MCLC: television war on Japan (3)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Magnus Fiskesjö <nf42 at cornell.edu>
Subject: television war on Japan (3)
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About the torrent of anti-Japanese films on Chinese TV: I did see one that
portrays the Japanese enemy invader in a somewhat nuanced way, at least as
a worthy opponent, somehow. This is the multi-part TV series 神枪 Shen qiang
[a k a "Sharp shooter"], which has lots of the usual anti-Japanese
materials, including a typically boring and not so credible plot with
loads of the usual scenes of Chinese soldiers pointlessly rushing out to
die their screaming martyr deaths in front of Japanese machine-guns.

But it also has an unusual depth, and a kind of strange realism, in the
depiction of the competing snipers on both sides, which are central to the
plot. These Chinese and Japanese snipers cultivate a sort of grudging
respect for each other's marksmanship and other ninja-like skills, and
they observe a separate, mysterious code of honor, such as not taking each
others' guns, even after they successfully killed the other sniper (their
enemy). It also seems highly significant that the Japanese snipers are
mainly women, who are additionally humanized by showing how they suffer
and cry when their fellow snipers have been killed and must be buried. The
Chinese side also includes both male and female snipers. I wonder if
anyone has a comment on Shen Qiang.

-- I know there are other films that insert some nuance, humanize
individual Japanese enemy soldiers, and so on. (Maybe they can one day
show Masaki Kobayashi's 1959 film _Ningen no joken_ [The Human Condition,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053114/], in China, -- this epic
leftist-humanist Japanese marathon film that portrays --over more than 6
gripping hours-- a Japanese soldier who tries to uphold his human dignity,
and then suffers the consequences, as a would-be prison guard, as a Soviet
prisoner, and as a refugee).

The current TV film Shen qiang/"Sharp shooter" is offered here (and
elsewhere) online: http://www.letv.com/tv/79585.html

Here is the bibliographic info from Worldcat:

神枪 Shen qiang
by Wenping Zhang; Sen Li; Seng Xu; Qing Jia; Shihong Ma;
DVD video. Language: Chinese
Publisher: 广东嘉应音像, [Guangzhou Shi] : Guangdong jia ying yin xiang,
[2012].
Database: WorldCat
Details:
Genre/Form:     Television plays, Chinese. War films
Material Type:     Videorecording
Document Type:     Visual material
All Authors / Contributors:     总制片人, 张文萍 ; 导演, 李森. 张文萍. 李森.
徐僧. 贾青. 马诗红. 
; ; Wenping Zhang; Sen Li; Seng Xu; Qing Jia; Shihong Ma
ISBN:     9787885413279 7885413276
Language Note:     In Mandarin with simplified Chinese subtitles.
OCLC Number:     828051375
Notes:     Originally broadcasted as a television series in 31 episodes in
China, 2012.
Cast:     Xu Zeng, Jia Qing, Ma Shihong.
Description:     7 videodiscs (DVD) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in.
Details:     DVD, all regions.
Other Titles:     Sharp shooter
Responsibility:     zong zhi pian ren, Zhang Wenping ; dao yan, Li Sen.