - retreating up to 30 kilometers a day (this is the maximum distance for infantry to march on foot for a day and night), and after seven days, the volunteer army carried food and ammunition was exhausted, and launched a large-scale counterattack. This is the fourth campaign. In the fifth campaign, on the basis of "magnetic tactics", a special detachment of mechanized infantry, artillery, armored troops and engineers was organized (generally at the level of reinforced battalions), under the cover of strong air support, interspersed with multiple routes to the depth of the volunteer army, disrupting the deployment of the volunteer army and cooperating with the counterattack of the main frontal force. This move was very vicious, making the Volunteers extremely passive in five battles, so Ridgway was also known as the real opponent of the Volunteers.
In the film, Ridgway's image is also basically in accordance with the real people in history, in addition to the three general stars representing the rank of lieutenant general on the cotton army hat, there is also a paratrooper badge, indicating that he was once a paratrooper, and there is also a grenade hanging on the back of the chest, according to Ridgway's own words, in the battlefield of North Korea, in the face of an emergency, the grenade is definitely more reliable than the pistol. Like MacArthur's corncob pipe and Patton's ivory handle pistol, the "Glory Bullet" became Ridgway's logo, and he was called the "Old Iron Egg" by the soldiers.
Figure 4: Ridgway in Crossing the Yalu River
Figure 5: Commander of the U.S. 8th Army, Ridgway
It should be said that Ridgway is more suitable than Walker as the commander of the U.S. army on the Korean battlefield, because Walker is an armored soldier, once a fierce general under Patton, but armored combat is not suitable for such a narrow and mountainous terrain in Korea, and Ridgway is a paratrooper, paratrooper is a light infantry, the volunteer army is also a light infantry, so he has an almost sixth sense of familiarity and understanding of the mobility and tactics of the volunteer army.
And "Crossing the Yalu River" is not demeaning or ugly to Li Qiwei, and being able to face up to his opponents is a kind of progress.
The third highlight is the end of the film, according to the chronological order of entering the Korean War, the numbers of the 27 corps of the Volunteer Army, as well as the numbers of the Volunteer Air Force, artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, armored troops, engineers, railway troops and logistics units, are launched one by one, followed by the Y-20 special plane carrying the remains of the volunteer martyrs landing at Shenyang Airport, and the salute soldiers will cover the coffins of the volunteer army covered with the national flag down the cabin, the coffins are neatly arranged, the scene is very shocking, and finally the statue of the volunteer army in the Shenyang Volunteer Martyrs' Cemetery.
Such an ending, both a review of history and a return to reality, the heaviness and solemnity of history come to the fore.
Figure 6: The statue of the volunteer army in the Shenyang Volunteer Army Martyrs' Cemetery appears at the end of the film
However, unfortunately, in this war film that claims to recreate the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in a panoramic manner, there is no scene of the Volunteer Air Force, as well as the scene of anti-aircraft artillery and railroad soldiers crushing the US army in a stranglehold war. This is also the place that Lao Zhou worried about before, the original TV series version was 40 episodes, with a total length of nearly 1800 minutes, and now it is condensed in 154 minutes, how to choose, is definitely a test of the director and screenwriter's familiarity with this history and the skill of artistic editing. And the lack of representation of the Air Force, anti-aircraft artillery and railroads, obviously should not be.
