The Volunteers: To the War
志愿军 雄兵出击
China, 2023, colour, 2.35:1, 140 mins.
Director: Chen Kaige 陈凯歌.
Rating: 6/10.
Korean War blockbuster, as Chinese troops battle US-led western ones, is a cut above most Mainland flagwavers as it charts a gradual descent into hell.
STORY
China, 1950, summer. As war breaks out in the Korean peninsula between North and South, all 160,000 of the PLA’s 13th Corps are recalled, with old friends re-meeting “to fight another war”. When the US lands troops at Incheon on 15 Sep, Mao Zedong (Tang Guoqiang) has to decide whether to respond by helping the North, especially when US planes cross the Chinese border and bomb Chinese territory. Premier Zhou Enlai (Liu Jin) makes an impassioned speech about resisting US incursions, though he is privately advised by a military scholar, Wu Benzheng (Zhu Yawen) that China lacks the industrial might to take on the US. On 1 Oct, the first anniversary of the PRC, South Korean troops cross the 38th Parallel (the temporary border between North and South) and North Korea formally requests China’s assistance. Mao Zedong finally asks Peng Dehuai (Wang Yanhui), then commander of the Northwest Military Area, to lead a People’s Volunteer Army – PLA troops renamed, so as not to be seen to officially represent China – into North Korea, if necessary. Zhou Enlai meets Stalin to request air support but the Soviet leader says he’s in no position economically to provide any at the moment. On 7 Oct US troops cross the 38th Parallel and Mao Zedong finally decides to send PVA troops across the Yalu river into North Korea to meet the 400,000 advancing UN troops (90% of which are US). Despite the chaotic situation (on both sides) around the Yalu river, Peng Dehuai decides to cross as planned on 19 Oct, and he himself goes behind enemy lines with a small group to get a feel for things. Under orders from Mao Zedong to “win the first battle”, Peng Dehuai orders PVA troops to meet the enemy at Ryangsudong. After tough fighting, US-led troops retreat on 25 Oct. In the fighting Li Moyin (Xin Baiqing), an observer from the Combat Department, is wounded. Also, Peng Dehuai publicly carpets Liang Xingchu (Wang Xiao), commander of the 38th Army, for disregarding orders – though they privately make it up afterwards. On 24 Nov General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the UN troops, announces a major offensive versus the Chinese and promises that US troops will be “home by Christmas”. The Chinese strategically retreat in order to draw US troops out and punch at their centre. But then things start to go wrong, so in late November the Chinese take the initiative to block US troops at Samso-ri. Meanwhile, China sends a delegation, led by Wu Xiuquan (Zhang Songwen), to UN headquarters in New York – the country’s first international appearance under its new official name of the PRC. Wu Xiuquan makes an impassioned speech against US military intervention. Meanwhile, back in Korea, fighting between the PVA and retreating US troops becomes ever more nightmarish, especially in an area known as The Gauntlet.
REVIEW
After taking senior roles in PRC flagwaver My People, My Country 我和我的祖国 (2019) and Korean War blockbuster The Battle at Lake Changjin 长津湖 (2021), and now returning to the same conflict with The Volunteers: To the War 志愿军 雄兵出击, veteran director Chen Kaige 陈凯歌 could easily be seen as stepping back from the front line after some 40 years and devoting himself to approved event pictures. In fact, the biggest surprise about Volunteers, especially as it’s set during the same time-frame as Changjin, is that it’s not a tired re-run of the same conflict with the director just clocking in. Chen has called it his toughest movie to make – and one could well believe his words as the film gradually spirals down, from battle to battle, into a pure vision of hell as China’s so-called People’s Volunteer Army is put through the grinder versus US-led forces. Originally billed as the first film in a trilogy about the PVA, it could end up as a standalone, given box-office takings of “only” RMB790 million so far – good, but nowhere close to the billions hawled in by Changjin. [Final hawl was RMB868 million.]
