Author of this article: Li Xiaotian
"Changjin Lake" and "Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake" both entered the top ten of the Chinese film box office list, the former box office revenue of 5.775 billion, the sequel box office revenue also 4.067 billion, the sum of the two films is close to 10 billion, quite remarkable.
Both films revolve around the "Battle of Changjin Lake" in the Korean War, about the bloody battle of flesh and blood in the ice and snow, which has a profound impact on both China and the United States. China's World War I was so prestige that Americans no longer dared to despise it. The arrogant momentum of the Americans was cut off, and since then they have fallen into a bitter battle, and they no longer dare to speak of victory. As far as the entire Korean War is concerned, it is a war for the founding of the nation for China, and a forgotten war for the United States.
However, when the Chinese version of "Changjin Lake" sold out, the Americans also used their brains and quietly filmed an American version of the "Battle of Changjin Lake", that is, "Loyalty". Hollywood war films have declined in recent years, so this film also features black people as the protagonists to get close to the current "black prestige" movement prevailing in the United States.
After the release of "Loyalty", it also received some nominations and some praise in the Outpost Battle of the Oscars.
What kind of film is "Loyalty"? How did the "Battle of Changjin Lake" unfold in the film?
Let's talk about it.
Compared with the big sale of "Changjin Lake" and "Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake", the splash caused by "Loyalty" as a whole is much smaller. More unfortunately, the black male protagonist of "Loyalty" Jonathan Majors was also caught in a lawsuit because of violent acts, and the agency and brands terminated his contract with him, and the fame accumulated by "Quidi 3" and "Ant-Man 3" was quickly exhausted, and "Loyalty" was greatly implicated and fell into the point of no one, and many people did not know the existence of this piece.
A good "conqueror Kang" quickly fell before reaching the peak of his life.
Talk back to "Loyalty" and the "Battle of Changjin Lake" involved. The historical "Battle of Changjin Lake" spanned from November 27 to December 24, 1950. The film ends on December 3, 1950, because the black protagonist in the story died on that day. Therefore, don't expect to see a panoramic description of the battle through this film.
The "Battle of Changjin Lake" was initiated when the US army landed from Inchon and quickly cut off the war offensive of the North Korean army going south, and crushed the North Korean army, and then quickly moved north, seeing that it was about to occupy the entire territory of Korea. The artillery fire has reached the border between China and North Korea, and the film also shows how the US military blew up the Yalu River Bridge. The photo below is also a group photo of four US generals standing on the Yalu River, and the mountains in the distance belong to China. Therefore, at that time, if China does not send troops again, the iron of North Korea will definitely be finished, and it will not even last for a month.
The entry of Chinese soldiers into North Korea was also sudden, because they did not expect the outbreak of Korean War. At that time, the most elite parts of China were all assembled in the south, preparing to attack Taiwan. Therefore, the first batch of troops to enter Korea had a total of 6 corps, of which the 38th Army, 39th Army and 40th Army were subordinate to the 13th Corps and were the absolute main force. But the other three corps, including the 42nd, 50th and 66th armies, are typical weak brigades, none of which are the main forces of our army. The 42nd Army is a four-field and five-column formed in 1948, which was reorganized from local troops. The 50th Army was a reorganized unit of the Nationalist Army of the Changchun Uprising. The 66th Army did not belong to the Siye at all, but to the troops of the North China Military Region.
The reason why these three weak brigades were allowed to enter Korea was only because these three troops were stationed in the northeast at that time, close to the water tower. It is said that by stationing them in the northeast, according to the plan of the central government, it is intended that the first batch of them will be abolished from the combat establishment and replaced with an agricultural group. Fortunately, after entering Korea, the 42nd military students showed military prestige, and later came to the top, and became one of the absolute main forces of our army. The 50th Army is also impressive, fighting many beautiful battles, the bear has become a hero, and it is no longer a motley national army image that is discriminated against. The 66th Army's record is average, and its presence has always been weak.
It is said that after the volunteers entered Korea, they immediately dealt a heavy blow to the American army and launched the first campaign. As a result, the US military only felt that the flesh hurt for a while, did not care, did not restrain in the slightest, and continued to wave its troops north, vowing to end the Korean War before Christmas on December 25 and return home victoriously for the holidays.
