Assembly (film)

Assembly
Theatrical release poster
Traditional	集結號
Simplified	集结号
Mandarin	Jí Jié Hào
Directed by	Feng Xiaogang
Produced by	John Chong Feng Xiaogang Wang Zhongjun Guan Yadi
Written by	Liu Heng (1992 screenplay)
Starring	Zhang Hanyu Deng Chao Yuan Wenkang Tang Yan Wang Baoqiang Liao Fan Hu Jun Ren Quan Li Naiwen
Music by	Wang Liguang
Cinematography	Lü Yue
Edited by	Liu Miaomiao
Production company	China Film Co-Production Corporation
Distributed by	Huayi Brothers Media Asia Distribution Ltd.
Release dates	20 December 2007 (2007-12-20) (China) 3 January 2008 (2008-01-03) (Hong Kong)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Hong Kong China
Language	Mandarin English
Budget	US$16,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$35 million(¥260 million)[1]

Assembly is a 2007 Chinese war film written by Liu Heng and directed by Feng Xiaogang. It starred Zhang Hanyu, Deng Chao, Yuan Wenkang, Tang Yan, Wang Baoqiang, Liao Fan, Hu Jun, Ren Quan and Li Naiwen. The film, ostensibly portraying an anti-war theme, was first released on 20 December 2007. It won the 2008 Hundred Flowers Awards and the 2009 Golden Rooster Awards for Best Film.

Plot

In 1948, during the Huaihai Campaign of the Chinese Civil War, Captain Gu Zidi leads the 9th Company of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) 139th Regiment to attack a town controlled by National Revolutionary Army (NRA) forces. They win the battle but sustain heavy casualties in the process. After witnessing his political commissar being killed in battle, Gu is so angry that he orders his men to execute the NRA soldiers who surrendered, but his men refuse to obey because they will violate the rules of engagement. Gu is punished by confinement for three days. He quickly befriends his cellmate, Wang Jincun, a teacher and pacifist who is jailed for cowardice in battle.

After Gu is released, he meets his superior, Colonel Liu Zeshui, who sends him and his 46 surviving men on a new mission: To defend a coal mine on the bank of the Wen River (at Dawenkou Town, Daiyue District, Tai'an, Shandong). They must not retreat until they hear the bugle call for assembly. With Liu's permission, Wang becomes the 9th Company's new political commissar. Almost immediately after fortifying their position, the 9th Company comes under heavy attack by NRA forces. After fending off a wave of enemy infantry and destroying two enemy tanks, only a handful of them are left alive. The mortally wounded adjutant claims that he heard a bugle call in the distance. A few others say they heard it too. Gu, who has been temporarily deafened by an explosion, is reluctant to believe them so he orders them to fight to the death. The entire 9th Company, except Gu, is killed.

PLA forces eventually find Gu, unconsciousness and heavily wounded. They mistake him for an enemy because he was wearing a NRA uniform, so they take him as a POW. After being nursed back to health in a military hospital, Gu tries to convince the staff that he is from the PLA. However, when he was still in coma, the PLA was reorganised and the 139th Regiment no longer exists, so Gu is unable to verify his identity. The other patients scorn him because they think he is a deserter. Gu volunteers to fight in the Korean War as an enlisted soldier. During a spotting mission, he risks his life to save his commander, Lieutenant Zhao Erdou, from a landmine and loses his right eye after being hit by shrapnel. They become close friends.

After the war ends, Gu travels back to the old battlefield and tries to find the mine. He is disappointed to see that the mine has been reactivated and the old entrance is now buried under coal. He encounters Wang's widow and convinces her to marry Zhao. With Zhao's help, Gu manages to confirm his identity and the 9th Company's existence. He finds his way to Liu's tomb. The tomb keeper, who turns out to be 139th Regiment's bugler, explains that the assembly bugle call was never sounded. In fact, the 9th Company was sacrificed to cover the regiment's retreat. Gu flies into a rage and curses and swears at Liu's tombstone but calms down later.

