Since its release, the movie "Chosin Lake" (2021) has achieved impressive results in both word-of-mouth and box office, and this film starring Wu Jing, Yi Qianxi, Duan Yihong, Zhu Yawen and other films tells the magnificent history of the second campaign to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
With the film's hit, a question was also discussed: why the actors in "Chosin Lake" are all in Mandarin, but there are no local dialects.
You know, in the last war-themed movie "Eight Hundred" (2020), which has received widespread attention and praise, whether it is the regimental commander Xie Jinyuan played by Du Chun, or the soldier Zhu Shengzhong played by Wei Chen, or the old abacus played by Zhang Yi... Both are used in the released version of the film in a pronounced dialect.
In addition, another film and television work also written by Lan Xiaolong, "My Regiment Leader My Regiment" (2009), Zhang Guoqiang's Northeast Soldier Milong speaks the Northeast dialect; Wang Xiang's Shanghai Bing Ayi, speaking Shanghai dialect; Fan Lei's Guangdong Terracotta Dazhi and Wang Dazhi's Hunan Bing Deng Bao, also speaking their respective dialects. And this time, "Chosin Lake", which is also written by Lan Xiaolong, why do not dialects of various places appear in the film?
It can be thought that the use of dialects in film and television drama works is naturally beneficial, such as the previous hit TV series "Mountains and Seas" (2021) that uses a large number of Minning dialects, and Huang Xuan, Re Yiza and other starring actors have spoken dialects in the play, making the works have strong local characteristics, more real and closer to the audience in this region.
But why is there no obvious and large dialect in the film "Chosin Lake" like "Eight Hundred" and "My Regiment Leader My Regiment"?
In an interview, Chen Kaige gave this explanation -
(1) The present is the era when putonghua is spoken throughout the country, and it must be presented in the form of Putonghua;
(2) The use of Mandarin in Chosin Lake, rather than choosing various dialects, is also to make the people of the whole country better "empathize".
You can hear that behind this passage, there is another layer of meaning in -
"Chosin Lake", as a "gift film" for the National Day, is a gift film for the people of the whole country, on the one hand, it must be accepted by the people of the whole country, on the other hand, not only because the current era when the people of the whole country are speaking Mandarin, but more importantly, the use of the same language in a country symbolizes the unified situation behind it. After the Qin Dynasty unified the world, the first thing it did was "the same text as the book, the same track as the car", which is not unreasonable. At the moment of National Day, it is inevitable that it must also be presented in the official language of the country. Otherwise, Chen Kaige and other creators will face more than a simple problem of film art.
Admittedly, in theory, the volunteers came from all over the country and used dialects, which could indeed be more authentic. But as a gift film for national day, this cannot be the case.
Of course, on the Internet, there are still many netizens who hope and expect to be able to appear in some dialects in the film "Chosin Lake", even if it is a fragment and a supporting role to use dialects. But in fact, the means of reflecting local characteristics and authenticity do not necessarily use dialects, in the film from Shandong Yimeng "Lei Dad" (Hu Jun), from Shanghai "Mei Sheng" (Zhu Yawen), from Zhejiang "Wu Wanli" (Wu Jing), "Five Thousand Li" (Yi Qianxi) ... In these characters, their personalities, their speech and demeanor, originally have their own local characteristics, and there is no need to be bound by the emergence of dialects.
I don't know, what do you think about the question of whether dialects are needed in "Chosin Lake"?