The movie "Watergate Bridge" was officially finalized, and the film announced that the release date would be determined on the first day of the Chinese New Year. Before the "Chosin Lake" won the film history box office champion of the impressive results, the box office performance of "Watergate Bridge" is naturally one of the focuses of everyone's attention. Although the current forecast is not accurate, it does not prevent us from making a little guess. If the battle scenes of "Watergate Bridge" can maintain the standard of "Chosin Lake", it should not be difficult to explain why the volunteers can win the battle, win a good reputation and gain a high box office.
For a movie with a similar theme, there are so many famous directors and movie stars joining, and the scene is handled to be exciting and hot, which is not much of a challenge in the eyes of most audiences, in other words, this should be their "basic disk". What everyone really expects to shine in "Watergate Bridge" is to show the spirit of the volunteer army's victory in the battle, and to show the reason why they have this spirit. Before, many war-themed films were not dug deeply in this regard, and the performance was insufficient, in addition to the deafening gunshots, the scenes of blood and flesh, and the lack of evocative things, making people feel that the reason was not thorough, and it was not addictive to watch. Many viewers also took the TV series "Meritorious Noh Wen Neng Wu Li Yannian" as an example, believing that if "Watergate Bridge" reaches or exceeds this level, then there is no need to worry about the box office, even if it is to create a new high, it will never be surprising.
Viewers who have watched "Meritorious Nengwen Nengwu Li Yannian" have a very high evaluation of this TV series. What are the reasons for the praise? One of the reasons is that it has successfully created a new image of a political chief of the army. Li Yannian is a company instructor, according to the general understanding, his main duty is to do ideological and political work, as far as the stories in the TV series are concerned, he is extremely outstanding in this regard, he knows the situation of each soldier very well, and he is very familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of each soldier, so he is extremely targeted in doing ideological and political work, plus he pays attention to work methods and work "art", the opinions he put forward can convince the soldiers, and his views can really inspire everyone's spirit and really mobilize everyone's enthusiasm , can really play out everyone's creativity, can really twist everyone's strength into a rope. Later, he served as a company commander and instructor, and he also showed a superb level in military command. He led the warriors to fight heroically, but also taught the warriors to fight with their brains. He will meticulously plan and then determine the battle plan according to the combat tasks and the actual situation of the enemy and us, and will also adjust the operational thinking in a timely manner according to the changes in the battlefield situation. It is precisely for this reason that Li Yannian became a "first-class hero" and a special meritorious hero on the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
The second reason is that Li Yannian can clearly explain the reason why he fought the war, and it is easy to understand, so that people can understand and make people convinced. Li Yannian did not emptyly preach big reasons, nor did he instill abstract concepts, but laid out facts and reasoned, starting from some stories that everyone had seen and heard, so that the soldiers could understand that "to live a peaceful and happy life, only by winning the battle, we must beat the American devils until we have to give up." What is particularly valuable is that Li Yannian did not shy away from the topic of sacrifice, he clearly told the soldiers, "Maybe many of us will not see the arrival of peace and cannot be reunited with our relatives", so that the soldiers understand that there are sacrifices on the battlefield, but they can understand from a deeper level that paying this price is worthwhile, meaningful, and noble, because it is the personal sacrifice that has been exchanged for the peace and happiness of their relatives and the peace and tranquility of the motherland. At this point, the meaning of the work has been deepened and the theme has been sublimated. This is actually the soul of this work, and it is also the key to the great acclaim of the work. Without this soul, even if the picture is beautiful, it is just a bubble and fragment of bluff.
Our traditional culture has its own unique understanding and interpretation of war. On the whole, it is not easy to fight, does not seek war, but is not afraid of war, and even Confucius advocated that "those who have literary affairs must have weapons, and those who have military affairs must have literary preparations." Of course, "preparedness" here mainly refers to being prepared, and it is definitely not for the initiative to launch a war. Sun Tzu particularly emphasized "soldiers, the great affairs of the country, the place of death and life, and the way of survival", expressing a cautious attitude toward the use of soldiers. However, there are several points that deserve special attention from the traditional view of war. First, it emphasizes the justice of war and believes that war must conform to the "Tao." Second, he attaches great importance to the people's hearts and minds, opposes the "theory of only weapons", and believes that "the people of the domain do not use the boundaries of the feudal frontier, the solid country does not take the danger of mountains and streams, and the mighty world does not take advantage of the military revolution", and repeatedly reminds that "the strong armor and the strong soldiers are not enough to win, and the high city and deep pool are not enough to be solid." Third, it is emphasized that courage is not enough, the use of soldiers is first determined, the so-called planning is determined and then moved, if we can seek a higher level and achieve "soldiers who yield without fighting", we can be called "the superior". When creating works on the theme of war, these contents should undoubtedly be the focus of attention, grasp and expression.
