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The Hundred Regiments War was a large-scale offensive and anti-"sweeping" campaign launched by the Eighth Route Army behind enemy lines in North China during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The Battle of the Hundred Regiments was the largest and longest-lasting battle launched by the Eighth Route Army in North China during the stalemate phase of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The Battle of the Hundred Regiments is divided into 3 stages. The first phase, from August 20 to September 10, 1940, was the central task of destroying zhengtai road traffic. From September 22 to early October 1940, the second phase was the main task of continuing to destroy the Japanese lines of communication and destroying the main strongholds of the Japanese army deep into the anti-Japanese base areas. From early October 1940 to January 24, 1941, the third phase was the main task of countering the retaliatory "sweep" of the Japanese army.
According to the statistics of the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army on December 10, 1940, during the first three and a half months of the Hundred Regiments War, a total of 1,824 large and small battles were fought, more than 2,990 strongholds were conquered, more than 46,000 Japanese puppet troops were annihilated, the "cage policy" of the Japanese army was smashed, the reactionary arrogance of the Japanese puppet army was dealt a heavy blow, and the confidence of the whole country in the War of Resistance was greatly boosted.
Since September 18, 1931, Chinese filmmakers have expressed the Determination of the Chinese Nation to Resist Japan in various ways and recorded the anti-Japanese feats of the sons and daughters of China. For example, the "national defense film" at that time, "Wolf Mountain Blood Story" (1936, director Fei Mu), with the plot of "villagers working together to fight wolves" to call for "the people of the whole country to unite against Japan", until the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance on July 7, 1937, the film began to positively publicize the heroic anti-Japanese deeds of chinese soldiers and civilians, and its representative work was "Eight Hundred Heroes" (1938, director Ying Yunwei).
After the founding of New China, a series of classic films on the theme of the War of Resistance Against Japan, such as "Railway Guerrilla", "Plain Guerrilla", "Chicken Feather Letter", "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", "Tunnel Warfare", and "Mine Warfare", were born one after another. In 2005, the film "Taihang Mountain" restored the grand war scenes through sophisticated production level, created a new style of war films in the new period, and showed the story of Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, leading the three main divisions of the Eighth Route Army that had just been adapted, and crossing the Yellow River in the east to establish the Taihang Mountain base area.
Ten years later, the film "Hundred Regiments War" (2015) adapted part of the content of "Taihang Mountain", no longer pursuing grandeur and comprehensiveness, but selecting several iconic battles in a broad war picture, highlighting several highly individual characters, emphasizing the personal charm and personal ability of the protagonist, so that the audience's sight and emotion have a precise point of delivery. The film takes the Niangziguan Raid Battle, the Xiyingwu Raid, the Huangyadong Arsenal Defense Battle, and the Guanjiayuan Annihilation Battle as the epitome of the "Hundred Regiments War", and the opposition between the enemy and our camps is extremely clear, and is committed to presenting shocking war scenes to the audience.
The challenge facing the screenwriting of "Hundred Regiments War" is - how is the proportion of "literary drama" and "martial arts" distributed, and how to echo and cooperate with each other? Since the four battles are the main focus and occupy most of the time, how does the film ensure the vivid portrayal of the personality of the characters?
In the film, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army are enthusiastic and cheerful, their morale is high, the generals have hills and valleys, they cooperate sincerely, the military and the people work together, the fish and water are deep, and there is a scene of vitality. Chiang Kai-shek, on the other hand, was deeply jealous of the strength of the Eighth Route Army, and had mixed feelings in the face of the eighth route army's achievements, appearing to be very worried, full of personal calculations and selfishness. In Mao Zedong, what we see is the demeanor of a real general, the open-mindedness and arrogance. There was also Peng Dehuai, who strongly advocated a big war to destroy the Japanese cage policy, and a victory to boost morale, "to prove the existence of the Eighth Route Army, to prove that the Chinese are still fighting." This kind of arrogance and dry confidence and the momentum of the whole country are in stark contrast to the low and negative atmosphere that pervades the Kuomintang government.
In the film, Zhang Zizhong's subordinate Yao Shangwu returned to his hometown after the defeat of the army, joined the Eighth Route Army after seeing the tragic death of his family, and then began a different combat career, felt different spiritual agitations, and completed spiritual experience and inner growth.
