First part of the Decisive Engagement trilogy. Directed by Pingfen Li et al.
Winner of the Golden Rooster for Best Film in 1992
Set in the liberation war of Hainan Island, PLA learn to sail boats and blow up enemy's warship in an encounter action.
The film shows the story of Helen Snow in China. After the Xi'an incident of 1936, Helen Snow, the wife of Edgar Snow and also an American journalist, comes back to to Xi'an. With her bravery, wisdom and help of friends, Helen escapes from the surveillance of the Kuomintang Nationalist Party government and manages to be one of the only western journalists to travel to Yan'an, in the northwest of China, and report on the Communist Party and Red Army activities.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang negotiated cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party while also asking their Ministry of Defense to secretly formulate a plan for attacking the Communist army, codenamed "A-14". Unexpectedly, Japanese spies stole this plan in a vain attempt to blackmail the Kuomintang into defecting to Japan. The Ministry of National Defense immediately organized a "Black Phoenix" operation to recapture the "A-14" plan, and sent officers under the pseudonym "Black Eagle" to carry it out.
Li, a former soldier who's family broke apart during wartime, was born in Hebei Province in China. He joined the army since youth, never about any political beliefs, but to survive by fighting for those who fed him. The war brought him to Taipei Taiwan, a place where he spent six decades to fit in. Li never had a chance to return to his hometown Hebei, but has revisited it countless times in his dreams. whenever he dreams of it, he sees blood flowing all over the place. At the age of sixty, he decided to separate from his wife and children and lived alone for 20 years. He missed all those years wasted in wartime when he was young, at the same time, he had no idea how his eventful life would come to an end...
A fly is treated to a portion of criticism.
My father was a landowner’s son and an ex-Kuomintang Air Force pilot, who remained in mainland China after 1949. For survival, he tried to transform himself from a man of the ‘old society’ to a man of the ‘new society’. As his son, I started investigating his ‘history before 1949’, which he had kept away from me. This film documents the process of my investigation over twenty years.
In 1981, a film about the misadventures of a German U-boat crew in 1941 becomes a worldwide hit almost four decades after the end of the World War II. Millions of viewers worldwide make Das Boot the most internationally successful German film of all time. But due to disputes over the script, accidents on the set, and voices accusing the makers of glorifying the war, the project was many times on the verge of being cancelled.
Armenian guerrilla troops fight against the Turkish forces on the mountain of Musa Dagh.
A son gets radicalized by an extremist group online. One night he decides to leave for Syria to join the rebels fight against the regime. To bring him back, his mother takes the most dangerous trip of her life. Disguises as a journalist, she joins a convoy to get into the combat zone; and ends up surrounded by a patrol of Kurdish fighters. Being ambushed by the militia and surviving, she witnesses the devastations of war and a world in agony. But her unconditional love for her child and determination, allows her the courage to overcome ever obstacle and survive. All she wants is to bring her son home alive.
The story of the great Indian rocket scientist, Shri Nambi Narayanan's life, a true patriot, who was turned into a villain in the blink of an eye after being falsely accused of treason.
Ella Fitzgerald was a 15-year-old street kid when she won a talent contest in 1934 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Within months she was a star. Over the next six decades, her sublime voice would transform the tragedies of her own life and the troubles of her times into joy. JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS retraces this extraordinary journey.
During the War of 1812 against Britain: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes - and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win.
During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers escape from a Union prison and head for the Mexican border. Along the way, they kill a Union courier bearing the news that the war is over. Keeping the message a secret, the captain has his men go on and they soon find themselves in a battle with the Union search party who also is unaware of the war's end.
A grand and patriotic tale of Poland's struggle for freedom just before Napoleon's war with Russia. Written in poetic style by Adam Mickiewicz, this story follows two feuding Polish families as they overcome their old conflicts and petty lives. However, they are able to unite as one with their patriotic and rebellious efforts to free the country they deeply love from Russian control.
Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette, a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel, an older peasant boy, and the two quickly become close. Together, they try to make sense of the chaotic and crumbling world around them, attempting to cope with death as they create a burial ground for Paulette's deceased pet dog. Eventually, however, Paulette's stay with Michel's family is threatened by the harsh realities of wartime.
Young Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers. inexperienced, but quite ambitious pharaoh is putting up a fight against a powerful clan of priests usurping rule over the country.
Set halfway through the 17th century, a church play is performed for the benefit of the young aristocrat Cosimo. In the play, a grotesque old woman gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. The child's older sister is quick to exploit the situation, selling blessings from the baby, and even claiming she's the true mother by virgin birth. However, when she attempts to seduce the bishop's son, the Church exacts a terrible revenge.
A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.