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Assembly [Blu-ray] [Region

Feng Xiaogang (Director) Rated: Suitable for 15 years and over Format: Blu-ray
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 157 ratings
IMDb7.3/10.0
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Format PAL
Contributor Feng Xiaogang
Language Chinese
Runtime 2 hours and 4 minutes
Colour Colour

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Product description

From the team that brought you the acclaimed 'Brotherhood' comes the epic, record-breaking box office smash. Based on a true story, ASSEMBLY follows one man s journey in search of truth and honour during a Civil War where China saw one of its bloodiest battles. Winter 1948: Captain Guzidi leads an infantry unit consisting of just 46 men on a sniping mission to defend the south bank of the Wen River. Their orders are to fight until the retreat assembly call is charged. That call never comes. After many long hours of defence and with ammunition running out, men are falling hard and fast. The realisation dawns on Guzidi that the call might have been missed in the heat of battle, contributing to the deaths of those under his command. Waking in hospital after a brutal campaign Guzidi believes the last of his men sacrificed themselves during the deadly engagement. But he is shocked to discover they have been deemed missing or worse, deserters. He returns to the site of the battle, determined to prove the existence the 46 heroes he fought with and honour their glorious deaths. Featuring some of the most intense battle scenes ever captured on film, 'Assembly' is a cinematic experience like no other.

Product details

  • Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Rated ‏ : ‎ Suitable for 15 years and over
  • Language ‏ : ‎ Chinese
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.03 x 13.76 x 1.48 cm; 83.16 g
  • Manufacturer reference ‏ : ‎ 5055002553776
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Feng Xiaogang
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ PAL
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 4 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ 5 May 2008
  • Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Metrodome Distribution
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0015DLZXM
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 157 ratings

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4.2 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Adrian J. Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars The best war movie in years, from East or West
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Feng Xiaogang's Assembly has drawn several comparisons, not least of which is Saving Private Ryan. However, due to the cultural vantage point one often views Chinese Cinema through, it should be taken on its own merits as a war movie, rather than the all too common approach of labeling a Chinese movie as "China's answer to..."
    Assembly is a unique war movie that should be appreciated on its own merits. The most immediate comparison, Saving Private Ryan, is not without reason, as the cinematography, choreography, and visual styles are very similar, and both are very bloody, Assembly more so. However, this is where the appropriate comparisons, as far as this reviewer is concerned, end.
    Set during the Chinese Civil War, Assembly is certainly no propaganda piece. No insight is given into the cause of either sides struggle, and the story of Gu Zidi's struggle is taken as the story of a soldier's struggle for the recognition of the sacrifices of himself and his brother's, not with any ideological agenda.
    First of all, the battle scenes are very intense, and easily on a par (if not superior to) the set pieces found in Western Cinema. However, the action set pieces are primarily located in the first half of the movie, as the rest concerns the struggle of Gu Zidi to counter the MIA status incorrectly accorded to his 46 brother's who perished in combat. While the first half is a harrowing war movie, the second half is a moving portrayal of one man's struggle for the recognition of his brother's.
    The cinematography is beautiful, with a contrast between the devastated landscape of the war, and the beautiful landscape of 1950s North East China.
    Assembly is both a harrowing war movie, and a heartfelt story of one man's struggle for recognition. One of the best war movies I have ever seen, and a movie to be approached on its own merits, without the predictable comparisons.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Kindle Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I personally enjoyed might not be everyone,s cup of tea but worth a look
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  • NELMES316
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and thought provoking.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2011
    Verified Purchase
    I have to admit watching this film merely on the strength of its trailer. I was a little worried that it would be full of Chinese propaganda. I needn't have had such concerns. This is one of the most gripping and thought provoking war films I have ever watched. Set during the Chinese Civil War of 1948 and Korean War and after. We follow Captain Gu Zidi, A soldier trying to gain acknowledgment for comrades who died in a massacre he felt he could have prevented. The battle scenes are mind blowing and some of the most brutal I have ever watched. It was interesting to see the point of view of a defending force after so many war films focussed on the attacking side's p.o.v. I suppose it would be easy just to write that this is the Chinese Saving Private Ryan. But the film is much deeper than that. It very much focuses on the relationship among individual soldiers and the brutalities of war. Hanyu Zhang performance as Captain Gu Zidi is outstanding and in my opinion one of the greatest acting performances I have seen recent years. I highly recommend you see this film.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Robo
    4.0 out of 5 stars Gut punch combat and slow, slower and slowest civilian life
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 April 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Assembly is hard to watch, but in a good way. The combat is just so brutal and shocking. Even for jaded eyes that has seen pretty much all the war films worth seeing, the way the fighting happens on the screen will leave the viewer drained. After such a gripping and realistic opening to the film, my attention (and ability to care) was tested as the commander went about trying to find his old squad. This was because some of the scenes were slow and seemed to have been added on to give more length to the film. Whilst I can sort of see what the writer and director was going for, I'm not sure it was really needed.

