Over the years, domestic war films have indeed produced many good movies.
For example, Feng Xiaogang's "Fanghua" and Guan Hu's "Eight Hundred" are rare film masterpieces.
But over the years, the only movie that can really be called the ceiling of Chinese war films and the only film that can really be called the pinnacle is "Wreath Under the Mountain" filmed by director Xie Jin in 1985.
How good is this movie?
36 years later, the film's rating on Douban is still stable above the super high score of 9.4 points.
It should be known that the Douban score of Feng Xiaogang's god-enthroned war film "The Gathering Number" is only 8.1 points.
As for Guan Hu's "Eight Hundred", it is not enough to watch, and the score is only 7.6 points.
But what's even better is that this movie is also ranked high on the world war film list.
The world's top 100 war films ranked third, only after "A Beautiful Life" and "Schindler's List".
And this is also a Chinese war film, the only one to enter the top twenty.
How can a war film from 36 years ago get such a great honor? A war film from 36 years ago, how can it be called the ceiling of Chinese war films?
I think this movie really has to be talked about!
1. Real war scenes!
What is a good war film?
It is not how many stars there are, nor how big the scenes are, but whether the portrayal of the war scenes is real enough and immersive enough.
And this "Garland Under the Mountain" does exactly that.
Because director Xie Jin, in order to complete the war scenes in this movie, directly wrote letters to several military commanders.
In the end, both the Yunnan Military Region and the Chengdu Military Region gave him the greatest support, and in this film a total of one infantry division, one howitzer regiment and one tank regiment appeared.
In particular, such a shot, that is, when the Ninth Company set out for the Vietnamese front in the film, the shots of our army firing thousands of bullets in unison were all real, and all of them were firing real guns.
As for how this shot was filmed, director Xie Jin's method is also very clever, that is, when the artillery regiment of our army was engaged in live ammunition exercises, he directly let the camera go to the scene to shoot it.
Although now in war movies, the scenes are one bigger than the other, and the special effects are one more real than the other.
But no matter how real it is, it can't compare to the shock brought about by the live-action shooting in this "Garland Under the Mountain", because others are real-time shooting, which cannot be replaced by mission special effects.
As for the troop march that appears in the film, as well as the footage of the tank unit, it is also filmed.
This kind of large-scale legion cooperation, this kind of visual display of our army's weapons, except for the "Armageddon Trilogy" filmed by CCTV later has this treatment, there is indeed no other war film that can have this treatment.
So why this war film, even in the 36 years after the year will still be called the peak, is because the war scenes in this movie are indeed unrepeatable.
2, compared to the shock brought by war movies, the emotional expression of this drama is more penetrating!
In fact, in order to make this war movie well, director Xie Jin spent efforts in the war scenes, in the emotional portrayal, in the character portrayal is also careful.
For example, the protagonist Zhao Mengsheng, played by Tang Guoqiang, the emotional and psychological changes of this character make people feel empathy.
From the beginning, Zhao Mengsheng, played by Tang Guoqiang, came to Jiulian in order to gild, in fact, to prepare for transfer.
Therefore, just after leaving the company, it was obvious that Zhao Mengsheng, a high-ranking cadre, was dismissive of everything in the company, running and practicing, and the soldiers all ran back, and this young master had just set out and still needed help.
The most important thing was that this young master soldier said that it was unfavorable, and the company commander asked this instructor to stand in front of the soldiers to speak, and Zhao Mengsheng only said two words before he was afraid of the stage, and suddenly the soldiers at the bottom began to wonder, what is this person here for?
Of course, there is something even more frightening, that is, when the war is about to start, the soldiers of the entire Ninth Company are rubbing their fists and preparing to go to the front line to serve the country.
But this brother, at this time, received the transfer order and prepared to go to the rear to enjoy the blessings.
And in order to rescue this gongzi brother, his mother actually made a phone call directly to the commander of the front-line command post, it can be said that before the war, the image of this gongzi brother played by Tang Guoqiang really collapsed.
It's just that Xie Jin is the leader of the third generation of directors after all, and every role he portrays has a deep meaning.
