White language: Mandarin Chinese.

Color: black and white

Mixed: mono

Production Company: China Film Studio.

Plot:

During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, a group of Japanese prisoners of war were held in the prisoner's shelter in Aibo Village, Chongqing. Gao Qiao's Saburo went to enlist in the war of aggression against China, and Captain Yamamoto tried his best to vilify China in the training of recruits. Soon, both of them were captured by anti-Japanese guerrillas. In the shelter, Gao Qiao felt the leniency of the Japanese atrocities accused by the China government and the people of China, and gradually realized that he began to participate in the rehearsal of the anti-war drama "Light of East Asia" organized by the shelter. Captain Yamamoto is very stubborn, and his younger brother Jiro Yamamoto tries his best to persuade him. The Women's Task Force of the Political Department organized a conscription performance in cold clothes. Yamamoto finally repented when he thought that he was forced to be separated from his wife because of the war, and actively participated in the propaganda work against the Japanese invasion of China. Shanghai is the cradle of He Feiguang's movies, and Chongqing is his movie building. It was in the late 1930s, when He Feiguang first went to Wuhan and then to Chongqing, and became the basic actor of "Film Unit". He and Shi Dongshan, Sun Yu, Yuan Congmei, Tang Yu, Ma and other seven or eight people live in the "film stock dormitory". This year, He Feiguang made several anti-Japanese war films, such as "Defending Our Country" and "Soul of Passion", all of which played Japanese: ronin, spy, officer and soldier ... His pure and fluent Japanese frequently appeared, hoping that the audience would deepen their hatred of the Japanese aggressors through his performances. 1940 during the spring festival, the Japanese anti-war alliance in China organized an anti-war propaganda performance for the awakened Japanese prisoners, and visited the China manufacturing system and attended a tea party, with He Feiguang as the translator. The experiences of these Japanese prisoners of war are fascinating. Liuli, an actor in China System, said, "If the stories of those prisoners are made into movies, asking them to play themselves and put forward their own views will definitely contribute to War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression." He Feiguang realized that this was an excellent idea and immediately had an impulse to create. He came to a village a few miles away from the city, where there was a neat row of bungalows with many red and green Japanese slogans on the walls and trunks. This is the second prisoner of war shelter in history-Aibo Village. He lived with prisoners of war for more than 40 days, got in close contact with them and collected more vivid and touching materials. These prisoners of war used to be sewing workers, shoemakers, sailors and students. A Japanese soldier named Jiro Matsumoto was seriously injured. Although China medical staff tried their best to rescue them, they were still ineffective because of excessive bleeding. Before he died, he asked former Japanese captain Yamamoto to tell his mother: "The amulet of' Thousand Needles' that I carried with me didn't work, but I will take it to the underworld to protect my soul ..." He Feiguang conceived a script based on the materials he had: After Japanese imperialism launched the war of aggression against China, Gao Qiao's Saburo, Nakamura and other recruits were enlisted and transferred to Sasaki's army. Captain Yamamoto lectured them, saying that China's army had no resistance, and told them never to be captured by China's army, otherwise their lives would be hard to protect. Soon, the recruits, led by Captain Yamamoto, took a steamboat from Hankou to Jiujiang battlefield. On the way, they were all captured by guerrillas and