Good movies have at least two brushes.
I watched "On the Cliff" again and found some details that I didn't notice when I first watched it.
The 5203 area where the airborne quartet landed should be near Xingkai Lake, that is to say, the place where they took off is estimated to be Vladivostok, which means that the straight-line distance from Harbin to Wang Ziyang is more than 400 kilometers, which is not short.
Xiaolan encountered a puppet army at the railway station, the man was undoing his belt at the time, indicating that he deliberately fell behind and then went between the two carriages to solve his personal problems, and the other puppet soldiers left early, so Xiaolan could escape after shooting and killing.
The second group, Wang Yu (Qin Hailu) and Chu Liang (Zhu Yawen), once discussed Russian with the agents, which is not a superfluous plot, in fact, Chu Liang is hinting at whether Wang Yu can pass on information in Russian, and then Lao Zhou (Yu Hewei) immediately uses his proficiency in Russian to scare them back. Old Jin (Yu Haolei) and Lu Ming (Li Naiwen) said that they did not understand Russian, probably pretending, after all, one-third of Harbin's residents were foreigners, most of them were white Russian, as the middle-level backbone of the secret service, they could not mix in Harbin if they did not understand Russian. Don't forget, old King once said that the villa was Mr. Kesp's house, proving that he must have known the Russians.
Two cups of coffee knocked down three people, the drinkers were Wang Yu and Lu Ming, and Chu Liang did not drink and pretended to sleep. Old Zhou Tui said that Lu Ming had made a mistake in the cup, Lu Ming would be suspicious, and the female agent Xiao Meng (Fei Fan) was convinced.
Xiao Meng was inclined to Lao Zhou in his heart, because Lao Zhou suffered for her in front of the section chief, and after Old Jin became a substitute ghost, Xiao Meng successfully ascended to the throne.
The above is some details piecemeal, the following is a talk about the plot of the system, that is, the Utra operation that many netizens criticized as "too simple".
First, the truth of operation Utra
We can deduce the original plan of the Utra operation from the shot at the end of the film when Wang Ziyang leaves, when Wang Ziyang did not go alone, there was a lady sitting next to him, driving by the Harbin underground party Old Han (Zhao Yi), the lady had only one shot, but the meaning was very important.
The reason why Operation Utra sent two groups of men and women, a couple and a couple, proves that the original plan was probably like this:
The four people were divided into two groups, the second group was a backup of a group, to Harbin to find Xie Zirong (Lei Jiayin) connector, with the cooperation of Xie Zirong and other Harbin underground party to pick up Wang Ziyang, and then a group of men and women accompanied Wang Ziyang out of the country, this group of men was responsible for driving, and the women dressed as Wang Ziyang's wife. The other group stayed in Harbin as husband and wife to carry out underground work (in fact, Xiaolan eventually stayed).
It is estimated that the Soviet side (which should be the Comintern) was the original partner when assigning the task, but zhang Xianchen (Zhang Yi) changed it as soon as it landed safely, becoming a cross-partner, and Chu Liang was somewhat dissatisfied with this.
Therefore, we must understand that Operation Utra is not a task completed by the airborne foursome alone, the Harbin underground organization must provide cooperation, and the two ladies are also sent for mission consideration.
The lady on the car at the end of the film speculates that it should be Lao Han's lover, which is equivalent to him and his lover replacing a pair of the original foursome, because the two men in the foursome are sacrificed and can only be replaced.
Second, the meaning of the second group
Lao Zhang and Xiao Lan's group successfully escaped due to Lao Zhang's vigilance, but the second group did not recognize the agents, they lost the ability to perform the task from the beginning, and the whole mission was equivalent to the role of playing soy sauce, and the superiors also gave them up for a while.
However, even if the two groups are abandoned, they still have practical significance, and one of them is to drag the entire secret service, which is also specifically mentioned by Lao Zhou.
The other was that Chu Liang not only covered Wang Yu's first departure, but also covered Lao Zhou with sacrifice at the end.
In fact, there is a detail that is not noticed, that is, the second group once saved Xiaolan once.
On the train, because Chu Liang's gaze stopped twice on Xiao Lan's face, the agents stared at Xiao Lan, and Xiao Lan's alertness made her not exposed for the time being. However, Chu Liang, who was concerned about the chaos, told Lu Ming and Lao Zhou about Xiao Lan's identity, which put Xiao Lan in an extremely dangerous situation.
Fortunately, the resourceful Wang Yu discovered the agent through the modified code, and she immediately took Lao Zhou and Lu Ming out of the car and changed to the next car, which prevented Lu Ming from returning to the car to identify Xiao Lan.
Of course, Lu Ming also wanted to return to the car to identify Xiaolan, but he was stopped by Lao Zhou's words (this car is not safe), which gave Lao Zhang time to rescue Xiaolan. Although Chu Liang's rashness almost harmed Xiao Lan, the clever Wang Yu protected Xiao Lan once.
Third, the mystery of Lao Zhang's arrest
The author's second brush "On the Cliff" is mainly to see Lao Zhang's arrest and his and Lao Zhou's handover of tasks, which is the climax of the whole film and the turning point, the content is very complicated, and it is difficult to understand it once.
First of all, in response to netizens wondering why the agent suddenly found Lao Zhang who had taken off his disguise on the street, in fact, there was a detail in the middle, that is, Lao Zhang threw the bullet into the oven of roasted sweet potatoes, and the agent was deceived.