The plot focus of the film is the four battles in the "Hundred Regiments War", each of which has different points of view, engraving the unique growth trajectory of the characters, interweaving the spiritual dialogue and emotional interaction between the characters.
The Niangziguan Raid was mainly carried out on the railway, and the focus of the two sides was once around the competition for triggers. In this battle, the inferiority of the Eighth Route Army's weapons was fully revealed, but the tenacious will to fight was awe-inspiring. This was Yao Shangwu's first battle to join the Eighth Route Army, and his heart was greatly shaken and he continued to mature in the test of blood and fire. Initially, he was deceived by the Japanese army's red cross-flagged train, whose purpose was to stop the Eighth Route Army's demolition operations on the grounds of international rules of engagement. Yao Shangwu's pedantry and simplicity inflicted heavy casualties on the Eighth Route Army, which prompted him to re-understand the cunning and insidiousness of the Japanese invaders. This battle was also the starting point for Yao Shangwu and Liang Shan, who was in charge of the blasting operation, to fight side by side.
In Xiyingwu, the Eighth Route Army was a surprise attack, and it was reasonable to say that it had taken the lead, but due to the strong firepower of the Japanese, the battle was still in a state of stalemate. A tank captured by Yao Shangwu and others became a key factor in turning the tide of the war. The film highlights Yao Shangwu's professional background as a graduate of the Artillery Department of the Whampoa Military Academy, and also allows the audience to see Yao Shangwu becoming more and more calm and steady. In the subsequent defense battle of the Huangyadong Arsenal, the cannon commanded by Yao Shangwu also became the needle of the Dinghai God to turn the tide.
In the Battle of Annihilation of Guanjia'an, although the Eighth Route Army was a successor to the battlefield, it could not be attacked for a long time, which reflected the film's respect for history, and although the weapons were backward and the battles were fierce, the Eighth Route Army's indomitable and firm and fearless spirit was admirable. During this battle, yao Shangwu and Liangshan's feelings further warmed up, and the two began to communicate with each other. Later, Liangshan died to protect Yao Shangwu, and the two lovers were separated by life and death.
The film is studded with two important clues in four battles. One is Yao Shangwu's transformation. At first, he was naïve about the Japanese invaders, and later he played an important role in the war against the invaders. The second is the emotional line between Yao Shangwu and Liangshan. They went from acquaintance and fighting side by side to secret love, eternal separation... This reflects the film's efforts to add more "literary drama" to a large number of war scenes, because the emotions, feelings, psychological ups and downs of the characters, and the course of fate are often the most moving parts of a film. In order to inject more warm and touching feelings into the iron-blooded masculinity of the war, the film also uses a belt to convey the sympathy between Peng Dehuai and Zuo Quan, whose insight into each other's minds highlights the mutual knowledge, concern, trust and dependence between revolutionary comrades-in-arms.
"Hundred Regiments War" can learn from a lot of similar films, coupled with the progress of shooting technology, sufficient funds and the update of creative concepts, its creative conditions can be regarded as unique. The film highlights their respective points of view in the four battles, showing the tragedy of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the heroism of the Communists, in addition to effectively connecting the four battles by embedding the trajectory of the characters' growth. It is worth mentioning that the film shows the color of the main theme in the form of a genre film, not only the creation of war scenes, but also the interpretation of the military and political significance of the "Hundred Regiments War". The integration of the speech, pre-war mobilization and other plots with the war scenes ensures the ideological appeal of the film, but does not weaken the film's simple and clear watchability, making it leave a strong mark in the sequence of Chinese anti-Japanese war films.
In order to greet the centennial birthday of the Party, the Shanghai International Film Festival officially launched the special plan of "Paying Tribute to the Centenary - Telling the History of the Party with Movies and Recalling 1921", taking the time clue as the main context, selecting 21 main theme films that can reflect the major events, important achievements and key historical scenes in the history of the Party in the past century, and reliving the glorious history created by the CPC leading the masses of the people from 1921 to the present through film criticism and guided tours, showing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. "Tribute to the Centenary - Using Film to Tell the History of the Party and Reminiscing about 1921" is jointly planned by the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Film Art Research Center of the Shanghai Theater Academy, and specially invited to write by the Film Art Research Center of Fudan University.