    The film manages to restore its gut punching ability in the final act though and it's worth soldiering on through the sometimes tedious middle ground. The emotionally charged payoff is well written and brings a sense of closure to the film's arc. Whilst it's very difficult to sympathise with North Koreans from a western point of view, Assembly does a great job of helping the viewer relate to his fellow man. Worth seeing.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Elleppi
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best (war) films in years
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2015
    Verified Purchase
    This is one of the most dramatically compelling and cinematographically amazing films of the last years and a definitive demonstration of Chinese talent in dealing with powerful and great stories with also a higher level of realism and almost poetic intimacy at the same time.
    Their films do not forget characters, personal lives and point of views, and this film in particular reveal a higher sense of duty and state while heavily criticizing the (not just Chinese) oppressing and prevailing role of the official history and collective interest and truth over the real and complex drama of the individual.
    It is a story of justice, redemption and bitterness. Directed and told with a deep and magnificent touch, and exposed on a fantastic blu ray
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Mr. S. E. Davis
    3.0 out of 5 stars mmmmmmmmmm
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Can't argue with the service which was prompt, just the quality of the film. I have been burned by these foreign language films before and i have again. It's no Battle Royale, City of God or City of Life & Death.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another mighty Asian war movie
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Seller 5 stars.
    About the movie ... well if you have seen one or more Asian war movies allready and looking at this I take it you liked the other(s). If you are looking for your first one nothing beats Brotherhood but after that one there is so many that is is a sure buy that you can pick and be very safe getting a very good one. Assembly is among them. It just does what I expect and delivers. Not a rollercoaster with ups and downs but steady from beginning to end. Recommended.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Nguyen B
    1.0 out of 5 stars La piètre qualité du produit
    Reviewed in Canada on 22 September 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Le DVD Assembly vient d'être reçu. Il semble qu'il y a 2 copies de longueurs différentes sur le même DVD, toutes deux de piètre qualité.J'aimerais un remboursement sur l'achat et une adresse pour retourner le DVD, à moins que le vendeur ait une copie en High Definition, ou même en Bluray. Je paierai la différence de prix entre les produits.
    Merci Amazon.ca
    Nguyen
    thpnguyen2010@gmail.com
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  • Guglielmo Lepre
    5.0 out of 5 stars Recensione acquisto
    Reviewed in Italy on 24 April 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Non è male come film ed anche abbastanza ben recitato dagli attori che qui da noi sono perfetti sconosciuti. Il film non è doppiato ma in lingua originale e con sottotitoli in italiano ma si gode comunque abbastanza bene.
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  • Jub Jub
    5.0 out of 5 stars Assembly ( 集結號) movie review
    Reviewed in the United States on 15 November 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Assembly was a movie I discovered by accident when surfing the Youtube one day. I found a music video using the battle scenes from this movie and I was wondering what the heck it was from as the footage looked a lot like the Battle of the Bulge scenes from Band of Brothers but with Chinese or Korean actors. After poking around in the comments and Wikipedia for a little bit, I discovered that Assembly is a Chinese movie made in 2007 and is hailed as one of the best mainland China produced films to date. I found it on Amazon and ordered it. After watching it I can see why it was so critically acclaimed. It has some of the best battle scenes I have seen since Band of Brothers and The Pacific. It has some amazing cinematography and while confusing in the middle, a very well done human element that ties the movie together well at the end.

