Well, this movie is obviously another try of the CCP to brainwash its 1.4 billion subjects and at the same to whitewash and make the Chinese Communist Party was the sole entity that fought against the Japanese even before China officially declared war against the Japanese invasion in the Puppet Manchuria regime. But fair is fair, other than the formulaic and cliched ideological whitewash&brainwash purposes, Zhang, the director, the whole cast, the camera work, the editing as well as the soundtrack, the song at the end, all seamlessly performed a great work.
The only miscast was actress Haocun Liu, who played the role Lan, a young, maybe too young to be a Soviet Russian trained Chinese Communist member. Her role in this movie was a huge mix bag, because sometimes she looked just too young, too fragile, too vulnerable to play such role, yet at some critical moments, she also weirdly showed a rare toughness and maturity. Her purity and decency showed in this movie are exactly when Zhang ZiYi was just an unknown young girl auditioned for Zhang Yimou's My Father & Mother 1999. Could she enjoy a bounty future as Zhang Ziyi? Only time could tell.
After watched this movie, an afterthought inevitably came up. If those founding members of CCP were exactly liked what they have shown in each and every propaganda movies including this one, then I have to say, that the once passionate and patriotic first batch of the Chinese Communist vanguards were long gone. If they knew what their beloved Party has become since 1949, I think all of them would turn in their graves and cry their hearts out.
