1. Wei Desheng
Many people often say that China lacks particularly good movies, and there are only a few works like "Farewell to the King" to this day. In fact, China has never lacked excellent movies, and what is missing is more of an eye that is willing to see good movies.
Therefore, There is a very interesting phenomenon in Chinese films: many good works respected by the industry do not have high commercial value, and many films with high commercial value will not be treated as artistic.
Many people laugh while watching popcorn movies and saying that China's lack of good films is actually not objective.
After all, cinema is first and foremost an art, and secondly a commodity.
In September 2011, Wei Desheng's "Sidekbar" was released in Taiwan in two episodes, and the two films received a total of NT$800 million at the box office, setting a record for the box office of a Taiwanese film.
A year later, under the impetus of executive producer Wu Yusen, the upper and lower episodes of "Sidekbar" were integrated into one, with nearly 130 minutes cut, and appeared on the big screen of cinemas in the mainland.
Director Wei Desheng prepared for "Sidekbar" for twelve years, and the film used nearly 20,000 people to participate in the shooting, because of insufficient funds, Jay Chou generously lent 40 million yuan, and others also generously donated.
Although the version released in the mainland has been deleted a lot, the story line is clear and still very shocking, and Douban is as high as 8.8 points.
This film, the largest production and highest box office in the history of Taiwanese film, tells the history of the anti-Japanese humiliation of the people of Taiwan, and has earned 17.3 million at the box office in the mainland.
In 2012, the mainland film market has begun to boom, and this number is even less than a fraction of the box office of a popcorn movie.
What is the problem, I will not discuss it here, but compared to the industry's admiration for this work, this result is always problematic. Director Wei Desheng himself has never avoided the box office when interviewing.
Wei Desheng is one of several representative directors in Taiwan.
In 1993, the young Wei Desheng entered the Yang Dechang Film Studio, and the script he wrote the following year won an award.
In 1997, Wei Desheng saw a comic book that told the story of Taiwan's aboriginal anti-Japanese resistance, and he was deeply touched and wanted to make this story into a movie, but there were no conditions.
In 2008, the obscure Wei Desheng turned out to be "Cape Seven", which became famous in one fell swoop.
How powerful is Cape Seven? Prior to "Sidekbare", "Cape Seven" had been the box office pyramid in Taiwan.
The story of "Cape Seven" is popular in Taiwanese society, and even the Taiwanese films after "Cape Seven" are called the "post-Cape Era".
It's well known, and the investment is easy to find, but the preparation of "Sidekbarle" is still difficult. Until the project was launched in 2009, Wei Desheng had been preparing for this film for twelve years. He once said: "Shoot Cape Seven, just to shoot Sidekbarre." ”
To borrow Han Han's words, even if the cultural factors of the film are put aside, in terms of the story itself, "Sidekbarle" is a must-see movie for men.
About race, about faith, about the soul, about fighting, about barbarism and civilization, there are very few that can make a big-scale historical film so exhausting.
Magnificent emotional rendering, fierce battle scenes, as well as calm and powerful literary drama, bloody storyline, there are countless points to watch.
2. Sidekbare
"Sidekbare" is a transliteration of the Sidek language, which originally meant "real man". The emotion expressed in the film is also very clear, "A real man can lose his body, but he must win the soul." ”
Let's start with the cultural context of storytelling.
Taiwan's mountainous terrain occupies most of the island, resulting in many indigenous tribes living in the mountains.
Over the years, like the well-known ethnic minorities, tribes have their own traditions: men hunt, women run the household, and boys have to cut off the heads of their enemies to become men.
In the history of the Sideks, there is a legend that has been passed down for a long time: after the people die, they will see a rainbow bridge, and those dead ancestors are waiting for them at the other end of the rainbow bridge, but only real men are entitled to walk across the rainbow bridge after death. This is the proud and barbaric heritage of this nation.
Such a life, with the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War and the cession of Taiwan by the Qing government, the arrival of the Japanese underwent earth-shaking changes.
In the whole story of Sidekbarle, there is only one protagonist, called Mona Rudao.
At the beginning of the film, the young Mona Rudao participates in his coming-of-age ceremony. This coming-of-age ritual is a battle against a rival tribe.
Cut off the head of the enemy and bring it back to his tribe, the women will cheer for him, and he can also tattoo a totem representing a man on his face.
Monarudo was strong, agile, and fierce, and after the coming-of-age ceremony, his fame grew, even spreading to several nearby tribes.
Mona Rudao lives in the Area of the Mist Society and is rich in products. With the japanese army taking over Taiwan by force, the lives of the indigenous people of these primitive tribes underwent a radical change. The rich Wushe area was treated by the Japanese army.
At first, when they learned of the arrival of the Japanese army, several hostile tribes united to resist by blocking the Japanese army on the road.
They used the terrain to ambush, attacking with guns, bows and arrows, and rolling stones, and the Japanese were initially caught off guard, but after all, they were modern troops and soon launched a counterattack.
During that battle, Mona Rudao's father was also killed, and his last words when he died were: Don't let the Japanese enter our hunting ground.
