Introduction: "War is under the wheels, and the struggle of every life is buried by noise." The Japanese officer who came to invite the students to a banquet said: 'There is always a time when there is no control in war', but isn't the war itself the biggest loss of control? ”
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in World War II, after the invading Japanese army captured the city of Nanjing, it carried out a six-week-long large-scale massacre and robbery in and around the urban area of Nanjing, China. The story of the movie "Jinling Thirteen Chao" takes place in the historical background of this historical nanjing massacre. The story tells the story of an American mortician during the fall of Nanjing, John, who had no choice but to pretend to be a godfather, and a group of students hiding in the church, fourteen Qinhuai singers, and nationalist soldiers who sacrificed themselves in a crisis in order to redeem each other. The film is narrated from a unique perspective, unlike previous war films, there are very few scenes depicting war in "Jinling Thirteen Chao", but the heaviness it brings to the audience cannot be underestimated, and the characters and events in the film exude a different sense of truth and shock in cruelty.
The film "Jinling Thirteen Chao" is adapted from Yan Geling's novel of the same name and is directed by Zhang Yimou. In the original novel, "Jinling" refers to the city of Nanjing, and "Thirteen Chao" refers to the thirteen Qinhuai singers in the story. The story of the film is set in the historical background of the Japanese army's capture of the city of Nanjing in 1937, and is narrated through the perspective of Shu Juan, a schoolgirl in the church. In such a big historical background, the director seems to show the painful history of the Nanjing Massacre to the audience in terms of the narrative, audio-visual angle and shaping of the characters in the film. The film uses the stories of church girls and Qinhuai River singers to show the numerous crimes committed by the Japanese army invading China in Nanjing at that time, and also fully embodies the people's heroic and fearless spirit of mutual redemption, and portrays this history forever in people's hearts.
The story of "Jinling Thirteen Chao" takes place during the Nanjing Massacre during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to present the brutal historical facts, this film uses narration in the narrative and tells the story through the perspective of a female student. Through the child's perspective, the facts and truth of this war are introduced, so that the audience can see the historical cruelty and ruthlessness. At the beginning of the film, in the smoke of war, the narration of the student Shujuan leads to the story: "After more than twenty days of bombing, Nanjing was finally breached by the Japanese army. It was December 13, 1937, and I remember, everyone was running that day, as if they could never run out of the fog." These simple words explain the background of the war, pave the way for the opening of the film, and instantly put the audience in history.
There is not much deception from the student's point of view, they are simple and simple, and they can only judge the world by what they see and hear. Therefore, in the film, Shujuan sees for the first time through the stained glass of the church the Qinhuai River singers who have taken refuge, and also sees a team of Instructor Li who fought against the Japanese army by using their bodies as a cover in order to protect them. The film tells the story to the audience in such a unique way of expression, which not only shows the audience the most real war environment, but also the audience can feel the heaviness of this history and the sympathy and touch for the Qinhuai River singers, Instructor Li and his brothers in the film, and also explain the ending of the Qinhuai River singers at the end of the film.
In order to create a more realistic picture feeling for the audience, the director describes that cruel history through real audiovisual language. In the movie "Jinling Thirteen Chao", the jitter of the camera when the female students who are running around in the movie "Jinling Thirteen Chao" make the picture more vivid and give people an immersive feeling. In addition, the use of long shots can help the narrative of the film and achieve the role of highlighting the theme. In the film, the team of Instructor Li rushed to the Japanese armored vehicles one after another, and the director spent nearly a minute of long shots intended to focus the audience's attention on the soldiers, so that the audience could feel the pain and sacrifice experienced by the soldiers, thus reflecting the heroic and fearless spirit of the soldiers and the spirit of mutual redemption.
In addition to the realism brought by the lens, the color processing adds charm to the film. In most war movies, cool colors are the most representative of the creator's attitude towards war. In the movie "Jinling Thirteen Chao", the director takes the whole film as the main tone, whether it is on the battlefield or in the church, it is full of the coldness and sadness of war. The people in that environment were shrouded in gray smoke, and they could not see hope. In addition, colorful church windows also appear in the film. Ru Shujuan looked through the colored glass to the Qinhuai River singers who walked in outside the church, and their appearance added a bright color to the heavy film, bringing the audience a different visual experience, and thus hinting at the theme of the film.
As a war-themed film, unlike other main theme films, there is no strong protagonist aura in "Jinling Thirteen Chao", the film constitutes the main role with a group of marginal characters, and the director brings the audience a rich and delicate character image in the shaping of the character. Just like when the film portrays the singers of the Qinhuai River, it was originally the object of dislike for all female students, but in the future, it became a change in the character image of standing up for the students. Judging from the film, the Qinhuai River singers did not actually take the initiative to choose their professions, such as Yumo is a righteous person, in the context of family environment and social history, forcing her to become a Qinhuai River woman, which is admirable when she chooses to die generously for her students, which is the great human brilliance of the Qinhuai River singers. Looking at the American John in the film, when the Japanese army first rushed into the church to invade the students, John's stand up was full of personal heroism, which he could have ignored but was driven by humanitarianism. The whole film focuses on the depiction of this group of marginal characters in the church, and the in-depth shaping of the character image of the story makes the plot of the film more ups and downs and meets the aesthetic needs of the audience. Through them, they show the atrocities and indifference of the Japanese army in that war, and also reveal the spirit of Chinese who is not afraid of danger.
The film "Jinling Thirteen Chao" is undoubtedly the result of the film director's film adaptation of literary works, and the image allows history to reconstruct and dialogue with today's film audiences. In the "reproduction" of history, the audience sees Chinese people who are fearless in the face of life and death, who protect each other and defend their lives, which may be the greatness of human nature. At the same time, the pain and humiliation brought about by this history will always be remembered in people's hearts.