Xudong Ren's major works

/kloc-in October, Xudong Ren filmed tunnel warfare. In those days, the people in central Hebei used tunnel warfare to fight against the Japanese aggressors, which was truly reappeared on the screen by Xudong Ren, and hundreds of millions of viewers watched the tunnel warfare. Xudong Ren's military education films have also moved from the army to the whole country.

83-year-old Xudong Ren happily told the behind-the-scenes story when he filmed tunnel warfare. From 65438 to 0963, Xudong Ren accepted the task of filming tunnel warfare, directed the writing of scripts, and sent people to the Central Hebei Plain for interviews. However, due to various reasons, until March 1965, after two reviews, the script still did not come out. The leader of the General Staff Department said that if you can't write the script, you can write it yourself. Shooting started on May 20th, and must be completed before the end of the year, which is equivalent to the written commitment of the Military Commission. So, director Chen Bo told Xudong Ren that you can shoot it, and you can shoot it without a script. Didn't you have a script during the war?

Xudong Ren must find a professional screenwriter who was born in Jizhong Plain and knows tunnel warfare. He told him the theme, frame structure and several characters of the play and asked him to write it. But more than 20 days later, when Xudong Ren came back from the shooting place with production and photography, he saw that there was no "tunnel" in a script with more than 30,000 words. Xudong Ren asked the director, how to shoot tunnel warfare without the word "tunnel"? The director had to stop the script. At this moment, the factory director said to Xudong Ren, you can shoot whatever you want. You have the ability to improvise. You have two experiences of digging tunnels and bombing turrets. The script is in your head. At this time, it was April 20th, and there was only one month left to shoot.

At that time, there was a heroic village, Gaoping Village, in Jizhong Plain, which used tunnel warfare to fight against Japanese aggression. Although surrounded by layers of Japanese turrets, it has never been occupied. In less than two years, they successfully counterattacked the enemy five times, and the devils failed again and again. Especially the last time, more than 2000 people came to fight all day, and finally left more than 40 bodies and fled. In Gaoping village, another villager who killed the enemy was awarded the title of "first-class combat hero" by the Jinchaji Military Region. Xudong Ren captured these real and touching anti-enemy deeds of Gaoping Village and wrote them into the tunnel warfare script.

At this time, what is still missing in the script is the authentic facilities of that year. According to the villagers in Gaoping Village, there were disguised and concealed openings in the tunnels in those years, whether it was a cellar or a sweet potato cellar. However, the few tunnels in Jizhong Plain are paved with cement, which has long lost its original appearance. So Xudong Ren still can't imagine what those mysterious hidden passages are like. At the critical moment, General Yang Chengwu sent him a summary of tunnel warfare. This article not only describes the process of the emergence and development of tunnel warfare, but also describes the tunnel facilities in the Central Hebei Plain, such as donkey notches and cooking stoves, which made Xudong Ren excited. He thinks these tunnel facilities are both real and vivid, and they are also rich materials for tunnel warfare scripts. This is what we later saw in the tunnel on the screen, traps, closed wooden boards, gun holes in the corner, exits that can prevent being caught, and hidden openings on the wall kang.

One month before the shooting, Xudong Ren spent a week directly writing the script for this shot, and after reviewing it, he changed it while shooting. Finally, it was officially launched on May 20th, finished shooting in September, and copied at sunrise on February 30th, 65438+65438 in 0966, 10+65438 in 0 years.

He has experienced the battlefield and worked as a combat training staff, so when the actor didn't know how to hide the enemy and had never seen a Japanese soldier wearing big leather shoes walk, shoot and search, Xudong Ren made a demonstration himself.

Real tunnel warfare

1952, Xudong Ren, a fighting hero who participated in Huaihai and Xiangfan campaigns, graduated from Southwest Military and Political University and came to Bayi Film Studio from the Second Field Army where Liu Bocheng was located. From an intermediate commander of the People's Liberation Army in a bloody battlefield to the director of an independent military education film, Xudong Ren has gone through a heroic road just like he bombed turrets and captured prisoners.

I transferred to Bayi Factory, let alone become a director. Just a few years ago, I saw a movie for the first time when I was studying at Nanjing Military and Political University. Xudong Ren recalled that when he first entered the Nanjing cinema, after turning off the lights, he looked around for a shadow and finally saw a "loophole" in the back. He ran to the back and asked people how this shadow came out. Although he didn't understand it at last, his mind was full of mystery about the film. I entered Bayi Factory and began to study film theory, only then did I know some film knowledge that I had never heard of, such as "24 films a second" and "perspective photography". Three months later, Xudong Ren set off with a camera and two mirrors. This is the first time that he and three directors independently filmed the first batch of military education films in Bayi Factory. Because I have experienced the battlefield, worked as a combat training consultant, and became a director for the first time, "Attack of Class" and "Looking for Logic" were successful. Xudong Ren, who knows the military, divided his familiar training movements into several shots, which not only grasped the key points, but also made quick moves. These two films were well received by the Central Military Commission after their release.

