At the end of the National Day file, the box office of "Chosin Lake" exceeded 3.4 billion, ranking eighth in film history, and everyone is waiting to see how many film history records can finally be broken by this film that has broken all the way.
There is no doubt that the film has become the ceiling of this domestic war film.
However, in recent years, the theme of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has indeed produced many good movies. And the older generation of audiences who stepped into the theater again many years later to watch "Chosin Lake" have always remembered the name of a movie.
Even the post-90s and post-00s who are not familiar with old movies should have heard a classic line of domestic war films - "For victory, shoot at me!" ”
Today, let's talk about Heroes and Children.
Speaking of which, not for comparison, "Heroes and Children" and "Chosin Lake" are excellent films on the theme of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, even if the time of their birth is a full 57 years apart.
The purpose of putting the two films together is to see what style, technique and lineup of Chinese filmmakers who are more than half a century apart in different eras to present the battle of the founding of the country, and how to express the most lovely people?
There are also what Chinese films have gained in the years, where the progress is, and what aspects there are, which should be learned, learned and obtained from the classics of the past, so that the ceiling of domestic war films in the future will be higher.
Now, let's go back in time to 57 years ago, Liu Shilong filmed the scene where Wang Cheng held his position until he was sacrificed, and in that year, there were 108 explosive points excluding fireworks. Liu Shilong had just drilled into the position in the film, and the flames suddenly flew over, and the real flames burned his skin hot, and the smoke choked him to tears.
But at that time, film was very expensive, thinking that he would lose as soon as he shouted stop, Liu Shilong clenched his teeth and closed his eyes to drill into the fire and continue to shoot! After the first film, Liu Shilong's eyebrows and sideburns were already burning, and his arms were also burned. In the end, this scene was filmed 4 times before it passed, and Liu Shilong also drilled in the fire 4 times.
At that time, Liu Shilong should not have been able to imagine that this film shot under difficult conditions could win the praise of Premier Zhou Enlai and become an immortal classic of war films, so that many years later, the young people of that year were all white-haired, and when they mentioned those moving scenes, that song, they would still be in tears, they would sing, and they would sing it together.
"Why is the battle flag so picturesque? The blood of the hero stained it red."
Until 56 years later, "King Kong Chuan" still used this song again as the theme song of the movie, and its name was "Hero Hymn".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > compared with now, the conditions were too bitter, how was the classic created? </h1>
Directed by Wu Zhaodi and starring Liu Shilong, Liu Shangxian and Tian Fang, the film is adapted from Ba Jin's novel Reunion. The film tells the story of the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, after the death of the volunteer soldier Wang Cheng, his sister Wang Fang, with the help of political commissar Wang Wenqing, insisted on fighting, and finally reunited with his adoptive father Wang Fubiao and his biological father Wang Wenqing on the Korean battlefield.
It is not difficult to see that it is different from the story type of large-scale war films such as "Chosin Lake", and what has changed in the past 57 years is of course the ability of the Chinese film industry behind domestic war films.
In a sense, "Chosin Lake" highlights "where the limits of domestic film production are".
The shooting cycle of 200 days; nearly 12,000 staff; more than 70,000 group performances; "Chosin Lake" has set a new record for Chinese films in terms of production scale, investment scale, shooting time span, and number of cast members used.
These numbers, I think, are simply out of the blue for the creators who created "Heroes and Children" that year. So how was a war film classic that came out 57 years ago been created?
During the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Ba Jin was entrusted by Cao Yu to go to Korea to create works, and in early 1952 he lived in the 6th Company of a regiment for more than two months, during which Ba Jin was deeply moved by the deeds of the Sixth Company attacking the "Red Mountain Bao".
Half a year later, Ba Jin returned to China with the creative team, and after the armistice agreement was signed, Ba Jin came to Korea again, seriously experienced life, and gradually formed ideas and creations. Until 1961, 9 years after returning to China, Ba Jin's novella "Reunion" was officially published, and it can be said that "Reunion" is a typical text of Ba Jin's emotional accumulation.
After the novel was published, it caused a strong reaction, and Xia Yan, who was the vice minister of culture at the time, was deeply moved and asked the Changchun Film Studio to adapt the novel into a movie.
After receiving the order, the Changchun Film Studio gave the task to the famous director Wu Zhaodi, who after reading the novel of more than 20,000 words, felt that it was difficult to grasp the degree of success without participating in the war experience, so he thought of his classmate Mao Feng.
