The Battle at Lake Changjin

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This article is about the 2021 Chinese film. For the battle of the Korean War which this film depicts, see Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

The Battle at Lake Changjin
Official movie poster to The Battle at Lake Changjin.png
Theatrical release poster
Traditional長津湖
Simplified长津湖
MandarinChángjīn hú
LiterallyChangjin Lake
Directed byChen Kaige
Tsui Hark
Dante Lam
Written byLan Xiaolong
Huang Jianxin
Produced byYu Dong
Starring
CinematographyPan Luo
Peter Pau
Music byElliot Leung
Zhiyi Wang
Production
companies
Bona Film Group Limited
August First Film Studio
Beijing Dengfeng International Culture Communications Company
Alibaba Pictures
China Film Group Corporation
Huaxia Film Distribution
Shanghai Film Group
Distributed byDistribution Workshop
CMC Pictures
Release dates
  • September 21, 2021 (2021-09-21) (BIFF)
  • September 30, 2021 (2021-09-30) (China)
  • November 11, 2021 (2021-11-11) (Singapore)[1]
Running time
178 minutes
CountryChina
LanguagesMandarin
English
BudgetUS$200 million
Box officeUS$911.6 million[2][3][4]

The Battle at Lake Changjin (Chinese: 长津湖) is a 2021 Chinese war film co-directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam. It was written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin, produced by Yu Dong, and stars Wu Jing and Jackson Yee.[5][6][7]

The Battle at Lake Changjin is the most expensive film ever produced in China to date, with a budget of $200 million.[8] The film's story was commissioned by the publicity department of the Chinese Communist Party and announced as part of the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.[9][10][11][12]

The film has grossed over $911 million at the worldwide box office, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2021;[13] the highest-grossing film in Chinese cinema history;[2][14] and the highest-grossing non-English film.

Premise[]

The film depicts the story of Chinese soldiers forcing American troops to withdraw in a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.[15]

Cast[]

Main[]

  • Wu Jing as Wu Qianli, commander of the 7th Company.
  • Jackson Yee as Wu Wanli, Artillery Platoon soldier of the 7th Company, younger brother of Wu Qianli.

Supporting[]

Production[]

The story of The Battle at Lake Changjin was commissioned by the National Radio and Television Administration, the Central Military Commission and the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, Hebei and Liaoning.[16][17] The film was produced by Polybona Films. The screenplay was written by Lan Xiaolong, who was responsible for the critically acclaimed drama Soldiers Sortie, and Huang Jianxin. In February 2020, it was reported that Andrew Lau had been offered the job of directing the film, but he was hired to direct Chinese Doctors instead; Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam were later hired to direct the film. The Battle at Lake Changjin is one of the most expensive films ever made, with a production budget of over US$200 million.[18]

Shooting began in Beijing on October 25, 2020, and ended on May 25, 2021.[19][20] 70,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers acted as extras.[17]

Most of the film was shot on location in Zhejiang.[21] The scene of the People's Volunteer Army boarding trucks to North Korea was filmed at Meishan railway station in Huzhou.[21] Parts of the scenes were filmed in Lishimen Reservoir.[22]

Music[]

No.TitleLyricsMusicSingerLength
1."The Most Lovely People (最可爱的人)" (Opening theme)Qing YanLiu Zhaolun (Qing Sang)Jane Zhang4:49
2."Heroic Odes (英雄赞歌)" (Ending theme)Gong MuLiu ChiZhuang Yinan, Cai Yutong, Liang Ruiyang, Peng Youxin, Galaxy Youth TV Art Troupe 
3."Canzonet of Yimeng Mountain (沂蒙山小调)" (Interlude)    

Release[]

On July 26, 2021, the producers announced that the film was scheduled for release on August 12, 2021.[23] On August 5, the producers announced that the film was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China.[24]

The film was selected to be the opening film of the 11th Beijing International Film Festival and premiered on September 21, 2021.[25]

The Battle at Lake Changjin was released on 30 September 2021, in China. It was theatrically released in Hong Kong and Macau on November 11.[26] It was released in North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland on November 19, and is scheduled to be released in Australia on December 2.[27][28]

Sequel[]