In order to prevent the US military from continuing to move north, and to strike at the US arrogance and weaken the vitality of the US military. The second campaign launched by the Chinese volunteers broke out. Among them, the "Battle of Changjin Lake" is the Eastern Front Battle in the second battle.
On the geographical map of northern Korea, because of the existence of the Gaima Plateau, the northern plain area is divided into two parts: east and west. The Eastern Front Battlefield, because it is located east of the Gaima Plateau, belongs to the Eastern Front Battlefield. Here the U.S. Army is led by the elite of the elite 1st Marine Division, all the way north. After arriving at the area of "Changjin Lake", it is planned to rest for a while, and then launch troops to the west to reach the border between China and North Korea.
The 9th Corps of the Chinese Volunteers was responsible for fighting American forces on the Eastern Front, including the 1st Marine Division. Because the 9th Corps was originally stationed in southern Zhejiang and Fujian, it was originally responsible for liberating Taiwan, but it was temporarily transferred to the northeast and brought directly to eastern Korea as the second group of troops entering Korea without rest. The most pitiful thing is that the winter clothes of the 9th Corps are only solved 1/3, and most of the other soldiers only wear thin southern Chinese winter clothes to enter the icy Korean battlefield. In 1950, it coincided with the extreme cold that had not been encountered in a century, and minus 30 ° was the norm. Therefore, the enemies of the Chinese soldiers are both powerful Americans and extremely cold weather, and the non-combat attrition is very serious.
The Battle of Changjin Lake began on November 27. By November 30, for the first three days, the Americans were basically in a state of siege, saying that every day should not be called the ground is ineffective, they can only resist desperately, and try to break through the encirclement, bent on escaping back to the rear.
On December 1, the 1st Marine Division finally broke through the encirclement of the volunteers and began to flee east, and then south. The 9th Corps rearranged its forces and continued to intercept and attack American troops along the way, continuing to destroy them.
On December 4, the two main regiments of the US 1st Marine Division finally withdrew to the base camp of the US troops in Changjin Lake, and it took them three days to cover 22 kilometers, and they were brutally intercepted and killed by the volunteers one after another, with an average of 300 meters in one hour, and more than 1,500 casualties on the 22-kilometer road.
The story told in "Loyalty" is not actually the battle story of the US 1st Marine Division, but the experience of how the aviation units on the US aircraft carrier set up aircraft to cover the escape of the 1st Marine Division.
Therefore, this American version of the "Changjin Lake War" is actually very incomplete, and it is a very marginalized character and a very marginal story. China's "Changjin Lake" two-part series tells the story of the 7th Company, the core force of the 9th Corps. However, in "Changjin Lake", the target of our army is not the US 1st Marine Division, but another weaker US 7th Division. At that time, in the area of Changjin Lake, the US army was also divided into two roads, one with the 1st Marine Division as the core, west of Changjin Lake; The other road was dominated by the 7th Army Division, east of Changjin Lake, intending to advance east-west and penetrate directly into the Sino-Korean border. The story of "Changjin Lake" tells the story of how our 9th Corps defeated the 7th Division of the Army and eliminated the 31st Regiment (Polar Bear Regiment) in formation.
That is to say, the stories of "Changjin Lake" and "Loyalty" are not completely matched. One in the east of the lake and one in the west of the lake.
According to the narrative in "Loyalty", the "Battle of Changjin Lake" is undoubtedly a defeat for the Chinese army, and the US army won a complete victory. The story in the movie is that the US 1st Marine Division is surrounded by Chinese volunteers, and 1 US army will face the siege of 6 Chinese volunteers, and it cannot be supported, and must be supported by the US Air Force.
Therefore, the US Air Force set off from the aircraft carrier to attack and bomb the officers and men of our 9th Corps who surrounded the 1st Marine Division, turning the US army into victory and crushing the Chinese. It's very magical, it's very sneaky.
At that time, our 9th corps was dominated by infantry, the air force was 0, and the entire airspace belonged completely to the Americans, very passive, and did not even have heavy firepower for air defense. Because on the Eastern Front, across the Gaima Plateau, it was very difficult for Chinese trucks to deliver enough heavy firepower, ammunition, and cotton clothing to the battlefield in time, because the bombing of the US Air Force basically paralyzed land transportation, and logistical problems were extremely difficult.
In this way, with almost no Chinese volunteers' firepower in the air, the US Air Force launched a wanton bombardment of the volunteers. As for the result, the film portrays the Chinese volunteers all retreating and running very embarrassed, and the US army won a complete victory.