Gu starts camping at the mine and attempts to dig out his men's bodies with a shovel, despite protests from the miners. When Wang's remains are found a month later, the PLA sends an official notice to the local government to honour the 9th Company. However, Gu remains inconsolable because he cannot find the remaining bodies. At this point, he experiences a flashback which reveals that, as enemy forces closed in, he and Wang buried the bodies of the others deep inside the mine. While Gu went out to continue fighting, a mortally wounded Wang blew up the entrance to prevent the enemy from capturing the bodies, killing himself in the process.

Years later, the remains of the other soldiers are found during an excavation for an irrigation project. The PLA erects a monument near the site and conducts a military funeral with full honours for the 9th Company. Gu finally finds peace. The ending titles say that Gu died in 1987 at the age of 71. He was abandoned by his parents when he was three months old due to famine in his hometown, and was found by a shoemaker in a millet field. He was named "Gu Zidi", which means "millet field".

Cast

• Zhang Hanyu as Gu Zidi (谷子地), the commander of the 9th Company.
• Deng Chao as Zhao Erdou (赵二斗), an artillery battalion commander who befriends Gu Zidi.
• Yuan Wenkang as Wang Jincun (王金存), the political commissar in the 9th Company.
• Tang Yan as Sun Guiqin (孙桂琴), Wang Jincun's widow who remarried Zhao Erdou.
• Liao Fan as Jiao Dapeng (焦大鹏), the commander of the 1st Platoon in the 9th Company.
• Wang Baoqiang as Jiang Maocai (姜茂财), a sniper in the 9th Company.
• Hu Jun as Liu Zeshui (刘泽水), the commander of the 139th Regiment.
• Ren Quan as the original political commissar in the 9th Company who was killed at the beginning of the film.
• Li Naiwen as Lü Kuangou (吕宽沟), a soldier in the 9th Company.
• Fu Heng as Luo Guangtian (罗广田), a soldier in the 9th Company.
• Zhao Shaokang as Laociwei (老刺猬), a soldier in the 9th Company.
• Hu Ming as Xiaoliangzi (小梁子), the bugler in the 139th Regiment.

Production

The action and effects team from the 2004 Korean war film Taegukgi were employed to work on Assembly. Assembly is also among the first films produced in mainland China to portray the Chinese Civil War in a realistic style. The film is also adapted from the novel Guan Si (A Legal Case), which is based on a real-life account of a veteran army captain upholding his company's honour.

Critical reception

The film was a massive box office success, particularly in mainland China.

Perry Lam gave a mixed review of Assembly in the Hong Kong magazine Muse: "There is a huge discrepancy between the sophistication of the filmmakers in their knowledge and application of state-of-the-art techniques, and the naivety and bad faith they place in the value of unquestioning obedience to authority and sacrifice as the highest manifestation of patriotism."^[2]

Kozo, who reviewed the film at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2007, felt that Assembly is a safe commercial movie that does not offend anybody: "In Assembly, war is never really portrayed as a "cause". The human element is the main focus here, and the sacrifices made by soldiers are to be honoured because they're people, and not members of one side or the other."^[3]

Sequel

Assembly was quickly followed by a sequel, Assembly 2: The Cold Flame (集结号2-烽火), which was also directed by Feng Xiaogang.^[4] Although it also featured Zhang Hanyu in a leading role, it was actually shot in 2005 and held back by the studio. It was eventually released to capitalise on the success of Assembly.^[5] The sequel centres on the relationship between a wounded NRA soldier and an orphaned girl during the Second Sino-Japanese War instead of the Chinese Civil War. It contains very few war scenes and focuses more on the personal drama between the characters.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Assembly (film)

• Assembly at the Internet Movie Database
• Assembly at AllMovie
• Assembly at Rotten Tomatoes