Nanjing! Nanjing! From the beginning, I really realized the fear and despair exposed on the last day of Chengwei Wolf. The ancient city wall was ravaged by shells, and the abandoned troops trampled on the bodies of their compatriots. This fear and despair caught me from beginning to end. From giving up resistance to seeking asylum to being slaughtered by anyone, I saw the face of an unguarded city facing the jackal. The fallen statue of Zhongshan is in sharp contrast with the sacrificial dance at the ceremony of Japanese occupation of Nanjing. Nanjing, which has lost its faith in democracy, people's livelihood and civil rights, has only a group of wild animals crawling on her naked body. This scene has a strong audio-visual shock. In the previous story, the Japanese army practiced dancing several times. Only here did I know that I was not idle, and all the damage was premeditated and prepared. Moreover, they may have been preparing until today.
(If political factors and national sentiment are put aside, the dance scene is really wonderful and enjoyable. Those two Japanese drummers are great! )
Nanjing! Nanjing! What is bold is that Lu Chuan didn't organize the whole movie with the plot line of personal destiny as usual. He used the perspective of Kakukawa, a Japanese soldier who participated in the war, to examine and judge what happened. I waited in vain for the intersection of the fate of the hero and heroine, but the No.1 hero played by Liu Ye and Liu died in the middle of the film, and the story of the role played by Gao Yuanyuan and Fan Wei has not really begun, so there is no real hero and heroine in this film, and there is only one protagonist here, that is, Allure. In this way, the documentary color of the film is greatly enhanced, but it partially deprives the audience of the pleasure of watching the movie. Because there is no real climax of the plot, the rhythm lacks change, and the depression and despair of the audience's two-hour stagnation have not been effectively released, so that they are somewhat numb due to sensory exhaustion, thus weakening the appeal of the film. However, this is a matter of opinion. It is said that the current story pattern was finally formed after several revisions. If you can accept this narrative mode, although it looks a little tired, it is also very enjoyable.
There are several human failures in the film. One is the slogan that broke out when China's captured troops were slaughtered. I have never seen such a record in any historical materials. This should be because the director wants to convey emotions to the audience through the mouth of the characters, but people here suddenly jump out of the movie situation, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. There is also the ending, which shows the birth and death years of the characters in the play. We all know that the characters in these plays are fictional, even if there are prototypes, they are not original names. This list is too inexplicable, maybe just for the last line: "Little bean, still alive." This little bean is one of the last two survivors released by Carcaba. Perhaps the director wants to show the endless vitality of the Chinese nation through this design, but this design is too deliberate. Even if this idea is to be conveyed, it should be expressed in a more cinematic way. Many people still remember the candlelight in Schindler's List and the little girl's touch of red in black and white images, right?
In fact, such a narrative film, the real restoration of history is the director's consideration for the audience, very straightforward imposition of the director's intentions on the audience, artificially promoting the taboo of the characters. Mr. Tang, played by Fan Wei, is the most plump character in this film. He tried his best to compromise, just to protect his family's life, even at the expense of dealing with the devil. But I really don't see any reason and motivation for him to finally give up the chance of survival, at least there is no sufficient reason in the film. Because of this, a scene between him and his wife, although Fan Wei and Qin Lan performed badly, still can't infect me. And axis figure Kakukawa. I can understand that the director has endowed this character with some human brilliance. In fact, the actions in front of this character are all logical, including his association with Japanese comfort woman Yuriko, his admiration and fulfillment of Jiang played by Gao Yuanyuan, and even his release of two prisoners of war, which can be regarded as an account of Jiang who died to save these two people. But it's a bit too much for him to commit suicide to apologize for the massacre he experienced. As far as I know, such a thing is not without it.
So I think due to the above defects, "Nanjing! Nanjing! It is hardly a great film, but it is no exaggeration to say that it is an excellent commercial film with strong artistry, especially on the technical level. Lu Chuan has done his best.
First of all, the setting of costume props is basically impeccable. I saw that the crew that had been repeatedly hyped before was in Tianjin, in Nanjing, where Changchun was restored. There are ruins and rubble everywhere, which is very textured. The once prosperous ancient capital of the Six Dynasties has become a real hell on earth. Lu Chuan has repeatedly stressed that this is a war movie, but the real war scene in this movie is only ten minutes, but even this ten-minute street fighting has completely surpassed the shooting level of China's previous war movies. With sharp editing, realistic sound effects, meticulous scene scheduling and flexible standing position, the camera stabilizer clearly explains the reaction, motivation and tactics of the characters, and finally presents an extremely tragic effect.
In order to pursue the true effect of faithful recording, a large number of long shots are used in the film. The most typical scene should be the execution of Mr. Tang, from lighting a cigarette, talking, shooting and mending the gun in one go, to the last two Japanese talking at the front desk. The dead Mr. Tang has been hanging in the background, which is an excellent composition, and we know that he has been hanging in the background instead of the body body double, because the lens has not been changed. Jiang's death had the same effect on later generations. In that era when life was as cheap as ants, all the deaths in the film were very crisp, without any carelessness, and a life was deprived, which was so relaxed and easy to be feared.
The performance of extras is an important index to consider a big-screen movie. Even in super productions like warlords and Red Cliff, there are many scenes of mass actors wearing gangs, and some of them are very serious (especially warlords). In Nanjing! Nanjing! There are many scenes in the sea of people, and I only found a goof shot of an unnecessary actor laughing. The scene of a small Japanese army straying into a small church is the beginning of completely pulling the audience into the abyss of despair set by the film. In the face of several panicked Japanese soldiers, thousands of people in China raised their hands. In fact, these thousands of Japanese soldiers could have been trampled to death alive, but they didn't. They chose to give in. This is a city that has lost its sense of resistance and is waiting to be slaughtered. The apathy shown by the extras here is in place. With the help of movie situations, we can feel the fear and loss in their hearts (typical Kuleshov experiment effect). It can be said that Lu Chuan's ability to control the big scene is still very impressive.
It should be said that everyone should be psychologically prepared to watch such a movie, but after watching it, there will still be depression that is hard to let go. I think the value of this film lies not in blindly condemning the cruelty and cruelty of the invaders, but in trying to explore why we suffered such a disaster at a deeper level.
There are two places in the film that really moved me. One is that Rabe knelt in front of the refugees when he left Nanjing. Although the film downplayed Rabe's savior color to the people of China in this massacre, it is true that he saved 200,000 people. For a group that has completely lost its ability to protect itself and is struggling to find a life-saving straw only by survival instinct, it needs more reflection. This is why the Japanese sacrificial dance finally gave me such a big impact. China at that time lacked masculinity, order and piety. This is another scene that moved me. This prostitute who took the lead as a comfort woman in exchange for winter supplies was finally trampled to death by the Japanese. At least she was protecting her city and people with her own flesh and blood.
Maybe someone will finish watching Nanjing! Nanjing! Later, I will condemn how movies beautify the Japanese, but it should be far from enough to interpret the Holocaust with nationalist sentiment. The Holocaust was not only done by the Japanese, but the real national humiliation was not only the injury imposed on them by others, but also the weakness of this nation, which could not protect itself and could only lose its bloody naked face in front of the butcher's knife.