A Chinese Movie : The Eight Hundred 八佰

Just the other day, there was news of Lin Ching Hsia celebrating her 67th birthday. She had put on weight. I remember watching her playing a girl guide in a a 1976 Taiwanese movie Eight Hundred Heroes 八百壯士. The movie was based on true events during the  Battle of Shanghai in 1937 when over 400 Chinese forces defended the Sihang Warehouse, fighting 20,000 Japanese forces. Lin Ching Hsia played  Yang Huimin, the girl guide who delivered a flag to boost the soldiers' morale. Later, Yang had objected to some of the ways in which the film had exaggerated her action. Yang's role in the 2020 China version, The Eight Hundred  八佰 had been toned down, I suppose; and there was no sight of the other girl guide, Li Cini;casting doubt if there was this character played by Sylvia Chang .  The new version was artistic as well as lavish. The $80 million budget probably went as much to the drab scene in the warehouse where a fierce battle was going on as well as to the other side of Huangpu River where there was merry making; and under the bright lights of the streets, Westerners and locals in the international settlement watched in awe at a real life battle. Looking forward to the 1938 version.

Rating: 4.1 ⭐

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