The script, by Zhang Ke 张珂 (Korean War drama The Sacrifice 金刚川, 2020; political biopic The Pioneer 革命者, 2021) and Lan Xiaolong 兰晓龙 (The Battle at Lake Changjin), initially looks like a routine war movie, following some youngsters as they’re recalled “to fight another war” and the landing of US-led troops at Incheon in Sep 1950 and the bombing of Chinese territory by their planes. As history rolls on, with South Korean troops crossing the 38th Parallel and North Korea requesting assistance from China, Mao Zedong has to decide whether troops from the newly-born, economically fragile PRC can really take on the might of the US military, especially when Stalin tells him he’s in no position to provide air support.
So far the film has run along tried and trusted lines, with historical characters introduced by on-screen titles, lookalike actors for the big roles (e.g. Tang Guoqiang 唐国强 as Mao, Liu Jin 刘劲 as premier Zhou Enlai) and a general air of earnestness. But it’s when Wang Yanhui 王砚辉 appears as Peng Dehuai, then commander of the Northwest Military Area, that the film starts to develop its own character. The respected, incorruptible but ever-so-slightly dull Peng is often moved to the background in historical blockbusters like this but here, for a while, he’s front and centre, brought vividly to life by versatile character actor Wang, 53 (the fugitive property developer in A Cool Fish 无名之辈, 2018; father in Back to the Wharf 风平浪静, 2020).
When US troops cross the 38th Parallel on 7 Oct 1950, Mao finally decides to send PLA troops (re-christened the “PVA”) across the Yalu river and into North Korea to help take on the 400,000 advancing “UN troops” (actually mostly US and South Korean). Peng himself secretly crosses the lines with a small team to gauge the real situation, causing a few heart flutters back in Beijing until he returns. Under orders from Mao to “win the first battle”, Peng kicks arse until his troops do. The tough fighting at Ryangsudong, leading to the US-led troops retreating on 25 Oct, forms a halfway climax to the movie. Thereafter, Peng’s role is lessened as the story fans out to include a large number of leaders and men, with each battle becoming grimmer and grimmer. It’s a clever, and effective, structure, culminating in the hellish battlefield of The Gauntlet as the PVA tries to block the retreat of US troops around Samso-ri in late November.
Given the film’s title, it’s surprising there’s no real discussion of the PVA’s name – invented so that China would not seem to be officially engaging in war with the way-more-industrialised US (itself fighting under the phony flag of the UN). Equally surprising is the film’s far less nuanced portrayal of the Americans than in Changjin River: here they’re all arrogant racists (“Let’s bomb the yellow bastards!” or “They wouldn’t dare kill Americans!”) and in later scenes set at the UN in New York the script contains a strong warning against the US tinkering in China’s backyard, as well as invading other countries, that could have been written yesterday.
The amount of combat footage is prevented from becoming repetitive not only by some inventive shooting but also by the gradual progression from standard battles into much more visceral combat. As elsewhere, the film moves at lightning speed, with tight-as-a-barrel editing by Li Dianshi 李点石 (who cut Chen’s superbly crafted Caught in the Web 搜索, 2012); though specifics are not always clear during fighting, thanks to rapid editing, the general thrust of the action always is. And as in some dialogue sequences, which in other hands would come across a simply corny flag-waving, Chen manages some genuinely inspiring – and moving – moments, such as Wu Xiuquan’s speech at the UN (which actually took place) and Peng’s acceptance of his mission from Mao. The music by Wang Zhiyi 王之一 and Yu Xiaomu 于晓牧, which avoids the usual synths/action wallpaper and often plays against the action, is a big help in creating a broader emotional effect.
Aside from Wang’s terrific performance as the devoted but animated Peng, a few other actors stand out among the sea of male faces containing half the Mainland film industry. Huang Xiaoming 黄晓明 brings a welcome lighter touch to his character of a brave officer with a particularly spectacular demise, while Zhang Youhao 张宥浩 is ditto as a young comms soldier. Wang Xiao 王骁 makes a strong mark as an army commander who stands up to a carpeting by Peng. Among a tiny number of female faces, Zhang Ziyi 章子怡 pops up near the end, in a rare appearance, as a UN simultaneous translator.
