On September 6, the documentary film "The Sinking of Lisbon Maru" was officially released. As of September 10, the film was released for 5 days, and the box office just exceeded 3 million.
At present, the film has been scored on Douban, with a score of 9.2! This score is the highest-rated theatrical film so far in 2024.
Behind this movie is a filmmaker we are all very familiar with, in 2015, Fang Li knelt down for the live broadcast of the movie "Hundred Birds and Phoenix", which attracted widespread attention. This year, he brought the director's first film, the documentary film "The Sinking of the Lisbon Pill", and in 2013, Fang Li reportedly participated in the filming of "After the End" on Dongji Island as a producer. I heard the story of the Lisbon Maru from the mouths of the locals.
For this film, he spent 8 years, selling his house and borrowing money, almost bankrupting his family, and finally presented his work to a global audience at the age of 71. It is not an exaggeration to say "global audience", because this film tells a little-known history during World War II, involving China, Britain, the United States, Japan and other countries, and is known as the Chinese version of "Dunkirk".
In his latest speech, Fang Li said: "In the past 10 years, one of the most important things I feel I have ever done in my life is 'The Sinking of the Lisbon Pills.' ”
The Lisbon Maru is the name of a Japan cargo ship that was requisitioned by the Japanese army during World War II. In 1942, while escorting Allied prisoners of war, he was torpedoed by the US military and sank near the Zhoushan Islands in China. Allied prisoners of war fought for their lives, but a total of 828 people were killed at sea, either because they were locked in the cabin, because they were strafed by the Japanese, or because they drowned in the sea.
Chinese fishermen on the nearby Dongji Island saw the prisoners of war floating in the sea and decided to save them despite the danger. They rowed small sampans out of the city, and one trip after another rescued the prisoners of war from the dead sea to the land where they were alive.
The kind fishermen placed 384 prisoners of war on two small islands and gave them the only food and clothing they had. Later, the Japanese army landed on the island to search for them, and only three British prisoners of war hid in a steep cave by the sea to avoid arrest, and finally returned to United Kingdom under the escort of the Chinese side.
The film confidently typed the subtitle "This film is entirely based on historical facts".
Although truth is the characteristic of documentaries, this work goes beyond the scope of traditional documentaries and achieves the effect of "more real than real". Whether it was Fang Li's initial search for and confirmation of the Lisbon Maru wreck at the bottom of the sea, or later conducting interviews around the world, looking for and piecing together the historical truth from all aspects, he did a very meticulous and rigorous job. The main creative team takes the audience on a journey back in time to more than 80 years ago almost as investigative journalists, allowing everyone to understand how Allied prisoners of war boarded the Lisbon Maru, how the ship was attacked and eventually sank, how the Japanese army did not want the prisoners of war to live, and how Chinese fishermen rescued people like gods......
Fang Li said at the Beijing premiere: "In the past eight years, in order to find the Lisbon Maru and discover the stories behind this ship, I have traveled to many countries, spent all my savings, lost a lot of hair, and people have aged a lot, but I feel that everything is worth it to this day, because we have heard too many moving stories, and many people's wishes have been fulfilled, and the families of those Allied prisoners of war finally know what happened on that ship and how our Chinese fishermen risked their lives to rescue their ancestors." Now that the movie is complete, the souls of the more than 800 young people can finally rest in peace, and I can work hard for my next life goal, which is to find Malaysia Airlines 370. ”
Fang Li hopes to use audio-visual, appeal to the senses and sensibility, and impress and wrap the audience with images. The film attempts to recreate the shipwreck scene with highly stylized animation clips, using 3D modeling to create dynamic warships, cargo ships, seas and skies, and using almost static characters to create a sense of dying weakness and despair. At the same time, it deliberately de-refines and pursues historical texture with brushstrokes similar to pencil drawings.
At the end of "The Sinking of Lisbon Maru", we can see that many of the witnesses interviewed in the film have passed away one after another after 2020, adding a touch of regret and sadness to this documentary film full of sad backgrounds.
Dr. Tony · Boneham, a historical consultant, said that the film can move people because it tells a "human story": "We are all human beings, and our emotions and values are the same. Fang Li also said that although the film is to reproduce that period of history, 70% to 80% of the film is about human fate and emotions, "Many people ask me what is the biggest motivation for making this movie, because we are human beings, and emotions are the motives of everything." ”
Comprehensive Information Beijing News Network; The Paper; Beijing Evening News, etc