Introduction to Lin Zexu's Story

Introduction to Lin Zexu's Story | Appreciation | Reflection

8 copies 1959 color film

Produced by China Shanghai Haiyan Film Studio.

Director: Zheng Cenfan Screenplay: Lu Dang Photography: Huang Shaofen Cao Main Actors: Zhao Dan (as Lin Zexu) Deng Nan (as Guan Tianpei) Li Yong (as Deng Tingzhen) Han Fei (as Qi Shan)

abstract

/kloc-During the Daoguang period more than 0/00 years ago, British imperialism coveted China and imported a large amount of opium into China, poisoning thousands of people in China. Aisingiorro Yongning (Daoguang Emperor), the emperor of the Qing Dynasty at that time, felt the consequences were serious, so he appointed officials to ban opium. When Zhang Mu, the minister of military affairs, failed to ban smoking, Daoguang Emperor was angry at Zhang Mu, and appointed Lin Zexu, the leader of the anti-smoking faction at that time, as an imperial envoy to go to Guangdong to ban smoking. Just when Lin Zexu got the order to leave for Guangdong, Zhang Mu, the leader of the anti-smoking opposition, and Qishan, the governor of Zhili, wrote a secret letter to Yu Kun, the inspector of Guangdong Customs in Guangzhou, instructing him to secretly obstruct and destroy it.

Just as Lin Zexu left for Guangzhou on a starry night, Yu Kun, who had already received Fetion, had assigned his subordinate Wu Shaorong to inform British foreign businessman Lin Zexu that he would come to Guangdong to ban smoking. The bigwigs of British businessmen and the leaders of opium dealers ordered the opium ship to leave Haikou, allowing Lin Zexu to arrive in Guangzhou, which was empty.

On the one hand, Lin Zexu, an imperial envoy, raised the imposing manner of banning smoking majestically, on the other hand, he immediately joined forces with patriotic generals of the anti-smoking faction, such as Deng Tingzhen (Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi) and Guan Tianpei (Prefect of Guangzhou Navy). He set out to rectify the dilapidated coastal defense and prepare to fight against the invasion of British imperialism. At the same time, he made unannounced visits, mastered a large number of hard evidence and detained a large number of British opium merchant ships. At this time, the British commercial supervision law in China relied on his special status to secretly act in an attempt to take a large number of opium that had already entered the country for himself. In the face of this enemy, on the one hand, Lin Zexu dealt with the problem of justice and law with the demeanor of a Confucian general, and used justice and righteousness to clarify the intention of the country to ban smoking; On the other hand, guard against the cunning and cruelty of the law of righteousness. In the case that Yifa was still a traitor, Lin Zexu resolutely decided to surround the commercial museum and hand over all opium within three days. Desperate, Yili urged British businessmen to hand over all opium.

1On June 3rd, 839, Lin Zexu held a huge smoke-burning activity in Humen. In the cheers of all, more than 20,000 boxes of opium collected were set on fire. At this point, the ban on smoking has achieved a great victory.

However, the burning of opium can't destroy the ambition of British imperialism to invade China. At the time of being forced to hand over opium, the principle of justice in which a thief never dies has prompted Britain to make a plan for its invasion of China. 1In June of 840, Britain launched the Opium War against China. The British army could not enter Guangzhou under the stubborn resistance of the China army, and attacked Tianjin northward, threatening Beijing. Fearing the British attack, Daoguang listened to the rumor. In the name of Lin Zexu's invalid smoking ban, he changed his position as an imperial envoy and sent Qishan to Guangzhou to handle the surrender. At this point, Guan Tianpei can only fight alone. But outnumbered, after the British captured the fortress, he did not disgrace his mission and drew his sword and killed himself in Humen. Then, Daoguang sent Lin Zexu to Xinjiang. However, the British aggressor troops did not stop there and continued to expand the war of aggression against China, and the war burned from the coast to the mainland. The people of Sanyuanli, Guangzhou, under the leadership of fisherman Kuang Dongshan, fought bravely against the British army.

Distinguish and appreciate

Lin Zexu, a film jointly directed by Zheng He and Cenfan, ranks among the excellent films in China and becomes the first color feature film in China to be released in the United States, with its style of highly summarizing major historical events, meticulously depicting characters and touching on national heritage.

The period before and after the Opium War was a period of great changes in China society. With the first invasion of China by capitalism, great changes have taken place in China society. At that time, there was a struggle between the capitulators headed by Zhang Mu and the anti-smoking faction headed by Lin Zexu, a struggle between the Manchu nationality, the people and the feudal rulers, a struggle between British capitalism and China feudalism ... How to sort out the complicated social contradictions and major historical events in a short film and show them in different ways is undoubtedly a test for Lin Zexu's creators. It is true that some films objectively show less social features and historical events, and subjectively may downplay some social features and historical events, depending on the different objects they represent. However, for shooting a historical film like Lin Zexu, it depends on whether the creator has the ability to highly summarize the momentum of major historical events and accurately express the true atmosphere of history. Obviously, the film "Lin Zexu" firmly grasps the historical figure Lin Zexu, and reveals history and publicizes patriotism through major historical events such as the anti-smoking movement and the anti-British struggle he presided over and influenced. Among many contradictions, the film firmly grasps such a pair of main contradictions: the contradiction between the Chinese nation and foreign invaders has been concentrated and highlighted through the treatment and rendering of film art.