    The film starts off in 1948 during the Chinese Civil War with PLA Captain Gu Zidi (played by Zhang Hanyu) as his battered company takes a war torn town in the dead of winter. If you've seen Band of Brothers, it will remind you a lot of the Battle of the Bulge episodes. After taking the town with heavy losses, his company, now at only 50% strength, is ordered to hold the Battalion's flank at an old mine near a river bank. He is ordered not to retreat until he hears the bugle call for assembly with the rest of the regiment. After a day of brutal fighting with Chinese Nationalist forces (yes, the good guys in this are the communists), the company has taken heavy losses and cannot hold out but the CO has yet to hear the bugle call so they can not retreat. The film then skips ahead to the Korean War which Gu is now taking part in. He serves as a forward observer and befriends a young artillery officer when he steps on a landmine and manages to save him from it with a pretty neat but suicidal trick. This scene is actually slightly funny as an American tank crew happens upon them however; they are dressed in South Korean uniforms so the Americans think they are friendly. The tank commander walks over to see what they are doing, sees the guy on the landmine and is like `oh shit! Well, that sucks. Good luck with that!' gets back in his tank and drives off. This scene ends with you thinking that Gu dies with the mine going off. The movie then skips forward to the mid 50's after the wars are over and Gu is revealed to still be alive but now blind in one eye from the injury he took from the mine. The officer he saved is now a high ranking officer in the PLA and is offering to help him with work and other needs. Gu then reveals that he was the lone survivor of the company that he commanded during the Civil War and has been living with this guilt since that day. He seeks to find the resting place of his men and to get full honors for his company however; the government is suspicious of what exactly happened to him after the battle and will not recognize him and his men's actions during the war. Driven by outrage and guilt he tries to find where battlefield was, now a fully operation coal mine, and starts digging to find where the bodies of his fallen comrades are. This is where the film gets really depressing as many people dismiss him as a crazy old war vet but let him keep trying to do what he is going to do. After digging day and night, he learns that his company, and himself are finally given the honors they deserved all this time. A memorial is erected at the site and Gu finally has peace.

    The strongest part of this film is the cinematography. Like I said before, the battle scenes are epic, brutal, and realistic. They definitely take cues from movies and series like Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan but it's not only the battle scenes that are well shot. There are beautiful and creative camera angles throughout the film including a beautiful shot of the memorial at the opening and closing of the film. It does climax early though; all the battle scenes are in the first hour of the film and, like most war movies, are the best scenes. The middle of film is kind of confusing as it jumps around the years for a little bit but it does all come together by the end. Like a lot of war films, there are some clichés like the soldiers sneaking on the battlefield to steal things from a dead enemy officer only to get shot by a sniper once finding what he was looking for and little things like that but it doesn't harm anything other than the fact that you can see it coming. The acting is generally very good, especially Zhang Hanyu's star performance. Obviously, this movie is in Mandarin Chinese as it should be. The bluray I have only had subtitles and I don't think it has been dubbed and, well, it shouldn't be.

    One very strong point of the film is that even though it is a patriotic film about China it never loses sight of the human element in this movie. The characters are the main focal point here and what the main character goes through. There are some scenes that probably wouldn't have set too well with the Chinese government had this movie come out a couple decades ago. That said, you might want to go into this movie after doing a little research on the Chinese Civil War and post WWII China as it doesn't give very much context to go by if you're not a Chinese history buff. One thing that caught my eye in the film was the weapons they used. They use a mixture of WWII era British, Russian, and German rifles and machine guns while the Nationalists used mostly American weapons and equipment which is another interesting point to research about the war.

