"No one can be left behind": 13-year-old female teacher, Zhang Yimou's "extreme truth"

Among the "Fifth Generation of Chinese Directors" group, Zhang Yimou used his unique way and film narrative to create his own personal film in the film world from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Amazing story. While working with other "fifth generation directors" to create "ethnographic" films, they also created "mythical" miracles for themselves.

During Zhang Yimou’s film career, he was particularly keen on “national stories from a grand perspective” and at the same time summarized the culture and history of our nation through the pinnacle of deep cultural concepts and traditional personality models. In the early films "Red Sorghum", "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Ju Dou", there are shadows of Zhang Yimou's unique thinking. In his unique audio-visual language, symbolism, metaphor and irony, he combined his unique mythological thinking Folklore ritualization. This makes the national films directed by Zhang Yimou take on the color of national fables and leave a good story on the world film stage.

The concept of documentary film was also popularized and accepted by the "Fourth Generation of Chinese Directors". In the 1980s, the fifth generation of directors represented by Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou began to "create Personality, reflection on traditional culture" forcing the documentary nature to fade away. If it weren't for the "Fifth Generation of Chinese" directors, Chinese movies would still be stuck in the "World War II movie" period. It was their combination of academicism and local traditional folk customs that made the movies interesting. In the 1990s, Zhang Yimou once again took up the banner of documentary with "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit", and reached a reconciliation between realism and film aesthetics. The subsequent "No One Left Behind" was extremely realistic and more meaningful in the history of film.

Zhang Yimou experimentally strips away the formal characteristics of the documentary style. All actors in the film are non-professional actors, and their real names and identities are retained. This is an unprecedented reservation and avant-garde exploration in the history of Chinese film. Even before this, Zhang Yimou only selected some non-professional actors. During the filming, in order to achieve a sense of presence, Zhang Yimou recorded at the same time at the filming site. Only a small amount of music and sound were used as the emotional narrative of the film. These expressions, which do not reveal any traces of photography at all, achieve the effect of "returning to simplicity and returning to nature".

This extreme realism was a huge test for the filming of "No One Less", but it also brought about a kind of unskilled technique in filmmaking. The film is adapted from Shi Xiangsheng's non-fiction novel "There is a Sun in the Sky". It is a hypothetical film, and the story in the original book is not completely true. When Zhang Yimou created his works, he was essentially guided by third-person self-narration. He did not restore the story stroke by stroke according to the original work.

Zhang Yimou, who returned to realistic local themes, may have wanted to create a real myth again in reality, but this is still his wishful thinking. In the light and shadow of "national epic" movies with "ethnography" as the main body, Has quietly faded. Although Zhang Yimou tried his best to use this technique to reconstruct movies in "No One Less", when "reality" becomes extreme realism, the documentary nature will be destroyed. This style of pursuing art and expression, in addition to In addition to authenticity, it also leaves the absence of "thought and depth".

Andre Bazin said: "In front of the theme, all techniques tend to eliminate themselves and become almost transparent." The text constructed by literature is direct and straightforward, and it is extremely effective in front of movies. It is easy to lose unlimited imagination space and formal beauty. This also makes when the original literary work is adapted into a movie, the original work is a simple and transparent material, while the movie becomes another form of formless narrative.

In a strict sense, "No One Left Behind" abandons the original work. It is a retelling of emotions and thoughts. It is a film dominated by Zhang Yimou's subjective ideas. Zhang Yimou's contradictory structure and color aesthetics, The film's narrative is also inevitably integrated into the documentary-style narrative of the film.

At the beginning of the story of "No One Left Behind", Zhang Yimou started to focus on the identity of an "eyewitness": a border village in a certain area, a broken house, one teacher, 28 students, In the mixed class where grades 1 to 4 are mixed, the bell sounds for the end of get out of class based on the light and shadow of the pillars on the roof. Even so, they still love life so much and cherish every piece of chalk.

When the only teacher wanted to visit his seriously ill mother, the village chief could only invite one who had just turned 13 to serve as a temporary teacher. This "no one can be left behind" became a Her sacred purpose, but the 11-year-old Zhang Huike also forced her to walk hundreds of miles of mountain roads to find the student who lost his book. Behind the rough and voyeuristic lens, it pointed out that the backwardness of basic education in the mountainous area, " The limitations and worries derived from the huge contrast between "city" and "countryside".

From the strong in the "countryside" to the weak in the "city", Wei Minzhi experienced a lot of confusion, strangeness, and intense loneliness. This also made Wei Minzhi's original practical purpose of getting 50 yuan turn into a noble love and care. A child who needs love and care for herself and love and care for another child is great, but at the same time she is ignorant.

When Wei Minzhi was asked by the TV station "Why did the village students lose their lives?", she could only answer with "their family's shortcomings." Such a simple and sincere answer makes the ignorant fearless. Regarding the role of Wei Minzhi’s character in performances and movies, the famous former Yugoslavian director Emil Kusturica (two-time Palme d’Or winner and chairman of the jury of the 56th Venice Film Festival) also commented: Wei Minzhi in the film The moment it appeared on the television screen was one of the most touching moments in film history, and it alone was enough to move the entire film festival.

Throughout the story of the movie, the audience accompanied Wei Minzhi from the "countryside" to the "city". Although he walked hundreds of miles, this leap was in vain. Wei Minzhi cannot change the gap between the "open, secular, indifferent" city and the "closed, backward, simple" countryside. It can only be filled up by the mainstream groups in the city. Just like at the end of the film, the TV station sent the materials contributed by the mainstream people to Shuiquan Primary School, conveying the caring spirit of the city and the people, which will also make the film closer Balanced mentality.

Although "No One Left Behind" has limitations in its narrative form, clues, and subjectivity, and it is difficult to expand its breadth and depth, it is still an outstanding and representative film.

Zhang Yimou wrote in a letter to the Cannes Film Festival: "No One Left Behind" expresses our love for our children and our concerns about the current status and future of the overall cultural quality of our nation. In the end, after "Raise the Red Lantern" directed by Zhang Yimou won the Silver Lion, "No One Less" finally won the Golden Lion Award in the main competition unit of the 56th Venice Film Festival and the Best of the 22nd Popular Film Hundred Flowers Award. feature film.

Zhang Yimou himself also commented on "No One Can Be Less":

After the film became a huge success at home and abroad, the National Copyright Administration also issued a copyright license for the film "No One Can Be Less". This is the first time that my country has officially protected the copyright issues of domestic films. Many filmmakers and audiences have finally realized that as American film historian Lee Hickel said, "Exciting themes are far more important than stars and genres themselves."

It's a pity that Under the increasingly sophisticated consumerism and entertainment spirit, the "uplifting theme" was eliminated again. The good thing is that with the emergence of "I'm Not the God of Medicine", "The Unknown" and "Wolf Warrior 2", there seem to be more and more such "uplifting themes".

[1] André Bazin: "What is Cinema?", translated by Cui Junyan

[2] Bela Balazs: "Film Aesthetics", He Li Translation

[3] "No One Can Be Less": "Looking for" Structure and Amplifying Character, Jun Bing