Although the commentary of "Yaobai" is bipolar, I still went to watch it

2020-08-26 22:18:20 movie 2924℃

history will never forget the hero.

Text | Qing Yan Editor | Shen Xiaoshan

After more than a year, " Yao" was finally released. Audiences who like

will like it very much, and those who don't like it will dislike it very much. If you like

, then you will like it for the same reason: the top production of domestic war, blood flowed, tragic and majestic, and the national righteousness, patriotism and resistance to war inspired by it will make people feel sad; if

does not like , The reason for dislike may be different: some people will find it messy, because the experience that it was confirmed to be released last year but has not met with the audience until now has made it lose the spirit of the movie; there are also some people It would feel false, because its deserter’s cowardly perspective did not accurately reflect the historical truth of the year; some people even felt that the film had a certain kind of flattery, especially the main creators whose motives were directors were suspicious.

But whether we like it or not, no matter how we, as the audience, scramble to make tap water, or condemn it outrageously as a pioneer of Chinese film, it will not hinder Guanhu and his "Eight Hundred", which is destined to be It has left a strong and colorful stroke in the history of Chinese cinema. It is like the argument in the movie between the chief general and the commissioner about the meaning of the "Four Line Warehouse Guard War":

seems to be trying to stop the Japanese invasion, but in reality It was a tragic performance presented to the international community by high-level officials with hundreds of lives. The intention was to win aid from the international community; but at the end of the battle, international aid was hopeless, but it unexpectedly aroused the determination of the people across the river and even the whole country to fight the war. And patriotic passion. Although

cannot be said to be a crooked fight, one of the laws of the world is that even if we can no longer reach a consensus on the most fundamental issue, there is still no way to prevent it from developing in an unexpected direction. What can be delayed is only time, but it cannot change the final direction of history-this was the case in the past, the present is the case, and it will be the same in the future, and so will the judgment of "Yu Bai".

So I don't want to participate in these disputes, but to discuss the facts: As a war movie, which parts of "Yaibai" are well done, and which parts are really bad? And so on, nothing more.

As far as war movies are concerned, "Eight Hundred" has successfully completed this type of film. It has always shouldered the two most basic and common types of missions: to inspire enthusiasm for the country and to oppose war.

All film and television works with war as the background will carry these two themes. The good thing about "Yaobai" is that it avoids the usual facial makeup and preaching in the main melody movie, but uses more moisturizing and silent group portrait details and events to induce the audience's homeland feelings and make the audience tears in their eyes. It was only then that I realized that even if I didn't admit it, I couldn't get rid of the blood and feelings of being a fellow clan.

This is also the most successful place of "Yai Hundred": it constructs multiple vivid and real characters from the perspective of messy and complex group portraits, and thus completes the exaggeration and admiration of family and national feelings and national justice. Although many of them may have few scenes, their state and reactions from front to back have transformed the emotions of ordinary people like you and me. Although these characters have very few lines and very few shots, they have an arc of light in the face of patriotism.

is like Hou Yong. When he appeared, the defense battle for the four-row warehouse on the other side of the river had already started last night, and he was just wearing a nightgown and carrying a lunch box to buy breakfast. It seemed that he had nothing to do with the war; it was like he was in full. Among the pitted refugees, he dodged and walked past with disgust. He didn't think he had much connection with the people around him.

Compared with the feelings of family and country, he cares more about whether he can buy buns and fried dough sticks.

