''One and Eight'' is a landmark

Chinese film The cinema of China is the filmmaking and film industry of mainland China, one of three distinct historical threads of Chinese languages, Chinese-language cinema together with the cinema of Hong Kong and the cinema of Taiwan. China is the hom ...

from

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. The film tells the story of eight criminals and a deserting officer in the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

Eighth Route Army The Eighth Route Army (), officially titled as the List of Army Groups of the National Revolutionary Army, 18th Group Army, was a Field army, group army nominally under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of Ch ...

caught in the midst of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

. Directed by

Zhang Junzhao Zhang Junzhao (; October 1952 – 9 June 2018) was a Chinese film director and screenwriter who was mainly active in the 1980s. A graduate of the Beijing Film Academy and a contemporary of acclaimed directors Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and T ...

, ''One and Eight'' also features cinematography by the soon-to-be-acclaimed

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 21 August 2008. A leading figure of China's Cinem ...

and stars Chen Daoming. It is based on an epic poem by Guo Xiaochuan.

Significance

''One and Eight'' constituted an early collaboration between the graduates of the 1982 class of the Beijing Film Academy, notably classmates Zhang Junzhao and Zhang Yimou. Both Zhang Yimou and Zhang Junzhao were members of the Fifth Generation, or the first major group of filmmakers to graduate after the end of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. As such, ''One and Eight'' is often considered one of the first films to move towards the more artistic and experimental mentality that is the hallmark of Chinese cinema of the 1980s. In particular, the film's focus on humanism and personal conflicts signaled a paradigm shift away from the propagandistic films of the Cultural Revolution.

Plot

The film is set in 1941 during the

. The events portrayed take place in Hebei province. The "Eight" of the title are eight prisoners of the

and have committed various crimes, including banditry, informing, and desertion. The "One" is the character Wang Jin (played by Chen Daoming), an army officer who has been falsely accused of treason after he became separated from his unit. Over the course of the story, the ragtag band of the One and the Eight develop camaraderie and a sense of loyalty to the nation. A major turning point comes when they encounter a massacre at a village and decide to give up their selfish pursuits and understand the need for collective action. Wang's righteousness and devotion to the

and its principles inspire the Eight.

Notes

External links

*
''One and Eight''
at the Chinese Movie Database 1983 films 1980s Mandarin-language films Second Sino-Japanese War films Chinese war films {{1980s-China-film-stub