Posted on 11/11/2021 1:33:00 PM PST by sphinx
Chinese distributor CMC Pictures said Wednesday that it will release jingoistic Chinese war film “The Battle at Lake Changjin” in North America next week.
The film is currently the highest grossing title in the world and in China so far in 2021, having already earned RMB5.60 billion ($877 million) in its home market alone. It is currently the second-highest grossing film in China of all time, trailing only slightly behind “Wolf Warrior 2,” which earned RMB5.69 billion ($891 million at today’s exchange rate).
The film will arrive on screens in the U.S. and Canada on Nov. 19, and then Australia on Dec. 2.
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
This is a cultural landmark. I'm not sure a movie like this has ever reached U.S. viewers: a triumphalist film from the enemy perspective celebrating the defeat of U.S. forces in battle. (Ok, ok, any unreconstructed confederates out there stay in your lane on this.)
I have not been able to find any information on how wide a release this will have. It may be a limited release and may disappear without a trace. It would then be a question of which streamer(s) will pick it up. OR: as a culture war topic, this could go to DEFCON 1 overnight. All it would take is for a sufficiently prominent politician or "journalist" -- in full moral relativism, take-down-the-U.S., stand with the emerging global majority mode -- to fumble his response about a ChiCom propaganda piece celebrating a Chinese defeat of the U.S.
What are the odds of someone on The Squad, someone in the democrat leadership, someone on MSNBC, etc., saying something stupid? They should all be give the chance to audition for this role. If we played the game the way the dems do, all of them would be asked about the movie the moment it hits U.S. theaters. I am willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and take AOC to the movies myself, and pay for the popcorn. It wouldn't hurt to ask some Republicans about it as well.
Should that happen, it would be prudent before weighing in to actually have a bit of situational awareness about the film before going off half cocked. It doesn't take much. In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
I have no intention of seeing this in the theaters, nor of paying to watch it at home. When it gets into free streaming territory, I will probably watch it, mainly to see how the politics are handled. Until then, I will rely on reviewers, who I take with a grain of salt.
This film was clearly a big vanity project for God-King Xi, who had it commissioned as part of the celebration for the 100th anniversary of the CCP. By all accounts, it is a crudely propagandistic film, which is alright by me; we've made plenty of those over the years, and other nations are entitled to do the same. But this was a big budget, state sponsored production involving three top Chinese directors and a big name cast. No expense was spared. And of course, the story is presented as a triumph against great odds by the heroic PLA against ruthless American imperialist aggressors. That the Chinese regime would sponsor such a project at this time has obvious political connotations.
Several trailers are available on YouTube. The politics aside, the trailers don't impress me as cinema. That's surprising given the budget and the talent China brought to bear. I know that China has different film conventions, and that's probably part of the story. But I suspect that a big part of the problem is that the film is state sponsored hagiography. All the Chinese characters are noble, selfless, heroic, humble, wanting nothing more in life than to be devoted sons to honored parents, to be faithful to their brothers in arms, and to die for their country. In their spare time, they worship the God King Mao and the glorious, infallible CCP. There aren't many English language reviews yet, but the several I've seen all suggest that the level of crude propaganda caricaturing is over the top. It apparently has all the subtlety of a 1930's Stalinist socialist realism poster.
In the trailers, the battle scenes also seemed off, simply not up to current movie standards. China spent a lot of money on this. From the trailers, it looks like they wasted a lot of it. (Or maybe the funds fattened someone's offshore accounts.) Of course, Hollywood too has some big budget extravaganzas that don't work as planned.
Treasonous propaganda?
They rely on those who saw it will need to see it again an hour later.
Hi.
“Das Boot” is great.
5.56mm
Thanks.
There’s no reason to believe it actually did make as much money in China as they say.
“All Quiet On The Western Front”
What amazes me is that a movie Americans have never heard of has already grossed $891 million, based on the fact its popular (and politically promoted) in China’s massive market.
China may win the propaganda wars based solely on this fact alone.
It also explains why entertainment/cultural businesses the NBA are so willing to whore themselves to maintain at all costs access to the China market and crumbs the CCP will give them.
Tell them to shove it up the yinyang!
Didn’t the ChiComs outnumber the Americans four to one at the Chosin Reservoir?
Hardly a “great victory”
Can’t help laughing watching Downfall now after seeing those Hitler parodies.
China and her people delenda est.
“Brest Fortress” and “Come and See” from Belarus
“Katyń” and “Warsaw 44” from Poland
“Stalingrad” - the German one from 1993.
Breaker Morant
We call that fight the Battle of Chosin Reservoir—or the Frozen Chosin.
You won’t be laughing during the scene with the Goebbels children, I couldn’t watch it.
Frankly, all Chinese films are jingoistic.
The PLAN and other services are always pictured
as helping the people and supported by the people.
I watch a lot of the Russian war movies too, of course there’s propaganda in them, as if Hollywood doesn’t put propaganda in their movies. The “Liberation” series of movies, gives a good overview of the war from the Soviet point of view.
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