As far as war movies are concerned, the subject matter of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has many places to dig and shoot. The Chosin Lake series unfolds with a macroscopic war narrative. But another microscopic, local perspective will also make us shoot amazingly.
Here we talk about Zhang Yimou's recent "Sniper" released in the Spring Festival file, and the author seems to be immersed in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics that he directed, especially in the way he lit the main torch in the center of the snowflake. After winning the super high reputation, perhaps riding on the spring breeze of the Winter Olympics, this film, which is also Zhang Yimou, has also won a super high reputation. From the marketing aspect, there is a certain relationship, but in the final analysis, the quality of the film itself is good, and it is naturally reasonable to be praised by the world.
The first highlight of the film is directed by Zhang Yimou and his daughter Zhang Mo, the film is almost in addition to Zhang Yi, Lin Boyang, the rest such as Chen Yongsheng, Zhang Yu, Liu Yitie, Huang Yan, Wang Ziyi, Chen Mingyang, Wang Naixun, Cheng Hongxin are almost ordinary people starring, on the one hand, it is natural to promote newcomers, on the other hand, it is also to make the film can go to the stereotype of the star's face, so as to better show the artistic charm of historical war films.
The film is set in the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and tells the story of Zhang Dabow, a sniper of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army. The U.S. military did everything in its power to eliminate it. In the face of the enemy's net, Zhang Da bow was not afraid of danger, and began to maneuver with the enemy, and finally turned the tide of the war and successfully defeated the opponent. Set against the backdrop of the "Cold Gun And Cold Artillery Movement" in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the film shows the heroic story of the heroic victory of the volunteer soldiers on the Korean battlefield and the dedication of the singing and weeping through a deadly duel between the Sniper Squad of the Chinese Volunteer Army and the SNIPER Team of the US Army.
First of all, let's understand what is the cold gun and cold gun movement, which is also known as the cold gun cold gun campaign, which was a high-density, low-intensity small-scale attack and sniper battle launched by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army against the United Nations army during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea from 1952 to 1953. Such a sniper campaign inflicted heavy casualties on the UN army and made an indelible contribution to the subsequent victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and Zhang Yimou's wit went from seeing the big picture from the small, with the artistic technique of dots and overviews, and with the oriental aesthetic concept of "one leaf knowing the autumn", the story of this war partially occurred in a heavy snow, a telescope, two hills, a dozen snipers, and a dozen guns.
In this microscopic local sniper campaign, how did Zhang Yimou show the great significance of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea through different visions, different close-ups, and focused methods, as well as the heroism and wisdom of the sniper team, so as to embody the fearlessness of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and the spirit of resistance to defend the country? That is, the specific Zhang Yimou used a solid script and a tight rhythm to reflect this through tactics in the cold gun tug-of-war between the enemy and us in the squad as a unit.
The detailed tactics here accurately show that each warrior plays an important role in the battle. For example, in terms of tactics, the US military has adopted the tactics of "encircling points to fight for assistance", while our army has adopted the tactics of "luring snakes out of holes" and "catching ducks to the shelves" in sniper warfare. In the end, we can see that when Dayong and John, the last sniper of the US sniper squad, dueled, they still used the tactic of "strike-behind" to crack the opponent's "concealment of the sky and the sea". This tactical design of Sun Tzu's Art of War shows this microscopic war narrative very rich and three-dimensional, as well as a very calm dramatic effect.
In this way, in Zhang Yimou's view of war film art, he is not the simple model of my weak enemy being strong, but in the end I win, but what is valuable in this film is that he can restrain himself from exaggerating the heroism of the volunteer army, nor does he overly demean the incompetence of the US army, but embodies a kind of duel between the opponents, so that the victory brought about by this is more convincing and convincing as the film drama.
In addition to the tactical arrangement, the film is very meticulous, and in the whole battle, every soldier on both sides of the enemy and us has achieved a certain degree of focus. Yes, a war film that focuses on each sniper soldier is an indispensable role in showing each soldier, and it also shows a flesh-and-blood human brilliance. We know that the movie should focus on the plot and character portrayal, the above tactics are to reflect the plot, and in the character portrayal, under zhang Yimou's lens is to focus on the flesh and blood of the five squads of fighters, such as the squad leader Liu Wenwu, who has seen too many soldiers sacrificed and almost never laughs, the fat dun who wants to give his son a good name, the intelligence officer Liang Liang who is seriously injured but still cares about intelligence, the "crying" Dayong and so on.