    Overall, I'd say this is a must watch if you are a fan of war movies, Chinese movies, and foreign films. I'm not sure if it's on Netflix or anything like that. I bought it off Amazon for about $17 imported (and that's a good price for an import). While the middle is a bit confusing and you might want to do some research going in, the first hour and ending of the movie is amazing and I gotta say, it is one of the best war movies I've ever seen. I highly recommend it if you can find it.

    Overall: 9/10
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  • Tony
    4.0 out of 5 stars It's Chinese, and as such, a rare insight
    Reviewed in the United States on 8 August 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I’ve only watched the movie once which, knowing me, means I missed many details. Disclaimer, there are spoilers in my review.

    OVERVIEW: The movie was centered around a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) company commander, Captain Gu, who lead a final urban assault against well-prepared National Revolutionary Army (NRA) positions. The PLA appeared to be a reinforced company of ~171 effectives against what appeared to be a weakened company of NRAs, ~100. The PLA company attacked, eventually winning, but was left with only ~47 effectives. Gu loses it over the loss of his political officer, and tries to have his soldiers execute the surrendered NRAs. Most refuse, but he shoots one out of hand. Surprisingly to me, he was punished by his command with 3 days imprisonment in a cell, during which period he befriends another officer, a teacher named Wang, who was in for purported cowardice. Afterward, CPT Gu and his remaining 47 or so men, including his new political officer are assigned to a critical blocking position for the rest of the regiment. Calling 47 men a company is kind of pointless at this time because it’s really only a reinforced platoon in actual strength. In any event, Gu’s orders are to hold the position at any cost unless the bugle call to retreat, i.e. “Assembly,” is given. The PLA company withstands two strong assaults before being overrun in the final assault. Gu is wounded and passively PTSD’d afterward, unable to account for everything that happened, a major problem since the entire company was killed and he was found in a PLA uniform. To escape the shame and accusations, he volunteers with another unit as an enlisted man, and on a Korean War recon mission, helps save the life of the patrol and its company commander. After that, the movie mainly focuses on what is, in effect, Gu’s PTSD influenced obsession with finding the remains of his former company, and ensuring their actions (& his) were properly recorded, this being very difficult because in the confusion of the civil war, organizational changes in the PLA were made that effectively erased his prior command structure, so even his former regimental commander, having lacked radio or other comms with Gu during the battle, had no way to record the circumstances of the “lost company.” Through a series of adventures, the calling on of favors from various sectors, along with flashbacks and obsessive behaviors and losses of temper, about ten years, the lost company is found buried where they were left and, coupled with serendipitous additions by the regimental bugler and a written record found on Wang’s body, Gu and the platoon are finally formally recognized by the PLA in an emotional ceremony held at the newly built memorial.

    GENERAL:

    • I loved the introduction. The music was very appropriate. The image of the bugle reminiscent of much of what I’ve heard was emblematic of the PLA, i.e. the bugle to coordinate attacks and defense in the low tech world, was powerful. The sequence of introductions to the movie, done against canvas background that, as the introductions progressed, grew slowly more blood stained, was also powerfully done without being overdone.
    • The movie was heavily influenced by the novel techniques introduced in Saving Private Ryan, i.e. semi-stuttery combat footage, detailed sound isolation of things that often be buried in bigger sounds, e.g. bullets zinging, high-resolution shots of people getting shot or blown up.
    • The PLA seemed to have a lot more vehicular transportation than I expected, they having been founded by Mao and his famous long marches. Even WWII Germans got around mostly on their feet.
    • The injuries demonstrated were more consistent with those of combat injuries.
    • The equipment variety appeared very detailed, matching what I’ve only read about, e.g. soldiers were equipped with firearms taken from surpluses dating as far back as WWI, with M77, Enfields, Garands, Springfields, M1 Carbines, Sten, Sterling and Schmeissers, Soviet “Burp Guns”, German and French bolt actions, etc.
    • Grenades included the potato mashers and the home-spun Chinese grenades consisting of bamboo and explosive power, and “barrel launchers” with homespun satchel charges were also prominently featured.
    • Uniform details were awesome, giving me a good look at everything from shoes to carrying equipment. The fact the PLA guys took the uniforms from captured/dead NRA soldiers was quite obviously realistic.
    • Comments like “I wonder how much grain this place would hold” and “Only women cause wear patterns on a boot like this” were uniquely insightful as to what was important or observable to the commenters.
    • Gu’s response to the insulting soldiers was funny, reflecting what I imagine to be Chinese values, e.g. “You’re saved by your parents’ good deeds. Go light incense to honor them. Losers!”
    • Food was simple, seemingly consistent with the time. I wondered at the peeling of the boiled(?) potato since most nutrients in a potato are in the skin, something I think rurals would intuit?
    • Was rice not that big a deal in the region? Perhaps not, based on the landscape.
    • Paying families in food in return for the death or loss of a soldier was definitely interesting.

