Author | Yo-yo Edit | Guo Ji'an
"From today onwards, you officially become the sixth hundred and seventy-seventh warrior of the Seventh Interspersed Company." On the train to resist US aggression and aid Korea, instructor Mei Sheng said to Wu Wanli, who had just joined the army. "There are more than a hundred people here!" Wu Wanli was not convinced of the airway. "This is the total number of people in the seven companies since the establishment of the trumpet!" Including more than 500 people who sacrificed! ”
This scene takes place in the movie "Lake Chosin".
"There are many soldiers, but how many people are there in the Seventh Steel Company?" Wu Liuyi asked Xu Sanduo, who had just joined the army. "More than a hundred bars," Wang Baoqiang, who was fashionably young, hesitated. "Wrong! It's four thousand nine hundred and fifty-six! One thousand 104 of them died for the country! Since then, the Seventh Company of Steel has lived with their martyrs forever! ”
This is a scene from the 2006 episode Soldier Assault.
In reality, after 15 years, the story is 50 years apart, but Wu Wanli, the 677th recruit of the Seventh Interspersed Company, still completed a space-to-air reflection with Xu Sanduo, the 4,596th recruit of the 7th Steel Company.
Behind the two creations is the same story trader - screenwriter Lan Xiaolong.
This is his signature company induction ceremony for the seven companies: each member must memorize his or her number, which counts all the soldiers since the founding of the company in honor of their fallen predecessors.
"Soldier Assault" once mentioned that the Seventh Company is a young unit that records the merits of its predecessors, and is a combat unit that can be traced back to the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Today's "Chosin Lake" is precisely a review of the heroic deeds of the people's volunteers represented by the Seventh Company during the period when screenwriter Lan Xiaolong fought against the UNITED States and aided Korea.
In "Chosin Lake", some people lamented and saw the familiar Lan Xiaolong, "a number of reports will break the defense"; some people bluntly said that the style of "Chosin Lake" is not the same as Lan Xiaolong's previous works.
Indeed, from "Soldier Assault" to "My Regiment Commander My Regiment", Lan Xiaolong has a unique personal style in the creation of military themes. The real and vivid living state of small military characters, complex and multi-faceted and highly artistic character expressions, are typical of Lan Xiaolong's temperament.
In "Chosin Lake", a large number of main melody-style character presentation methods and grand narrative views of war history are not small different from Lan Xiaolong's past style.
From "Soldier Assault" to "Chosin Lake", is Lan Xiaolong still the Lan Xiaolong familiar to the public?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" >, three shadows of Lan Xiaolong</h1>
"An egg, if knocked open from the outside, is doomed to be eaten only." If you peck from the inside, it may be an eagle. ”
When Wu Qianli, played by Wu Jing, said this line to Wu Wanli, played by Yi Qianxi, some viewers sighed: See the traces of Lan Xiaolong.
In Lan Xiaolong's past works, sophisticated lines and dialogues emerge endlessly. The meticulously crafted, lifelike, literary and philosophical lines are Lan Xiaolong's first shadow.
This is also reflected in the confrontation between the three battalion commanders played by Duan Yihong and Wu Qianli in "Chosin Lake". In order to correct Wu Qianli, Duan Yihong compared the volunteer army that sacrificed tragically with the American army with long guns and cannons, and used a series of rhetorical questions to question, and finally concluded: "There are no heroes who cannot die, there are heroes who cannot freeze, and some are only the glory of soldiers." ”
The tolerant and vast spiritual space was Lan Xiaolong's third shadow.
"When I was in the cinema, I once felt that Duan Yihong not only educated Yi Qianxi, but also educated me. The lines are like talking about a book, but after carefully tasting it, I feel the heaviness. Some netizens commented so.
The flesh-and-blood figures and brothers were Lan Xiaolong's second shadow.