In lao Zhou's view, the editing of the film is somewhat sloppy, and the war course before the volunteer army entered the DPRK is basically a point to the end, and this rhythm is well controlled, after all, the title of the film is "Crossing the Yalu River", and the focus must be after the volunteer army entered the war. Then, with regard to the decision of the volunteer army to enter the DPRK and the five battles in the stage of the movement war, there was still some emphasis, and the whole process was basically explained clearly. However, in the second half of the position battle, there was obviously some feeling of "double speed and fast forward", and it seemed that the space was not enough, so it had to end hastily. 154 minutes to represent a two-year, nine-month war is indeed tense. However, it is completely possible to increase to 180 minutes like "Chosin Lake", or like "Armageddon", the three major battles are divided into upper and lower parts, with a total length of 220 minutes, so that there will be enough space to show this magnificent War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In this way, some bridges that cannot be ignored in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea are very inadequate, such as Peng Dehuai's return to Beijing overnight in February 1951 to "break into the palace" and report on the situation on the Korean battlefield and the great difficulties of the volunteer army. This time Peng Dehuai returned to China to report on the logistical difficulties of the volunteer army (in the film, Peng Dehuai sent a telegram with six words of "hunger, no food, cold, no clothes"), and then the whole country set off fried noodles for the volunteer army, even Zhou Enlai personally fried noodles, "a handful of fried noodles and a handful of snow" is also a true portrayal of the hard work of the volunteer army; for example, MacArthur was dismissed, the film said that he was clamoring to use the atomic bomb, in fact, he wanted to expand the war to China, which was contrary to the NATIONAL policy of the United States to limit the war to the peninsula and was deposed. To this end, when Bradley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the congressional hearing, he made it clear: "If the war is extended to China, it will be a wrong war at the wrong time and in the wrong place and the wrong opponent." This passage is also the most famous quote of the Korean War, but it is often quoted out of context; there is also the cold gun movement during the trench warfare period, the volunteer army tactical counterattack lurking in advance in the front of the enemy position, in order to shorten the distance of the charge under enemy fire as much as possible to reduce casualties when attacking -- Qiu Shaoyun insisted on staying motionless in order to endure the pain of burning the fire without exposing the target during such a lurking operation; and the surprise attack of the White Tiger Regiment in the Battle of Jincheng did not show any performance. None of these iconic times are clearly biased from the labels of panoramic reproduction.
Figure 7: "A handful of fried noodles and a handful of snow" is also a true portrayal of the hard work of the volunteer army
In addition, there are still many hard wounds in the details of the film that need to be improved.
When he heard the outbreak of the Korean War, Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo, and Gu Zhutong discussed countermeasures, and mentioned sending the 50th Army to Korea -- it should be the 52nd Army, which was the only military-level unit of the Nationalist Army that withdrew from the mainland to Taiwan in the Liberation War. There have indeed been three plans in history to send the 52nd Army to Korea for war, and the 50th Army was annihilated by the People's Liberation Army in the Yangchun and Yangjiang areas in the Guangdong Campaign in October 1949.
Interspersed in the three houses of the second battle, the film says that it is a 12-hour forced army of 120 miles, in fact, it is a 14-hour forced army of 145 miles (72.5 kilometers) and it was not a night march at that time, in order to seize time, it was only possible to march during the day. In the case that the US military held air supremacy, once the large troops were discovered by the US army during the day, they might be subjected to fierce air raids and suffer heavy casualties, so at that time the volunteer army generally did not spend time in the daytime, but this time the 113th Division of the 38th Army marched against the conventional daytime army, which was a bit of a soldier who was not tired of deceit, but let the US pilots mistakenly think that it was the retreating ROK army and did not carry out any attack. This point is very vivid in the old movie "Flying Tiger", but this time such a dramatic plot is not reflected.
In the same second battle, the Battle of Songkuo Peak, the songbone peak position in the film is covered with snow, which makes Lao Zhou almost think that it is Chosin Lake on the eastern front. Although the battle time of Songku peak was November 30 in late autumn, the temperature in the western front area was higher than that in the eastern area of the same latitude due to the mountain range, so there was no snow at that time, and the US army used a large number of incendiary bombs at that time, even if it snowed, it was melted by the fire caused by the incendiary bombs, and it was impossible to have snow on the position. The famous writer Wei Wei's popular "Who is the Most Lovely Person" was written according to the Battle of Song Bone Peak, and since then, the entire glorious title of "the cutest person" has become synonymous with the volunteer army. Wouldn't it be more perfect if the film, when referring to the battle at Pine Bone Peak, were recited in a voiceover narration about "Who is the Cutest Man"?
