When an event is far away from you, you realize that it is history.
The film "My 1919" is a historical biographical film filmed by director Huang Jianzhong in 1999. The film tells that in 1919, with the end of the First World War, the Paris Peace Conference aimed at solving the problems left over from the war and laying the foundation for peace was held, and China, as one of the victorious powers, sent five representatives including Gu Weijun (Chen Daoming), then minister to the United States and plenipotentiary representative, to participate in the peace conference.
However, in the context of the attempts of the European and American powers to redivide the world's sphere of influence, the seats of the Chinese delegation have been reduced from the original five-seater to two-seaters, and Germany's rights and interests in Shandong are about to fall into the hands of Japan.
At the peace conference, Gu Weijun made a generous statement arguing on the basis of reason, proposing that "China cannot lose Shandong just like the West cannot lose Jerusalem" to refute the unreasonable demands of the Japanese side, but weak countries have no diplomacy, and justice is so fragile in the face of interests. At the same time, China's diplomatic failures have provoked vigorous protests and demonstrations among the people at home and overseas Chinese abroad.
The "May Fourth Movement" broke out in China, and workers abroad organized rallies and demonstrations, and workers' representatives protested with their deaths. However, the Chinese government asked the Chinese representatives to sign at the peace conference, and under a lot of pressure, Gu Weijun felt the weight of responsibility, so he refused to sign at the Paris Peace Conference, saying "Please remember, the Chinese people will not forget this day", on June 28, 1919, Chinese said no to the Western powers for the first time.
Films with historical themes, especially those about China's modern history, will inevitably involve a series of heavy events that occurred in modern China, and the historical fragments selected by the film are an extremely important event in China's modern history in 1919 after the end of World War I, which is an extremely important event in China's modern history.
At this point, China ended the old democratic revolution and began the new democratic revolution, which is a historical event that we are familiar with. However, behind the grand history, the role of heroic figures in the process of promoting history can never be ignored, of course, this does not conflict with Marx's concept of mass history. The film "My 1919" tells the story of a hero.
Gu Weijun is an outstanding diplomat in China's modern history, graduated from Columbia University, as a Chinese youth with a study background, he loudly made a Chinese voice when participating in the Paris Peace Conference, bringing a non-diplomatic China to the international stage, Clemensuo said that he was a Chinese who really cut off his braids, and Gu Weijun's difference was shown in the film through the laying out of most details.
First of all, in terms of appearance, Gu Weijun is extremely considerate of clothing. Of the five members of the Chinese delegation, only Gu Weijun was dressed in suits during the whole process of refusing to sign and walking out of the venue before the entire negotiation began, and before the start, the President of the Chinese representatives asked to wear Han costumes, but Gu Weijun was a very serious and neat suit.
The emphasis on clothing is also reflected in Gu Weijun's diplomatic form, in the first negotiations on increasing the number of seats, Clemensuo wore fencing costumes to meet Gu Weijun and the chief of the Chinese delegation, Gu Weijun cleverly proposed "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, we have time to wait for you", Clemensuo said that Gu Weijun is a picky Chinese diplomat.
Secondly, it is reflected in Gu Weijun's very advanced diplomatic concepts and diplomatic means. During negotiations with the Japanese side on the Shandong issue, the Japanese side pointed out that "the Shandong issue has long been written very clearly in the contract and there is no need to talk about it again."
In addition, moreover, China came to participate in the Paris Peace Conference as a victorious country, but China did not send a single soldier in world war I, not a victorious country", in the face of the extremely unfriendly provocation of the Japanese side, Gu Weijun cleverly used the lost pocket watch of the Japanese representative to point out that "Japan's occupation of China's Shandong is basically theft", after launching the first round of attacks on the Japanese side, Gu Weijun then took out photos, the content of which was in the Chinese cemeteries of various Western countries, in order to prove that China made great sacrifices in the First World War, to refute the Japanese representatives." China does not participate in the war."
It can be said that on the Shandong issue, Gu Weijun has always had a very clear understanding, when the Japanese representative took the initiative to meet Gu Weijun, he proposed that he could not occupy Shandong but to ensure all the privileges of the Japanese side in Shandong.
It can be seen from this that Gu Weijun maintained a very correct judgment on the Shandong issue with his own sober understanding. The mighty May Fourth Patriotic Movement was moving, but the efforts of these brilliant diplomats should not be forgotten either. The contours of history may be clear to each of us, but we may not be so clear about the details of history, and textbooks cannot accommodate so many historical facts, and perhaps this is another meaning of the existence of historical biopics.
The story told in the film is inspiring, but the way it is told is extremely calm and restrained. In the film, the director's unique way of telling the historical theme film is formed, not the total restoration of historical events or the collection and rearrangement of historical materials, but based on the historical facts combined with the form of expression of the film, arrange reasonable dramatic conflicts, use metaphors, symbols and other ways to complete the narration of the ideographic paragraphs of the film, the theme of the paragraph still belongs to the epic category, but the peripheral part is a large number of ideographic paragraphs.
First of all, there is no doubt that there are no traces of drama or artificial arrangement when restoring historical facts, so when we see the black-and-white images in the film of China's "May Fourth Movement" erupting, and the student workers protesting one after another, demanding the "abolition of the Twenty-one Articles" and "refusing to sign at the Paris Peace Conference", we are shocked and moved, and a deep patriotic feeling arises in our hearts, which is pure.
But the film does not fully immerse the audience in this sad mood, and in the film, the way the film takes to alleviate this sadness is to give the characters or viewers in the film a more difficult problem. So the film's treatment of this part is just right.
Secondly, in addition to the historical facts, some dramatic conflict settings also make the characters more full, and the film is telling one thing, but not only one thing. The arrangement of some side plots is also a very important part of the film. Here a brief analysis of Xiao Kejian's character narrative thread, it can be said that in the film, it is Xiao Kejian's self-immolation that has a huge impact on Gu Weijun, and when Xiao Kejian protests against the unfair treatment of China by the great powers, he chooses an extreme way.
In the film, the picture of Xiao Kejian's self-immolation and the picture of Gu Weijun standing in front of the piano thinking are superimposed on each other, such a freehand treatment makes the film more tragic and magnificent, and also prompts Gu Weijun to make a final decision.
The camera shows us the Chinese youth who are fighting for the ideal of the country and even sacrificing their precious lives, "May the Chinese youth get rid of the cold air, just go up, and do not have to listen to the words of the self-destructive and self-abandoning people." Do things that can be done, make a sound that can be heard. There is a point of heat, a point of light. Just like fireworks, you can also emit a little light in the dark without having to wait for the torch. ”