Use the lens to inject the spiritual strength to move forward courageously

Source: Guangming Daily

Recently, Zhang Yimou has been a little busy. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, directed by him, made a wonderful appearance, and the movie "Sniper", which he co-directed with his daughter Zhang Mo, also landed in the Spring Festival file. Recently, Zhang Yimou said frankly in an interview with reporters: "It is difficult to catch up with these time nodes so coincidentally several times in life, so this year's spring is particularly unusual for me." ”

The unusual Zhang Yimou said was not only about his experience, but also about the movie "Sniper". Although the work is the theme of the war to resist the United States and aid Korea, it tells the story of an ordinary encounter that took place in an inconspicuous corner of the war - "cold guns and cold guns" movement, a scout was hit by the US army, he carried vital intelligence on him, and the fifth squad received orders from their superiors to retake the scouts and intelligence at all costs in the confrontation with the top snipers of the US army. Some viewers commented that this is a film that is not too "Zhang Yimou". There is no extremely impactful image expression, nor is there a romantic and exaggerated use of color, and these iconic "symbols" used in Zhang Yimou's film creation cannot be seen in "Sniper". In its place is the cinematic language of the new work: calm and restrained, but without losing its full emotion. It is such a "big director + new actor + small incision story" movie that has created an ordinary and great hero image and poked the softest part of people's hearts.

Talking about the selection and creativity of the film, Zhang Yimou introduced: "Completing the storytelling in the process of shaping the characters is a basic law of artistic creation, and the same is true for the theme of war. All grand wars are made up of countless individuals, so I wanted the work to focus on the growth of individuals on the battlefield. The sniper perspective fits exactly what I think, and this type of creation usually condenses the perspective on a small team or even an individual. In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, many excellent snipers such as Zhang Taofang and Zou Xixiang emerged, providing rich and vivid materials for creation. We combined all aspects of the sniper's information and characteristics to create such a movie story. ”

To represent war with small incisions, it is necessary to be as meticulous as possible. Especially in sniper warfare, every action of the characters should be clear. To this end, Zhang Yimou specially invited a number of military experts to serve as advisers. Slowly, Zhang Yimou himself became an "expert", he summed up the characteristics of sniper warfare "to be able to hide", and pondered the creativity of the volunteer soldiers with backward weapons and equipment to spy on the enemy with spoons. "Snipers are duels of top masters, and victory depends largely on ingenuity and concealment to preemptively strike. As for the 'soil method' of the spoon, the inspiration comes from the convex lens set up at the bend of the road, and the polished cooking spoon can play the role of a convex lens to help snipers observe the fire point of the other side. Later, this spoon not only became an important clue throughout the film, but also became a symbol of the spiritual inheritance of the volunteer soldiers. There are many small details like this, all of which highlight the wise and courageous side of the volunteer soldiers. ”

During the filming process, the filmmakers built two battlefields, one side is the volunteer camp led by director Zhang Yimou, and the other side is the US army camp that director Zhang Mo is responsible for. They start shooting at the same time and stop almost at the same time. "The film is about a duel between the volunteers and the U.S. army, and the filming process is like a conversation between me and Zhang Mo's generation using images. Every night we would discuss the shooting content together, look at the footage of ourselves and each other, and then she adjusted her shooting content according to my side of the thinking, and I also adjusted my shooting content according to her shooting method. Zhang Yimou said.

Through the storytelling of the film, Zhang Yimou hopes to have a spiritual exchange with the young audience in front of the screen. "The ice and snow melted, the country was strong, the young lives in the 'Sniper Fifth Squad' remained forever on the banks of the Yalu River, but the spirit of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea was passed down from generation to generation, and to this day, it still contains a powerful spiritual force." It is believed that with the release of this film, the story of the 'Sniper Fifth Class' and even such films on the theme of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea will be loved by more and more audiences, especially the young generation, and the spirit of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea will be injected into the hearts of the Chinese people and provide a steady stream of motivation for them to forge ahead. (Reporter Li Lei)