Nineteen-year-old Wu Wanli came to the battlefield with his brother Wu Qianli from a peaceful riverside village, and in the team, the instructor Mei Sheng had just retired from the army, and although he was worried about his wife and daughter at home, he still decided to return to the battlefield to help the Seventh Company escape from danger; the commander of the artillery platoon, Lei Suisheng, was both powerful and experienced, and regarded a group of soldiers as his own, although yimeng's hometown had been destroyed; Yu Congsheng, the commander of the fire platoon, was optimistic and had a naïve manhood; the three battalion commanders who went out from the seventh company looked back briefly, as if they had finished countless stories...
"When I got to the train, the characters of the Seventh Company appeared one by one, and all of a sudden the dinner came, and the corps drama really had the taste of Lan Xiaolong." Some netizens sighed so much.
Obviously, the group portrait of the Seven Companies in "Chosin Lake" adheres to Lan Xiaolong's consistent "seeing the big with the small", trying to glimpse the entire era with ordinary seven companies soldiers.
The narrative of small characters always survives in Lan Xiaolong's works. In an interview with Xinhua Net, Lan Xiaolong said that he did not oppose the expression of heroism, but once the "hero" was used as a popular clothing style in the window to be dressed up and applied, it lost its original meaning.
As a result, the protagonists in Lan Xiaolong's works all reveal some untimely births, regrets and sorrows, and significant growth lines. And the corps he belonged to also showed the brotherhood between the military and the people to the extreme.
A typical example is that in this "Chosin Lake", as he goes deep into the battlefield step by step, Wu Wanli grows from a stubborn teenager to a soldier who dares to fight, which is similar to the growth of many three people in "Soldier Assault".
Similarly, the vivid friendship between Wu Baili and Mei Sheng, who are suffering and sharing in the movie, and Lei Gong and Yu Congrong, who are as close as father and son, also make many viewers dream back to the Meng annoying and regimental leader Long articles who support each other in "My Regiment Leader My Regiment".
There are always two propositions in Lan Xiaolong's writing: dignity and freedom. He didn't like his characters to be trapped and encapsulated. When asked how to understand masculinity, Lan Xiaolong replied: courage, wisdom, self-control, tolerance, humor, which are more important than the so-called "masculinity". Rather than being limited to a certain definition, Lan Xiaolong prefers to show multiple aspects of the character.
He doesn't like black and white, he doesn't like extreme momentum, but he respects the "villains". In "Chosin Lake", part of the detail shows his reluctance to label and extremely antagonize the US military. At the beginning of the film, an American soldier can't help but vomit under difficult war conditions. U.S. officers disobeyed orders from their superiors to attack quickly and built bases to protect soldiers. When the polar bear regiment officers were dying, Wu Qianli blocked Wu Wanli's gun, "some guns must be fired, some can not be fired."
Respect and tolerance are the characteristics of Lan Xiaolong's script, which is also reflected in this "Chosin Lake".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > second, the hidden Lan Xiaolong</h1>
Corresponding to Lan Xiaolong's distinctive temperament retention, it is Lan Xiaolong's "hiding".
In the industry, Lan Xiaolong is a typical "atypical" military creator. He is not willing to obey the uniform rules, logic and rationality of the market, but thinks about what should be more concerned in terms of culture than economic value and propaganda value, and what is missing in this society. Therefore, his previous works have far exceeded the scope of ordinary military dramas and anti-war dramas, and are more like the spiritual totem of pacifists.
This spirit is embodied to the extreme in "My Regiment Leader My Regiment". This drama tells the story of a group of national soldiers who jointly fight against the Japanese. In 2007, Lan Xiaolong went to Songshan on the border of Yunnan and Burma, traveled to a quiet place, found a two-square-meter nameless tombstone, and looked up at his head, it turned out that this land had been the Battle of Songjiang. In this war, the Japanese suffered 1250 casualties and the Nationalist casualties of 7763, that is, more than 8,000 lives were buried under this inaccessible pine mountain, and a tombstone lightly summarizes their deaths.