Zhang Yimou in addition to from tactics. The shaping of the character warriors profoundly shows the sniper story under the local or microscopic level, and he also integrates a lot of details about the historical facts into it according to the real plot of history, which seems to have a sense of reality and remembrance. For example, the soldiers hold their feet to pedal the gun, in order to keep warm, can smoothly pull the bolt of the gun, but also restore the plot of the bowl that can be replaced by wine. There is a trace of the hat of the volunteer uniform after removing the hat emblem, and there is also a "white cloth strip" that can wrap the gun up, which can play a camouflage role and make the sniper more comfortable in the cold environment. There are also more volunteers in Nakagawa, and their representative Fat Dun, in order not to let the team lose warmth, and the way to wake up by singing "Chuanjiang Trumpet" is naturally also a realistic recording. It is worth mentioning that Zhang Yimou was already moved when shooting the real snow scene, because the actor lost his voice in order to continue to "sing", which is the biggest interpretation of the appeal of art integration with the reality of war, and it is also the embodiment of the actor's dedication.
It is also worth mentioning that the portrayal of the US military is also very objective, such as the plot in which the US military will knock on the helmet when changing the magazine. A soldier in this line appears to change the bullet, when the soldier takes out the magazine, he will knock the magazine on his helmet a few times, which is actually a combat technique, which can straighten out the bullets of the magazine and avoid the failure of the supply during actual combat. Zhang Yimou is so small to see the big, delicate portrayal makes this kind of local war film let you see in addition to inspiring but also have an intriguing taste. And then there are those metaphors, the most prominent metaphorical shots that appear in such a film, that is, the weak child is the symbol of the weakness representing North Korea, he is sandwiched between China and the United States, protected and trusted by China, and seduced and deceived by the United States. There is also Liu Wenwu's saying, "Bring you out of your hometown, but you can't bring you back." This is the director's inability to express the friendship between the war and the hometown feelings, and it is also a metaphor for the cruelty of war.
History tells us that there are two famous snipers in China, one is Zhang Taofang, who killed 214 enemies with 436 bullets in 32 days, and the other is Zou Xixiang, who killed 203 enemies with 206 bullets. Zhang Yimou's "Sniper" is not only based on real history as the prototype, but also in the shooting of real snow scenes, dedication and authenticity allow the audience to recall the heroic story of Zhang Taofang and Zou Xixiang, and it is also a heroic story that allows me to watch the heroic story of a sniper squad fighting to the death with the enemy's elite sniper squad and using flexible and mobile combat wisdom to "use tactics". Regarding the real snow shooting, you can restore the cold and cruelty of the battlefield, and also let the actors quickly enter the scene, and then let the audience enter the battlefield more realistically. Whether it is real snow, guns, the tactics of the five squads of snipers, or props, etc., the film has achieved meticulous restoration. It can be said that it embodies Zhang Yimou's oriental aesthetic concept of "one leaf knows autumn".
As Zhang Yimou himself said: Even the grandest war narrative is composed of countless vivid individual stories, and the creation should focus on the fate of the individual on the battlefield, the transformation of the individual, and the growth of the individual. When we make a movie, we shoot a story and write a character, and following the character is also a basic law of making a movie. In "Sniper", he has achieved the small view of the big, focusing on the individual war, shooting a war film focusing on each sniper soldier, to praise the heroic resistance spirit of the volunteer army from another perspective of small and big.
In addition, Zhang Yimou said, "We must adhere to our cultural characteristics and use film art to tell Chinese stories well." ”。 From the Winter Olympics to "Sniper", Zhang Yimou's oriental Chinese aesthetic concept of "one leaf knows autumn" is very perfectly highlighted by ice and snow as the carrier. The so-called "cold gun picks up the sky, and the wind and snow welcome the people." "It's a very good film that commemorates the history of that war in a cinematic way.
You may have a slight idea of the special effects fired by the hundred bullets in the film, thinking that the slow motion of these bullets is an aesthetic fatigue, but secretly thinking that this is a kind of presentation effect required for sniper war films. Because the more objective interpretation of this film is to inherit the revolutionary spirit of the sniper. In addition, Zhang Yimou's film values of the oriental Chinese aesthetic concept of "one leaf know autumn" make this movie "Sniper" present a kind of respect for the individual, and the attention to the individual and the delicate historical restoration commemoration are very touching, reflecting the story of every unsung hero in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
"The Whisperer in the Flower City", by Si Yi Gu, published by Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House in March 2020 Si Yi Gu: writer, freelance writer, currently living in Guangzhou.