    COMBAT:
    • Like most war movies, soldiers were much more exposed and dynamic than they would ever be in real combat.
    • Gu never issued any worthwhile instructions, being limited to giving orders he shouldn’t have to give, e.g. “keep your distance,” and as such, during the actual attack of the NRA emplacements, when he suddenly showed up with the remainder of the company mobbing behind him, he gave constantly contradicting orders, e.g. saying “Attack,” followed by “Retreat”, followed by another “Attack”, etc. He was “commanding” the entire company by voice in circumstances where his voice would not really be heard, and such contradictory orders would not be heard or followed. I don’t know Chinese rank authority very well, but generally, the company commander must issue his orders and objectives at the outset, and due to the inevitable loss of control that follows, rely on subordinate officers and NCOs to make everything else work. This, along with the illiterate peasant Army the PLA used, accounts for the seemingly mindless human wave attacks that characterized many PLA offensives (and before that, Soviet). The less training and organizational structure you have, the more you simply “mob” the enemy. Against entrenched positions with artillery, automatic weapons, and most of all, a daisy-chain type explosives ambush which indicates in-depth planning., this is usually suicidal, especially with such a small numerical advantage of 1.5 to 1. The attack, as shown, should have resulted in the extinction of Gu’s company.
    • The small unit movements were pretty awful, especially in the city where the fire team moved in a bunch. They looked good, in groups of three with set fields of fire, but were utterly defenseless. A single burst from one of the Bren guns or a couple of grenades would have nailed the entire group.
    • The trenches of the blocking position were very shallow, but perhaps that was due to another unit digging them not having enough time or care?
    • The tanks were externally modified to superficially look like M4 Shermans. Their turrets were non-operational and they were not used well at all. Given the weapons Gu had, a properly conducted tank attack, supported by their infantry, and especially with artillery support, would have wiped out the position immediately. Gu’s single field artillery piece would have been identified and destroyed first, followed by the machine gun positions.
    • Assaulting tanks use their hull machine gun from (inside the tank), which makes them horribly dangerous to troops in the position Gu’s were. The top machine gun is really the last ditch for a tank since that guy is easily killed without having a chance to see who shot him.
    • There were a LOT of crack shots, especially snap shots hitting people right between the eyes…a stretch.
    • Artillery support by the NRA was really weirdly done. The initial bombardment was heavy, but left a massive gap before the infantry followed, nullifying its effectiveness.
    • The combat scenes reflected what I imagine to be the Chinese penchant for choreography, i.e. small detachment movements ranged from realistic looking semi-disorganization to group dances, with impossible synchronization followed by utter disorganization. It was fascinating to see, and clearly made to impress.
    • The tendency for not only regular troops to stop and try and help a wounded soldier in the midst of an active attack, including one where they were trying to bandage the soldier while under fire, seemed way off based on historical accounts and on long-standing military tactics. The fact Captain Gu would constantly do so himself was almost unthinkable, if for no reason than as a Captain, his mind and attention would be on the battle as a whole, and not individuals he has no control over. For obvious reasons, the best way to save your comrades is to defeat the enemy, so unless you’re stuck behind a safe position or otherwise immobile, trying to treat the wounded is not only dangerous, but will make things worse.
    • Gu’s order to evacuate the wounded and even the dead, during the actual firefights, was also inconceivable. It takes at least two-to-four soldiers to move a body, and with only a few soldiers, doing so would make his count of effective “shooters” disappear as well as enemy action could.
    • Gu’s platoon-company was very well equipped with explosives and ammunition, including Molotov’s (fuel bombs) and the like. I’m assuming it was trucked out to them since carrying all that, including food and especially water, would be impossible.
    • I was surprised how important the political officer was to CPT Gu. I thought they were generally despised and feared, as with the Germans and Russians, for often getting in the way and causing trouble. Apparently the PO was valued for his ability to help troops write letters home where, probably similarly illiterate parents, would need another political type to read for them?
    • Gu’s Colonel friend, the former Captain he’d saved from the anti-personnel mine in Korea, was a great friend indeed.
    • The encounter with the American tank patrol was pretty damned neat. I couldn’t ID the tanks themselves, but the blasts of smoke each created was memory-evoking.
    • The Americans’ interaction with the infiltrating Chinese was fun to watch. The Americans weren’t portrayed as they easily might have been, i.e. total assholes, and the few lines they had were cute in that they seemed a bit artificial, as if they were fake Americans! 😊 CPT Gu played it right though.