Similarly, Duan Yihong, who picked up the beam in "Soldier Assault" and "My Regiment Commander My Regiment", has very few fragments left in "Chosin Lake", so why did the third battalion commander leave the Seventh Company? What are the stories of his team? Even if he still has a deep memory point in the movie with his superb acting skills, the audience still regrets that he did not fully extend the conversation for this role.
Therefore, in contrast, the shaping of a large number of typical camps in "Chosin Lake" and the expression of a high sense of ideological education have made lan Xiaolong, who is familiar with the pursuit of artistry first, "hidden".
The first is reflected in the depth of the characters. Compared with "Soldier Assault", the relationship between the characters of the Seven Companies in "Chosin Lake" is not clear enough, and the character image is relatively flat. For example, Wu Qianli, the male number one played by Wu Jing, lacks strong personal characteristics and stories in addition to the old company commander who is heavy on love and righteousness and the good brother who is devoted to his brother. Similarly, the character of Pinghe, as one of the main characters, leaves the audience with only "sharpshooters" and his personality is not clear enough.
The relationship between the protagonists Wu Qianli and Wu Wanli brothers is also somewhat stereotyped. The young Wu Wanli alienated and complained about his two brothers for not returning home from the army. In getting along, Wu Qianli also admitted that the resistance to Wu Wanli stemmed from the birth of his brother, which distracted his parents from paying attention to him. In this war-torn era, this reason seems a bit light. At the end of the movie, Wu Wanli did not complete the transformation of growth, but also added a sense of abruptness to the film.
The second is the difference between the expression of lines and the logic of storytelling. Although as mentioned above, there are many divine strokes, there are also a large number of lines that carry educational significance and ideological transmission, and action shots focusing on grand historical war scenes. These missionary statements and large-scale historical descriptions are also different from the "small to see the big" rule commonly used by Lan Xiaolong to shape mainstream values in the past.
More importantly, in terms of the value conveyed by the film, compared with Lan Xiaolong's reinforced artistic characters and social reflection in the past, this "Chosin Lake" film pays more attention to ideological orientation.
Typical is like in the portrayal of negative characters. The "pampered" side of the U.S. military is magnified, with arrogant Christmas homecoming theories, ambiguous female statues on the walls, chocolates on the table, and non-stop pop music... A large number of shots highlight the "enemy is strong and we are weak" in equipment and "the enemy is weak and we are strong" in combat effectiveness.
I still remember Lan Xiaolong's "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", when the Chinese and Japanese armies confronted each other on both sides of the Nu River, but it evolved into a "party" from scolding to singing to each other, venting out the common emotions of mankind. In Chosin Lake, there are also two American soldiers who meet to visit each other after the war, one of whom dies in the final retreat. However, neither the length nor the thickness of the characters are fully unfolded.
"It's Lan Xiaolong, but not exactly." Some netizens sighed so much on Weibo. This kind of movie-watching feeling is also the voice of many viewers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="47" > third, Lan Xiaolong's retreat and defense</h1>
From "Soldier Assault" to "Chosin Lake", the audience can't help but wonder, has Lan Xiaolong changed? Lan Xiaolong or Lan Xiaolong?
In Xiao Yu's view, "Chosin Lake" is more like a mutual neutralization between the artistic Lan Xiaolong and the contemporary main theme film.
"Chosin Lake" is derived from Lan Xiaolong's 5-year-old script "Winter and the Lion", the 187-page, 130,000-word script has undergone 37 adjustments, and finally it has been refined into 60,000 words, divided into two stories for release, "Chosin Lake" is only the first story of the seven consecutive experiences.
But for the three-hour movie, the details of the script are too much, the main line is too long, the character relationship and the plot are difficult to unfold, it is reported that the Tanzi played by Duan Yihong has deleted a lot for this character line. Many details in the play, such as the red scarf given to Wu Wanli by the girl at the supply station, Zhang Xiaoshan's precious necklace, and more stories of Wu Baili, have no chance to be further displayed.