Mao Feng, who joined the revolution at the age of 14 and spent three years on the Korean battlefield, was deeply moved by "Reunion", but he expressed concern that he had "no experience in writing film scripts". Wu Zhaodi said to him: "What experience, you have so many experiences and stories on the Korean battlefield, if it is integrated into the script, this is experience." ”
Persuaded, Mao Feng agreed to adapt it with Wu Zhaodi. He remembered the two thick "Volunteer Day" record books preserved in the Korean battlefield, which contained thousands of diaries, all of which were real and true events recorded by frontline soldiers themselves. It is the story recorded in "Volunteer Day" that provides the most critical boost to the film.
In the original novel, Wang Fang mentioned the sacrifice of his brother, just a sentence "It is just that Wang Cheng did not come back, he bravely sacrificed at the top of the mountain." Mao Feng and Wu Zhaodi felt that it was not enough, and as a result found a record in the "One Day of the Volunteer Army": In the battle for the Dongshan leg of the 281.1 highland, "The infantry operator Yu Shuchang insisted on fighting after a fierce night of fierce fighting, and all the officers and men of the company were sacrificed—at noon, the enemy swarmed up from three sides and approached Shuchang." He called out to our artillery fire continuously: "Hit me 50 meters around!" Hit 30 meters!"" Hit 20 meters!"
When Regiment Commander Sun Bin eagerly asked him, "How thick is the soil in your bunker and what danger is it?", he shouted firmly and eagerly: "Don't care about me, shoot at me!" For victory, fire! Shoot me!"
Finally, he shouted: "Chiefs, comrades, dear comrades! Goodbye..." Pulling the last grenade, he died with the hordes of enemies. ”
This passage deeply touched Mao Feng and Wu Zhaodi, coupled with the heroic deeds of Yang Gensi, who persisted on the position until the last moment and died with the enemy in the Battle of Chosin Lake, these archetypal deeds were artistically processed, and finally presented on the screen as a classic image of Wang Cheng shouting "Fire at me" and holding a blast canister to die with the enemy.
With a good script, the next step is casting.
Liu Shilong, the actor who played Wang Cheng, almost lost touch with the role of Wang Cheng.
When he first auditioned, Liu Shilong himself said, "The leader said I can't do it, I am so small, how to play this role, at most I can play a warrior, Wang Cheng's character is so heavy." ”
And director Wu Zhaodi insisted: "The character I want Wang Cheng is an ordinary warrior in "Heroes and Children". In the end, the director tried to let Liu Shilong play Wang Cheng, and also arranged for him to experience a three-month life as a soldier in the army.
Tian Fang, who plays Wang Wenqing, is already the deputy director of the National Film Administration at this time, and his performance is simple and natural, deep and subtle, lifting heavy weights, and the shaping of the character can be described as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Wang Fang's actor Liu Shangxian was selected the most dramatic, she was still a student of the Beijing Film Academy, intern shooting "Beijinger", went to the prop library to borrow props and then walked back, on the way met Xie Jin, who was selecting "Wang Fang" actors, Xie Jin thought that Liu Shangxian was the best candidate for Wang Fang from a face, but because she did not know Liu Shangxian's name, Wu Zhaodi, Mao Feng, and Xie Jin had to go to the Beiying Girls' Dormitory to find one by one, and finally found Liu Shangxian.
The actors got it right, and the next step was to complete this heavy war film under limited production conditions.
Cho Moon-yu, played by North Korean girl Park Jung-ko, recalled many years later filming the scene of "carrying a stretcher across the glacier", saying that at that time, in the real scene of Tonghua at more than -30 degrees, all departments were conscientiously filming, and some people even suffered from arthritis. Before the scene began filming, the director sent ginger soup to Zhao Wenyu and wine to the old actor Puke.
During the actual shooting, the shock wave caused by the explosion of the explosion in the water made Zhao Wenyu almost unable to stand in the water, and he could only drag the stretcher forward with all his strength.
However, the more difficult it was, the more the crew worked together to forge an immortal legend of film history.
Even the post-production of the film is full of stories.
At the end of the film, there is a scene in which all the soldiers of Wang Cheng's platoon swear an oath to their relatives in the motherland, and the whole oath-taking process is magnificent, which makes people cry and is full of strength. The crew used many actors, including soldiers, to shoot the scene.
But in the post-editing of the film, the director wanted to integrate the chorus song with the emotional shots, but found it difficult to seamlessly connect, and it was impossible to organize a reshoot.
At the critical moment, the old artist Tian Suggested to the director: "Lao Wu, have you forgotten the music montage? Let's go to Liu Chi, listen to his musical layout, and then go back to pick up the shots you can't connect. What do you think? ”
As a result, composer Liu Chi really divided the shots, songs, and speeches reasonably, and then rearranged them, solving the director's confusion in one fell swoop.
After the problem was solved, the hands of the three filmmakers of the older generation were tightly clasped together.
