The Nanchang Uprising: A Hymn of the Great Army Building

On August 1, 1927, under the leadership of the former enemy Committee of the CPC Central Committee with Zhou Enlai as its secretary, he long, Ye Ting, Zhu de, Liu Bocheng and others led more than 20,000 troops under the control and influence of the party, and fired the first shot of armed resistance against the Kuomintang reactionaries in Nanchang. The Nanchang Uprising marked the beginning of the Communist Party of China's independent leadership of the revolutionary war, the creation of the people's army and the armed seizure of power, and declared the firm position of the Communist Party of China to carry out the revolution to the end. The feature film "Nanchang Uprising" released in 1981 reproduced the whole process of Nanchang Uprising to the audience by means of film and television art.
　　Second Creation from Stage to Screen
As a tribute film to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the color widescreen feature film "Nanchang Uprising" has been released across the country since July 1, 1981. But when it comes to the movie "Nanchang Uprising", we have to start with the drama "August 1st Storm.
"Bayi Storm" is a classic repertoire created and performed by Jiangxi Repertory Troupe. On August 1, 1958, "Bayi Storm" was officially performed, and the response was quite enthusiastic. On the evening of January 15, 1959, after watching the play in Nanchang, Marshal He Long proposed amendments: "Don't highlight the role of any individual in the play, you should highlight the praise of the leadership of the Communist Party of China ......" After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", the Jiangxi Provincial Repertory Troupe rearranged "August 1 Storm" and made two major revisions to the script. Under the promotion of many aspects, the adaptation and creation of the film "Nanchang Uprising" based on the drama "August 1st Storm" has been put on the agenda. At that time, Li Hongxin, a screenwriter in his twenties, read millions of words of literature and biographies and memoirs of historical figures, and insisted on going deep into Nanchang, Wuhan, Lushan, Jiujiang and other places for investigation and investigation, visiting memorial halls, party history experts and witnesses of the Nanchang uprising, and interviewed Huang Lin, a guard of Marshal he long, and Bai Hua, a staff member around him. On the basis of the new version of the drama "August 1st Storm", the first draft of the script for the movie "Nanchang Uprising" was completed. However, from the first draft of the movie script to the final script, there is still a process of improvement and upgrading. With tight time and heavy tasks, director Tang Xiaodan and more than a dozen other creators further revised and streamlined the first draft of the script. In May 1980, the script was approved, and the film "Nanchang Uprising", which had been prepared for many years, finally entered the actual shooting stage.
This film on the theme of revolutionary history depicts the contradictory struggle of various classes and strata after the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, and summarizes the social and historical features of the whole era. With real characters, magnificent momentum and plots with historical characteristics, for the first time, it reproduces the great feat of the Chinese Communists represented by Zhou Enlai armed against the Kuomintang reactionaries and bravely fired the first shot on the screen, it has made a useful attempt for China's film industry to reflect and express major revolutionary historical events in a true and accurate manner. The film extracts creative materials from real historical events, correctly and artistically reflects the Nanchang Uprising, a historical event that shocked China and foreign countries, making it distinctly documentary and documentary. In 1981, the film won the Excellent Film Award of the Ministry of Culture and became a monument in the history of Chinese film.
　　Flesh-and-blood image-building
From the perspective of life, the film "Nanchang Uprising" pays great attention to vividly expressing the unique experiences and personalities of several leaders, and successfully portrays the artistic images of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries such as Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and He Long. Such as Zhou Enlai's steadiness, decisiveness, Qi and blood, full of revolutionary sacrifice spirit; Zhu De's honesty, composure, courage and resourcefulness; He Long's stubbornness, hearty, and loyalty to the party. Through their concrete words and deeds to show their great and noble character. As a major historical film, the director did not make the characters too conceptual when shooting, but achieved a more humane display, pulling the leaders back to the role of ordinary people, and focusing on portraying the image of a flesh-and-blood leader. Make it closer to the audience and life.