In fact, on the battlefield at that time, when the US Air Force bombed, the volunteers not only did not run all over the mountains, but quietly crouched on the ground to avoid the cutting force of aircraft bomb shrapnel. The fighters at the explosion point can't dodge, but the fighters who don't explode can survive to the maximum, and when the US plane passes, they immediately get up and launch a counterattack, so that they won't run around the mountains like in the movie.
The most embarrassing thing about the movie is that although the Chinese volunteers do not have strong firepower to resist the air, only relying on rifles to shoot at the air, the black male protagonist in the film was hit by the volunteers' rifle in the fuel tank and had to choose a forced landing to seek life.
Isn't it very invincible? Isn't it powerful? Isn't it heroic?
How was it shot down just by rifles.
This is not over, after the plane crash-landed on a hill, the black male protagonist was stuck in the plane and could not move.
His wingman teammate, who is also his good friend, saw that he had not been able to get out of the plane. He made a forced landing on his own initiative and landed next to the black plane, trying to rescue him.
This scene looks very sensational and moving, but he is also busy in vain, unable to help him get out of the stuck plane, and hitched a ride on his plane for nothing.
Later, the US military helicopter came, and the rescue team still could not pull Lao Hei out of the plane after the rescue team arrived.
What to do in the end?
Cold mix, throw him there and freeze him alive.
Because at that time the Chinese volunteers were coming, they had to give up the rescue, otherwise they would be completely annihilated.
The story is such a story, extremely simple. This is the fearless revolutionary spirit of the US military.
The male protagonist died too aggrieved, and even the breakup made his girlfriend finally get the news.
If it only talks about Lao Hei's death and how his white comrades saved him, the story is more compact, and maybe the whole movie will be a little better.
But that's not the case.
Not to mention the "Battle of Changjin Lake", even the entire "Korean Campaign" is not covered until 70 minutes later.
Moreover, before the "Battle of Changjin Lake" part, the film also depicts how Lao Hei and his comrades went to bomb the Yalu River Bridge to prevent the Chinese volunteers from continuing to send troops into Korea.
Yes, the broken bridge on the Dandong River today was bombed by Lao Hei and his comrades in the film. When watching the film, he had to greet his mother several times.
In the film, it was also specially portrayed that the first round of bombing did not completely blow up the bridge, and Lao Hei also deliberately flew solo and rode alone into the fierce artillery fire of the Chinese army on the other side of the Yalu River to blow up the bridge deck that was not destroyed. This is also one of the most intense and tense war scenes in the film, but for Chinese audiences, it is very unpleasant to watch. Continue to greet his mother.
But then again. My good man, don't the Americans know that Chinese entering North Korea, a large number of troops walked directly from the ice? It seems that the creators of the song "Heroic and Vigorous Across the Yalu River" have not heard it.
The main role of the existence of the Yalu River Bridge is actually to transport materials, and the logistics role is greater. When the Yalu River Bridge was bombed in "Loyalty", the Yalu River was civilized, and there was only a thin layer of snowflake ground on the riverbank. For the restoration of the real scene, it is too sloppy. Do you dare to say that you respect history?
In other words, the portrayal of the "Korean War" and the "Battle of Changjin Lake" in the entire movie is basically wrong with the donkey's head not to the horse's mouth.
The strangest thing is that there is no front figure of Chinese volunteers in the film, at most the back is holding a gun to hit it.
What is this doing? War films have no enemies, do you shoot a hairy ??
Also, the above is that the whole film does not start until 72 minutes before the Korean War, so what exactly is going on in front?
To put it bluntly, this is not a serious war film at all, but a personal biopic, a black equal rights film. Because, it is a movie adapted from a real person, which is to talk about this person.
The so-called "loyalty" also means that although this old black bears the burden of humiliation and withstands the pressure of racial discrimination, he still has a loyal heart for the country, although he died a thousand times without regret. So, it's very American, and it's very ugly.
The entire film tells the whole process of Jesse Brown, a black man, from joining the army to his death. For more than an hour in the film, he talked about how he trained, how he lived, how he faced white racial discrimination, and so on, and so on. As for friendship and the like, they are all additions that are not much to see.
Then after entering the Korean War, the pace was a little faster, but overall it was still ordinary and there was nothing to see.
It's really a hellish American version of the Battle of Changjin Lake.