Always kinda hoped there would be a US made telling of the battle of Chosin Reservoir, given my father took part, I have watched a handful of good US documentaries about it, and there are some good stateside written histories of it as well. But perhaps I should have guessed, that PRCs big victory against western imperialism might be a bit more salient there, than a 70 year-old US defeat from a long forgotten war.
Putting aside the rather abrupt, and jingoistic ending, I frankly thought this movie painted the US military in a more favorable light than 2/3 of the movies that have come out of Hollywood over the past 30 years. So my Chinese friends who think the low to middling ratings here have much do with the subject matter... I doubt it.
The problem with the movie, from a western perspective, is that it's about 50 years past the time when this kind of frankly pro-war, anti-cynical, type of tale has any resonance at all. It's more reminiscent of movies like "A Bridge too far", "Tora, tora, tora," and the like from half a century ago. For generations of westerners brought up on things like "Generation Kill" this movie just rings deeply false. Melodramatic depictions of war as profoundly heroic (sypmphonic soundtrack and all), rather than extremely brutal, are going to strike a lot of westerners as a bit ... silly. Now Chinese audiences tend to be much more accepting of melodrama, so it doesn't surprise me much that this type of treatment has struck a "nerve".
All that said, even accepting the movie on its own dated, overly melodramatic terms... it ain't great. The extended battle scenes don't come with enough context. There is a looong battle scene in the middle in which I didn't have much of any idea what was going on. It was just 30 minutes of fireworks. The movie also likely underplays how poorly equipped the PRC was to fight this battle (there are some subtle references to a lack of bullets, clothing. And food) and definitely underplays how badly outnumbered the US forces were. But these same sorts of exaggerations and ameliorations would have been standard fare if this movie had been made 50 years ago.
Ultimately, I think this movie just won't resonate much at all with western audiences. Which is a bit of a shame, as there is a story in there worth telling, but I doubt now that it ever will be.
Putting aside the rather abrupt, and jingoistic ending, I frankly thought this movie painted the US military in a more favorable light than 2/3 of the movies that have come out of Hollywood over the past 30 years. So my Chinese friends who think the low to middling ratings here have much do with the subject matter... I doubt it.
The problem with the movie, from a western perspective, is that it's about 50 years past the time when this kind of frankly pro-war, anti-cynical, type of tale has any resonance at all. It's more reminiscent of movies like "A Bridge too far", "Tora, tora, tora," and the like from half a century ago. For generations of westerners brought up on things like "Generation Kill" this movie just rings deeply false. Melodramatic depictions of war as profoundly heroic (sypmphonic soundtrack and all), rather than extremely brutal, are going to strike a lot of westerners as a bit ... silly. Now Chinese audiences tend to be much more accepting of melodrama, so it doesn't surprise me much that this type of treatment has struck a "nerve".
All that said, even accepting the movie on its own dated, overly melodramatic terms... it ain't great. The extended battle scenes don't come with enough context. There is a looong battle scene in the middle in which I didn't have much of any idea what was going on. It was just 30 minutes of fireworks. The movie also likely underplays how poorly equipped the PRC was to fight this battle (there are some subtle references to a lack of bullets, clothing. And food) and definitely underplays how badly outnumbered the US forces were. But these same sorts of exaggerations and ameliorations would have been standard fare if this movie had been made 50 years ago.
Ultimately, I think this movie just won't resonate much at all with western audiences. Which is a bit of a shame, as there is a story in there worth telling, but I doubt now that it ever will be.