finally sent to Aibo village, a prisoner shelter in the rear area of our country. Jiro Yamamoto, the younger brother of Jiro Yamamoto, who had already transformed here, recognized his brother with surprise, but he thought it was a shame for the soldiers to meet the two brothers here. After studying and reforming, most prisoners of war were moved by China's lenient policy and realized who was the real enemy in this war and what was the real "light of East Asia". Only Yamamoto's thoughts have not changed much and his mood is low. In a public performance of women's group recruiting warm clothes, prisoners of war performed their own soap opera "Light of East Asia". Before the performance, Yamamoto received a letter from home and was deeply moved. The performance has begun. When a Japanese soldier was entangled with a comfort woman, Yamamoto suddenly had the illusion that his wife and daughter lived alone in Japan. He forgot to punch the role-player on the stage. Yohji yamamoto's "fake play" won warm applause from the audience. Soon, driven by conscience and sense of justice, Yamamoto and his comrades resolutely embarked on the journey of anti-war propaganda against Japan ... The ingenious "Light of East Asia" performed by Japanese prisoners was also used as the title of this film. The leadership of China People is very interested in the script written by He Feiguang. They feel that as a novice director, his previous work "Protect Hometown" shows his talent as a director, although there are some shortcomings. Light of East Asia is listed as the first film made in China 1940. He Feiguang decided to shoot with the documentary style that he admired most and was most in line with the actual situation of the film. He wants to seconde Japanese prisoners of war to the Second Prisoner's Shelter under the jurisdiction of the Political Department of the Central Military Commission, so that they can play their own personal experiences, and even use their own names with Japanese subtitles; Moreover, in the scene of the Japanese prisoner of war shelter, the Japanese military uniforms were seized from the front line, and the props did not need to be handled ... This was both economical and realistic. He is excited about his creativity, but some people think that equipping these prisoners with weapons to perform is tantamount to giving freedom, which is very dangerous. However, He Feiguang decided to "take a risk", because only by letting the prisoner play the prisoner can the film produce the greatest realism and persuasiveness. After 38 days of experience and investigation in the bomb shelter, He Feiguang selected more than a dozen prisoners of war, including Yamamoto Xunjin, Shangjing, Gao Qiao and Gao Qiao Chengxiong. , good conduct, reliable thinking, and told them that the film "Light of East Asia" was made to promote the idea that the Chinese and Japanese people must unite to overthrow Japanese militarism and war criminals, thus welcoming the real light of East Asia. And declared that shooting this film is entirely voluntary and will never be forced. The selected Japanese prisoners of war are contradictory. After a week of ideological struggle, they expressed their willingness to participate in filming. Shen Qiyu, a literary giant and deputy director of the shelter, was also chosen to play the director of the shelter in the film. Under his leadership, Japanese prisoners of war actors moved into the dormitory made in China. If a stubborn prisoner wants to have emotional work for several months, he must first make his feelings uncomfortable; To make them feel relaxed, we must first make their daily actions a little more free. But they can move freely, and in this inevitably complicated environment, they may be tempted to abscond. Otherwise, we are afraid that they will rebel and endanger our lives and property without fully understanding the road of justice.