After the tunnel warfare was shown, many people felt that the war scenes in the film were very real. This naturally benefited from Xudong Ren's legendary experience in fighting the enemy on the battlefield. He said that during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, I personally arrested a Japanese captain, and I also led soldiers to destroy 120 Japanese with grenades. At present, the actors and soldiers participating in the filming have never experienced war, do not know how to hide the enemy, and have never seen Japanese soldiers wearing big leather shoes walk, shoot or search. So I always make my own demonstrations. Let them know that military films can't be faked. For example, hiding in the trenches can only show two eyes, which is the real military action. Everyone on the set said that the director knew military affairs. ...

Just like commanding the battle on the battlefield, Xudong Ren gave his excellent tunnel warfare, at the same time, he also gave his eternal hero knot.

"Tunnel warfare, tunnel warfare, ambush magic millions ..." "The sun shines and Chairman Mao's thoughts are glittering ..."

Lyrics of tunnel warfare

In addition to the script, even the theme song and lyrics of the episode of Tunnel Warfare were written by Xudong Ren, which is regarded as an amphibious development today.

At 1963, when listening to the old militia telling the story of tunnel warfare, a militia in his 70s couldn't help singing the authentic battle song of Gaoping Village: bury mines, end guns, you drill tunnels, I'll go inside. The commanding heights blocked the street walls and formed a barrage. Although we are plowmen, the devils dare not enter my village again. Xudong Ren immediately recorded every sentence, feeling very encouraged, and made up his mind to write an excellent lyric poem for tunnel warfare. In the process of writing Tunnel Warfare for more than two years, Xudong Ren always insisted on finding and enriching materials that can be used for lyrics in the history of tunnel warfare, and finally completed the manuscript in May 1965.

The film episode "Chairman Mao's Words are in My Heart" comes from a folk song in Jizhong: the sun shines on the earth, Mao Zedong Thought shines with golden light, the sun warms our bodies, and Mao Zedong Thought shines on our hearts. Xudong Ren recalled that I was deeply inspired by the recitation of two old militiamen in Gaoping village, and on the basis of this folk song, I added the lyrics of the second paragraph and the third paragraph. Therefore, these two lyrics were never written out of thin air, but originated from the rich tunnel warfare life practice of the people in central Hebei.

He made China's first military education film with a story. Some people think this is a feat, others say it is nonsense. Tunnel warfare is the biggest highlight of Xudong Ren's life, but before that, he has demonstrated his talents many times.

1955, Xudong Ren made the first military education film with a story, which was the film Border Guard that caused a sensation in Bayi Factory that year.

This military education film, starring the actors of the Public Security Cultural and Art Troupe, not only created a precedent for military films to increase the story and actors' performances, but also had a great response because of its vividness and attraction. At that time, Chen Bo, director of Bayi Factory, specially invited Soviet experts to watch it, which not only affirmed it, but also won the praise of experts. Experts agree that this director is fully qualified to be a feature film director.

But at that time, because movies were new things, some people said that "Border Guard Company" was nonsense. Xudong Ren recalled the scene and said,' I didn't think much. I think as long as the soldiers like it, they can understand. Just like a teacher giving a lecture to a soldier, soldiers need to like it. The purpose of my filming "Frontier Defense Company" is to make the rigid things in military education come alive, and the content is easy to understand, so that the soldiers can sit still and enjoy it, and the educational purpose is achieved. This year, Frontier Defense Company won the first prize of excellent film awarded by the Ministry of Culture, which was later the "China Watch Award". This is the first film of Bayi Factory in 1950s, and it is also the only film that won the government award. Since then, inspired by the domestic military situation, Xudong Ren has successively directed military educational films with storylines, such as Crossing the Sea to Catch Prisoners, Wondering at Wuling Bridge, and Visiting the Underground City. , well received in the army.

Xudong Ren, who saw the missile for the first time in his life, conceived and distributed the camera lens on the spot while learning, and finally said it at once. In the field of military education films in Bayi Film Studio, there is a little-known corner, which is military secret films. As the director of the first generation of military films, Xudong Ren was also the first person to shoot military secret films in Bayi Factory. He recalled that among the secret films he directed, the most impressive thing was to go to the missile camp to shoot secret films, because the success of that shooting was hard-won, and he learned a lot of valuable knowledge.

1960, China People's Liberation Army Air Force successively shot down the U.S.-made U2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane that invaded China's airspace. Xudong Ren accepted the task of making a secret film about it. When the car passed through the layers of strict security facilities and entered the ground-to-air missile battalion, he realized that this time it was a military science and education film in the process of shooting down the U2 plane, and it was a first-class secret military film. At that time, he found it difficult. He doesn't know anything about missiles, so he can only shoot while learning, and he can't rehearse like shooting a general military education film.

So, starting from learning the principle of missiles, Xudong Ren, who saw missiles for the first time in his life, conceived and distributed live photography shots while learning, and finally talked about the current shooting in one go. Recalling this filming, Xudong Ren said that from ignorance to successful completion, it depended on the tenacity of attacking positions to capture prisoners and the kung fu as a military film director. Although it is difficult, it is just like fighting in those days, as long as you win the battle. For a military film director, this is another experience of learning by doing.