At the same time, Lan Xiaolong is also trying to complete the neutralization of the attributes of the main theme of "Chosin Lake" "Task Film".
At present, the ideological orientation of the main theme film needs to be placed first, and the artistic techniques and character presentation need to be rear-positioned. If you only focus on telling the story of small people, it is difficult for the audience to feel the big melody in three hours, let alone highlight the missionary value. This is also why the current main theme of the film "more and more correct".
According to Xiao Yu's understanding, in the original script of "Winter and the Lion", there was only one clue of seven companies, and the film enriched and supplemented epic scenes such as the great war scene, the Zhongnanhai Headquarters, and Yang Gensi's heroic resistance. Chen Kaige, one of the directors, is more familiar with the history of confrontation with the United States and aiding North Korea, and also gives special play to the artistic temperament and atmosphere of the times of the film. Hard appeals such as scene supplementation and center of gravity adjustment are all based on the needs and frameworks of the main theme film.
The third is the balance between social expression and mainstream social emotions that Lan Xiaolong is good at. In an interview with Sanlian Life Weekly, Lan Xiaolong talked about the audience's thinking habits, referring to the fact that when watching a work, the first thing that can be understood is the part that does not conform to his aesthetics and values, and Lan Xiaolong once thought that such people only accounted for a small part.
However, with the demand for spiritual products by contemporary Internet users becoming fast-paced, the current audience is more inclined to watch content that conforms to the three views and experience, and the rise of great powers and national sentiment have become the mainstream of contemporary times. More burning, more rapid emotional expressions are more popular, timeless, deep, complex and multi-faceted, but it is easy to be "politically incorrect" and criticized.
The most significant performance is the success of the "Wolf Warrior" style main theme commercial film, under the traditional martial arts style, Wu Jing is precisely by expressing the national pride and national honor of the main theme of the work, breaking out of the new world. National heroic figures are therefore highly sought after by the audience.
In contrast, artistic figures need deep understanding and deep thinking, and Lan Xiaolong's artistic thinking and criticism in "Chosin Lake" are closer to the consistent paradigm of the main melody film to meet the more mainstream social emotions of the moment.
Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, "Chosin Lake" is the best interpretation that Lan Xiaolong has made under the influence of the film volume, the center of gravity of the main theme and the social mood, and is the best interpretation that can be achieved under the appeal of the main melody.
Although some of the characters are not full enough and the value expression is different, he still strives to leave his own artistry in the film. In "Chosin Lake", the audience will still be touched by the soul of the Seventh Company who "does not abandon and does not give up", shed tears for the helpless Lei Gong, and Mei Sheng, who is looking for a photo of his daughter in fear, will still rise in his heart to think about the nature of war, and will still remember Tanzi's loud and vocal speech: "There is no hero who cannot die, only the glory of the soldiers." ”
The evolution of the trend is the trend of the times, the artistry of the main theme film gradually needs to give way to ideological value and commercial value, Lan Xiaolong "has to retreat", but in the action scenes and the main theme of the idea, Lan Xiaolong's "shou" can still be seen in "Chosin Lake". From "Soldier Assault" to "Chosin Lake", Lan Xiaolong is still the Lan Xiaolong, just as the Seventh Company of Steel has been adapted several times and is not complete, but its spirit of "not abandoning and not giving up" still exists across 57 years.
At the same time, the audience who is still looking forward to the complete Lan Xiaolong may wish to wait for the sequel "Watergate Bridge" after watching "Chosin Lake", and the story of The Seventh Company continues and accepts a new task: three explosions of the Watergate Bridge. Perhaps in this, people can see a more complete Lan Xiaolong and his steel seven company.
Audiences, after watching "Chosin Lake", may wish to wait for the sequel "Watergate Bridge", the story of the Seven Companies continues, and accepted a new task: three explosions of the Watergate Bridge. Perhaps in this, people can see a more complete Lan Xiaolong and his steel seven company.
See the more complete Lan Xiaolong and his Steel Seven Company.