Purple Sunset
Encyclopedia
Purple Sunset is a 2001
Chinese
film written and directed by Feng Xiaoning
. Feng also acted as the film's cinematographer
.
Purple Sunset is a anti-war film
set in August 1945, at the time when the Japanese were in the throes of defeat during World War II
and losing control of mainland China
. The film won Best Special Effects at the Huabiao Awards
and Best Cinematography at the Golden Rooster Award. It was also voted Best Feature by the audience during the 2001 Hawaii International Film Festival
.
of an elderly Chinese man Yang in 2000 who is interviewed and who begins reminiscing about the Second Sino-Japanese War
, prompted on by a journalist. He grasps an old okiagari-koboshi
musical doll which brings his memories back to August 1945, near the end of the war.
In 1945 Yang, a Hebei
peasant in his 30s, was captured by Japanese imperial soldiers, and was brought to the Daxing'anling area near Manchuria
(bordering the Soviet Union
) after the Japanese slaughtered his aged mother. He was put in a firing squad to be executed
. The firing killed everyone in line but Yang. As the Japanese soldiers reloaded their machine gun
, a Soviet military tank
knocked over the wall against which the captives were lined. Yang was the sole survivor and was put under the charge of Nadja, a young female Soviet lieutenant
and her comrades. As Nadja escorted him to the headquarters, their truck was ambushed by the Japanese and Nadja, a fellow Soviet comrade and Yang escaped to a forested area.
As they moved in the woods uncertainly, they came across a teenage Japanese schoolgirl named Akibako who was about to commit suicide
with a fellow schoolmate in a wooden shed. They took her captive and made her to bring the three out of the vast forest as the girl knew her way out. Akibako brought the three to a minefield where Nadja's partner was blown up by a landmine. Nadja was infuriated by Akibako's cunning, but decided not to kill Akibako as she was their sole guide out of the forest with insufficient food.
At many points both Yang and Nadja were tempted to kill Akibako, but eventually saved her life from sinking to her death in a quagmire
. Conflicting feelings of mistrust and friendship dogged all three as they rely on one another to survive. Although Nadja wanted to move north to meet with the Soviet troops, Akibako convinced Yang to move south was the only way out of the desolate woods. At one point Nadja happened to stray from her other two partners, but managed to meet them later.
Eventually the three found their way to the same location where they discovered Akibako, and they realized they have been tricked by Akibako. A tearful Akibako explained she was trying to get them to surrender to the Japanese troops so that they could get food and lodging at the camp. The three ended at an empty army truck, where the radio
began to announce Emperor Hirohito's unconditional surrender to the Allied
troops. Akibako, shocked by Japan's loss, grabbed the PPSh-41
Nadja had with her and took aim at Yang and Nadja. However, she was unable to pull the trigger, and convulsed into sobs. Nadja learned later that Yang had removed the cartridge
from the SMG
earlier on.
The war having now ended, Yang urged Akibako to go back to Japan and lived a good life. Akibako decided to return to find her childhood sweetheart, who was conscripted as a fighter pilot by the Japanese airforce. The three then witnessed a group of Japanese soldiers and civilians committing mass suicide
as they could not accept the fact their country had surrendered. Akibako mistakenly thought they were not informed of the surrender and ran to halt their foolish acts, but was shot dead by a Japanese officer. Her okiagari-koboshi doll rolled out of her grasp and she died.
Consumed by fury, Yang and Nadja mounted the army truck and machine-gunning and overrunning the rest of the suiciding Japanese soldiers. After all were killed or had committed suicide, Yang picked up Akibako's okiagari-koboshi doll. The film then fast forwards to present day where an elderlu Nadja places flowers on a war memorial
with the gigantic numerals "1945" to commemorate Akibako's death. The film then flashes back
to 1945, where a voice from the truck's radio read out a declaration of peace and harmony, as the remaining Japanese troops threw their arms away in the purple sunset.
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
Chinese
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
film written and directed by Feng Xiaoning
Feng Xiaoning
Feng Xiaoning is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He is considered a member of the "Fifth Generation" Chinese directors who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982...
. Feng also acted as the film's cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
.