These are indeed serious problems worthy of attention. Fortunately, after studying in Tokyo for more than a year, I have a little experience of Japanese shortness of breath, loyalty, evil spirits, righteousness, lewdness and abstinence. Personally, I think that if we use good methods, there will generally be no danger, although it will be very troublesome. I think we should be patient if we want to push our work to the predetermined goal. Especially in today's China, without great heart and perseverance, you will accomplish nothing! On this occasion, the "Light of East Asia" film crew was formally established. Besides prisoners of war actors, China actors include Wang Jue, Zheng, Dai Hao, Yang Wei, Zhu Mingxian, Zhu Jiati and Zhang Ruifang. Thousands of China army soldiers and several planes were also transferred to take part in the filming. He Feiguang had another actor addiction and played a timid Japanese recruit, which was dubbed by everyone as "confusing the real with the fake". According to the plan, all the prisoners of war actors in "Light of East Asia" put on makeup like the characters in the play and marched in the streets on the Spring Festival and Labor Day to publicize the war of resistance and raise money for the front. When they wear familiar military uniforms, hats, shoes, rifles, sabers and other weapons, their expressions are very complicated. He Feiguang's shirt was soaked with cold sweat, because the rifles they carried were not loaded, but they had bayonets and sabers on them, and they were extremely afraid of accidents. Until the end of the parade, everything was safe and disarmed. He Feiguang's heart finally fell to the ground, and he was deeply relieved. Then he was secretly glad that this parade was equivalent to an audition for his filming, which proved that safety can be guaranteed. The shooting of Light in East Asia has attracted great attention at home and abroad. There was an endless stream of tourists on the spot, but it angered the Japanese aggressors. Those militarists regard being captured as a violation of the Bushido spirit of "success or death", what's more, those prisoners of war actually participated in the filming of the anti-Japanese war and used their own experiences to publicize the war of aggression. On the one hand, the Japanese side created a public opinion that "the Japanese army has no prisoners" and "the captured soldiers in the film are all played by Japanese students studying in China" ... At the same time, they tried their best to obstruct the filming, sent a 12 bomber, and the studio and photographic equipment used to shoot "Light of East Asia" were blown up, and two set members were killed. Captain Yamamoto, the leading prisoner of war, died suddenly, and his throat was in an acute strip ulceration, which looked like poisoning. It is speculated that this was done by Japanese agents. Coupled with budget overruns, lack of films and other reasons, the filming of Light in East Asia almost died, and Japanese prisoners of war had to be temporarily sent back to the shelter. Later, with the help of Zou Renzhi, director of the prisoner's shelter, He Feiguang found a prisoner of war who looked similar to Yamamoto's sudden death and asked him to replace Yamamoto. "Light of East Asia" was restarted, but two prisoners of war escaped on location when others were unprepared. In Wanxian, not far from Chongqing, they were recaptured and brought back to the shelter. He Feiguang chose two more prisoners of war to replace the escapees. 194 1 On the eve of New Year's Eve, Light of East Asia, which took eight months to produce, was grandly premiered at Chongqing Guotai Theatre, with an unprecedented scale. The magnificent music played by the military band resounded through the mountain city and shocked people. The representative of Japanese prisoners of war, who played an important role in the film, said: "We were inexplicably involved in the whirlpool of war, and I don't know why we came to China ..." Another Japanese anti-war representative said: "We were drafted into the army and came to China, but our families were still accompanied by hunger and death in China. We are very happy that we were reborn and saw the real light in East Asia." The next day, Chongqing Xinhua Daily made a detailed report and published a short comment on Great Love, calling the light of East Asia "the sword of justice". This documentary film is 30 minutes long, and the biggest feature is that all the Japanese prisoners in the film are played by real Japanese prisoners on the 29th. The main content of the film is about the experience and awakening of Japanese prisoners of war, so that they can be interviewed by reporters and reflect on the war of aggression. At the end of the film, the awakened prisoners of war took part in the propaganda work against the enemy. This film reveals that the Japanese war of aggression against China not only brought great disaster to China, but also brought great pain to the Japanese people. Light of East Asia, a series of events since the shooting, has undoubtedly produced a very sensational effect, which is incomparable to any other film during the Anti-Japanese War, greatly increasing the interest of curious audiences, so the box office is far ahead. The unique documentary effect created by He Feiguang was unprecedented in the world at that time, comparable to the Italian neo-realistic masterpiece Rome, an unguarded city, which came out five years later, but the Light of East Asia went further, and even a series of main characters were real names. One of the long shots showing the inside of the prisoner's dormitory is very distinctive. The camera moves horizontally first, then vertically, showing the spacious dormitory, rows of neat beds and prisoners of war living in them to the audience. The visual effect is very good, showing the demeanor of a photographer. In addition, the film music created by composer Xu Ruhui adds color to East Asia, making this anti-Japanese war blockbuster reach the international standard completely. He Feiguang later explained the reason for this treatment: "At that time, many people, especially the international community, did not believe that China would capture so many Japanese soldiers; Japanese public opinion also said that China exaggerated the propaganda. So I want to take a complete panorama to prove its authenticity. " Reality is the advantage of this film. The real-life shooting of Chongqing prisoner of war Ai Cun and the appearance of Japanese prisoners of war made this film very convincing and played a good propaganda role in the critical period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Briggs, the American ambassador to China in Chongqing, is also skeptical about Japanese prisoners of war participating in anti-war film performances. He believes that the Japanese army worships the spirit of Bushido, and because of their paranoia and narrow theory of success or failure, even prisoners will not promote the enemy. But when he finished watching Light in East Asia and confirmed the prisoner status of those "actors", he even called it a miracle in the history of world movies!