# Wan Zhong (1986)

### reviewed by
Thomas E. Billings

                                EVENING BELL
                      A film review by Thomas E. Billings
                       Copyright 1989 Thomas E. Billings

Screened at its U.S. premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival (March 18, 1989).

Synopsis: In China, shortly after Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, a small group of Chinese soldiers encounter a large group of starving Japanese soldiers hiding in a remote cave. The Japanese don't know that the war is over, and a standoff ensues. Very intense war drama.

China (Mandarin with English subtitles), 1987 (released 1989), color, 90 minutes

    Director: Wu Zinui
    Production Company: August First Film Studio
    Screenplay: Wu Zinui, Wang Yifei

This rather intense film was produced in 1987, but it was not released until this year, as it was initially banned by the Chinese government for its "sympathetic" treatment of China's "enemies". The film was extensively edited to produce the current released version. The director's third film, DOVE TREE, which deals with the China-Vietnam war, is still banned for its "sympathetic" treatment of the Vietnamese!

What is meant by "sympathetic" treatment is that this film portrays Japanese soldiers as human beings, not monsters. However, the horror of war is amply illustrated in this film, which includes a lot of extreme violence.

The film opens with the mass suicide of a large group of Japanese soldiers (they are committing suicide because Japan was defeated in the war). This sets the tone for this very tense film. The film moves on to show a group of five weary Chinese soldiers searching a devastated (bombed) rural area. They move from one horror to the next: piles of dead Japanese soldiers, then stop to disarm a bomb found by a farmer, and so on.

They encounter an injured Japanese soldier while searching some ruins. After they give him food and water, he leads them to a remote cave in the mountains where there are 32 starving Japanese soldiers. However, there are some complications. The cave is a well-defended armory, and they have unlimited weapons (they have guns but no food). Also, they were cut off from outside contact, and do not know that the war is over. There follows a tense standoff, as the Chinese soldiers try to convince the Japanese to surrender.

The film depicts both sides as human beings; no propaganda or cliches here. It makes the point that despite the insanity of war, the warring parties can rise above the horror and treat each other as people rather than shooting targets.

The photography is excellent here, and includes much of the beautiful landscape photography that characterized another recent film from China, FAR FROM WAR. The acting is very good; you can see them struggle with the tension of the situation they are in.

Overall evaluation: very good. Note however, the film is very intense and includes considerable violence.

Reviewer: Thomas E. Billings; Department of Statistics University of California, Berkeley Reviewer contact: teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU

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