Devils On The Doorstep (DVD)
APPROX. 139 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2000 - MPA RATING: NR
" The story builds to a penultimate scene that piles on the tension before exploding into a series of shocking events. And just when you thought it was over one last sequence puts a tragic, finishing touch on it all.
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The Japanese occupation of Manchuria before and during World War II is a tense subject between the Chinese and Japanese. Most infamous is the "Rape of Nanking" where Japanese soldiers murdered and raped thousands upon thousands of Chinese civilians. The extent of the death toll is still debated by both sides. In the style of Ernest Lubitsch's "To Be or Not to Be" and Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful", writer/director/actor Jiang Wen deals with wartime atrocities using comedic touches with some frank harshness thrown in as well.
"Devils on the Doorstep" is set during World War II in a tiny village whose name is translated as "Rack-Armor Terrace", so-called because the founder was a former general who put away (or racked) his armor for a life of peace. Jiang Wen who has starred in Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" and the recent martial arts epic, "Warriors of Heaven and Earth", plays Ma Dasan who will find his life forever changed. An amorous night with his lover, Yu'Er (Jiang Hongbo), is interrupted by a knock on the door by someone only answering as, "Me." Me puts a gun to Ma's head and forces him to take charge of two burlap sacks until he can return on New Year's Eve, only a few days away.
Ma is stunned to find the sacks contain men. One is Hanaya (Teruyuki Kawaga), a Japanese soldier, and the other is his Chinese translator, Dong Hangchen (Yuan Ding). Ma calls a meeting with some of his fellow villagers over what is to be done about them. One says turn them over to the Japanese, who live in a nearby barrack and march through the village everyday with great fanfare. Another says kill and bury them before anyone finds out. But, with his life threatened by Me, Ma must make sure nothing happens to the prisoners until he can return. But, when five days turn into five months things can only get worse. The story builds to a penultimate scene that piles on the tension before exploding into a series of shocking events. And just when you thought it was over one last sequence puts a tragic, finishing touch on it all.
Much of the film's comedy comes from the interactions of the characters. Yu'Er is a widow and according to tradition, she is still considered to be married to her husband. Till death do they not part. As such, they try to hide their affair despite everyone in the relatively tight community knowing about it already. Hanaya would rather die than be held prisoner, as such he tries to kill himself by ramming his head into a pole. When that fails, he tries to get Dong to teach him curse words in Chinese, hoping to anger the villagers enough to do him in. Dong instead teaches him pleasantries like, "Happy New Year", leaving everyone to state that the Japanese sound the same when they're angry or happy. Towards the end, two American soldiers are introduced and in a moment that is both funny and sad, they watch events unfold nonplussed, chewing gum. At over two hours, the film doesn't feel long at all (apparently a version screened at Cannes was over 160 minutes), except a section in the middle where Ma travels to the city. He searches for an assassin to kill the captives because no one in the village has the stomach for it. Ma brings back One-Strike Liu, an old but renowned executioner. Liu, of course, fails to execute the prisoner in one strike and the whole scene is filled with goofy slapstick-style humor. While somewhat amusing, it didn't quite fit in with the rest of the film.