It is also such a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and production method that overcomes many difficulties with wisdom, and finally achieves a generation of classics.
But until this time, the title of the film was still the original name - "Reunion".
Good is good, but always feel that something is missing.
After the film was completed, director Wu Zhaodi took the sample film to Beijing for screening, Luo Ruiqing and many other generals participated in the viewing, watched it and said good, after watching the film, the director re-revised the title of the film according to everyone's suggestions, which is now familiar to everyone - "Heroes and Children".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="115" >Why 57 years later, "Heroes and Children" is still the peak of domestic war films? </h1>
"Chosin Lake" and "Heroes and Children", two war films separated by 57 years, what are the artistic styles and production differences?
The most immediate difference is the classic scene of the film.
"Chosin Lake" is characterized by a heavy sense of history and fierce action scenes. Director Xu Ke and Lin Chaoxian used various methods to highlight the excitement of the battle process.
For example, using slow motion to show the moments of bullets passing through and exploding, the visual effects of the final film really shocked the audience.
"Heroes and Children" does not have today's production conditions, and the war scenes are not the focus of the film.
However, the film still concentrated its efforts and filmed a classic scene in the film's history that has been praised to this day.
In the film, Wang becomes a position to hold his ground and drag the enemy to attack. Shouting the strongest voice of the Chinese soldiers into the steppe-talkie microphone: "For victory, fire at me!" At that moment, the hero's voice was full of strength and inspired generations of Chinese.
The scene where Wang Cheng holds a blaster and dies with the enemy has also become an indelible classic in the history of new Chinese cinema.
Although the production conditions are limited, the creator used a chorus called "Agni Kong" when Wang Cheng sacrificed, when Wang Cheng shouted "For victory, shoot at me!" The chorus sang unexpectedly, and the creators used lyrical narrative methods to combine the picture and music, making the imaginary color and symbolism of this heroic sacrifice section more moving.
Another difference is the difference in the emotional shaping of the characters.
"Chosin Lake" focuses on shaping a heroic company, the Seventh Company of Steel, which in turn focuses on the wu qianli and Wu wanli brothers.
From the overall effect, whether it is Wu Jing, Yi Yanqianxi, or the characters created by Actors such as Hu Jun, Zhu Yawen, han Dongjun, etc., they can be described as loud and clear, especially Lei Dad, played by Hu Jun, who deeply touched the audience.
But whether it can become a classic in film history still needs to wait for the test of time.
And "Heroes and Children" has contributed several classic characters to domestic war films.
Wang Cheng, portrayed by Liu Shilong, on the one hand, is enthusiastic and simple, but at the same time resolute and courageous, in the passage of holding the position alone until the sacrifice, Liu Shilong's acting skills are full of vitality, which is worthy of the classic performance of film history.
Wang Fang, played by Liu Shangxian as a female soldier of the literary and industrial team, endured her grief after Wang Cheng's heroic sacrifice, turned her sadness into strength, and completed the song "Heroes and Children", and Wang Fang also became one of the classic images on the screen.
Why can the classic war films of that era create such a real, grounded, and unforgettable heroic character?
Actor Zhao Wenyu later recalled the bits and pieces of the filming at that time. At that time, the director asked the actors to experience life according to the role, and although Zhao Wenyu did not play much, she still went to the home of a North Korean girl in Yanbian to experience life for seven days.
In contrast, Wu Jing can play a special soldier and serve in the special forces for two years, and this generation of real actors is not afraid of hardship. But the atmosphere of that era could not be felt no matter how hard the actors tried.
In contrast, actors of that era were more likely to approach the characters they were going to play and use the power of emotion to make the audience complete a huge empathy.
The third difference is that the theme presentation of "Heroes and Children" is actually more penetrating than the shock brought by war films.
There is a highlight of the film that is still very classic in retrospect, that is, Wang Wenqing asked Wang Fang to write a song for her brother, and Wang Fang completed it overnight, but the effect of the first draft was not "ideal".
In the words of the guard Xiao Liu, it is "just feeling very sad and can't muster up the momentum."
At first, Wang Fang was still a little unconvinced: "I wrote it with tears."
At this time, Wang Wenqing pointed out to the point: Can you write your brother by tears alone? Why did you write about him and sing about him, so that everyone could cry with you?
This sentence suddenly woke up Wang Fang, and her final draft is the classic song "Hero Hymn" that has been sung to this day.
When "Why the Earth Spring Is Always There, and the Hero's Life Blossoms" is sung, the film completes the sublimation at once.
This is why the film is still the peak of domestic war films after 57, because the film answers what is "heroic children" through the performances, music, plot and various details of the actors.
Wang Wenqing, who sacrificed his personal affection for the victory of the revolution, was a hero.
