<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > the desert year of Chinese cinema</h1>
The period from 1966 to 1970 in the last century was the most depressed period of Chinese cinema.
At that time, there was no television, no Network, and most of the movies of the past were beaten into the cold palace. Only a few old movies remaining, such as "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare" and "Southern Expedition and Northern War", have been put over and over again. Every plot, every line, adults and children can remember to roll melons.
I remember that one day the public loudspeaker outside announced: at night in the open square to show the movie - "Ants Gnawing Bones", welcome to watch.
The friends who had not seen the new movie for several years jumped up and down excitedly, hugging each other and cheering.
"Ants gnawing on bones", once you hear this name, you can't be wrong, some people speculate that it is either a science and education film or an animation film, and for us children, no matter what the film, as long as you can see the scene of ants gnawing on bones, it must be very interesting.
The square was crowded with black-pressed seats early on, and excitement and anticipation were written on everyone's faces. There was a lot of speculation about the film's content, and people were arguing over turf.
Unexpectedly, soon after the film was screened, people realized that they had been deceived. Where there is "ants gnawing on bones", it is actually a documentary about how the workshop master uses lathes to process various metal parts!
The processing method of turning, milling and planing is called "ants gnawing on bones" by the image!
There was much hope and disappointment, and that feeling of loss is still fresh in my mind.
It was later learned that from 1967 to 1970, as the Cultural Revolution intensified, the film industry was basically paralyzed. For nearly 4 years, apart from the routine "news briefing", almost no new movie was made, and no feature film came out.
This strange landscape of cultural life is called "the phenomenon of Cultural Revolution films" by some. Years after year, several old movies have become the companions of our childhood movies.
However, even if you have watched dozens of old movies such as "Tunnel Warfare" and "Mine Warfare", some young people have to chase from one screening field to another to watch continuously.
At that time, the monotony of people's cultural life and the desire for cultural and entertainment life were unimaginable to young people today.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > "excellence" but a lamentable boilerplate movie</h1>
If 1967 to 1970 was the desert year of Chinese cinema, then the period from 1970 to 1972 may be called the "year of model drama" of cinema.
During this period, eight model plays came out one after another, namely:
Peking opera "Wise Tiger Mountain", "Red Lantern", "Sha Jiabang", "Red Detachment of Women", "Surprise Attack white tiger regiment", "Harbor", "Ode to Longjiang"; dance drama "White Haired Girl", "Red Girl Scout Army".
The model play is almost a highly ideological product of "elaborate" production by the strength of the national literary and artistic circles, not only in the set, lighting, makeup, costumes, styling beautiful, but also in the music, singing and dance is more refined, full efforts.
From this perspective alone, the model play does have something remarkable in art. Some passages, such as "Fighting the Tiger on the Mountain", "Wisdom Fighting", "All Have a Red Heart", "Bucket Dance", etc., are still talked about by people.
Among them, the military and civilian party of the fourth session of "The Red Detachment of Women" has exquisite dance music and dance, which makes the author tirelessly watch. From an artistic point of view, "The Red Detachment of Women" is the pride of Chinese ballet and a milestone in the history of Chinese ballet.
However, the high degree of political conceptualization determines the unavoidable shortcomings of the model play.
For the sake of propaganda, the model play stipulates the principle of "three prominences" in the creation, that is, "highlight the positive characters in all characters; highlight the heroic characters in the positive characters; and highlight the main heroic figures among the heroic characters." "
The artistic creation of the work does not come from life, but highly serves the political needs, making the positive characters in the play become the "high, big, and complete" that does not eat fireworks in the world.
Whether it is the plot, character design, modeling, or the use of lighting and lens, all reflect the three outstanding principles and are full of stylized dogma.
The creation of dogma makes the work have a clear propaganda color, which greatly reduces its artistic value. Nowadays, it seems that the model drama in the special period is mixed and lamentable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > a tragic late-Cultural Revolution film</h1>
In the late period of the Cultural Revolution, starting from 1973, some domestic feature films finally began to appear one after another, ending the cultural phenomenon of "eight hundred million people and eight plays". His major works include:
"Sunny Days", "Entrepreneurship", "The Age of Fire", "Rhododendron Mountain" (Peking Opera), "Shining Red Star", "Golden Light Avenue", "Haixia", "Red Rain", "Break", "Second Spring", "Spring Seedlings", "Boiling Mountains", "Unforgettable Battle" and so on.
However, people were surprised to find that filmmakers in the late Cultural Revolution could hardly make movies, and under the high pressure of ideology, the "three prominences" of the work became more and more prominent, and the characters and plots became more and more politicized and facial, compared with a number of excellent films before the Cultural Revolution, they were not on a grade at all.
Only a few works still have a certain degree of ornamentation, such as "Shining Red Star", the picture is exquisite and beautiful, especially the "Red Star Illuminates Me to Fight" episode, which adopts the flavor of Gannan folk songs, the tune is soft and rigid, lyrical and unrestrained, and it is unique among the slogan-style film songs of the same period, which is very rare.
Although the work still has a hardness that is detached from life and cannot be compared with classic children's films such as "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", it was not easy in that special era.
Although the Peking Opera "Rhododendron Mountain" is inevitably "three prominences", it is a rare quality in terms of choreography and musical singing.