In order to truly reproduce history, the film pays special attention to the scene reproduction of the environment. It is dressed up through the scenery, props and costumes of the characters with certain characteristics of the times; through the music with unique characteristics of the times, it makes the atmosphere of the times more intense, gives the audience a sense of "immersive", and gives everyone a vivid, vivid and profound education lesson in the history of the Chinese revolution. At the same time, through the restoration of their specific words and deeds to show their great and noble character. For example, through Zhou Enlai's "We are all fighting for communism. I often think that a baby falls to the ground, grows up, has a little knowledge, and is very slow and difficult. Only by working hard can we be worthy of being a person. We have no right to spoil our lives and waste time." This passage reflects his spirit of dedication to the revolutionary cause. He Long's "half-life experience tells me that if I follow the Kuomintang, I have no way out personally and politically, and the entire army has no way out. Only the Communist Party is the savior of the toiling masses, and I am determined to follow it to the end. This is my application for joining the Party ...... Please test me", this words and deeds, fully demonstrated his loyal love for the Party and his resolute spirit of resolutely joining the revolutionary camp in the face of the bloody massacre of the counter-revolution.
The film also shows us the historical details of the Nanchang Uprising with real and simple life pictures, and through the female soldier Hei Gu stepping on the blood of her husband Shuangxi and other martyrs, rushed to the Drum Tower and inserted the red flag to the top. This detail tells us again: Today's happy life and quiet living environment were bought by thousands of martyrs with blood and lives, and must be cherished. It can be said that it is these plump characters created by the film that make the historical figures lifelike, and at the same time show the firm revolutionary belief and heroic struggle spirit of the Chinese Communists in the plot.
　　The Light and Shadow Presentation of the Unity of History and Drama
The script creation of Nanchang Uprising avoids the general method of organizing drama contradictions in structure, but arranges characters, reveals contradictions and unfolds plots in the order of historical development. The relationship between historical truth and artistic processing is organically unified, integrating history and drama, which provides a good foundation for film shooting. In the narrative, the whole play uses a number of story lines, including the story line of the reactionaries headed by Wang Jingwei, the story line of the revolutionary masses represented by ordinary soldiers Shuangxi and Heigu, and the story line of the leaders planning the Nanchang uprising headed by Zhou Enlai and he long. Through multi-clues and multi-dimensions, it shows the changing political situation and revolutionary situation, and restores the behavior and psychological state of different political parties, armed forces and social strata in a specific historical period with more realistic strokes. let the audience gradually understand the inevitability and necessity of the Nanchang uprising. In the harsh struggle and bloody lessons, our party deeply realized that without revolutionary armed forces, it cannot defeat the armed counter-revolution, it cannot shoulder the important task of leading the Chinese revolution, it cannot win the victory of the Chinese revolution, and it cannot change China. The destiny of the people and the Chinese nation.
When shooting started in 1980, 70-year-old director Tang Xiaodan insisted on shooting "Nanchang Uprising" in full-scene. However, due to the age, some real scenes can be shot at the original site, and some real scenes have changed beyond recognition. The film crew looked for buildings of similar age and style to replace them after processing. For example, the Confucian Temple in Jiading was changed to Nanchang Fantai Yamen. Chen Duxiu's residence borrowed the site of the "August 7th Conference" in Hankou, and the Hunan Guild Hall was the back guest hall of Mao Zedong's former residence on the embankment road of Wuchang capital. The shooting also broke through the single fixed angle of view, and matched the actors' performance by moving the mirror, making the picture more flexible and reflecting the dialectical unity of beauty and reality. In addition, there are many characters in the film with clear primary and secondary, but the clue is complicated but not messy, and the scene is magnificent but not vague; it better solves the relationship between major revolutionary events and the shaping of historical figures, and the relationship between real historical figures and artistic fictional figures.
General Secretary Xi Jinping noted, "The sound of gunfire at the head of Nanchang, like a flash of lightning that cut through the night sky, made the Chinese people see the hope of revolution in the dark and the strength to rise in the face of adversity. The Nanchang Uprising, together with the Autumn Harvest Uprising, the Guangzhou Uprising and the armed uprisings in many other regions, marked the beginning of the Communist Party's independent leadership of the revolutionary war and the creation of the people's army, opening a new era of China."
As a historical war film, the film "Nanchang Uprising" was created under the background of emancipating the mind and the beginning of reform and opening up. The focus of the whole play is not on the display of the battle scenes of the armed uprising, but from the perspective of historical materialism, with cinematic narration, positive description and narration, it is clear how the first shot was fired. It has been 43 years since the film premiered. However, at the end of the film, He Long personally burned the bridge section of the big green sedan he had sat on, which was still impressive. It symbolizes that only by saying goodbye to the old life can we move towards a new world. Since the beginning of the Nanchang Uprising, the People's Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China has bravely devoted itself to the historical torrent of seeking liberation and happiness for the Chinese people, seeking independence and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and has been closely linked with the destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.

Source: Learning Times