Purple Sunset is a anti-war film
Anti-war film
An anti-war film is a film that emphasizes the pain, horror, and human costs of armed conflict. While some films criticize armed conflicts in a general sense, others focus on acts within a specific war, such as the use of poison gas or the genocidal killing of civilians . Some anti-war films such...
set in August 1945, at the time when the Japanese were in the throes of defeat during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and losing control of mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
. The film won Best Special Effects at the Huabiao Awards
Huabiao Awards
China Huabiao Film Awards ,also known as Huabiao Awards, is an annual awards ceremony for Chinese cinema. Named after the decorative Chinese winged columns , The Huabiao Awards were first instituted in 1957 as the Ministry of Culture Excellence Film awards. Between 1958 and 1979, no awards were given...
and Best Cinematography at the Golden Rooster Award. It was also voted Best Feature by the audience during the 2001 Hawaii International Film Festival
Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...
.
Synopsis
The film begins with a flashbackFlashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
of an elderly Chinese man Yang in 2000 who is interviewed and who begins reminiscing about the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, prompted on by a journalist. He grasps an old okiagari-koboshi
Okiagari-koboshi
is a Japanese traditional doll. The toy is made from papier-mâché and is designed so that its weight causes it to return to an upright position if it is knocked over...
musical doll which brings his memories back to August 1945, near the end of the war.
In 1945 Yang, a Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
peasant in his 30s, was captured by Japanese imperial soldiers, and was brought to the Daxing'anling area near Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
(bordering the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) after the Japanese slaughtered his aged mother. He was put in a firing squad to be executed
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
. The firing killed everyone in line but Yang. As the Japanese soldiers reloaded their machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
, a Soviet military tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
knocked over the wall against which the captives were lined. Yang was the sole survivor and was put under the charge of Nadja, a young female Soviet lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
and her comrades. As Nadja escorted him to the headquarters, their truck was ambushed by the Japanese and Nadja, a fellow Soviet comrade and Yang escaped to a forested area.
As they moved in the woods uncertainly, they came across a teenage Japanese schoolgirl named Akibako who was about to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
with a fellow schoolmate in a wooden shed. They took her captive and made her to bring the three out of the vast forest as the girl knew her way out. Akibako brought the three to a minefield where Nadja's partner was blown up by a landmine. Nadja was infuriated by Akibako's cunning, but decided not to kill Akibako as she was their sole guide out of the forest with insufficient food.
At many points both Yang and Nadja were tempted to kill Akibako, but eventually saved her life from sinking to her death in a quagmire
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
. Conflicting feelings of mistrust and friendship dogged all three as they rely on one another to survive. Although Nadja wanted to move north to meet with the Soviet troops, Akibako convinced Yang to move south was the only way out of the desolate woods. At one point Nadja happened to stray from her other two partners, but managed to meet them later.
Eventually the three found their way to the same location where they discovered Akibako, and they realized they have been tricked by Akibako. A tearful Akibako explained she was trying to get them to surrender to the Japanese troops so that they could get food and lodging at the camp. The three ended at an empty army truck, where the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
began to announce Emperor Hirohito's unconditional surrender to the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
troops. Akibako, shocked by Japan's loss, grabbed the PPSh-41
PPSh-41
The PPSh-41 was a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgi Shpagin as an inexpensive, simplified alternative to the PPD-40. Intended for use by minimally-trained conscript soldiers, the PPSh was a magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun using an open-bolt, blowback action...
Nadja had with her and took aim at Yang and Nadja. However, she was unable to pull the trigger, and convulsed into sobs. Nadja learned later that Yang had removed the cartridge
Cartridge (firearms)
A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
from the SMG
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
earlier on.
The war having now ended, Yang urged Akibako to go back to Japan and lived a good life. Akibako decided to return to find her childhood sweetheart, who was conscripted as a fighter pilot by the Japanese airforce. The three then witnessed a group of Japanese soldiers and civilians committing mass suicide
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...
as they could not accept the fact their country had surrendered. Akibako mistakenly thought they were not informed of the surrender and ran to halt their foolish acts, but was shot dead by a Japanese officer. Her okiagari-koboshi doll rolled out of her grasp and she died.
Consumed by fury, Yang and Nadja mounted the army truck and machine-gunning and overrunning the rest of the suiciding Japanese soldiers. After all were killed or had committed suicide, Yang picked up Akibako's okiagari-koboshi doll. The film then fast forwards to present day where an elderlu Nadja places flowers on a war memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
with the gigantic numerals "1945" to commemorate Akibako's death. The film then flashes back
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to 1945, where a voice from the truck's radio read out a declaration of peace and harmony, as the remaining Japanese troops threw their arms away in the purple sunset.