But the hero who kept dying for his country on the other side quickly made him realize that the feelings of family and the country are more real than steamed fried dough sticks-this is why he keeps changing the things in his hands, from the original lunch box to the telescope to the donated home The gold ornaments even finally picked up the shotgun, and fired at the Japanese army in tears. Similar details of

are everywhere in "Yai Bai". For example, the little girl who salutes the army in the crowd, the knives who desperately gave the phone line, the theater troupe who held fists across the river, the casino owner who donated morphine at critical moments, the professor's wife who silently shed tears for the martyrdom, and donated everything for the frontline soldiers. The savings of Qinhuai singer... these flashy but impressive characters, and those holding cardsSon, drums and gongs reminded the masses of the eight hundred soldiers of the direction of the Japanese army, and at the end, the pair of rescue hands stretched out the fence to build up the patriotic enthusiasm of the people from onlookers to shock to indignation. The agitation of the

family and country's feelings relies on the soldiers who fought bloody battles with the Japanese in the Four Lines Warehouse. In addition to inspiring the family and country's feelings, they also shouldered the burden of brewing against the war in the tragic scene of the war. This can explain why Guanhu dwarfed the narrative angle and adjusted the focus of the 800 warriors who were originally defined as national heroes to a group of timid deserters. Before

became national heroes, they were first ordinary people like you and me.

They miss their parents and fields, their wives and children, or just want to come to Shanghai to meet the world, and they don't even have the most basic military qualities and patriotism. They never even thought about sniping the Japanese army, let alone die for the country in this small four-row warehouse.

But it is also this group of ordinary people, such as the old iron who was defeated all the way from the northeast to the cheek gang, the Dragon Boat Festival when thinking about going outside to see the world, dying and wondering what a woman is like, wanting to lean on The Luoyang shovel where Banben Guiguzi went to robber the tomb, and Xiaohubei, who was forced to grow up prematurely and prematurely by death... have become the most famous heroes in this group.

rarely sees the protagonist being taken away by survival instinct in domestic war movies. Compared with

, "Yabai" is very different: it wants to tell the audience through cynicism and greed of life and fear of death that the grand, tragic, and generous feelings of family and country are not all due to death, but also because of the heroes. Before going to justice generously, nostalgia and letting go of living well. By clarifying this layer, you can also understand why after a long period of cowardice, wimpy, and tragic depression, "Yao Hundred" suddenly rises emotionally. It happens when the machine gun is tied up with grenades, and then you call your name. He was born and said "Mother, the child is not filial" and then jumped up.

Compared with heroes who have survived from beginning to end, how cowardly little people grow into heroes step by step is more convincing for ordinary people. The more tragic the growth of

, the stronger the anti-war sentiment conveyed by the film.

After all, if you can be an ordinary person, few people will take the initiative to choose to become the hero of "Yai Bai".

talked about the enthusiasm of the country and the anti-war sentiment. I would like to mention two personal favorite details in the movie:

is a white horse-Guan Hu is used to interspersing things that seem to be outside the narrative in the movie. Objects, such as the ostrich in "Old Cannon" and , the puffer fish in "Cooking the Trickster", let alone "Bullfighting", the cow is the second protagonist after Huang Bo. These animals take care of the protagonist's situation and have a tendency to express poetry. The white horse in "The Eight Hundred" of

is even more so. It not only reflects the longing for freedom and the hope of immortality when the heroes are trapped in the lonely city, but also echoes with Zhao Zilong in the play: the heroic soldiers who defend the city die and the white horse lives alone. world. So the last shot on the battlefield was a white horse jumping out of the trench, covered in blood. The other part of

is reporter Fang's camera. He took a lot of material in the warehouse of Four Lines, and helped the soldiers with his dead photos and letters, but they were left behind when they passed the garbage bridge with the army, and were destroyed by bullets in a panic. This is not only the ambiguity of the movie, but also the ambiguity of the historical truth, which belongs to director Guan Hu's restraint and ambition in narrative values.

But this does not mean that all ambiguities are valid, such as the final ending of certain characters, the unclear ending of sensationalism or anti-climax, etc., all make this movie in the space for interpretation, It leaves the possibility of being worshipped or criticized. The most typical is the identity of Fang reporter, which is quite ambiguous. Rather than saying that the director is pursuing the complexity of the character, it can be said that he failed to complete the character arc of this character in an effective time, so that at the end of the film, he can only be reduced to a prop and become an ambiguous historical truth. Footnotes.