Mona Rudao failed to save his father and fulfill his father's last wishes. The Japanese soon occupied everywhere and ruled it by force.
Mona Rudo became the leader of the tribe, but all the tribes, including his tribe, were forced to accept Japanese rule.
Fast forward twenty years.
The Japanese built modern facilities, hospitals, schools, post offices, and railways in the Kirishe area, developed vast forest resources, educated the indigenous Japanese culture, and wanted to tame their barbarism.
It did work out, and not a single man in the younger generation had a totem tattooed on his face.
The young tribesmen have become Japanese workers, but the meager wages owed by the Japanese, and the discrimination against the indigenous people, and the long-term oppression, make the contradictions grow faintly in the invisible place.
And that young Mona Rudao also became the same age as his father. As the leader of the tribe, he never lost pride, but he could not resist the powerful Japanese, so he could only endure.
Mona Rudao often went to his own hunting ground, remembering the national pride that his father had told him as a child. He secretly collected matches of gunpowder in order to one day be able to resist, but this day was far away.
At this point in the movie, the first part is over. Immediately after that, there is the turning point of the whole story, which is also a real event in history: the "Fog Society Incident".
The Fog Society Incident occurred in October 1930. A wedding is taking place on the tribe of Mona Rudao, and a Japanese policeman comes to make trouble, clashes with the clan, and the police are injured. Later, Mona Rudao personally took someone to the police station to apologize, but the policeman still reported it to the military.
They wounded the police, and Mona Rudo knew that the Japanese would not spare their tribe. The young people in the tribe were also excited, and the long-standing emotions exploded. So Mona Rudao began a plan to resist.
The Mahpo Society, headed by Mona Rudao, united six tribes near the Wushe region and drew up a detailed plan for an uprising. Of course, there are also some tribal leaders who disagree, because they all know that this is a battle that must be killed.
But Mona Rudao looked at the group of bare-faced young people and said, "Real people, you can lose your body, but you must win the soul." ”
On the day of the Japanese Games, all the Japanese people in the Kirisha area gather here. The Saidek tribe launched an attack to give the young people of the tribe a grand rite of passage, slaughtering more than a hundred Japanese, including women and children, old and young, which has gone against tradition. It's a suicidal revenge.
After the Kirisho incident, the Japanese army was greatly shaken and sent troops to encircle and suppress. The people who led the uprising in Mona Rudao also responded, taking advantage of the familiar terrain to fight the Japanese, and more than three hundred people repelled the army of more than three thousand people.
So the Japanese army was furious and launched a ferocious counterattack. Poison gas bombs, which are banned internationally, were even used. Other native tribes were also used to encircle and suppress the entire Wushe area together with the army.
At this point in the story, it is non-stop fighting, sacrifice, fighting, sacrifice. This is also one of the few slots in "Sidekbar", giving too many pictures of the battle in the second half of the film, and the plot of the story is slightly stagnant, but the flaws are small. The wonderful battle scenes can still evoke the blood in the heart.
In the later battle plot, there are two very shocking scenes.
The men fought on the battlefield, leaving the women with their children. But there were not enough food reserves, and the women knew they would drag the men down in battle. A few teenagers who had just completed the human ceremony sent them away, and they said goodbye to the teenager: "We will wait for you on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge." ”
The teenager suddenly understood what they were going to do, crying and shouting no, but it did not stop the determination in the eyes of the women.
In the picturesque forest, the women sang songs, hung strips of cloth made of clothes from trees, killed their own children with their own hands, and then hung themselves on the strips of cloth and hanged themselves en masse.
The shock of this scene is indescribable.
There is also a scene where the final battle is held.
Mona Rudao's son was stabbed several times in his body, but his eyes were still determined; the teenager ran out of bullets in his gun and fell off the cliff with the enemy on the edge of the cliff; Mona Rudao led the remaining clan members to roar and rushed to the heavily equipped Japanese army on the opposite side of the bridge, and then a shell fell, shattering the crumbling wooden bridge...
Living recklessly, dying proudly, they chose the latter.
The battle lasted for a month, more than 300 tribesmen all died, and the remaining old and young women and children were moved to other places by the Japanese army, and they have not been able to return to their hometowns. The saidek people have inherited their national beliefs for thousands of years, and perhaps this has been interrupted.
History and reality
In real history, the cause of the uprising of the Wushe Incident may be that the Japanese army's oppression of tribal survival accounts for most of it, but what is more vividly expressed in the movie is the two words, "faith".
Today's era is not what it used to be, everyone has the opportunity to speak up and fight for rights, and it seems that the only thing that still enslaves people is money.
But light can't illuminate every corner after all.
The faith that modern people lack is the dark corner where the light is not illuminated.
China really does not lack good movies, what is missing is the eye that is willing to see and see good movies. Modern people have never lacked faith, and all they lack is the reverence for life.
If you are sometimes confused and doubt the value of life, and if you sometimes feel that there is nowhere to put it, Sidekbare may be able to give you some answers you want. (Author: Tang Chong)