"Ah Cradle": Focus on the other side of the revolution

There are so many moving stories worth telling in the history of the Chinese Communist Party — this is already the consensus of today's TV creators. In the stormy years, the revolutionary history of the Communist Party of China uniting and leading the Chinese people to seek national independence and people's liberation is a widespread and profound social change rare in human history. The people are in charge, the sun and the moon have changed to a new heaven, and everything in this ancient civilization has undergone earth-shaking changes. Standing in the present and looking back at the past can remind us not to forget the original intention along the way, and inspire us to move more firmly into the future.

The popular revolutionary historical drama "Ah Cradle" creatively focuses on a group of nursery nurses who do not hold guns and do not bring soldiers, showing people another aspect of that glorious history, a rare female perspective of the glory of the years.

"The cause of the fruit is noble, and the cause of the flower is sweet. But let me do the business of the leaf, the leaf is humbly and attentively hanging on the green shade", the play quotes Tagore's poem, which clarifies the professionalism and revolutionary beliefs of the nursery staff, and also reflects the inner portrayal of countless ordinary revolutionary workers. They may not belong to the frontal battlefield of the revolution, but they still dedicate everything humbly and intently, guarding the red blood, so that the fruits and flowers of the revolution can grow stronger.

Earthen cave dwellings to nursery houses

Based on a true story, "Ah Cradle" tells the revolutionary experience of the Party Central Committee in Yan'an during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the 1940s, and many revolutionary workers represented by the director ugly Gang (Haiqing) fought to protect the red descendants from birth and death.

At first glance at the story of "Ah Cradle", the most impressive thing is the hardship of opening up a career in the Yanlu Blue Wisp led by ugly Zigang. Under the enemy's encirclement and blockade, the material conditions in the base area are extremely difficult, and every piece of sugar and a dose of medicine are scarce materials, let alone the preparation of a nursery with reliable conditions. In the midst of the hardships, ugly Zigang and the nursery staff overcame unimaginable difficulties for ordinary people, and from scratch, transformed the six earthen caves that could not be inhabited at all into the first regular nursery institution in the base area, the central nursery. At this point, the children have a warm shelter, and the revolutionaries who fought in blood are relieved of worries.

Many viewers will not forget such a detail: in order to give children a better living environment and healthy food, ugly Gang even bought and borrowed, almost all over Yan'an. She pieced together eggs and millet everywhere, and even moved the last iron pot in her house to the nursery, just to make a bowl of porridge for the sick child. It can be said that although Ugly Zigang is in the rear and far away from the beacon of the anti-Japanese front, she still fights hard and achieves outstanding results in another "battlefield" to defend her life.

Community and family

Carefully tasting the story of "Ah Cradle", it is not difficult to find that there is a rather special emotional relationship between the nursery staff represented by ugly Gang and the children in the play. This kind of feeling is not based on blood relations and bonds, but it contains enthusiasm and sincerity that is no less than family affection, and even beyond family affection. For example, in order to take good care of the children in the nursery, ugly Zigang could not even take care of his own children's illness; when the nursery was attacked by enemy aircraft, the instinctive reaction of the nurserymen, without exception, was to protect the child behind him without any hesitation. Can't help but make people wonder, what is the reason for such affection?

In fact, this kind of feeling is not innate. In "Ah Cradle", ugly Gang also experienced some entanglement and confusion before taking on the burden of the nursery director. But what ultimately led her to make up her mind was the belief that the revolution was not for her generation, but for children to see a bright future. Whoeverse child they are, they are all members of the big family of revolutionaries, the spark of revolution, and the hope of the future.

It can be seen that the reason why Ugly Gang was able to treat the children in the nursery as his own and pay 100 percent of his efforts was because in the process of the revolution, including Ugly Gang and the children's parents, all revolutionaries established an unprecedented "big family" relationship. This relationship is not linked by blood or interests, let alone a narrow "righteous spirit" between small circles and small groups, but out of a high degree of recognition of common revolutionary ideals, beliefs and causes.

"We are all from all over the world, and we have come together for the same revolutionary goal." It is this kind of sincere, equal and inclusive community relationship that has never appeared in the land of China that makes "everything for children, everything for children" become a reality from a slogan.

"Small ideals" become "big feelings"

On a higher and broader level, what "Ah Cradle" is trying to present is actually a microcosm of the vicissitudes of Chinese society in that magnificent era. Why can the Chinese nation, which was originally "scattered in the sand" and thus suffer a lot, be able to condense into an indestructible "Great Wall of Steel"? Through the growth of the character of Tang Susu, "Ah Cradle" reflects the growth and transformation brought by the Chinese revolution to ordinary Chinese.

As a progressive young man who grew up in a big city, Tang Susu initially had romantic personal feelings for the revolution. In her view, revolution is a journey to pursue ideals and achieve happiness. However, her work experience in a nursery school has taught her to go beyond ego love and integrate her personal ideals into a larger career.

From the beginning, she was impatient with her work, and later she was able to risk her life to protect her children in the bombing of enemy aircraft, until she became a strong member of the conservation cause and the revolutionary team. This kind of growth experience is actually the collective consciousness and social consciousness that countless Chinese experienced in that era. There is no lack of kindness, bravery and idealism in their nature, but because of various constraints, they cannot break through the limitations of individual vision and form a greater synergy. But through the spread of Marxism and in the revolution led by the Communist Party of China, Chinese people began to realize that they had a responsibility to the country, the nation, the society, and all ordinary Chinese who had no blood or interest relationship with them, and only by adhering to this responsibility could individuals achieve true happiness. When every "Tang Susu" learned to integrate his own growth into the common revolutionary cause, an unprecedentedly united Chinese nation radiated a powerful force that could change the world.

By focusing on the arduous process of the rise and growth of the cause of yan security and education, "Ah Cradle" opens up a new vision of revolutionary historical dramas, guides the vision of contemporary audiences to penetrate the gunfire and gun smoke, traces back to the original intention in the big history, and obtains the spiritual motivation to strive forward.

Source: Wen Wei Po