The Taking of Tiger Mountain / China / 2014

In the winter of 1946, the Chinese Civil War was in full swing. The great destruction and violence caused by the conflicts made the winter even more difficult. The limited resources that could still be found in villages turned the defenseless peasants into easy targets for the gangs of bandits that emerged after the end of the war with Japan. Such a gang proved to be a very dangerous enemy because it managed to take control of a former Japanese army weapons depot on the top of the “Tiger” mountain and in addition showed signs of pursuing an alliance with the Kuomintang.

Captain (code name / 代号) 203, as Shao Jianbo (少剑波), played by Lin Gengxin (林 更新), is nicknamed, leads a group of about 30 People’s Liberation Army soldiers. Being in a precarious situation in terms of food and ammunition, the chances of surviving the winter in a region controlled by bandits are not very high. Fortunately, they manage to overrun a bandit camp and quench their hunger for a while. The film begins to pick up speed after the arrival of Yang Zirong (played by Zhang Hanyu / 张涵 予) and nurse Bai Ru (Tong Liya / 佟 丽娅).

The group advances towards a village, almost abandoned because of bandit attacks and thefts. Here they manage to set up an operations headquarters to help the villagers defend themselves in the event of a new attack. Yang Zirong assumes a different identity and infiltrates the group of bandits and because he has such well developed abilities of persuasion and self-control he succeeds to go through several tests and dangerous moments. Eventually Captain 203’s soldiers launch an attack with minimal chances of success, which, of course, they carry to the end successfully.

The 2014 Taking of Tiger Mountain (智取威虎山 / zhì qǔ wēi hǔ shān) is based on the book 林海雪原 (Línhǎi xuěyuán) written by Qu Bo (曲波) in 1957 and translated into English as Tracks in the Snowy Forest. .曲波 starts from a real incident in northeast China. Yang Zirong really existed, was born in 1917 and joined the People’s Army in 1945 as a soldier, later becoming a scout and platoon leader. His military career was intense and he quickly gained the recognition of his comrades and superiors. Unfortunately, he did not get to see the end of the civil war because he died in 1947 during a fight with several bandits. Until then, however, he managed to restore order in many places.

智取威虎山 was directed by Tsui Hark (徐克). He is a Chinese director born in Vietnam in 1950 with a rich film experience in Hong Kong, the United States and in recent decades in mainland China also. For this film he received the award for best director in 2016 at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Originally published on florincosma.ro