The highly anticipated epic film “Changjin Hu (The Battle at Lake Changjin)” launched its special early screening in 34 Chinese cities on Saturday to pump up its formal release scheduled on September 30 right ahead of the seven-day National Day holidays.
Some industry observers expected the film to add a much needed boost to box office that has failed to record a robust recovery during the just passed Mid-Autumn break, with many moviegoers expressing their excitement at seeing the depiction of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), a topic which has not received a lot of attention across domestic film and television.
The film will tell a story of how Chinese People’s Volunteers held their ground amid fierce cold and the enemy’s more advanced weaponry, according to released information. It focused on the growth and development of two brothers, played by Wu Jing, director and actor of the Wolf Warrior series and young actor Yi Yangqianxi who starred in Better Days, a work against school bullying.
As of Saturday, pre-sales for the film reached 45 million yuan ($7 million), which “fully reflected our excitement to watch the film,” a moviegoer in Beijing surnamed Liu told the Global Times.
“I tried to book a ticket for Saturday’s special screening but tickets were quickly snapped up,” Liu said.
Another moviegoer Yang is lucky getting a ticket and she did not go to bathroom during the three-hour screening. “I felt the courage of Chinese young warriors who are willing to risk it all to protect our homes and defend our country,” Yang told the Global Times.
Producers of the film told media that in the film, China, war-torn and yet to become a major power, had to face down the world’s most powerful military, but Chinese people are not to be trifled with.
Why Chinese people were willing to fight the bitter war? Just as Chairman Mao’s renowned quote “strike one punch to avoid a hundred punches.”
Many viewers noted one memorable line: we fight all the wars that we have to fight, so that our children and grandchildren will be saved from warfare.
The film was originally scheduled to screen in mid-August but was postponed due to a domestic COVID-19 outbreak that flared up in Nanjing in East China’s Jiangsu and involved multiple other places.
The Battle of Changjin Lake was also an opening piece for the Beijing International Film Festival that was also postponed from August due to the resurgence.
The battle at the Changjin Lake took place in late 1950 and is often viewed as changing the power balance in the Korean Peninsula. The US military’s Regimental Combat Team 31 was wiped out and its flag remains on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in Beijing till today.
Photo: VCG
