Course:ASIA355/2023/Cliff Walkers

Cliff Walkers, a tribute to the unsung heroes who fought for the dawn

Group Members' Contributions

Distribution of Contributions

	Contributor(s)
Introduction	R G, Y W, J X, Z Y
Stories behind film production	Z Y
Reception of the film	R G
Scholarly Literature Review	R G
Comparative Analysis	Y W
Alternate Interpretation	J X
Conclusion	R G, Y W, J X, Z Y

Introduction

Basic information:

Cliff Walkers

Cliff Walkers is a 2021 Chinese historical spy film directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Quan Yongxian. It is set in the Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo/Manchuria in the 1930s before the outbreak of World War II. The film was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

Road map of the film's storyline:

In the 1930s, four Chinese Communist Party agents who have received special training in the Soviet Union form a mission team, and they return to the Northeast Province of China, also known as Manchukuo, where at the time it is occupied by the Japanese, to carry out a secret operation, code-named "Utrennya"(Russian: "утренняя" or "dawn"). The four agents are divided into two groups to operate. Due to the betrayal of the a traitor within the party, their movements have been almost transparent to the enemy since the first moment they have parachuted and landed.

The remaining parts of the film tell the story about how the four team members escape from the enemy's surveillance, cooperate with the undercover Chinese Communist Party lurking inside the enemy, and explore the dilemmas (love, family, mission) faced by agents in the revolution. During this process, two of the four original agents sacrifice their lives for the mission. This film, therefore, also pays tribute to the agents that have died in the film and countless people in reality, who like them, have also paid the ultimate sacrifice during that conflict and war where China fights for its own independence from Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 40s.

The mission "Utrennya", where the agents aim to rescue a person who has escaped from Japanese occupied Beiyinhe (Beiyin River) is based on a real story about the Japanese occupants, namely Unit 731, whose members used live Chinese civilians as objects of experiments for their chemical weapons. The Beiyinhe area was part of the base of Unit 731.

Focus:

The first section, Stories Behind the Film, provides insights into the production of Cliff Walkers, highlighting the team's ability to overcome numerous challenges and exemplify the director's unwavering commitment to realism and artistic excellence. Cliff Walkers stands as a remarkable demonstration of Zhang Yimou's dedication to his craft, serving as proof of his relentless pursuit of artistic excellence.

The Histories of the Film’s Reception section examines the reception of Cliff Walkers focusing on the film's mixed reviews from critics and the general public. It analyzes the ratings on platforms like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, as well as the film's significant recognition through its multiple awards and nominations.

The Scholarly Literature Review section explores the discourse surrounding director Yimou Zhang and his directorial style through his interviews and other scholarly opinions.It delves into the themes of responsible filmmaking, the next generation of Chinese filmmakers, and challenges faced by Chinese cinema in terms of authentic experiences and cultural representations on screen. It synthesizes the major concepts and topics presented with the scholarly sources.

For the comparative analysis, we compared Cliff Walkers with The Message. We discussed the changes in the narrative, character creation, and political ideas of spy movies.

The alternative interpretations section focuses on analyzing possible endings of the character Zhou Yi, by looking at earlier scenes from the film and works written by film scholars and movie critics.

Stories Behind the Film

Zhang Yimou at the celebration event for the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China

Director Zhang Yimou's film "Cliff Walkers" went through a preparatory period amidst various activities such as the preparations for the celebration event for the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, the conceptual performance for "Dui Hua Yu Yan 2047 (Season 3)", post-production work for the film "Jian Ru Pan Shi", filming for the movie "One Second", and the Pingyao Film Festival. Despite a demanding schedule of over 16 hours a day, Director Zhang Yimou, along with the creative team, successfully completed the film's preparations. Guiding the production team, the director pursued the ultimate aesthetic pursuit and conducted on-location shooting in extremely cold conditions. Due to the sudden outbreak of the COVID pandemic, the crew voluntarily halted production to prioritize the safety of its members, emphasizing that life takes precedence over all artistic endeavors.

