Hu Ge Shows Grittiness of War in “49 Days of Sacrifice”
Mainland Chinese actor Hu Ge (胡歌) will appear as a young army officer in 49 Days of Sacrifice <四十九日•祭>, the TV drama adaptation of writer Yan Geling (嚴歌苓)’s novel, 13 Flowers of Nanjing <金陵十三釵>. 49 Days of Sacrifice, which tells of the atrocities and horrors committed during the Nanjing Massacre, will be Hunan Satellite TV’s first series on the topic.
Like the 2011 movie The Flowers of War <金陵十三釵>, which was directed by Zhang Yimou (張藝謀) and also based on Yan’s novel, 49 Days of Sacrifice is set in 1937, after Nanjing was invaded by Japanese troops. In order to escape the Japanese, a group of Chinese schoolgirls flee to a Roman Catholic cathedral. There, they encounter a group of prostitutes, sparking a tragic story that reflects the meaning of life and the redemption of humanity in the midst of dire straits.
Although the screenplay of 49 Days of Sacrifice will be written by Yan, the drama’s title is markedly different. When asked about this, director Zhang Li (張黎) responded, “We know that the Nanjing Massacre lasted 42 days. Our script begins a week before the Massacre begins, so when you add that up, it equals 49 days. This also happens to be the number of days that a spirit of a Chinese person is in transition after [that person] passes away.”
Mainland Chinese actress Song Jia (宋佳) will take on the role of the female lead, prostitute Yu Mo, who was portrayed by rising star Ni Ni (倪妮) in the film version. Mainland Chinese actor Zhang Jiayi (張嘉譯) will portray the cathedral’s priest, who is also the drama’s male lead. Schoolgirl Meng Shujuan will be played by Nanjing-born actress Zhang Xinyi (張歆怡), who played the same character in the movie.
Despite being the most touted name in the cast, Hu Ge does not have the lead role. Instead, he will play Dai Tao, a young officer who sacrifices himself to save the schoolgirls in the cathedral. The role corresponds to that of Major Li in the movie.
49 Days of Sacrifice filmed in various locations in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Beijing, including the cathedral and the village of Shijiao, both of which were used as filming locations in the movie as well. The drama, whose total investments surpassed 100 million yuan, will be 42 episodes long and is expected to air this year.
Sources: Hunantv.com, CQnews.net
This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.
It’s nice to see Hu Ge branching out into such a serious role, but how I wish he could’ve gotten a bigger role. :/ I’ll think about watching this.
I miss watching Hu Ge on screen. Hopefully, Damo Yao will be aired soon. I love his character as Meng Jiu.
i love hu ge. he is a really good actor
Hes finally on-screen again…I’ve been wondering where he been…
I’m going to watch this for him even though hes not the lead…
DO NOT support bullsh*t revisionist history/exaggerated retellings of historical events the Chinese film industry dishes out. It’s stupid and petty and each film is usually sponsored and supported by the Chinese government.
Every conflict that China enters with another country can be matched and exceeded by conflict they have with themselves.
Nanjing Massacre -> 250k~300k
Chinese Civil War against the KMT -> 8 million
June 4th massacre: 3~4k in one day
WWII famine (Subject of “Back to 1942”): 1 million
Great Chinese Famine due to the Great Leap Forwar….no, I mean, the “Three years of great difficulty” (三年困難時期): 30-45mil
Look, yes, the Japanese did something horrible back then, but it is all in the past. There’s a new generation of people for both countries, there’s no need to drag this on any further by making more of these films because all it does is spread anti-Japanese sentiment.
And what does this lead to? Idiot hooligan civilians burning down JUSCOs on Chinese soil, dragging Chinese people out of Japanese cars and crippling them, and other stupid rubbish.
Comeon guys, responsible film-making. Let’s not use film as weapons of propaganda, we’re beyond that.
I absolutely disagree with you only because you gave a skewed reason for wanting to stop making such films/series.
By your reasoning, there should no longer be any movies about WWII, Nazis, Germans, or of any atrocities just because presently the citizens of the very same victimised country are hooligans and unreasonable people. If you can forgive the past conduct for the present generation, why not differentiate between present generation and the past generation?
Certain things must be told and told right. These movies or series will never do justice to the injustice suffered by the older generations in the hands of the past oppressor and some never saw justice anywhere. Movie is the only medium to remind us all of their sordid past not to incite any anti japanese sentiment or as weapons of propaganda but rather so that new generations such as yourself does not become so desensitized that you can’t even understand why such subject must never be a taboo. Ever.
Japan has yet to fully and truly apologise for what happened. Look at Germany and why they could move forward and even banned any reference to Nazism? Japan did not even ban that flag I believe. This is not to say it is anti Japanese. It is merely a fact. And I do know how to differentiate between the past acts by past generation and present acts by present generation.
So I condemn the imperial army’s actions in the past and I certainly condemn the Chinese actions today. That doesn’t mean each negate the other’s current, past, future evaluations of their actions.
