- English name：China 1911
- Broadcast time：September 23, 2011
- Starring：赵文瑄（Winston Chao）、孙淳、成龙（Jackie Chan）、姜武、黄志忠、李冰冰
- director：张黎、成龙（Jackie Chan）
Introduction
Today, the film we are going to talk about is China 1911 (中国辛亥革命Zhōngguó xīnhài gémìng).In this film Jackie Chan (成龙Chéng Lóng) stars as a soldier who reluctantly takes up arms against the royal family, and Winston Chou (Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet) plays Chinese nationalist hero Sun Yat-sen (孙文Sūn Wén). The trailer feels like a Chinese version of Pearl Harbor, what with all the explosions and blatant flag-waving.
Bernardo Bertolucci told the story of The Last Emperor in 1987, but now Chinese filmmakers are celebrating the 1911 revolution that ended the corrupt Qing Dynasty and ushered China into the modern age from their own perspective.
Story of 1911 Revolution
China, 1907. As she is led through the streets en route to her execution, revolutionary Qiu Jin (Ning Jing) dreams of a fairer China and recalls the struggle of the Tongmenghui (同盟会tóngménghuì) (Chinese Revolutionary Alliance), led by Sun Yat-sen (Winston Chao), to end imperial rule by the Manchu Qing government. In late 1910 Sun — along with Tongmenghui colleagues including Sun’s deputy, the military-trained Huang Xing (黄兴Huáng Xìng), also known as Huang Keqiang (黄克强Huáng Kèqiáng)(Jackie Chan), and his partner Xu Zonghan (徐宗汉Xú Zōnghàn) (Li Bingbing) — meet in Malaysia to plan the Huanghuagang Uprising(黄花岗起义Huánghuāgāng qǐyì) in Guangzhou.
The uprising begins on on 27 April 1911 by attacking the Governor’s Office but fails due to lack of ammunition, leading to the deaths of 72 revolutionaries. On 10 October in Hubei province, the Wuchang Uprising, initiated by disaffected Qing officer Zhang Zhenwu (Jaycee Chan), takes place and other provinces start to secede as a provisional government is formed in Nanjing under Sun. Empress Dowager Longyu (Joan Chen) orders Qing commander-in-chief Yuan Shikai (Sun Chun) to suppress the uprising, leading to a series of bloody battles in central China. Yuan himself is dubious about the need for war as a means of further shoring up the failing Qing dynasty.
In London, Sun persuades the key western powers to no longer agree to a £6 million load to the Qing government. As the fighting rages on, revolutionary army leaders Huang and Li Yuanhong (Jiang Wu) withdraw to the Yangtze River to gather their strength. Finally, after negotiations led by Tang Shaoyi (Xie Gang) and Wu Tingfang (Ye Daying), a republican form of government is agreed on, with 18 provinces declaring themselves in favour of democratic elections. To Yuan’s annoyance, Sun becomes the country’s first elected president; but to everyone’s surprise, Sun agrees to step down and hand over the position to Yuan if the latter can persuade the last Qing ruler, boy emperor Puyi, to abdicate.
Professional evaluation
As a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the film “The Revolution of 1911” not only faithfully reproduces many historical figures in the film, but also deeply portrays the five most milestone battles in the Revolution of 1911 with Huang Xing, Xu Zonghan and others as the core. Its sense of lens and historical substitution is comparable to the classic American war film “Saving Private Ryan”, presenting the grand theme of the Revolution of 1911 to the audience from an all-round dynamic perspective.
If the Revolution of 1911 is a grand epic, then the famous battles such as the Huanghuagang Uprising, the Wuchang Uprising, and the Battle of Yangxia have become heavy and powerful keywords to annotate the “Revolution of 1911”. This time, the film “The Revolution of 1911” depicts these classic battles in great detail, highlighting the unique beauty of war art with lens aesthetics. The narration of the street fighting of the Guangzhou Uprising and the positional battle of the Yangxia Defense War in “The Revolution of 1911” not only represents the highest level of Chinese films in terms of large scenes, but also in some side and detailed parts, such as Huang Xing’s increasingly courageous attitude after facing multiple failed uprisings, and Lin Juemin’s “Letter to My Wife”, which promotes the call for humanity and love in war to the extreme.
From the fierce street fighting of the Guangzhou Uprising to the continuous artillery fire of the Yangxia Defense War, “The Revolution of 1911” connects war with faith and humanity through scenes that are extremely shocking. Director Zhang Li, who was born in photography, demonstrated his expertise in this film. The war scenes that appeared many times in “The Revolution of 1911” showed excellent visual impact. The cruelty of the war scenes played a role in rendering emotions at the action level, which is indispensable in a historical film involving war. In modern movies, the real scenes, accurate props and excellent art are the peripheral foundation of a good movie. Even if the story of “Saving Private Ryan” is touching and unforgettable, it would lack the texture of war without the series of breathtaking visual effects such as beach landing, sniper duel and tank hunting. Therefore, content is important, but form cannot be ignored. In this regard, Zhang Li’s grasp of the scenes in “The Revolution of 1911” can be said to be handy.
While connecting the war scenes with characters, plots and history, director Zhang Li also used a lot of close-up shots to shoot the delicate expressions of the characters before the battle: Lin Juemin ran among the flying sand and rocks with a gun, Yu Peilun rushed to the Qing soldiers at the cost of his life, Huang Xing lay on the battlefield with his ambitions unfulfilled, etc. A series of shots captured the facial expressions of the characters at super close range, allowing the camera to get close to the subject and show the expressions of people in war. Only by creating a huge conflict through vision can the audience be strongly shocked and attracted. What we pursue is the truth of the spirit. ”
Compared with the previous “Towards the Republic”, we can see the changes of Zhang Li. Although the history is still the same history, the director is still the same director, and Yuan Shikai is still the same Sun Chun, but the movie is not a TV series after all. The war and politics in the movie require more powerful and shocking expression methods and more rigorous aesthetic considerations.
