Author| Film Lady (Headline Signed Author)
For domestic war films in recent years, the audience's general feelings:
Technology is becoming more and more mature, such as graphics, sound effects.
But the emotions that touch people's hearts are still a little less, such as "Eight Hundred" released before the National Day.
Ten years of grinding a sword, the "all-star" lineup starred, audiovisual brilliance.
Although the box office has broken the 3 billion mark, word of mouth is not as good as expected.
This reminds Madame of an old film that has been brushed three times:
"Garland Under the Mountain", douban score as high as 9.2.
65.8% gave a 5-star positive rating.
Today, Madame will tell you about this classic old film shot by director Xie Jin 36 years ago.
Why has it become "China's best war film" in the hearts of many film fans?
Let's start with the background.
On February 17, 1979, our country dispatched more than 600,000 troops.
Including hundreds of tank armored vehicles, as well as thousands of cannons.
Launching a large-scale attack on Vietnam on the border of Yunnan and Guangxi is known in history as the "self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.".
The people of Chinese particularly angry at the Vietnamese side's counterattack of getting cheap and selling well.
Among them, the operation in the direction of Yunnan was commanded by Yang Dezhi, the commander of the Kunming Military Region at that time.
The direction of Guangxi is commanded by Xu Shiyou, commander of the Guangzhou Military Region, who is already 75 years old.
In this context, the military writer Li Cunbao created the novel "Garland Under the Mountain".
After publication, it caused a very big sensation.
In today's parlance, it immediately became a hot big IP.
It was then adapted into a variety of art forms such as dramas, dance dramas, and television dramas.
Xie Jin, as the standard-bearer of the third generation of directors, has also put it on the big screen.
When it was released in 1984, it touched hundreds of millions of Chinese sons and daughters.
The following year's Golden Rooster Awards and Hundred Flowers Awards, the film won a total of 8 awards.
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The film revolves around the soldiers of the Ninth Company of a unit in Guangyuan, Sichuan.
Company Commander Liang Sanxi's family leave has been granted.
He was anxious to go home and visit his wife, who was about to give birth, and his elderly mother.
But I thought about letting the new instructor Zhao Mengsheng familiarize myself with the environment and work before leaving.
Who knows, it has been delayed again and again, and going home to visit relatives has become a long way off.
The actor who plays the company commander is called Lu Xiaohe.
It was Li Yapeng's version of "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes" that I did.
The company commander was a steady man, took the overall situation into consideration, and was highly respected by the soldiers.
Everyone was concerned about his family visits, but Zhao Mengsheng always dragged his feet.
At that time, the young and handsome Tang Guoqiang was also known as "Cream Boy".
Both because people are handsome, but also because their acting skills have not yet been affirmed.
The Instructor Zhao he played was originally a photographic officer in the Military Political Department.
This time the company did not mean this at all!
He wanted to "mix" some seniority with this, and then transfer it away in a good name.
It can also be said that this is a game of chess played by his mother, who is a high-ranking cadre.
She didn't want her precious son to stay in the grassroots company and suffer.
Of course, the company commander and everyone did not know that Zhao Mengsheng's mother and son were little nine-nine.
Estrangement and contradictions are inevitable.
The director has been rendering and hinting at his differences from his comrades-in-arms.
Compared with the rough and simple children of peasants who grew up eating sweet potato poles, he who grew up drinking cows as a high-ranking cadre is exquisite in all aspects.
Wash your face with sandalwood soap, apply alabaster, and speak politely.
He was handsome and tender-faced, four or five years younger than the company commander of the same age, and exuded a bookish atmosphere that was difficult to conceal.
At the welcome ceremony that just came, Zhao Mengsheng's first public appearance surprised everyone.
Stuttering, without the momentum that a soldier should have, stumbled and ended in a sentence or two.
The company commander and the soldiers looked at each other and muttered in their hearts:
Where does this look like an instructor!?
Here, everyone's brain makes up For Zhao Gang in "Bright Sword".
