Film Review for Devils on the Doorstep & Clockwork Orange

影视评论与写作Film Reviews & Writing Assignment 1

Devils on the Doorstep鬼子来了

“Devils on the Doorstep” is a film released in the year 2000. It was directed, produced and starred in by Jiang Wen. Other notable actors include Kagawa Teruyuki, Yuan Ding and Jiang Hongbo. The film was categorized into the black comedy and dark humor genre of films. It premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival and was shot in black and white.

Plot Summary

In a small village called Rack-Armor Terrace in Hebei near the Great Wall of China, there lived a local peasant called Ma Dasan (played by Jiang Wen). One night, a man unexpectedly barges into his home and drops off two men in gunnysacks. He holds Ma Dasan at gunpoint and orders him to keep the two men captive but alive as well as interrogate them. The man only identifies himself as “Me” and leaves before Ma Dasan could see his face. In the gunnysacks, there was Kosaburo Hanaya (played by Kagawa Teruyuki) and Dong Hanchen (played by Yuan Ding). Hanaya was a Japanese sergeant and Dong was a Chinese interpreter working for the Japanese Army.

Ma Dasan, fearful of what to do next, looks to get help from his fellow villagers. They decided to follow the instructions of the mysterious “Me” and kept the prisoners in Ma’s cellar. Hanaya tries to provoke the peasants to kill him, but Dong, fearing for his own life, alters Hanaya's words in translation to make him sound as though he was being nice.

The mysterious “Me” did not return on eve of Chinese New Year as he promised. The villagers continued to hold the prisoners captive for six more months. They eventually run out of patience and resolve to kill the prisoners. Ma was chosen to kill the prisoners after drawing lots. Not daring to commit murder, Ma instead hides the prisoners in a watchtower along the Great Wall, where he visits them regularly to bring them food and water. However, an unsuccessful escape attempt by the prisoners reveals Ma's secret to the rest of the village. A...