Ultimate: Walking Through The Snow

One actor suffered frostbite.

Director Zhang Yimou, in pursuit of realism in the film and natural performances from the actors, shot outdoor scenes in icy and snowy conditions at minus 40 degrees Celsius. Many crew members and actors, also driven by the pursuit of this extreme realism, suffered varying degrees of frostbite. Any exposed skin was vulnerable to frostbite. One walk-on, who portrayed a corpse, refrained from moving to avoid disrupting the composition of the scene, resulting in severe frostbite. Lead actor Zhang Yi, director Zhang Yimou, and other crew members were deeply concerned and provided comfort and measures to keep warm.

Prop snow behind the scene

In this film set entirely in icy and snowy conditions, director Zhang Yimou had extremely high requirements for creating prop snow. Zhang Yimou mentioned that in the film "Raise the Red Lantern," urea was used to create prop snow, but it had the disadvantage of clumping together and not producing a satisfactory and clean effect. When filming "House of Flying Daggers," over a decade ago, the snow machines produced foam that polluted the environment and resulted in unnatural effects. Cai Kuiguang, the on-set special effects director for the film, introduced the use of biodegradable and environmentally friendly starch-based snow, which helps protect the pristine forests in the shooting locations. A significant amount of snow powder was used in this film, initially estimating 500 boxes, but ultimately requiring 800 boxes. Cai Kuiguang believes that there won't be many future films that would require such a large quantity of snow.

Ultimate: Extreme Keenness and Perfectionism

Harbin central street scene replication

Another major outdoor shooting location was constructed in Datong, Shanxi, replicating the urban atmosphere of Harbin's Central Street in the 1930s and 1940s. The depicted locations in the story historically existed, such as the Majestic Hotel (Ma Die Er Bin Guan), the Business Bookstore (Shang Wu Shu Ju), and the Asia Cinema (Ya Xi Ya Dian Ying Yuan). They were carefully recreated to match the aesthetics of that era, condensed into a convenient production setting, allowing the audience to envision Harbin as it was back then. It's worth mentioning that the lead actor, Zhang Yi, is from Harbin and grew up living on Hongzhuan Street on the side of the Central Street Educational Bookstore (Zhong Yang Da Jie Jiao Yu Shu Dian). Coincidentally, the director's monitoring tent was positioned at his home's location.

Integrating a portable pile driver with the electrocution chair

In addition to striving for ultimate authenticity in the set design, director Zhang Yimou also demonstrated cleverness and flexibility in certain prop arrangements. In the scene where Zhang Xianchen undergoes electrocution while seated on a chair, the challenge was to portray realistic spasms while ensuring the actor's safety. Through discussions and experiments, they decided to integrate a portable pile driver behind the electrocution chair, which would remain invisible from the front. The realistic spasms of being electrocuted were achieved by synchronizing the vibrations of the pile driver with the actor's performance, resulting in an ultimately natural acting.

Histories of the Film’s Reception

Released in 2021, Cliff Walkers was received with mixed opinions and attitudes from both critics and the general public. Based on 2,700 voters, the film scored a rating of 6.5 out of 10 stars on IMDB. It also received a 78% and 81% approval rating from audiences and critics respectively on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite its mixed reviews, the film achieved significant recognition in terms of its awards and nominations. Li Yongyi won the Best Editing Award for the film at the ‘15th Asian Film Awards’ in October 2021 while director Zhang Yimou was named Best Filmmaker at the ‘34th Golden Rooster Awards.’ In addition, Zhao Xiadoing received the Best Cinematography award, and Zhang Yi received the Best Actor award for their contributions to the film. The film and its crew were also nominated for numerous additional awards. At the 34th Golden Rooster Awards, Cliff Walkers was nominated for Best Picture, while Lin Mu was nominated for Best Art Direction. Cliff Walkers and Yimou Zhang also won the Outstanding Screenplay prize at the Writers Guild of China Film Association 2023 Awards. The multitude of awards and nominations exemplify the recognition given to this film within the Chinese film community and industry as a whole.