Commissar Zhao's initial scorn by Li Yunlong and his brethren was known.
Fortunately, Commissar Zhao had a hundred steps through Yang, and the excellent sniper's unique work saved the situation for him.
However, what should our Zhao Mengsheng do?
Company commander Liang Sanxi was anxious to take family leave, but the instructor was always absent-minded and slow to fight with the soldiers.
Fortunately, the company commander was tolerant and generous, and he had been patiently waiting.
However, Jin Kailai, the commander of the oldest artillery platoon in the whole company, was not easy to "provoke."
This man is honest and honest, jealous and hateful, and cannot tolerate a little sand in his eyes.
He has excellent military skills, excellent eloquence, humor and humor, and has a special affection for his comrades-in-arms.
At the same time, he is also the "grumbling king" who loves to complain the whole group the most, and likes to pick the thorns of his superiors.
He played Hepi Brother in "Shanghai Family", named He Wei.
Jin Kailai was particularly unaccustomed to Zhao Mengsheng's clumsy disciple style.
5 km off-road others are already returning, he is still in the middle of the road, and the packing is not his own.
Getting up so late on the weekend, cleaning up the bedding and washing clothes is all Xiao Jin's "waiting".
In Jin Kailai's eyes, Zhao Mengsheng is a vase person who is "good-looking and not useful", not a real man and a real soldier!
There is also a bad body, selfish, arrogant, soft, how to see how unpleasant.
Zhao Mengsheng, the company commander and Jin Kailai, and the estrangement and contradictions between the comrades-in-arms, are the driving force that drives the entire narrative.
It is also the focus of the first third of the film, highlighting the psychological and mental state of the soldiers in the "pre-war" stage.
The side of the flashback lens reveals the class difference between the children of peasants and the children of high-ranking cadres.
Company commander Liang Sanxi constantly thinks back to his daughter-in-law Yuxiu (Played by Gaike), who is so kind and simple and hardworking.
A man feeds pigs, does housework, supports his mother-in-law, and supports a poor peasant family.
What came to Zhao Mengsheng's mind was the delicate and lovely dance posture of his wife, and the picture of his mother moving around in an effort to mobilize him.
In fact, the director is saying that we should deal with the major issues of right and wrong in the relationship between individuals, collectives and countries.
The words and deeds of the three people are two completely different manifestations, and their internal contradictions have not yet fully exploded.
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The turning point of the story is a letter from Mother Zhao.
He told his son to stay "at ease", the transfer should be postponed, and the troops would have a big move.
And at the end of the solemn statement, strict confidentiality, must not be blindly transmitted.
Zhao Mengsheng originally dreamed of being able to reunite with his wife and return to the big city for two or three months at most half a year.
Now things have suddenly changed, and he finds in the reading room that the newspaper reads:
The strongest protest against Vietnam's encroachment on Chinese territory and the creation of new and serious bloodshed.
There are many articles with similar titles, and Zhao Mengsheng locks his brows and his face is pale.
He had a hunch that the thing he feared most might be coming, not something else, but war!
Zhao Mengsheng ran to the reading room five times, and Zhao's mother often hung up the phone to come to the wing.
Sensing that something was wrong, the sensitive company commander also flipped through the newspaper and picked up a magnifying glass to study on the map.
After extrapolating from various messages and the behavior of Zhao Mengsheng's mother and son, he said directly to Jin Kai:
Man, the troops are about to pull out.
Sure enough, as soon as the camera panned, the soldiers were already grinding their guns and rubbing their guns.
For soldiers living in peacetime, war is undoubtedly extremely frightening.
Up to this point, Zhao Mengsheng was still obsessed, bent on quickly transferring away from the company so as to avoid the war.
On the day when the troops were about to leave, the company commander finally became angry, saying:
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.
Obviously, this is a sharp critique of a certain social ethos of that era.
And his next words spoke the voice of every descendant of Yan Huang:
China is mine, but it is also yours.
Just a simple and simple sentence expresses the heart of the fist and fist for the motherland and the people.