The film Lin Zexu's high generalization of historical events is not limited to the selection and arrangement of historical events formed by many social contradictions at that time, but focuses on deepening the theme of the film while selecting and arranging historical events. In this regard, the film director's adjustment and strengthening of the original script fully illustrates this point. The film Lin Zexu not only reveals that the incompetent Qing Dynasty suppressed the resistance headed by Lin Zexu and bowed to the invaders, but also shows Lin Zexu's historical limitations and tragedies. On the other hand, instead of exaggerating the vigorous anti-British movement of Guangzhou people into a gloomy and desperate tragedy, it artistically shows that although Lin Zexu withdrew from the stage of struggle, the people's anti-British movement did not die out:

Far away on the mountain road, outside the pavilion, Lin Zexu led the horse and watched the thrilling battle in Sanyuanli! Voice-over: The opium imported by foreign invaders not only didn't anesthetize the people, but woke them up! China people's struggle against imperialism and feudalism began on this day! ………)

The British flag is crumbling and gradually disappearing behind the mountain ... heroic people unite on the majestic hill! The flag of Pingying Regiment flutters under the Wan Li sky. ...

In Lin Zexu, we can fully feel the skill of film creators in depicting characters in detail. As far as the whole drama is concerned, there are obviously two clues in the film: one is the people's struggle, and the other is Lin Zexu's ban on smoking and resistance to aggression. From a historical point of view, the people's struggle is the main line, and Lin Zexu can be said to be the secondary line, especially after Lin Zexu was dismissed in the second half of the film. However, judging from the development of the plot, Lin Zexu's anti-smoking and anti-aggression is the main line, and the people's struggle is the secondary line. In Lin Zexu's body, the film creators attach great importance to tying the big political life with the small personal destiny, constructing the plot along the historical process, and seeing through different aspects of Lin Zexu's personality in the development of the plot. In this regard, we can see the whole leopard from Lin Zexu's five appearances in the whole play. In the film, Lin Zexu appeared five times: * * went to the temple, went to Guangzhou, visited the Pearl River privately, hosted a banquet with Yu Kun and inspected Humen. Shang Dian focuses on Lin Zexu's unswerving and loyal minister. Arriving in Guangzhou emphasizes that Lin Zexu is not only an imperial envoy with prestige in all directions, but also a modest gentleman. Private Visit to the Pearl River shows Lin Zexu's childlike heart and approachability to the people. Yu Kun Wine Banquet focuses on Lin Zexu, a politician with keen vision. Inspection of Humen focuses on Lin Zexu as a Confucian general full of strategies. In addition, in this film, the master also arranged a reenactment of "One Day" for Lin Zexu, so that different aspects of Lin Zexu's personality can be displayed in many ways in the life of "One Day". The well-known scene of "the greenhouse slams the teacup angrily, and then sees the banner of' controlling anger' and turns to suppressing anger" is a wonderful example. Lin Zexu not only depicts the positive figures Deng Tingzhen and Guan Tianpei, but also depicts the negative figures such as Yi Fa. When portraying the character Yi Law, the film did not use cartoon techniques, but wrote him devoutly and seriously. For example, in our view, planning the Opium War is extremely shameful, but in the view of justice and law, it is a great contribution to the British Empire. He thinks that planning a war of aggression is a serious matter. Therefore, he will not act like a clown. Describing Yi Fa as pious and serious is by no means beautifying him. Instead, it shows his logic as a reactionary politician. In addition, it also avoids the offsetting effect of Lin Zexu's opponent's simple low energy.

The reason why the film Lin Zexu has strong artistic charm and has attracted the attention of the world film industry is that the film creator fully embodies the nationalization of the film modeling style in this work. In this film, directors often use wide-angle and deep-focus lenses, so that most of the shots in the film have a clear environment, which shows that directors always follow their deliberate pursuit of "scenery" as a part of "emotion" to achieve lyricism and scene blending. For example, in the scene of "Farewell", Deng Tingzhen was sent to Fujian by the Qing court, which was a great loss for Lin Zexu. Lin Zexu watched Deng Tingzhen's boat drifting away by the river. In order to see farther and farther, he ran up the hill and looked out. For this creative intention, the director made the following upgrades and enhancements when shooting:

The 406th mirror wall, which climbs in a winding way, has 100 steps, and goes straight to the top of the cliff like a ladder, overlooking the river. Lin Zexu ran up the steps and ran. ...

There are castles, white clouds and autumn winds on the 407 mirror, and the sky is particularly wide. Lin Zexu's tiny figure (long shot) runs up and down the ridge. He ran to the castle and stopped, overlooking the river-

The 408th Mirror Vision The river is covered with yellow sand, without water, the white sails are drifting away-

The little figure of Lin Zexu in the 409th mirror rushes up again, rushes up ... and rushes to the higher and farther mountain top-

Close-up of No.4 10 Lin Zexu in the mirror, overlooking the river-

No.4 1 1 Mirror Panorama On the winding river, the white sail sinks into the corner and gradually disappears-

Mirror Close-up 4 12 Lin Zexu looked melancholy and burst into tears. At the foot of the mountain, there are golden drums and trumpets practiced by soldiers. Lin Zexu looked back-his disappointment was swept away and he ran down the hill in high spirits. ...

Here, with the excellent artistic accomplishment of China's classical poetry, the director draws inspiration from Li Bai's "Yellow Crane Tower on Yangzhou Biemeng Haoran" and Wang Zhihuan's "Heron Hostel", and turns Li Bai's poem "Alone sails leave the sky, only the Yangtze River is in the sky" into a film language. The artistic conception of "going up a storey still higher, you will broaden your horizons by 300 miles" is produced when we see Lin Zexu rushing to the city wall and climbing to the top of the mountain step by step in the film. In addition, Lin Zexu's reading of Qu Yuan's Li Sao and other modeling languages after his dismissal also fully embodies the strong national charm.