In particular, the reason why Tang Guoqiang took the initiative to invite Miao to participate in this movie was to get rid of the image of "creamy little student" on his body, so Xie Jin can be said to have customized the role of "Zhao Mengsheng" for Tang Guoqiang in this movie.
Before the war began, he was a standard male brother.
After the war began, especially when the brother-in-law saw his comrades-in-arms with his own eyes and saw his comrades sacrificed in front of him, he did transform in an instant.
For example, such a scene, that is, when the company commander sacrificed himself to save Zhao Mengsheng, Zhao Mengsheng went crazy and rushed to the enemy camp to drop a grenade, this scene can indeed see the bloody personality of Zhao Mengsheng's character.
It can be said that this movie is really wonderful, maybe not the precious 20-minute war scene, the real highlight should be the psychological change of Zhao Mengsheng, the instructor, and the real highlight should be the story of company commander Liang Sanxi and artillery platoon commander Jin Kailai.
In particular, Jin Kailai could not rise before the war began.
However, as soon as the war began, he was immediately promoted to the position of deputy company commander.
Jin Kailai directly said to the company commander: "After that, we will meet in the Martyrs' Cemetery!" ”
Brother Gongzi's psychological transformation in the face of war, this process is thought-provoking;
The psychological changes faced by the children of the crops in the face of war are also thought-provoking.
This is the strength of the third generation of directors, this is the skill of the third generation of directors.
The war clip is by no means the focus, the people behind it, the emotions behind it are what Director Xie Jin wants to express the most!
3, the details are critical!
I have actually seen many films directed by Xie Jin, including "Wrangler", "Furong Town" and so on, which are very critical.
In particular, "Furong Town", the scale is large, the depth of criticism is enough to see the depth of director Xie Jin's thinking.
And this "Garland Under the Mountain" is also critical.
In particular, such a few details make people still remember it now!
The first detail is that when fighting, the soldiers carried the barrels of the guns up, and they all changed two shells, both of which were duds.
And this time the company commander ran over to pick up the shell on the time and took a look, made in 1974.
If people who understand that period of history in this shot will definitely know what Director Xie Jin is expressing.
And this is also a real thing that happened in the counterattack against Vietnamese self-defense.
The second detail is: Zhao Mengsheng, the brother of the prince, came to the ninth company to gilded, and as soon as the war began, his mother called the front-line command post.
In fact, this was also a problem in the troops at that time.
The company commander also said:
When the intellectual youth went up to the mountains and went to the countryside, you all flocked to the troops, and now you feel bitter, and you sharpen your heads to return to the big cities.
How many brothers regard the army as a safe haven, and how many people regard the army as a gilded place for promotion.
And when the company commander shouted:
China is ours, but also yours, when this sentence, I was really shocked.
However, the most ironic thing for me is that when the soldiers of the Ninth Company went to the front line and killed the bunkers of the Vietnamese army, they looked at the grain bags full of bunkers with Chinese written on them, and the shells were written on the Chinese hours.
These warriors are mad!
It was a time of economic difficulties in our country, but in order to support Vietnam, our people still saved money and helped them.
But as the artillery platoon leader said: "It cost 20 billion yuan to raise a white-eyed wolf!" ”
It can be said that this movie really has connotations everywhere, and it is critical everywhere.
If you are interested in the history of that war, if you are interested in that story, I think this movie must not be at fault.
Whether it is the reproduction of war scenes or the shaping of characters.
It can be said that Xie Jin's "Garland Under the Mountain" is quite outstanding, and what is more important is that after this movie was filmed, Director Xie Jin directly placed the premiere of the film on the "Lao Shan Front" that was still at war with Vietnam, which was broadcast within the scope of enemy artillery fire, and it can be said that no war film in the world can have this treatment.
When the film was broadcast on the front line, countless soldiers cried.
Of course, there is also the most direct impact is that after the film was broadcast, the pension of soldiers who died in this war was directly increased by five times.
As a war film, this "Garland Under the Mountain" really can afford the word peak, what do you think?