This time, the mission of the Nine Connected was to act as a sharp knife company for the whole army.
The company commander may have had an intuition that he would not be able to return, and he wrote a final letter to his wife, which may also be a "last word".
Jin Kailai, who has always been quick and quick to give advice to his superiors, has repeatedly applied for a promotion for him in the past, but has always been fruitless.
Now, effortlessly, he became a deputy company commander, in his words:
Before the war, an officer was rewarded with a death sentence.
Although there were "complaints" on his lips, he was exactly the same as the company commander in his heart, and he was ready to sacrifice his life for the country at any time.
At the last meal in the motherland, the cooking team leader prepared dumplings for everyone.
After drinking and eating, the company commander and Jin Kailai had a period of unblocking of their hearts and lungs.
Deputy Company Commander Jin Kailai said with great pride:
Dry this cup, see you at the Martyrs' Cemetery!
Just as the so-called one-word is a slur, what awaits them will be a fierce battle.
After the pre-war mobilization film screening that night, the commander of the so-called Thor was furious when he received a call from Mother Zhao:
His grandmother's, walking through the back door, walked to the battlefield where I had shed my blood.
I don't care if she's the wife of The Lord of Heaven or the wife of the Lord of the Earth, who dares to take the back door to the battlefield, I want her son to be the first to carry the explosive package and go to blow up the bunker!
As soon as these words came out, the applause thundered, and Zhao Mengsheng in the audience covered his face with his hands and wanted to find a seam to drill into.
He was openly "named" at the Thousand People's Assembly, and his dignity was shattered.
Zhao Mengsheng immediately realized in his thinking, and the bloodiness of his soldiers and men was stimulated.
He spoke harshly to his comrades-in-arms, making his position and posture clear:
It's the hero and the bear, we'll see you on the battlefield.
The war is really going on!
The troops marched south from Sichuan to the border of Yunnan.
They saw the school blown up by the Vietnamese army, leaving behind supplies.
There are many whole bags of Chinese rice, and compressed biscuits for gun ammunition.
Everyone's face was solemn and angry!
During the three years of difficulty, Chinese tightened their belts to support Vietnamese weapons and ammunition.
Even sent railway troops, engineers and other troops to help the North Vietnamese rush to repair the bombed railway.
Who thought of raising this white-eyed wolf in Vietnam, in the words of Jin Kailai:
Two hundred billion raise a wolf cub, and I tell you how to eat it and tell you how to spit it out.
The Chinese military is very resentful of the Vietnamese government's anti-purpose behavior.
What will happen to the heroic Chinese People's Liberation Army?
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When the film was filmed, it received strong support from the Kunming Military Region and the Chengdu Military Region.
There are many weapons and equipment that really appear in the film, such as the Type 62 tank.
Although there is no advanced technical support, the scene is realistic and grand enough.
At any time war is brutal, and it is inevitable that there will be sacrifices on the tragic battlefield.
In order to solve the problem of thirst and lack of water, which may lead to the destruction of the entire army, deputy company commander Jin Kailai took decisive action.
At the risk of being punished for violating discipline, he and several fighters resolutely went to cut the sugar cane of the common people.
When he returned, he was seriously injured by accidentally stepping on a landmine.
His last words before his death were:
Let everyone eat sugar cane.
Such a brave and courageous soldier who dared to take responsibility for such a quiet departure could not help but bring tears to people's eyes.
The death of the deputy company commander did not dampen everyone's confidence and stimulated a stronger fighting spirit.
A young man named "Beijing" took the initiative to ask for help, intending to blow up the enemy's bunker.
Helplessly, with two stink bombs in a row, he was found by the enemy in a conspicuous position and was immediately shot and killed.
Originally, ammunition was produced during a special period of ten years.
The director uses close-ups to sharply critique history.
The country's industrial technology was devastated by social unrest, and eventually killed its own fighters.
While successfully capturing Hill 25 and preparing to clear the battlefield, the enemy played a trick.