A film on the theme of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea should be even more so. 71 years ago, the Chinese Volunteer Army, together with the Korean people and army, won a great victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea after two years and nine months of arduous and bloody struggle. Our volunteer army participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and defend the homeland, so they were "majestic and exuberant and crossed the Yalu River." In a situation where the conditions were extremely difficult and the weapons and equipment lagged far behind that of the enemy, the Volunteer Army proved through one victory after another that a team of faith and organization could accumulate such a strong energy and burst out a powerful fighting force.
The battle of Shuimun Bridge was part of the Battle of Chosin Lake. The Battle of Chosin Lake was fought on November 27, 1950, and during the campaign, the Volunteer Army divided and surrounded the enemy at Liutanli on the west side of the lake, Xinxingli on the east side of the lake, and Xiayu-ri at the southern end of the lake. Seeing the great danger of being surrounded and annihilated by the volunteers, the US First Marine Division drew up a plan to retreat and escape from the north to the south along the line of Hagaru-ri, Kotouri, and Jinxing-ri. The Shuimen Bridge is located between Gutuli and Zhenxingli, and it is also the only way to travel between the two places. Once the volunteer army planning to fight the "encirclement and annihilation" war cut off the Watergate Bridge, the enemy's only retreat was cut off, so that this part of the enemy would completely fall into the "pocket" surrounded by the volunteer army, and it would be difficult to escape. But how do you truncate it? For the Volunteers, this was a huge conundrum. It was obviously not realistic to occupy and control the bridge according to the equipment of the Volunteer Army at that time, because even if it could be occupied temporarily, it would certainly not be able to hold it without the support of air power and the lack of tank artillery support. So, the only way to do that was to blow up the bridge. According to the records, before the Battle of Chosin Lake began, Lieutenant Colonel Patrice, the engineer staff officer of the US First Marine Division and the commander of the engineer battalion, had ordered the engineer team to re-strengthen the Watergate Bridge. Because the "Pershing" tank weighed more than 40 tons, in order to ensure the passage of these "big men", the US military increased the bearing capacity of the bridge to 50 tons through maintenance and reinforcement. However, the bridge had just been reinforced and was blown up by the volunteers. The enemy re-established, and the volunteers bombed again. The third time the bridge was built, the third time it was blown up. Finally, the enemy used transport airdrops to build bridge equipment, barely repaired the bridge, and luckily escaped from the encirclement. For the volunteers, in such extremely difficult circumstances, every victory was not easy to come by, and every victory was the result of the convergence of courage, wisdom and strong organizational strength. The bridge blowing operation is a vivid interpretation, and the three blown bridges not only embody the spirit of the volunteer soldiers who regard death as a homecoming, but also show the strong organizational strength and coordinated combat ability of the volunteer troops. We particularly hope that "Watergate Bridge" can fully express this spirit and strength of the volunteer army, and can accurately express this spirit and source of strength.
Previously, some film and television works with military themes, because they were influenced by incorrect concepts such as historical nihilism, deliberately diluted or ignored the expression of these contents, and even appeared some "divine dramas" that aroused widespread criticism, which dissipated values, ridiculed the sublime, and did great harm. Fortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult for such works to find room for growth.
Therefore, "Watergate Bridge" should not be a simple "bridge", and we have more expectations for this movie. We hope that this work is not only the smoke and flames of war and the shroud of Ma Ge, but can let us feel the blood, wind and bone and strength of the nation, and let us learn the courage, spirit and faith to overcome various risks and challenges, so as to inspire and spur us to dare to "kill a blood road" in the face of any difficulties. (Reporting by Yu Guopeng, client reporter of Dazhong Daily)
