Zhong Chengxiang: How did the red director Chen Li become?

Climb to the aesthetic peak of shaping the hero's image

——Impression notes on Chen Li's works

Zhong Chengxiang

▲ Stills of "The Island Keeper"

"Everyone should learn from Director Chen Li!" This is the heartfelt words of the former director of the Central Literature Research Office and a well-known party history expert, who is in his nineties, after watching chen Li's films "Blood Battle on the Xiangjiang River," "Gutian Jun," "Shoudao Ren," and the TV series "Begonias Remain." He also took my hand and instructed: "Chengxiang, you who are engaged in literary and art criticism, you must evaluate and recommend such a good director and good work!" ”

I have known Chen Li for 30 years. At that time, I was assigned to organize the selection of the national TV series "Feitian Award" in the Radio, Film and Television Department, she was a young director of the Hebei Film and Television Center, a fledgling, with "Young Mao Zedong" to participate in the competition, a remarkable shot, suddenly attracted the attention of the judges. At her age, directing such a major subject matter surprised and admired the judges. This drama is on the list, and Chen Li is also "a small lotus to show sharp corners" in the screen world. After that, she was unstoppable and became one of the "professional households" who won the "Feitian Award". Therefore, Major General Ming Zhenjiang, who was then the director of the Bayi Film Studio, saw the pearls and finally transferred her to the Bayi Film Studio as a director after many efforts. This director talent cultivated by Yan Zhao Dadi, devoted himself to the army furnace, refined into steel, bravely shouldered heavy burdens, forged ahead in spite of difficulties, and in recent years has continuously dedicated the above-mentioned fine works that have been praised by the vast number of audiences.

I remember that when the TV series "Begonia Is Still" began filming, she was still working in Hebei; By the time of filming, she had become a military director with a glorious mission and a heavy responsibility. She had infinite affection for Premier Zhou, and after studying and studying a large number of documents about Zhou Enlai and the history of the party and the country, she entered the creation like walking on thin ice and conscientiously. Previously, she had directed the film "The Four Days and Nights of Zhou Enlai", which was widely acclaimed, but there were also views that the image of Zhou Enlai played by Sun Weimin on the screen was not real. It was He Jingzhi and Qi Prophet, who had worked around Zhou Enlai, who sincerely praised Sun Weimin after watching the film for his "dedication to acting, accurate performance, and real and touching image", which gave Chen Li great confidence. She and Sun Weimin adhered to the combination of the spirit of realism advocated by General Secretary Xi Jinping and romantic feelings, and finally carefully shaped the image of Zhou Enlai in "Begonia Still" to life, and Sun Weimin also won the "Feitian Award" for best actor.

Transferred to the Bayi Film Studio, Chen Li was commissioned to direct "Blood Battle Xiangjiang". In accordance with General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions on "improving the spiritual height, cultural connotation and artistic value of the work", she made deep efforts in the spiritual height of the film, humbly consulted party history experts such as Qi Prophet, Jin Chonghe and other party history experts and experts such as Li Zhun of the Leading Group for Film and Television Creation of Major Revolutions and Historical Themes, studied party history, felt party history, revised and polished the script over and over again, accurately opened up the channel between history and reality, and revealed the key role of safeguarding the party's leadership core in the victory of the revolution. From the bloody lessons of the extremely tragic Battle of the Xiang River, the first generation of the party's leadership collective with Mao Zedong as the core was gradually formed, thus ensuring the victory of the Long March and the development of the revolution. In terms of the cultural connotation of the film, Chen Li aesthetically and artistically expresses the cultural personalities of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, as well as the thoughts, words, deeds, and deeds of the party's first generation of leading collectives formed by the integration and complementarity between the two. In terms of the artistic value of the film, Chen Li, as a female director, commanded Ruoding and commanded the three armies with the arrogance of "desperately sanlang". In order to pursue the real and tragic artistic effect of the war scene, she took the lead, tied hundreds of explosion points around her waist with remote control, regardless of safety, and commanded on the spot. Everyone said: Chen Daoyi went to the shooting scene, like crazy, completely in a state of self-forgetfulness!