Despite taking place at the same time as Changjin, the plot has almost zero overlap with the earlier film. Volunteers shot for a year, from midsummer 2022 to mid-Aug 2023, in northeast China and Beijing. Its Chinese title literally means “The Volunteer Army: Brave Soldiers Go on the Attack”.
CREDITS
Presented by China Film (CN), China Film Creative (Beijing) Film (CN), August First Film Studio (CN), Beijing Rongyou Film & TV Culture Media (CN), Beijing Bona Film Group (CN).
Script: Zhang Ke. Original script: Lan Xiaolong. Photography: Zhao Fei. Aerial photography: Guo Chen. Editing: Li Dianshi. Music: Wang Zhiyi, Yu Xiaomu. Music advice: Guo Sida, Liao Jiawei. Art direction: Lu Wei. Styling: Chen Tongxun. Sound: Wang Danrong. Visual effects: Wang Lei. Car stunts: Zhou Guanzhao. Executive direction: Lin Jie, Chen Feihong, Chu Wenming.
Cast: Tang Guoqiang (Mao Zedong), Wang Yanhui (Peng Dehuai, Northwest Military Area commander), Liu Jin (Zhou Enlai, premier), Xin Baiqing (Li Moyin, observer from Combat Department), Zhang Songwen (Wu Xiuquan, head of mission to UN), Huang Xiaoming (Jiang Chao, 113th Division commander), Zhang Ziyi (Tang Sheng, UN simultaneous interpreter), Zhu Yawen (Wu Benzheng, military scholar), Zhang Zifeng (Li Xiao, member of mission to UN), Wei Daxun (Mao Yanying, Mao Zedong’s eldest son), Xiao Yang (Zhao Annan), Wang Xiao (Liang Xingchu, 38th Army commander), Chen Feiyu (Sun Xing, army scout), Wei Chen (Dai Ruyi, 335th Regiment soldier), Yin Fang (Yang Shaocheng, 335th Division soldier), Zhang Youhao (Yang Sandi, 118th Division soldier, comms), Hai Qing (Lin Qiaozhi, doctor), Wang Chuanjun (Qiao Guanhua, advisor to mission to UN), Lang Yueting (Gong Pusheng, member of mission to UN), Du Chun (Ye Zilong, Mao Zedong’s secretary), Jia Bing (Li Tao), Lin Yongjian (Nie Rongzhen), Wang Wufu (Zhu De, PLA commander), An Rongsheng (Deng Xiaoping), Wang Kaisheng (Deng Hua, 13th Regiment political officer), Guo Xiaofeng (Liu Shaoqi, central government vice-chairman), Guo Xiaodong (Jie Fang, 13th Corps officer), Li Naiwen (Han Xianchu, 13th Corps deputy commander), Nie Yuan (Gong Xuezhi, 13th Corps deputy commander), Tang Zeng (Yang Feng’an, Peng Dehuai’s military secretary), Yuan Wenkang (Zhang Yuhua), Zhao Bo (Deng Yue, 118th Division commander), Li Guangjie (Zhu Yuehua), Li Gan (Chu Chuanyu, 118th Regiment soldier), Zhang Haiyu (Zhang Dahai, 118th Division soldier, comms), Wang Daotie (Chen Ye, 118th Division soldier), Bao Jianfeng (Liu Xiyuan, 38th Army political officer), Ji Huanbo (Yu Jingshan, 113th Division political officer), Wang Naixun (Zhang Zun), Ye He (Huang Sanning), Li Zhuoyang (Yang Chuanyu), Zhu Yilong (Li Xiang), Wen Yiming (Wu Sanyang), Deng Ying (Song Qingling), Su Hao (Sun Biao).
Release: China, 28 Sep 2023.