However, there is one detail in the movie that is not said, that is, the agent will definitely ask the small vendor of roasted sweet potatoes, who has just been here? Originally, there were not many people on the street, and the small vendors would easily remember Lao Zhang's dress and appearance, so the agents found Lao Zhang at a glance according to Tu Suoji.
To say more, later Wang Yu and Lu Ming knocked over the stove that roasted sweet potatoes when they were racing, is this a bit of karmic meaning?
Secondly, why did Lao Zhang go back to find his children?
This is also the place where netizens criticize more, the task of how can The current old Zhang have children and daughters, and also led to his arrest, which is not like the senior agent who bears a heavy responsibility.
The author believes that Lao Zhang's move to go back to find the child is actually very mysterious, and the specific reasoning is as follows:
Xie Zirong rebelled, the original local cooperators were all arrested, the superiors will inevitably assign a new "ground connection", Lao Zhou is likely to have received this task, without the instructions of the superiors he could not take the initiative to rescue Lao Zhang.
Lao Zhang had already obtained the emergency plan given by his superiors, and at the same time, he probably read it again when he got the decoding book and knew the plan for his superiors to let him contact Lao Zhou.
If Lao Zhang does not go back to find the child, then he may be able to complete the task smoothly with Xiaolan and Xiaolan with the cooperation of Lao Zhou, so that he will accompany Wang Ziyang to the Soviet Union with Xiaolan, he drives, Xiaolan dresses up as Mrs. Wang Ziyang, just like the old Han couple at the end of the film, and the second group will become an outcast.
That is to say, if Lao Zhang does not go back to find the child, then he and Xiaolan will live, but Chu Liang, Wang Yu and the two children will have an uncertain future.
Therefore, Lao Zhang's idea of going back to find the child should be well thought out, if he finds the child and he is not arrested, then the only people who may die in the end are Wang Yu and Chu Liang.
If Lao Zhang is arrested, then he will entrust Wang Yu, Chu Liang, Xiao Lan and the two children and the Utra mission to Lao Zhou, in fact, the last three things Lao Zhang confessed to Lao Zhou's car were the task, the second group and the child.
That is to say, according to the emergency plan of the superiors, the last to survive are two people, Lao Zhang was arrested and handed over to Lao Zhou, and the maximum number of survivors may be five.
Fourth, the mystery of the old Zhou joint
Lao Zhang said the method of contacting Xiaolan when he was injected with drugs, was this intentional or involuntary?
The author's reasoning is that there may be, tends to be intentional.
Lao Zhang did not tell Lao Zhou how to connect with Xiao Lan in Lao Zhou's car, this seems to be a BUG, since the task is transferred, he should not hide lao Zhou's way to find Xiao Lan.
Probably because Lao Zhang "forced" Lao Zhou to connect with the second group, so as not to give up the rescue of the second group (Lao Zhou Lin did not say "try" instead of necessarily), in the case of his own death, he said the unfinished words in front of Lao Zhou.
Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang jointed and rescued Lao Zhang, should have been instructed by the superior, the superior did not speak, Lao Zhou could not take the initiative to contact and rescue Lao Zhang, after all, Xie Zirong did not go to rescue Xie Zirong before he was shot.
However, Lao Zhou did not receive instructions from his superiors to let him rescue the second group, and in the plan of the superiors, the second group was already an outcast (the author was the superior, and would also choose this way), as long as Lao Zhou found Xiaolan, he could also complete the Utra mission (in fact).
Therefore, in the case of Lao Zhang "leaking" Xiaolan's contact information, in order to contact Xiaolan, Lao Zhou must go to the second group of connectors, so he "made up his own mind" to find Lao Han in the pharmacy, and the superior gave him and the second group of connectors the secret code "Aesop's Fables" and agreed to Lao Zhou rescue the second group.
That is to say, Lao Zhang and Lao Zhou "joined forces" to make the superior change the emergency plan, and once Lao Zhou and the second group were connected, they must rescue the second group, because "the value of The old Zhou is extremely great", and the superior could not risk abandoning the second group and causing the old Zhou to be exposed.
The task is the most important, so Lao Zhang first explained the task to Lao Zhou in the car, and the rescue of the second group was not in the emergency plan of the superior, then the second said that saving the child was a private matter, so it was put at the end.
The author believes that it may be written in Quan Yongxian's script, but in Zhang Yimou's film, it cannot be filmed like this, and only some content about changing the emergency plan can be hidden, so some viewers will not understand it.
Fifth, the core character is Xiaolan
The core figure of the Utra operation is Xiao Lan, and in the case of the second group falling into the trap and Lao Zhang being arrested, she is the only hope for the success of the operation, because there are some things that Lao Zhou and the local organization cannot do, so Xiao Lan cannot be arrested or sacrificed.
At the same time, Xiaolan is still a beautiful, pure, intelligent and somewhat innocent girl in "On the Cliff", which is a symbol of perfection, so Lao Zhang wants to protect her, and Lao Zhou wants her to see the dawn.
The movie "Meridian of War" wants to tell the cruelty of war, so the cute children of "veterans", "literary troupes", "trumpets" and "grass children" are overwhelmed by war one by one.
"On the Cliff" is to show hope and dawn (Utra) in a brutal struggle, so Xiaolan, as a symbol of beauty and dawn, must live.
If I'm not mistaken, Xiaolan should be her pseudonym, and she will have another name in the future, Gu Qiuyan.