    GENERAL:

    I was really surprised how valuable and liked the company political officer(s) were. My Chinese friend, who’s grandfather was an officer in that same war, told me that in fact the political officers were greatly liked. The other political/commissar interrogators were also quite polite and accommodating of Gu, beginning with his being interviewed by the officer while he was recovering at the hospital. I’d have expected much more Stalin-like draconian punishments for the slightest perception of irregularity. The way he was treated even when being irrational, e.g. at the coal mine, was incredibly genteel by any standards, i.e. the officer saying “Don’t let him starve. Bring him food and keep him from harm.” Personally, I was intensely moved by how Gu characterized the death of Wang to Wang’s wife, and her expression when she was told he died from a small wound, sans disfigurement or suffering. The cemetery of wooden beams, still with bark on one or more sides, all anonymous, was also powerful, encapsulating to some extent, the comment by Gu’s Colonel friend about their lives being as if “drops in a river.” I was stunned at the tolerance shown to Wang by high level officers when he blew up at the bugler, rather unfairly at that. I also thought the PTSD showed when he agonized over the missing 47. But what about the other ~130 he had lost immediately before? The camera panning away, with an emotional glimpse of the national symbol, the Red Star, was surprising touching for me. It’s amazing how easily symbols can gain power via emotion.

    Considering the cacophony and issues that plague much of China today, I can see where some would look back with fondness or nostalgia to the days where—at the very least—people had a “mission” with clear lines and no choices to confuse them. You either did what you were supposed to or were a traitor. That sort of clarity of purpose can be seductive to the point that all the atrocities that follow such movements are too easily forgotten, the victims remaining anonymous or unrecognized.

    I was glad to buy this movie and watch it. Like very foreign made movie (by my perspective), it was fascinating for the Chinese lenses through which it was created, and it managed to relegate politics to a neutral-beneficial place, focusing on the soldiers and their captain. I was really moved by it, despite being a nit-picky dick about details most movie-goers could care less about.
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  • Orlando L. Blanco
    5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST WAR MOVIE OF ALL TIMES!
    Reviewed in the United States on 30 January 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I ordered this after seeing the reviews here in Amazon. I expected them to be right and I was not disappointed, to say the least. One of the best re-telling of human drama in a wartime setting, and told from a perspective we hardly see, from a Communist. If you love the rawness of Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, and The Pacific, then you'll love this one. One of the most excellent cinematography out there. A great example of human emotions and the struggles of people living in a chaotic world. I cannot stop extolling its virtues.
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