THE EIGHT HUNDRED Guan Hu, 2020
Sihang Warehouse, Shanghai
At the end of the Battle of Shanghai(淞沪会战) in 1937, fierce fighting between China and Japan had lasted for three months and Shanghai was on the verge of being captured. Xie Jinyuan, Assistant Regimental Commander of 524 Regiment of 262nd Brigade of the 88th Division, led more than 420 men and stuck to the last line of defense alone in The Sihang Warehouse in Shanghai. The battle field separated by a river from the concession, it created a rare case that “a war to be watched”. In order to build a strong momentum, they claimed that they have 800 soldiers, but actually there were only 400 soldiers.
Ninety percent of the story took place in Sihang Warehouse. From the point of appearance, The director did a lot of artistic work on the architecture in the film, and the use of color and structure is the most important. The whole movie is substantially the gray tone, whether it’s architecture, weather or clothing, but in reality the color of the Sihang Warehouse is more bright. Across the river, the brightness and prosperity of the concession contrasted sharply with the battlefield. In real world, the Sihang Warehouse is surrounded by normal buildings. To see the inside of the warehouse, the overall color is also dim, and the director added many beams, steel columns and other structures in the space, while the interior of the real Sihang warehouse is a bright museum.
The tone of the whole film is extremely dark, mainly to set off the kind of terrible depression of the atmosphere of the war. There is a long scene in the movie. After showing the battlefield on this side of the river, the scene immediately shifts to the brightly lit concession on the other side, forming a strong contrast, which even makes the whole war a little ridiculous and satirizes the indifference and inaction of the international community at that time. In the interior of the building, the director added many structures to promote the development of the plot, which also made the entire interior space narrow and crowded, making the audience breathless in the tense atmosphere of war.
By Fang Lei, 3035952288
You have noted the differences between the scenes in the film and the spaces in reality by comparing the exterior and the interior. You are aware of the various techniques used to better display the narrative. Perhaps you can select a few important scenes and analyze the storyline spatially so that your understanding could be more in-depth. You are also reminded to do proper citation for all the sources you have used.