“the Japanese did something horrible back then”
Differentiate between something horrible with truly inhuman because that’s how I see all those rapes, killings, massacres, etc which were not in the name of self defence.
I note the numbers of self inflicted injury so to speak in own country but even if a nation starved its own people of food, it does not negate the fact that a foreign oppressor killed XX numbers of people of that nation. Each to its own in history.
The Chinese govt. is pretending it’s poop doesn’t stink by banning any criticisms of it’s own structural and political failures. It’s hypocrisy at the very least, and brainwashing if we delve further into this issue.
>If you can forgive the past conduct for the present generation, why not differentiate between present generation and the past generation?
I know the difference, but mainland Chinese people who don’t freely have access to information that most countries do can’t think for themselves due to censorship. As a result, they’re presented only one side of history.
>I note the numbers of self inflicted injury so to speak in own country but even if a nation starved its own people of food, it does not negate the fact that a foreign oppressor killed XX numbers of people of that nation.
Don’t you understand? Their central theme is wartime atrocities. The Imperial Japanese army as the aggressors are depicted as undisputed, above-all monsters of humanity. Is this true? Well, no. 8 million people died in the Chinese Civil War. Entire families snuffed out, acquaintances, even people who were suspected of supporting the KMT were killed without proof.
But let’s not debate whether or not Japan’s invasion on China did more damage than it’s own self-inflicted failures. The crux of it is this: the old saying that “two wrongs don’t make a right” doesn’t apply here since in the eyes of the mainland audience there is only “one wrong”. Thus, you’re not really making a movie to warn against the atrocities of war, rather than to antagonize the Japanese and brainwash your audience when there’s no real point of reference for them to truly form their own opinions on war.
“Don’t you understand? Their central theme is wartime atrocities. The Imperial Japanese army as the aggressors are depicted as undisputed, above-all monsters of humanity. Is this true? ”
Errr.. true? Because that was what happened. Have you seen the pictures? The numbers? Let’s not bundle own atrocities with atrocities done to others and atrocities done to them. Each on its own “merit” in history. Whatever the hypocrisy, whatever depicted on screen, even if more slanted towards propaganda and nationalism, is not even close to the real brutal truth. Not even Hollywood with a third party observation could depict the real deal. The real deal was awful.
And in the context of WWII, I think it is pretty reasonable to say it was pretty one sided in terms of atrocities and blame. So why not just restrict the entire viewing of these movies with such subject matter through the lens of those era rather than looking at it by way of sayyyy 5000 years of history so to speak?
I am taking the same approach as some who actually cheered happily because of the Japan tsunami or earthquakes because of what happened in WWII which to me is crazy. Same like many cheered when 911 happened due to “atrocities” by americans in the past which is not related to what happened on 911.
That sort. Let’s not bundle history into one big discount package. It isn’t. Each time in history is of different elements. These series and movies no doubt like I said is geared towards nationalism but is it that terrible? Japan can do their own version as well, in musical, with dancing and singing for all I care. But of course each side can condemn the other. That is only fair.
So the pretext of the Japanese being the most hateful race on the face of the Earth (to the Chinese) should be placed on the Japanese today, even though the Chinese govt. have done more damage to its own people in peacetime periods.
This is pretty much what you’re saying.
>Have you seen the pictures? The numbers? Let’s not bundle own atrocities with atrocities done to others and atrocities done to them. Each on its own “merit” in history.
Crime is crime.
A Japanese person killing a Chinese person shouldn’t be more or less serious than a Chinese person killing a Chinese person.
This is the vibe I’m getting from you and I’ll direct your beginning criticism towards me back at you.
Computer deleted a paragraph.
**Your view on this is skewed by your own nationalism and feelings towards the Japanese
This is the vibe I’m getting from you and I’ll direct your beginning criticism towards me back at you.
Why do I have the feeling you’re pro imperial japanese simply because you hate the chinese?
I don’t know,
but Wu Mao well earned, Funn.
@dd
I agree that the sense of perpetual victim-hood is not healthy and totally counter-productive toward the development of a people and a nation. However, that said, I don’t agree movies/books/dramas on WWII should be completely abandoned. It all depends on the intention of the filmmaker. The reason for the failure of “Flowers of War” is exactly because it was used as a manipulation tool by the CCP. In that movie, everyone other than the Chinese was portrayed as inhuman.
While understanding your stance on a certain government using “victim-hood” as a tool to politically manipulate its populace and distract them away from their own brutal “shortcomings”; that said, however, I think we should restraint such judgement on this drama until we know more about it.
It’s true, history has to be recorded in some way, but we can leave that to history books and documentaries. Films made about war directed at the mainstream for mass-consumption is irresponsible though.
1. There were bigger and more influential events about the same theme back home
2. The only message that the people walking out of the theaters will take with them is “Japan bad”, not “Japan bad, but others are worse”
Why is Hu Ge in a Nazi Army uniform?
Have they confused the different theaters of WWII?