Soldiers' sacrifice

Under a gray sky a bus stops on a bridge and veteran Gu Zidi steps out. He has just returned from the battlefields of the Korean War (1950-53). He is blind in his right eye.

This scene divides Feng Xiaogang's Assembly (Jijie Hao) into two parts, the first of which focuses on war, while the other tells a story of recognition.

Gu is a People's Liberation Army captain, in charge of 47 soldiers. In the winter of 1948, while fighting against Kuomintang forces, his company is ordered to fight until it hears the bugle call to retreat. A dying soldier says he hears the bugle, and is supported by another, but Gu does not hear it. The ill-equipped company fights to the last man.

Two months later, Gu wakes up in an army hospital, unable to confirm his identity. His soldiers have been listed as missing in action. To prove that he really is a soldier, he enlists for the Korean War.

The rest of Gu's life and the film's second half shifts to the veteran's search for recognition for his comrades.

Even Feng admits the two-part structure is difficult to pull off. The bloody battlefield scenes, although authentic and stunning, serve as a counterpoint to the melancholy tone of the second-half.

Variety's Derek Elley says in his review that "it's more the structure of Assembly that works against his (Feng) efforts than any weaknesses in directing the cast."

Feng said he was worried about beginning with the war scenes, but viewers' responses after 20 pre-screenings gave him the confidence to do so.

"They said it was the peacetime drama that moved them. It is an outlet for their emotions after the violence of war," he said.

Feng attaches great importance to the second half. He even cut about 25 minutes of the combat scenes in order to develop the peacetime story more quickly.

In an interview with China Daily, he said it is the second half that reveals what the film's theme is: Sacrifice is immortal.

The theme is rare in Chinese war films, which mostly praise heroes. Soldiers compete to be "first over the top", while mothers feel honored to send their sons to the battlefield, rather than being sad at losing them.

"Facing death, who is not afraid?" said Feng, who is against the traditional characterization of heroes in Chinese war films. "Convincing characters are more important than war scenes," Feng said.

In Assembly, Gu comforts a cowardly soldier who urinates, out of fear, on the battlefield.

"When bullets are flying over your head and bombs exploding between your legs, who isn't scared?" Feng said.

There is no villain in the film and even brave soldiers lie about hearing the sound of the bugle, allowing them to retreat.

"There must be a large group of these people in war," scriptwriter Liu Heng said. "They fear war. Our old war films choose not to mention them, but I think their appearance in the film makes the story authentic.

"There are various heroes. Some are timid. But when they sacrifice for the war, they deserve to be called heroes, too. Every one of us should be prepared for some kind of sacrifice, although it is miserable. I hope viewers discover the essence of this film and feel touched."

His opinion is consistent with Feng's, who said he believes all sacrifice should be respected, whether it is voluntary or forced.

"In traditional war films we have taken it for granted that there should be sacrifice for the nation's larger interests, but this film pays tribute to the individuals who make their sacrifices. This is a big step," film critic Tan Fei said.

(China Daily 12/21/2007 page18)