Figure 8: The position of Songbone Peak in "Crossing the Yalu River" was covered with snow
Telling about the Battle of Chosin Lake, smith, commander of the US 1st Marine Division, took a helicopter to observe the terrain and fired several shots at the place where there might be an ambush, and really hit the hidden volunteers. At that time, Smith did take a helicopter to observe the terrain, but it was on November 26, and on this day the volunteers had not yet arrived in Hagaru-ri, how could they hit the volunteers?
The special combat hero and special meritorious hero who emerged in the Battle of Chosin Lake - this is the highest honor of the volunteer army in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and there are two in total in the whole army, Yang Gensi, commander of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion, 172nd Regiment, 58th Division of the 20th Army, is one of them, and the other is Huang Jiguang in the Battle of Shangganling. Yang Gensi commanded the troops to repel eight U.S. attacks in the Battle of Xiaogaoling on the outskirts of Hagaru-ri, but the casualties of the 3 companies were also quite heavy, when the U.S. Army launched the ninth attack, only Yang Gensi and 2 wounded people were left on the position, and there was very little ammunition left, and the reinforcements were still on the road, Yang Gensi picked up a pack of 5 kilograms of explosives, and resolutely rushed to the swarming American troops to pull the explosive package! The film basically restores this magnificent battle that can be sung and wept, but Yang Gensi's military uniform is not right, Yang Gensi and his subordinates are wearing white cloaks - Yang Gensi's Ninth Corps of volunteer army has a white cloak, and it is not the small detachment of Shao Jianbo in "Wise Tiger Mountain", where a white cloak is needed to disguise. In fact, at that time, the camouflage of the volunteer army was also very simple, that is, to wear the white inside of the cotton coat backwards, which was the simplest and most practical disguise.
Figure 9: Yang Gensi in "Crossing the Yalu River" wears a white cloak
Like "Chosin Lake", "Crossing the Yalu River" also appears in the scene of Smith saluting the volunteers to the ice sculptures frozen on the position, Lao Zhou is very disgusted with this clumsy way of using the enemy to sing praises to the volunteers, first of all, the heroism of the volunteers does not need to be reflected in this form, is our own positive praise not enough? Secondly, there was no such thing in history, when the 1st Marine Division was anxious to retreat from the heavy siege of the volunteers, where would there be kung fu to stop and salute? Who would waste such precious time to salute the opponent when they were busy fleeing for their lives, even if they had respect in their hearts, they would only consider it after they escaped, and the US military information that Lao Zhou saw, in fact, the US military not only did not salute the volunteers, but instead replenished the frozen volunteers after attacking the position. This is the real war, the cruelty of your life and death.
Finally, in the film, all the US air raids are a large number of bombers dropping bombs horizontally, and in the real battlefield, the air support of the US military to the front-line positions is basically the P-51 "Mustang" and the F4U "Viking", two modified attack aircraft of the World War II fighter, and it is mainly based on machine gun strafing, rockets and dive-throwing napalm. Only in the bombing of rear lines of communication and bridges will bombers such as B-29s and B-26s be dispatched.
Figure 10: U.S. F4U "pirates" are attacking volunteer positions
Although these hard wounds cannot be said to be the fault of principle, for a drama such as "Crossing the Yalu River", which pays attention to restoring the real history in a cinematic way, it is of course necessary to demand higher standards. The strength of "Crossing the Yalu River" is that it is real, and the plot that does not match the real history is still as little as possible.
Overall, "Crossing the Yalu River" is still good, if lao Zhou Lai scores, you can give 8 points. However, the market is not strong, as of December 25, the total box office in the eight days of release is only 44 million yuan, the average daily even 6 million is less than 6 million, compared with "Chosin Lake", it is simply not the same. It seems that even the best things must be shouted, and commercial publicity and promotion is indispensable.
Next, waiting for the two blockbusters of the Spring Festival to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the next part of "Changjin Lake" "Watergate Bridge", and Zhang Yimou's "Sniper", when Lao Zhou will definitely write two film reviews.
(The picture of this article is from the network)