A sequel is currently under production likely to be entitled "Water Gate Bridge" (Chinese: 水门桥; Pinyin: Shui Men Qiao).[29][30] The movie will be about a maneuver undertaken by the People's Volunteer Army in the same campaign to destroy a bridge that was used by the US forces as part of their withdrawal.[29]

Reception[]

Box office[]

As of January 22, 2022, The Battle at Lake Changjin has earned a total of $911.6 million.[2][3] It is the second-highest-grossing film of 2021 and the highest-grossing film in Chinese history.[14][31] The film earned a total of $82 million in its first two days of release,[18] and reached 1.012 billion yuan ($155.12 million) on October 2.[32] By October 3, it grossed 1.5 billion yuan ($233 million) at the Chinese box office.[33][34] The film earned a total of 2 billion yuan ($310.3 million) in its first five days.[35] On October 6, the film grossed over 3 billion yuan ($465.46 million), becoming the 13th film with a box office of more than 3 billion yuan in China's film history.[36][37]

By the end of its sophomore weekend, it had earned $555.3 million.[38] The film remained atop the Chinese box office for a month, being displaced by No Time to Die during the weekend of October 29–31.[39] It overtook Wolf Warrior 2 on November 24 to become the highest-grossing film in China.[14]

Critical and audience response[]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 25% of 8 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.00/10.[40] Among Chinese ratings sites The movie has received a 9.5 on Maoyan and 7.6 on Douban.[33]

The Global Times, the official tabloid of the Chinese Communist Party, said that "the national feeling displayed in the film echoes the rising public sentiment in safeguarding national interests in front of provocations, which has great implications for today's China-US competition."[5]

Film critic Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood in reviewing the film, said that "Anyone into big-time action cinema on the largest possible screen will more than get their money’s worth, even if the film is simplistic and entirely predictable in its goals, both as action and politics. But it doesn’t matter how big your screen is at home — if you want to see this at all, see it on a really big screen."[41][42] Conversely, Phil Hoad of The Guardian gave the film a two out of five rating, saying the film was that a "sporadically thrilling, historically dubious account of a Korean war standoff, with all the subtlety of a rocket launcher."[43]

Reviewing the movie for Forbes, Scott Mendelson said "It’s arguably no more jingoistic, at least until the final montage, than (offhand) Pearl Harbor or We Were Soldiers." He further described the movie as spectacular with its "copious mass battle sequences and intricate action set pieces" against what was a "pretty dry war picture" and a "generic war actioner" when compared with The Eight Hundred" (2020 movie).[44]

Reviewing the film in The Independent, Louis Chilton wrote that, while it was fair to describe the movie as propaganda, the same criticism should be directed at similar Hollywood movies such as American Sniper or Captain Marvel.[45]

Controversies and inaccuracies[]

The movie has been described as propaganda.[15][46][47][48] The Telegraph described it as an “anti-US propaganda film”, while the BBC wrote that it was “Chinese propaganda”. Stanley Rosen, a political science professor from the University of Southern California, stated that the release and popularity of the film "is definitely related to the ongoing tensions with the US, and has been promoted that way - sometimes indirectly, but still very clearly".[49][50] Sun Hongyun, an associate professor at Beijing Film Academy said that the film was "an extraordinary and perfect collusion of capital and political propaganda."[5]

An article in the New York Times described the film as a government-sponsored movie that appeared to resonate with the Chinese public at a time of tension in the US-China relationship despite "mixed reviews, a torturous running time and technical errors of military history, tapping into nationalistic sentiment that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has nurtured" and underscored the extent to which the Chinese Communist Party was determined to shape popular culture.[5]

After the release of the movie, former Chinese journalist Luo Changping was arrested by police and held on the charge of "infringing the reputation and honour of national martyrs" after multiple police reports were filed over his online post in Sina Weibo, where he posted commentary questioning China’s role in the Korean War, drawing criticism from thousands of social media users.[51][52][15]

The film has been banned in Malaysia, a country where the dissemination of communist ideology is illegal.[53]

Deutsche Welle reported that the film has raised anger in South Korea, with the public calling it "propaganda filled with historical inaccuracies." South Korean former diplomat Ra Jong-yil called the film "nonsense" and "whitewashing" and accused it of attempting to reshape the narrative of events during the Korean War. The reaction has raised the possibility that the film will not be distributed in South Korea.[54]

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ a b c "长津湖". Endata. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  4. ^ "The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
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