"Unforgettable Battle", the wonderful design of the battle scene, as well as the natural scenery of the south and the characteristic urban environment, add a lot to the film.
In addition to the above few highlights, most of the films of the late Cultural Revolution highlighted the political education function of the film, tirelessly arguing about the correctness and error of politics, revealing the general direction of the line and struggle, becoming a vassal of a certain political concept, full of dry preaching.
A hundred flowers blooming has long been impossible to talk about, a cultural desert, and movies have become the hardest hit areas. Films such as "Break", "Strike Back", and "Spring Miao" have been completely reduced to works that illustrate the trend of the politics of the Cultural Revolution.
What is more impressive is that in a scene in the movie "Breakup", the fact that one-handed calluses can actually become a qualification for college has reached an absurd point.
Among them, remakes such as "Southern Expedition and Northern War", "Plain Guerrilla", and "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River" are basically equivalent to adding snakes to the snake, which is many times worse than the old films before the Cultural Revolution, which just exposes the gap and embarrassment faced by the films in the late stage of the Cultural Revolution.
Looking back now, most of the films of the late Cultural Revolution can almost be described as unbearable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > foreign films during the Cultural Revolution</h1>
In fact, the translation and production during the Cultural Revolution, especially in the late Cultural Revolution, brought a hint of manna to people who were in a state of cultural hunger and thirst at that time, and also opened a window for Chinese audiences in a closed state to look at the world.
Because the translation and production did not have as many high-pressure taboos and didactic faces as domestic films at that time, it was relatively more humane and more lifelike, and it was more likely to be favored by the people.
In view of the characteristics of the films of various countries, there was a rather interesting passage at that time, saying:
"China's film press briefings, Soviet films are the same, Albanian movies are inexplicable, Vietnam's movies are airplane cannons, North Korean movies are crying and laughing, Romanian movies are hugging and hugging."
The so-called "China's film news briefing" refers to the fact that before the official film screening at that time, it was always necessary to screen several "news briefings". As a result, The Newsletter became the most screened film of its time.
"Soviet films are always a set" refers to the fact that after the stalemate in relations with the former Soviet Union at that time, China only screened two films, "Lenin in October" and "Lenin in 1918".
I have to say that these two former Soviet films are really well made. The image of a determined, humorous, and humane Lenin is brought to life, as if he were coming to us from the screen at any moment. How many domestic leadership movies can match it so far?
As a small country with just over 2 million people, Albania was able to make popular films such as "Unyielding Death", "Coastal Wind and Thunder" and "Broad Horizon" at that time, which was really rare.
Among them, "Destroy fascism!" in "Coastal Wind and Thunder!" Freedom belongs to the people! The song "Hurry up the mountain warriors" in "Rather Die Than Yield" has impressed some old audiences so far.
Due to cultural differences, such as "Trauma" and "The Eighth Is a Bronze Statue" and other films, Chinese audiences seem to be more laborious, so there is a saying that "Albanian films are inexplicable".
When it comes to Vietnamese films during the Cultural Revolution, many viewers are probably most impressed by the scene of a Vietnamese soldier sleeping in the shell of a bomb, which is exactly the scene in the Vietnam War film "The Road Back to Home".
At that time, Vietnam, which was deeply involved in war, also included "Ah Fu" and "The Forest of The Lady of Chen", which showed a strong smell of gun smoke and a vivid realistic style of war, which was questioned by the mother.
The most exciting thing for young domestic audiences is the Romanian film "The Waves of the Danube", in that era of political asceticism, the romantic exoticism, the love scene of men and women kissing, all of which make young Chinese audiences blush and open their eyes.
The classic flirting line between the male protagonist and the female protagonist: "I will throw you into the river!" "It became a mantra that young people at that time rushed to imitate."
The thrilling Romanian film "Explosion", which already has the attributes of a commercial blockbuster, now seems to be no less than some high-cost large-scale disaster films.
The most tear-jerking film is the North Korean film "Flower Girl". Whenever this film is screened, it is often a cry from the whole audience. Many viewers may not yet know that the script is based on the early works of the north Korean leader at the time.
Whether it is a life film or a war film, North Korean movies have something remarkable. In "The Village with Flowers", in order to introduce the object to the child, the parents showed him a photo of a fat girl who could earn 600 work points, and asked the child: "Can a good-looking face produce rice?" "I don't know how many viewers laughed and were full of life.
Among them, "Flower Girl", "Women of Namgang Village", "When Picking Apples", "The Village with Flowers Blooming" and many other North Korean film songs, the melody is very beautiful, and has been sung in China for a long time.
Although these foreign films also have some didactic overtones, they are far less extreme than the Cultural Revolution films.
In general, whether from ornamental to artistic, many foreign translated films are much better than the domestic films of the Cultural Revolution in the same period, which greatly fills the cultural gap of domestic audiences, and the role of cultural entertainment played is irreplaceable, and it is still remembered by the older generation of audiences.
Fortunately, the era of cultural closure and confinement has long gone, and today's Chinese films have long since emerged from the quagmire of the Cultural Revolution and won awards at major international film festivals.
Whenever we think of that film flood era, we are always filled with a sense of being separated.
I sincerely wish that our domestic films will fly higher and go further, and accompany the prosperity of the country.