skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Film: Aftershock
Release date: 27th December 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 135 mins
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Starring: Jingchu Zhang, Daoming Chen, Chen Jung Li, Yi Lu, Fan Xu, Jin Chen
Genre: Drama/History
Studio: Metrodome
Format: DVD
Country: China
As China’s highest-grossing film, and their entry for the Oscars Best Foreign Language Film 2011, Aftershock has a lot to live up to. It spans the thirty-two years between the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake and the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, both traumatic events within living memory. While dealing with this deeply emotive material, director Xiaogang Feng chose to concentrate on the effect of these disasters on an average Chinese family.
Fang Daqiang, a hard working father, is having a normal kind of day. He picks his children up and sends them home with a new fan for their mother, Yuan’ni. On the way home, the twins are set upon by bullies - Deng protects her brother Da, a pattern that will be repeated with far more dire consequences. That evening, Fang and his wife steal a moment of intimacy in the back of his truck; they are a happy family. Seconds later, the earth begins to shake. Suddenly, their world is quite literally crumbling around them. The parents run back to their home only to find the building collapsing around them. Yuan’ni attempts to run to her children but is held back by her husband who goes to find them himself, sacrificing his life.
As the dust settles on the ruined city Yuan’ni finds Deng and Da trapped beneath a twisted heap of concrete. She is forced by rescuers to make a choice - if one child is rescued the other will be crushed to death. They ask her repeatedly, beating her down, until she eventually chooses her son. With her son free but in urgent need of medical attention, Yuan’ni leaves to find him medical help.
Against all odds, Deng survives and wakes up next to her dead father - her mother’s words ringing in her ears. Tattered and filthy, the fragile child walks through the destruction, where she is found by a soldier and later adopted by a childless couple in the People’s Liberation Army. Deng and Da, once so close, are forced to live separate lives…
The opening shot of dragonflies fleeing from the impending disaster, following the train tracks, brings the viewer neatly to the crossing where the truck containing Fang and his family waits patiently. It is a clever way in which to show how vulnerable humans are in the face of nature. The family are completely unaware of the fate that awaits them, while the humble insect is already taking action. The children’s gold fish also try to escape by jumping out of their glass bowel and are shown flapping helplessly on the wooden cabinet onto which they fall, another metaphor for hopelessness.
Aerial shots are used to document the change in the city from the low-rise 1970s buildings to the high-rises of 2008. They also chart the city’s destruction and subsequent development. While useful, they can appear repetitive. The economic shift depicted in these three decades shows the effect of the reform and opening-up policy during this time in China. As a film Aftershock has been criticised for brushing over the political realities of this period and, although they are occasionally alluded to, there is no in-depth examination.
Chairman Mao is evident in the background of many of the scenes from Deng’s childhood in the People’s Liberation Army barracks. His photo hangs on the wall in the adoptive families flat, and his death is mourned. However, what was in many ways a traumatic time in Chinese history is viewed in a warmly reminiscent manner, with the sets created from a collection of donated, original props. There is an air of cosiness that some would argue is inappropriate. Yet, it is possibly more accurate, within the context of this film, to describe it as such.
The power of the party is also shown through colour. Green and red are often predominant in scenes, more so during Deng’s life with her adoptive family, and allow bridging when the action shifts. When the film moves to Da and Yuan’ni’s narrative, the colours are often muted, except when they honour the dead, and are in a sense reunited, or during celebrations.
Aftershock centres heavily on the psychological impact of the Tangshan Earthquake and the relationships that were made and broken by the disaster. Deng’s character remains removed and cut off from others until she can come to terms with the choice her mother had to make. Yuan’ni remains married to her dead husband, accepting no advances, in deference to his sacrifice, and carries the guilt of her daughter’s presumed death. Yet in spite of this, the characters survive emotionally and the film is hopeful.
As a film, Aftershock has not pleased everybody, despite it being a box office hit. When dealing with recent and sensitive subject matter, it is hard to get it right. In many ways, it can be applauded as an emotive family drama, but it is possible that a greater historical and political perspective would have given it depth and made it more satisfying to those still dealing with the fallout from these events. EM
Chinese disaster film based on events surrounding the 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, which took the lives of 240,000 people.
In the aftermath of the devastating quake, a widowed seamstress (Xu Fan) must choose which of her brother-and-sister twins will be saved after rescuers find them pinned down by a single concrete block. She chooses her son, Fang Dan (Chen Li), unaware that her daughter Fang Deng (Jingchu Zhang) has in fact also survived the ordeal.
The film then follows the divergent lives of the two siblings from this point until their eventual reunion in the Sichuan earthquake of 2008.
Film: Aftershock
Release date: 27th December 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 135 mins
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Starring: Jingchu Zhang, Daoming Chen, Chen Jung Li, Yi Lu, Fan Xu, Jin Chen
Genre: Drama/History
Studio: Metrodome
Format: DVD
Country: China
In Tangshan in 1976, two 7-year-old twins lie buried under the rubble of a devastating earthquake. The rescue team explains to their mother, Li Yuanni, that freeing either child will almost certainly result in the death of the other. Forced to make the most difficult decision of her life, she finally chooses to save her son Fang Da, the male twin.
Although left for dead, the female twin, Fang Deng miraculously survives for several more days before being pulled clear of the wreckage by another rescue team, who believe that she has succumbed to the terrible disaster.
