Mr. Yu Ge wrote "Notes on the Battle of Songshan in 1944", "The Siege of Tengchong in 1944" and "The Battle of Longling in 1944" with the themes of the "Battle of Western Yunnan" in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which was accurate to every day, and wrote "Notes on the Battle of Songshan", "The Siege of Tengchong in 1944" and "The Battle of Longling in 1944"; director Li Jun has filmed the "Great Armageddon" trilogy, recording the bits and pieces of the three major battles of the Liberation War in great detail, and reproducing the scenes of that year in a total of twelve hours.
However, they are too thin compared to real history. Yu Ge's three books were not as shocking as looking at the tombstones of Manpo in baoshan Tengchong National Cemetery, and the excitement of Li Jun's three films was no more exciting than watching the video of Chairman Mao announcing the founding of New China on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square.
Anyone will be moved when history shows only its most emotional moment, but history is made up of thousands of unknown events, seemingly trivial, cold details. It's just that when the sand-sinking folds reveal its sharp iron marks, when history tears open a small opening, it's enough to move, as long as you're willing to understand it.
The movie "Defenders" is about just seven days in this long history.
1937 is one of the most important years in China's modern history. Almost every Chinese can clearly remember that on July 7 of that year, the Lugou Bridge Incident, the Japanese army launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, and everyone also remembers that on December 13 of that year, the capital of the Nationalist government at that time, Nanjing, fell, followed by the nanjing massacre that lasted for six weeks. But everyone may not necessarily care about the defeat at the Battle of Songhu, let alone the defense of Baoshan in the Battle of Songhu that lasted only seven days.
Baoshan, now The Baoshan District of Shanghai, is located at the junction of the Yangtze and Huangpu Rivers. After the Japanese army captured Wusong and Luodian, they tried to capture Baoshan, open the connection between Wusong and Luodian, and then spy on Jiading.
The Battle of Songhu was the first major battle between China and Japan, with about 1 million troops on both sides engaged in combat. Once Shanghai is lost, important cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan, and Changsha will be immediately exposed to the japanese army.
There is a sentence in the trailer of "Defenders": "Behind us, is your Zhejiang, your Guizhou, your Jiangxi, our Guangdong and your Sichuan." Today, it is Baoshan that is guarded, and what is defended is the land! ”
I was so moved by this statement that if it weren't for the trailer, I would never have imagined what kind of story a movie with the name "Defender" would tell. But when I saw this person talking about Zhejiang, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Baoshan, everything was clear.
This person who says "our Guangdong" is called Yao Ziqing, the character Ruozhen, the number Of Zhongqi, a native of Pingyuan County, Guangdong. Historical sources show that his birth and death years were 1908-1937, and on August 30 of that year, when he came to Baoshan Castle, I think he was ready for sacrifice.
Before coming to Shanghai, he instructed his wife: "If you can survive this trip, it is a blessing, if there is an accident, do not be sad, but raise your children well, and filial piety to Weng Gu." After arriving at Baoshan, he said to the soldiers: "Cut off the fierce flames of the Slaves, wash away the shame of the country, love my rivers and mountains, swear not to share the heavens with the enemy, and swear to coexist and die with the position." ”
Can Baoshan be saved? No one knows. But everyone will use all their strength to guard until the last moment. The movie "Defenders" tells the story of the soldiers who fought in blood during these seven days.
When we open the cold historical materials, we will see that the history books record that a certain Japanese reinforcements came but were blocked by the Japanese army and finally scattered, and we will also see that hundreds of Japanese troops were very excited to annihilate the Japanese army on a certain day, of course, we will also see that the Japanese army finally blew up Baoshan City with sulfur bombs, in the perspective of posterity, Baoshan fell, Shanghai fell, Nanjing fell...
But for the soldiers who had been holding out in Baoshan County from August 31 to September 7, they may only know that this battle was the defense of Baoshan, they did not know that it was a battle called the "Battle of Songhu" by later generations, they did not know that the War of Resistance Against Japan had a full eight years to be fought, and they did not know whether China would win it.
They only know that they must try their best to fight, because if they don't fight, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Sichuan behind them may not be able to escape.
There is a scene in the film where an ordinary citizen in the city is killed by the Japanese army, and Yao Ziqing said to his daughter: "You have a family hatred, I have a national vendetta." And the whole film is also focusing on shaping the hatred of the country and the family that pervades the hearts of the soldiers and the people, some Japanese troops are desperate to kill indiscriminately, and there are also small soldiers who look at the moon and hum the "moonlight" of their hometown.
In order to show the cruelty of war, many small details are set up in the film.
A somewhat angry soldier had a crush on a nurse, but he only dared to grin and fool around, never daring to speak directly, until September 6, when he came to the front for the last time, knowing that he would die, he plucked up the courage and told the little nurse if he could touch her hand. The little nurse did not promise him, but when the little nurse was soon injured and dying, he stretched out his hand and held the soldier.