The company commander immediately kicked Down Zhao Mengsheng, and he died under the enemy's gun.
Liang Sanxi confirmed what he had said before:
A company commander, his duty on the battlefield is to be a pioneer.
The soldiers of the whole company were indignant, and the instructor Zhao Mengsheng was completely enraged, and he took a grenade and rushed into the cave...
The war ended with sacrifices.
The film entered the post-war soothing phase, and since then the tears have continued.
After all, the company commander was unable to take family leave, and he left his wife Yuxiu and niang forever.
The relics left behind are heart-wrenching:
A blood-stained bill totaling $620;
A military coat that was not willing to wear, left as a dowry when Yuxiu remarried;
A rattle that was not taken with me when I came to the army with a wife.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law followed Liang Sanxi's will, and they insisted that "the account of death cannot be empty."
He repaid the pension with 550 yuan and the 70 yuan from the sale of pigs.
This scene not only made Zhao Mengsheng sobb, but also deeply touched the audience.
In the hearts of the company commander and his family, it is all about the state and the masses of the people.
It is in stark contrast to the "selfish" behavior of Zhao Mengsheng's mother and son in pursuing personal interests.
Due to well-known reasons, deputy company commander Jin Kailai did not receive a commendation after his death. Angry, Commander Lei was upset:
Some of our cadres always love to listen to flattery, and they will not let go of comrades who love to give advice until they die!
He asked to write a report to reflect to the military party committee, and the final result of the film was not disclosed.
Obviously, this is a fierce bombardment of certain unhealthy trends.
The film retains the original's sharp critique of social issues.
This is also where "Garland Under the Mountain" differs from ordinary war films.
The problems it radiates are particularly widespread and profound.
Surprisingly, the guy nicknamed "Beijing" was actually the only seedling of Captain Lei Jun, and his name was Lei Kaihua.
I love to read "On War", I will memorize the important chapters of "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and I have become a marshal as a lifelong ideal.
But the commander of the First Army sent his only son to the battlefield to die for the country.
After hearing the news, the mother of the company commander spoke the heartfelt words of many people:
You are a military commander, you send your children to the front line, you sacrifice;
Even if I just saw this one, I finally saw it;
Good, you guys, China can prosper!
As Liang Da Niang said, if everyone is like Captain Lei, the country will inevitably prosper and develop, and the nation will inevitably become rich and strong.
The biggest change before and after the war was Zhao Mengsheng, a disciple of a high-ranking cadre.
In a way, the film is told from his point of view.
Under the influence of two comrades-in-arms and comrades, this second-generation "brother of the army" completed his self-growth.
During the war, Zhao Mengsheng underwent a baptism of soul.
He said to his mother, "We are ashamed."
He said to Jin Kailai's wife:
Chinese are like him, telling the truth, doing practical things, and the affairs of our country are easy to handle.
This is an affirmation of the responsibility for justice and the moral conscience.
After the war, he remained in the company and actively carried out various comforting work.
"Garland Under the Mountain" uses time clues, and the narrative rhythm is smooth and bright.
The film does not show the big scene of the war at great length, but has many intentions.
It meticulously depicts the psychological and mental state of the Chinese soldiers represented by the three warriors in the three stages before, during and after the war.
Full of strong feelings of home and country, war friendship, love, family affection.
Emotionally sincere and moving, it is an important reason for the success of this war film.
Moreover, it does not shy away from ruthlessly exposing the ugly aspects of social reality.
It boldly and directly satirizes and criticizes some unhealthy trends.
From this point of view, the connotation of "Garland Under the Mountain" is very rich and profound.
It is not only a war film, but also a social problem film.
It is also an educational film about patriotism, collectivism, and heroism.
Such a good film, looking forward to being re-screened, we need spiritual inheritance.
Finally, attach a lyric of "Bloodstained Style" to pay tribute to the heroes!
(The picture originated from the Internet, invaded and deleted)
About the Author: @Movie Lady, independent film critic, headline number signed author. Write about film and television, but also write about the love and hate of the entertainment industry.