As she wakes up in the pouring rain, suffering from the emotional shocks of the disaster, and the painful memory of her mother's choice, Fang Deng decides to hide her true identity from the world, and begins an emotional journey which will take her across the globe - and force her to confront demons within herself.
Already one of the highest-grossing disaster movies of all time, Aftershock is a dazzling cinematic achievement.
The film is based on the Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 that took the lives of 240,000 people.
Film: Aftershock
Release date: 12th November 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 135 mins
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Starring: Jingchu Zhang, Daoming Chen, Chen Jung Li, Yi Lu, Fan Xu, Jin Chen
Genre: Drama/History
Studio: Metrodome
Format: Cinema
Country: China
Film: Assembly
Release date: 5th May 2008
Certificate: 15
Running time: 124 mins
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Starring: Wang Baoqiang, Zhang Hanyu, Deng Chao, Yuan Wenkang, Hu Jun
Genre: Action/Biography/Drama/History/War
Studio: Metrodome
Format: DVD
Country: Hong Kong/China
Assembly was produced by the same team who brought us the critically acclaimed Brotherhood, going on to receive even greater box office success, touching the hearts of audiences as the film follows the true story of Captain Gu Zidi during one of China’s bloodiest battles.
In 1948 the 9th Company, 3rd Battalion were ordered to protect the retreat of 139th Regiment from the Wen River valley. Already battle fatigued, the company of 48 men dug in and fought the entire 254th Division of the Nationalist army.
With only one mountain gun against a whole division with tanks, 9th Company, led by Captain Gu Zidi, held out for days against repeated attacks, all the while awaiting the bugle call to signal their retreat and assembly with the rest of their regiment. The bugle call never came…
If you think you have seen this war move before then don’t be put off because there are many facets of Assembly which raise it above the level of ordinary, and make it essential viewing. The Chinese civil war has often been overlooked by mainstream cinema, and it is of great credit to director Feng Xiaogang and writer Liu Heng that between them they have fashioned a tale of heroism and honour completely devoid of jingoism, patriotism or sentimentality. Propaganda for the red army this is not.
However, that isn’t to say that Assembly is not emotionally charged, or contains familiar set pieces; letters written home by soldiers about to die have almost come a genre standard, as have soldiers talking about what they will do after the war minutes before being shot or blown apart. Assembly is also big on honour and duty - two themes present in the vast majority of war films. What is surprising about how Assembly has been put together is the low-key narrative and the grounded, understated performances. The story is the most important thing on show here, and all the pyrotechnics and performances are geared toward accentuating the heart at the centre of the piece.
Of course, it is impossible to make a war movie without drawing comparisons to other films in the genre, and, in particular, recent films are often unfairly compared with Saving Private Ryan or Band Of Brothers. Assembly is no exception, but it easily holds its own in this esteemed company. The brutal opening scenes are gruesome but compelling, and also essential to the characterization of the hero, Captain Gu Zidi. An early scene in which 9th Company’s political officer is caught by an exploding artillery shell is truly extraordinary – jaw dropping, infact.
This incredible moment informs everything which follows as soldiers are shot, blown up, set on fire and thrown from impossible angles across the frozen, muddy trenches. Forget about war movies, Assembly contains two or three of the best pyrotechnic set pieces you will ever see in ANY movie. The editing during the opening third, in particular, is so sharp and focused that the effect of the action is unbelievably disorientating, and completely immersive.
The effects, in general, and makeup, in particular, are straight out of the top drawer. The main characters who survive the initial battles all age realistically over the duration of the story arc, and the injuries incurred on the battlefield are all hyper-realistic. The overall look of Assembly is stark and cold, giving the impression that the protagonists are battling something elemental, as well as manmade.
The score sets the tone of the film beautifully; subtle and understated, even during the battle scenes; the music drives the narrative at an almost subconscious level, never burdening the action by making bold statements that the onscreen events cannot live up to. Although the first act could live up to the most bombastic of scores, it is to everyone’s credit that once again the story is allowed to be the emotional core of everything on screen.
At its essence, Assembly is the story of one man and his battle with the grief of losing his friends, his guilt because he alone survived, and his fight to have the sacrifice his men made for their country recognised by the state. The performance of Zhang Hanyu as the remorseful Gu Zidi is quite simply astounding - truly one of the most believable portrayals of grief from recent times. Gu Zidi is flawed, driven, and uncompromising, yet it is impossible not to sympathise as his symbolic, one-man struggle against the state literally manifests itself into a struggle against a mountain. Despite his injury ravaged body, Gu Zidi digs his way through years of manmade coal excavation’s as he attempts to find, not only the trapped bodies of his dead comrades, but his own salvation. The fact this is based on a true story makes the action all the more remarkable.
The supporting cast is also excellent, with broadly drawn characters all behaving naturally in impossible conditions. This is refreshing as, unusually for films where the main character struggles against a large organisation, in this case the Chinese state, it is easy to find sympathy with everyone involved, even if the position the state authorities adopt with regards the status of Gu Zidi’s dead comrades seems infuriating.
Assembly is a brilliant piece of filmmaking, as thought provoking and intelligent as it is thrilling and arresting. This is an absolute ‘must-have’ for anyone who loves war movies, and there is much to admire for everyone else. SM
