Guizi Lai Le is such a powerful movie that really moves me. Jiang wen's great talent to express humanity in film is approved again. (For those who has not seen his debut: In the Heat of the Sun, you really should not miss it. )
I read this movie as a song for humanity. The fate of characters are so dramatic but at the same time so real. Hanaya, Japanese prisoner, after being held and fed by Chinese villagers, is on the edge of being lifted from a Japanese militarism twisted spirit and turning back into a human. However, when he returns to Japanese troops camp, the humanity is ripped off by reality again. Dasan, Chinese peasant, after the villagers being slaughtered and Japanese surrender, turns into a revenging killer of Japanese prisoners and finally end up with being executed as a criminal by Hanaya. The fate of both reveals the weakness of individual in front of the war. The war is a machine and it eats up the humanity.
The acting is great. I heard two Japanese actors don't want to be in the movie when they know the plot. But finally they did a good job in this movie. The performance, the set, the local dialect are all giving an authentic touch. Plus it's full of humor. Highly recommended!
I read this movie as a song for humanity. The fate of characters are so dramatic but at the same time so real. Hanaya, Japanese prisoner, after being held and fed by Chinese villagers, is on the edge of being lifted from a Japanese militarism twisted spirit and turning back into a human. However, when he returns to Japanese troops camp, the humanity is ripped off by reality again. Dasan, Chinese peasant, after the villagers being slaughtered and Japanese surrender, turns into a revenging killer of Japanese prisoners and finally end up with being executed as a criminal by Hanaya. The fate of both reveals the weakness of individual in front of the war. The war is a machine and it eats up the humanity.
The acting is great. I heard two Japanese actors don't want to be in the movie when they know the plot. But finally they did a good job in this movie. The performance, the set, the local dialect are all giving an authentic touch. Plus it's full of humor. Highly recommended!