[Macho action films have been central to Chinese cinema since 2017, when the runaway success of “Wolf Warrior 2,” an explosion-packed film about a former Chinese special operative fending off Western mercenaries in Africa, made the genre a touchstone for the industry. (Wu Jing, the star of the Wolf Warrior franchise, also plays a leading role in “The Battle at Lake Changjin.”)]
“The American army we are about to
face is the best-equipped in the world,” a Chinese People’s Volunteer Army
commander tells a train car full of fresh-faced men. Later, as they charge into
battle through knee-deep snow, a cry goes up: “Resist American aggression and
aid Korea — protect your home and country!”
In a climate of ascendant
nationalism tinged with anti-American sentiment, it’s easy to see why “The Battle at
Lake Changjin” is a hit in China, where it has capitalized on demand for gory
action movies that celebrate the Chinese Communist Party’s rise.
More than that, strong official
support has made it taboo to strongly criticize the movie. Chinese police
have arrested commentators who questioned the film’s
vainglorious portrayal of a military campaign in which, by official counts,
nearly 200,000 Chinese died, including 4,000 who froze to death at Lake
Changjin.
Set during a pivotal battle between
U.S.-led U.N. forces and the Chinese troops that entered the Korean War to
support North Korea, the epic has broken China’s records for most viewings in a
single day and may be 2021’s top box office earner globally by the end of its
run.
Released Sept.
30, just before China’s National Day, the movie broke $667 million in
ticket sales within two weeks, making it already the fourth-highest-grossing
film of the year worldwide.
That commercial success has been
celebrated by the country’s film industry as evidence that Chinese directors
and studios now match Hollywood in their ability to produce crowd-pleasing,
special-effects-laden action pictures, despite a debate over the movie’s
historical accuracy.
[Chloé
Zhao’s historic Oscar win appears largely censored in China]
With a budget of $200 million and
70,000 extras, directors Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam tell the story of
the battle that helped turn the tide of the war, with liberal use of
slow-motion explosions and long, single-shot fight scenes that show the Chinese
forces eking out a victory despite heavy casualties.
Macho action films have been
central to Chinese cinema since 2017, when the runaway success of “Wolf Warrior
2,” an explosion-packed film about a former Chinese special operative fending
off Western mercenaries in Africa, made the genre a touchstone for the
industry. (Wu Jing, the star of the Wolf Warrior franchise, also plays a
leading role in “The Battle at Lake Changjin.”)
War epics showing the victories of
the People’s Liberation Army have become increasingly common, and studios often
work closely with the government and army to ensure that their films fit with
the official narrative of events.
“The Battle at Lake Changjin” was
commissioned by the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party and
made with support from the central military commission and local governments in
Beijing and Hebei and Liaoning provinces.
Yet, the state-run China
Daily pushed
back against the idea that the movie was any different from American
war movies such as “Pearl Harbor” or “Saving Private Ryan.” On Weibo, China’s
Twitter-like platform, the outlet accused CNN of “smearing” the film by
labeling it propaganda.
The Chinese and North Koreans’
successful campaign to hold off U.S. troops during the Korean War — known in
China as “the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea” — is among the
foundational myths of the People’s Republic. (That fighting began when North
Korean troops invaded the South is rarely mentioned in China’s accounts.)
[China’s
Oscars boycott mixes politics with push to curb Hollywood dominance]
The Chinese soldiers sent by Mao
Zedong across the frozen Yalu River to support North Korea are valorized in
official Communist Party history, and those who died, including Mao’s son Mao
Anying, are considered martyrs.
During the Mao era, the war played
an important role in China’s popular culture, and a number of feature films
about the conflict were made, often emphasizing the bonds between North Korean
and Chinese troops who fought together to further the socialist cause.
The topic later fell out of favor
with Chinese directors as the country opened up its economy, but it has made a
comeback in the past decade. However, unlike films made in the early days of
the People’s Republic, the emphasis of recent features is less about aiding
North Korea and more about resisting the United States, a shift in tone that
scholars suggest reflects Beijing’s growing focus on national security in confrontation with Washington.
Support for the film has become a
matter of national pride, with many of its defenders tapping into anti-American
sentiment by talking about defeating the “imperialists.” DeepFocus, a movie
review blog on the social media platform WeChat, was suspended for 14 days
after it said the film’s theme was “potboiler.”
Over the weekend, Chinese police
arrested a former investigative journalist, Luo Changping, after he made
“insulting comments” deemed likely to have violated Chinese law that makes
slandering martyrs and national heroes a criminal offense. (On Weibo, Luo had
cast doubt on the righteousness of the war and suggested that Chinese soldiers’
blind obedience led them to freeze to death.) A second man was detained for 10
days on similar charges.
Cai Xia, a former scholar at the
Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party turned critic of the
regime, wrote on Twitter that the film’s efforts to incite
enmity for the United States had “unexpectedly triggered an upsurge in seeking
the truth about the Korean War.”
The politically charged debate
underscores the uneasy relationship between Hollywood and China. Less
than a decade ago, American blockbusters regularly dominated the top-10 lists
for Chinese ticket sales. Today, those spots are almost invariably taken by
movies from Chinese studios.
[‘Wolf
Warrior’ strives to make China first with coronavirus vaccine]
China’s box office takings for the
first time overtook North America’s last year, after prolonged theater closures
from the pandemic.
As a result, American studios
often go out of their way to avoid angering the authorities
to pass Beijing’s censors and gain access to the Chinese market. But they must
contend with Chinese filmmakers who are able to cater to the tastes of local
audiences, often working closely with the government to ensure they gain
official support.
The early work of Chen, one of the
film’s co-directors, often explored dark corners of China’s past. His 1993
historical drama “Farewell My Concubine,” set in late republican China through
to the Cultural Revolution, was initially banned in China, despite being a
critical success internationally.
So far, China’s nationalist action
films have been unable to replicate home successes overseas. “Wolf Warrior 2”
was China’s pick for best foreign language film at the 2017 Oscars but did not
secure a nomination. “The Battle at Lake Changjin” has yet to announce an
international release date.
Lyric Li in Seoul and Pei Lin Wu in
Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
Read more:
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