When the reinforcements were still four hours away from Baoshan City, and the Japanese army only needed two hours to drive over, Yao Ziqing decided to take the initiative to attack the Japanese army and drag the Japanese army for a period of time to ensure that the reinforcements could arrive in time. At this time, his good friend Li Zhongxian (a fictional character) who had been his good friend for many years knew that this battle was not trivial, and it was very likely that there would be no return, so even if he disobeyed the military order, he forced Yao Ziqing to sit in the tent and go to the front line himself. In the end, Li Zhongxian sacrificed heroically, and the game of chess played with Li Zhongxian on Yao Ziqing's table was finally not finished.
On the evening of September 6, when Yao Ziqing knew that there were only twenty-three people left around him, he picked up the book and hooked the soldiers who died that day, and when he drew his name, he hesitated, and then waved a large brush.
On the evening of September 6, he handed the booklet to the messenger Wei Mingyang and asked him to leave with the booklet, Wei Mingyang was reluctant and said that he wanted to stay here and live and die with the three battalions, Yao Ziqing looked at him and said that Wei Mingyang was not carrying a booklet, but six hundred brothers in Baoshan. Wei Mingyang was overwhelmed by this sentence and was also aroused by this sentence.
……
In fact, when we are accustomed to watching various plots and then see these small details of the setting, almost every one of them can guess how it will be used and where it will be used, but we will still be moved.
It's an emotional bonus, it can be said that it is cheesy, but it cannot be said that it is not serious enough. As a movie, it lacks a lot of details in the historical materials, and it is not as tragic as the real history, but whether it is color grading, soundtrack, performance, I think it is enough to use the heart. It does not have the elegance and ease in the anti-Japanese god drama, nor does it have the love talk in the anti-Japanese god drama, and some are just a reproduction of a period of history as much as possible.
The film itself doesn't have a climax, but how can we expect it to climax? The story begins on August 30, 1937, and ends on September 7, 1937, from the beginning to the end, it is all the shelling of the Japanese army in groups, shootings and successive losses of Baoshan and the continuous death of the soldiers, from the beginning to the end, not as exciting as the Hundred Regiments War, nor like the return of the Western Yunnan War of Resistance, the Baoshan Defense War is miserable every day, and even the slightest sign of counterattack is invisible.
Of course, you can also take Yao Ziqing's sacrifice as the climax of the whole film. On the evening of September 6, there were only a few people left in the group of 600 warriors, and Yao Ziqing asked them to count, and when it was Yao Ziqing's turn at the end, he said:
"Twenty-four!"
When only twenty-four of the six hundred people remained, the climax was only Yao Ziqing's heroic sacrifice.
However, when the Defense Of Baoshan was compared to the late Battle of Songhu, when the elite were lost, the casualties were 300,000, and Shanghai fell, it was not the climax of the Battle of Songhu, not to mention that after this there was the Nanjing Massacre, the Battle of Jiangyin, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Changde, the Battle of Tengchong, the Battle of Longling, etc., which place was not the city of Remnant Ou?
However, this dates back to 1840, and since then, in order to oppose internal and external enemies, strive for national independence and the people's freedom and happiness, it has been almost a hundred years since the time of the defense of Baoshan, and the accumulation of a hundred years has been hit, and the Chinese people finally have to start the all-people war of resistance, when the Japanese army invaded China in 1931, this story has come to the final climax of the decisive battle.
"On the first day of the defense of the city, the Japanese soldiers approached Baoshan Mountain, the war was in danger, and 100,000 were in a hurry.
"On the second day of the defense of the city, the enemy was outnumbered, and they took the right step to live, and took the wrong step and died.
"On the third day of the defense of the city, the good defender, the enemy does not know what he has attacked.
"On the fourth day of the defense of the city, more than two hundred enemies were killed and countless wounds were inflicted, and Kou temporarily retreated.
"On the fifth day of the defense of the city, several days of fighting, nearly half of the casualties, reinforcements, reinforcements.
"On the sixth day of the defense of the city, reinforcements did not arrive, Zhongxian was martyred, and more than a hundred brothers remained.
"On the seventh day of defending the city, it is the duty to guard the land, and vows to coexist and die with baoshan."
If I hadn't stumbled upon that trailer, I might have rubbed shoulders with this movie, because it's so "low-key", with a daily box office of nearly 900,000, and there are hardly many movie theaters with a schedule. But it is good to remember it, just like remembering Yao Ziqing and remembering the unknown warriors who sacrificed for the country.
There is a child in the film, bent on resisting the war, but he is always stopped by Yao Ziqing, because he is too young and too young, but he is hope and the future, he is an orphan, his surname is Chen, and his name is the same as that of the anti-Wu hero who is four hundred years before him, called "Jiguang".
According to historical records, on the night of September 18, 1931, the Beiyang Pictorial left this report: "Gao Shuguang, a loyal and courageous police officer, served in the South Market Branch of the First Branch of Shenyang Commercial Port. At eleven o'clock on the night of September 18, Wen Yan went to the door of the nearby Northeast Theater to spy on the enemy situation, and when he encountered the invasion of the Wokou and died of drinking bullets, he was extremely tragic. Perhaps the first Chinese with a recognizable surname in the fourteen-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, his name was "Dawn."
【Author Kong Li, WeChat public account "Shu Lin Zhai" (WeChat: kongli1996), Weibo @ Kong Li]