After "Blood Battle Xiangjiang" won the "Huabiao Award", Chen Li did not stop and set up a monument for the Gutian Conference on the screen. This time, she did not reproduce the Gutian Conference, which is of great significance in the history of the party and the army in a positive and panoramic manner, but took a different path, took a small view of the big, and artistically and profoundly revealed the far-reaching historical significance of "the party commanding the gun" and "the branch building on the company" from the perspective of the unique "military trumpet."

After directing the major revolutionary historical theme films of the war years, "Blood Battle on the Xiangjiang River" and "Gutian Conference", Chen Li accepted the task of writing for the ordinary and great Wang Jicai, who guarded the island for 32 years during the period of peaceful construction. As we all know, Wang Jicai has been guarding the island for 32 years, an isolated island, with a single environment, an ordinary story, and a weak dramatic conflict. It is not easy to shoot an art film with vivid characters, wonderful stories, and strong appeal. And Chen Li was convinced of the famous saying - "What is aesthetic creation?" True aesthetic creation is that the artist has the courage to set difficulties for himself to create aesthetics, and then is good at overcoming these difficulties with artistic thinking, and finally transforms the difficulties into the highlights of the work. She followed General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest teaching that "there are a hundred or a thousand methods of literary and artistic creation, but the most fundamental, most critical and most reliable way is to take root in the people and take root in life", went deep into the place where Wang Jicai lived, made friends with Wang Jicai's wife Wang Shihua, children Xiaobao and Zhiqiang, and finally integrated into the Wang family, and even Xiaobao and Zhiqiang affectionately called her "aunt". She led things with people, looked for poetry in the middle of things, and penetrated the soul secret of Wang Jicai's mantra "In this life, if you can do one thing well, you will not lose your heart", and sort out the spiritual transformation trajectory of Wang Jicai from "passively going to the island" to "I have a relationship with this island, as long as the organization trusts me for one day, I will not leave the island for a day, trust me for a lifetime, and I will not leave the island for a lifetime"; Also with the unique female psychology of a female director, she understood why Wang Jicai's wife, Wang Shihua, abandoned the church and went to the island, and confessed to Wang Jicai, "You guard the island, I guard you" and "you guard the island for a lifetime, I keep you for a lifetime." Chen Li made friends with Liu Ye, who played Wang Jicai, and Gong Zhe, who played Wang Shihua, jointly pondered the spiritual realm and personality charm of the characters, played the hero with the heroic spirit, and climbed the aesthetic peak of shaping the hero's image. Chen Li pays attention to inheriting and carrying forward the Chinese aesthetic spirit, highlighting the Chinese aesthetic style, and pays attention to the support of things and words in the operation and thinking of aesthetic creation. In the film, the 189 work logs contain Wang Jicai's professionalism in guarding the island; The 368 national flags that are rising and fluttering in the wind hide the strong patriotic feelings of Wang Jicai and his wife; That shell necklace is full of Wang Jicai's father-daughter affection of "how to pity the son is not a husband"; Even the big yellow dog and its descendants symbolize the situation in which people and animals live in harmony and spend years together... In terms of the structure of aesthetic creation, and watch the unforgettable details of life extracted from real life in the film: "two baths", "rain and night birth", "Spring Festival Party", "Xiaobao part-time work", etc., the words are concise and concise, the lens is condensed and moderate, fascinating, and never drags mud and water. In terms of aesthetic purposes, she pursues both form and god, profound artistic conception, the rough sea, the lonely open island, the Day-to-day life of Wang Jicai and his wife, and the ever-changing and peaceful development of the motherland, jointly creating a spiritual artistic conception of home and country feelings. "The Island Keeper" won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Feature Film in the movie "Golden Rooster Award", which is well deserved.

As a film director in her artistic career, Chen Li can be called a stubborn strong woman with aesthetic pursuits. But as an ordinary woman in life, Chen Li is a daughter of filial piety and a close friend of friendship. No matter how busy the work is, I always have to squeeze time to go home to deliver water and beat my back for the old mother to bring tea and massage my back; When filming is out, it is always necessary to carefully arrange the life of the old mother and tell the nanny again and again. To her friends, she is always self-denying, generous, and grateful.

This is the good director Chen Li who has ideals, feelings, responsibilities and cultivation that I know.

(The author is a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a librarian of the Central Research Museum of Literature and History)