Wang Fang's adoptive father, Wang Fubiao, who raised children for revolutionaries, was a hero.
Wang Cheng, a volunteer soldier who sacrificed his life for the motherland and the people, is certainly a hero.
But the soldiers who hold their positions in their posts, and the ordinary people who provide support for the soldiers are also heroes.
Wang Cheng and Wang Fang are heroic children, and Chinese min themselves are a group of heroes.
It is the ideological nature contained in the film that gives it the immortal power to transcend the times.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="117" > I am waiting for domestic war films to give birth to the next "Hero Song"</h1>
The young people who were burning with passion at the beginning grew old one by one, but many old audiences still remembered the adolescence of the 1970s, braving the cold wind for several nights in a row, chasing the screening team to various villages a few miles away to see the scene of "Heroes and Children" screened in the open air.
Now, these old audiences, after perhaps many years away from the cinema, have walked into the cinema again and watched "Chosin Lake" with tears, a patriotic film with the main theme of the country, no matter what era is the most moving.
But movies are the art of regret, and it cannot be said that this year's domestic films have no regrets.
One of the recognized regrets of this domestic war film is the lack of a theme song as popular as it was then. For example, "Shangganling" has "My Motherland" with "a big river with wide waves and the wind blowing rice and flowers on both sides of the river", and "Heroic Children" has "Heroic Hymns".
The story of "Heroes and Children" is a story of reunion and a story of heroes, and one of the reasons why the film is called a classic is the music in the film.
The storyline, vivid character images, touching heroic deeds, and the atmosphere of the battlefield full of gunfire are perfectly integrated with the beautiful and exuberant "Hero Hymn", and the film has the immortal power to cross the era, as long as you hear "the smoke billowing and singing the hero, the green mountains on all sides listen, the thunder ringing on the sunny day, the golden drum ringing on the sunny day, the waves of the sea making harmony, the people's warriors driving the tiger and leopard, sacrificing life and forgetting death to keep peace..."
Generations can't help but shed tears.
After the composer Liu Chi got the lyrics written by Gongmu, he did not rush to compose the music, but pulled a group of people to play playing cards. Playing, Liu Chi suddenly threw the card on the table, went home and locked the door, refused to be disturbed by everything, and wrote the imposing "Hero Hymn" with a bang.
Can this domestic film still create a classic song like "Hero Hymn"? Furthermore, can we create a classic film like Heroes and Children?
I believe it can.
Don't say that this audience can no longer fully understand the spirit and ambition of that year, when the film box office fell continuously, waves of audiences crowded the theater, young audiences took the initiative to taste frozen potatoes, does this not mean that the audience feels the spirit of the volunteer army?
Not to mention that the new generation of filmmakers do not care, in today's "green screen", the shooting of "Chosin Lake" does not use any interior scenes, almost all exterior scenes. In order to truly reflect the cold effect in the film, the actors also shot in an environment of more than minus 20 degrees.
Let's just say Zhu Yawen, there is a scene of rolling down the hillside.
It's less than ten seconds. But in order to make the director and himself satisfied, he was stunned to roll on the set again and again, shooting for three hours.
Don't say that this war movie has no taste.
Let's say that in the film, Wu Wanli threatened to jump off the car, and the scene where the carriage door opened, when the majestic and winding Great Wall suddenly came into view, the motherland "mountains and rivers are in the ancient world". The spectators and the warriors gazed at the scene in front of them, and everything was self-evident.
China's years, China's strength, Chinese backbone, from that year to the present, is consistent.
If this year's filmmakers need to learn anything from the filmmakers of that year, I think it is still the same sentence - "There is great righteousness in the chest, there is the people in the heart, there is responsibility on the shoulders, and there is a clean hand in the pen." ”
"Heroes and Children" can become a classic, in the final analysis, or because of one thing, that is, the creator's consciousness, a kind of creative consciousness that absolutely cannot live up to the people in history. In their creations, they always think of the volunteer soldiers, thinking of the heroes and children in that tragic and magnificent battle.
Today, as in the line in Chosin Lake, "If we fight the war, our descendants will not have to fight." ”
Peace is precious, but the more peaceful and precious it is, the more we must not forget how today's peaceful and beautiful life was obtained, because there were soldiers who once stood up to the sky and said, "For victory, fire cannons!" Shoot me!"
War films are vivid memory books, which tell generations of people what heroes and children are and who are the most lovely people.
And when the classics of war films echo each other in the years, this in itself is saying, "The motherland will not forget."
We will not forget.
Watching "Heroes and Children" 57 years later, it is still the pinnacle of war films.
After "Chosin Lake" has created a series of new records in film history, we can always look forward to the next peak, looking forward to the next "Hero Hymn".