zhejiang-produced documentary film "the sinking of the lisbon maru" continues to be popular
2024-10-06
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chao news client reporter shen tingyu
"i cried several times while watching it. real human stories are always the most touching." on the 5th, at the zhejiang film times west lake cultural plaza store, post-00 generation wang yi and her friends participated in the zhejiang-produced documentary "lisbon maru" after the special screening of "sinking", i still couldn't hide my tears when i walked out of the theater. during the 122-minute screening, they learned about this touching story from 82 years ago, and from then on they remembered an "unsinkable" friendship related to the "lisbon maru".
during the national day holiday, the box office of national day movies has been booming. among the many new films, "the sinking of the lisbon maru" maintained its box office growth, attracted many audiences into the theater, and became a hit.
according to data from maoyan professional edition, as of october 5, the cumulative box office of "the sinking of the lisbon maru" has exceeded 39 million, breaking the record for the highest box office of domestic documentaries in the past five years. earlier, there was news that the film will compete for the oscar for best international film on behalf of mainland china.
"the sinking of the lisbon maru" tells the story of a little-known history in world war ii - the whole story of the sinking of the "lisbon maru" ship after the outbreak of the pacific war in the 1940s.
this is a rescue that cannot be forgotten. in 1942, the japanese military used the "lisbon maru" to transport more than 1,800 allied prisoners of war from hong kong, china to japan. when passing through the eastern waters of zhoushan islands, zhejiang, it was hit by a torpedo launched by the us submarine "perch" and lost power. in times of crisis, more than 200 local fishermen in zhoushan risked their lives to rescue more than 300 allied prisoners of war. after that, he also hid three prisoners of war to avoid the japanese search, demonstrating justice between life and death.
during his visit to the uk in 2015, president xi jinping used the "lisbon maru" rescue incident as an example to emphasize that the friendship forged between the chinese and british peoples during the war will never fade and has become a valuable asset of the relations between the two countries. in 2022, winnie, the daughter of morley, the last survivor of the "lisbon maru" ship, wrote to president xi jinping to express her gratitude for china's rescue kindness and firmly support the ever-lasting friendship between the british and chinese peoples. since then, president xi jinping has replied to the family members of the survivors of the lisbon maru ship, encouraging them to continue to be actively committed to sino-british friendship and looking forward to more british friends making contributions to sino-british relations. xi jinping pointed out that the touching story of the fishermen in zhoushan, zhejiang province, china in 1942 who bravely rescued british prisoners of war on the "lisbon maru" ship was an important testimony of china and britain fighting side by side as allies in the second world war and jointly fighting fascist aggression. it is a historical story about the profound friendship between the chinese people.
for a long time, this past event was lost in the ocean of history along with the shipwreck. fang li, the producer and director of "the sinking of the lisbon maru", led his team to dig it out bit by bit.
fang li remembered that he first heard the story of the "lisbon maru" on dongji island in 2013. he was in disbelief and felt sad, "i have never heard of this history." he turned this sadness into his obsession to explore the historical truth. he wanted to find the ship and leave some information.
during the eight years of filming, fang li led a professional team to conduct two searches in the waters near zhoushan, and finally found the specific coordinates of the "lisbon maru". he has also traveled to the united kingdom, the united states, japan, australia and other countries, as well as hong kong and zhoushan, china, to find more than 380 descendants of those who experienced it, and recorded a large number of oral historical materials and precious historical documents from the descendants of those involved.
among them, there is a reflection on the war and a call for peace in the process of tracking and tracing those who experienced it - fang li visited the granddaughter of a killed artilleryman, and she took him to the family cemetery. her grandfather's name is engraved on the tombstone. under the tombstone, there are no remains or ashes, only a line of small words "private, may have drowned." there are also many victims whose graves are empty, with only one sentence written on the tombstones. many people do not even know how their relatives died.
it was also due to the sense of urgency of chasing time - when fang li started shooting, there were only a few witnesses alive, all of whom were in their 90s. as of 2021, three living witnesses of the shipwreck, dennis morley and william benefield, and lin agen, a fisherman from dongji island, have passed away one after another.
more than half a century after the end of the war, i was moved by the friendship that spans thousands of miles and continues to this day. today, zhoushan and london, thousands of miles apart, hold the "lisbon maru" commemoration event every year to express their grief. the descendants of zhoushan fishermen they have always maintained friendly and close ties with the descendants of allied prisoners of war.
"if the process of digging up the history of the lisbon maru is a relay race, then the british historian tony banham, the author of the book "the sinking of the lisbon maru", is the first, and i am the second. , and the third baton should be given to the audience.” fang li said.
this relay race has been going on since the film was officially released on september 6. movie viewing parties about "the sinking of the lisbon maru" have been held one after another across zhejiang. during the national day holiday, many theaters across the province have arranged many screenings and special screenings for the film.
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