Zhang Yimou delivers his award acceptance speech on stage at the 34th Golden Rooster Awards ceremony held in Xiamen, Fujian province, Dec. 30, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

The triumph of the film with respect to its multiple awards and nominations indicates the strong response it garnered from reviewers and industry experts. Public opinion, on the other hand, was more divided. Variety's Jessica Kiang called Cliff Walkers a beautifully snowbound period spy film with a muddled plot and a bland, committee-approved message. While Kiang certainly appreciated and acknowledged the film's phenomenal visual elements and cinematic magnificence, her critique lay within the film's complex and underdeveloped characters alongside its narrative flaws.

Another review from IndieWire by David Ehrlich praised the film's visual elements while similarly critiquing its convoluted plot. Ehrlich’s analysis delves deep into the theme of nationalism within the film, and how it felt like a forced confession solely to appease Chinese regulators and censors. Despite his criticism, Ehrlich also praised Zhang Yimou's ability to capture extravaganza on film and the picture's transportive impact.

Scholarly Literature Review

This review will seek to explore the scholarly discourse surrounding director Yimou Zhang with a focus on the broader themes of responsible filmmaking, the next generation of Chinese filmmakers, and the challenges faced by Chinese cinema in regard to the portrayal of authentic experiences and cultural representations on screen. Yimou Zhang, through his extensive directorial experience, has garnered a reputation as one of China’s most prominent directors while his intriguing directing style has also caught the attention of English-Speaking scholars. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the primary concepts and topics presented in three scholarly sources in order to offer a comprehensive image of Zhang's directorial style and critical reception of his films.

In his essay titled "I Disapprove of Making Underground Films," Zhang stresses the importance of ‘responsible filmmaking’ while also expressing his concerns regarding the status of Chinese cinema. This article has been used by academics to contextualize Zhang's creative vision and his function as a filmmaker overcoming industry constraints. His disdain for underground films and emphasis on marketability provide insights into his creative motives and aims as a director, offering a lens through which we can analyze Cliff Walkers (2001). Zhang's article acknowledges the existence of competent professionals in the industry while also providing a critique of the ‘impostors’ within the Chinese film business who contribute to the creation of low-quality films that harm the industry's reputation. “Many of them fail to reach any standard of quality, and many impostors have become directors or film stars” (Zhang, 45). This viewpoint feeds conversations about Zhang's dedication to making pictures that resonate with wider audiences and drive engagement within the mainstream industry. We can thus gauge a deeper understanding of Zhang’s creative choices within Cliff Walkers by examining his critique and concerns over the engagement with global audiences and cultural representation within Chinese cinema.

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Xing Zhou's "The Current Problems of Aesthetic Creation in Chinese Film Art" examines the difficulties of combining aesthetic goals, cultural identity, and business success in Chinese cinema. This analysis provides us with a broader insight into the present difficulties confronting Chinese filmmakers, including Zhang. In alignment with Zhang’s ideals of accurately capturing the social dynamics and authentic experiences in his films, Xing Zhou emphasizes the necessity of reflecting reality and expressing aesthetic preferences in daily life within this article. Xing Zhou's approach emphasizes the importance of presenting distinctive cultural expressions with Chinese features, which is consistent with Zhang's emphasis on cultural identification and the examination of Chinese history, customs, and values. Xing Zhou's examination offers a foundation for comprehending Zhang's artistic decisions in Cliff Walkers and how he incorporates Chinese cultural components into the film's themes, narratives, and visuals. “However, with films such as … Cliff Walkers as the core, Chinese cinema has reached a balance between aesthetic appreciation and market demand.” (Zhou, 356). Furthermore, Xing Zhou supports creative innovations in Chinese film that explore new perspectives on life, developing a feeling of personal creativity and spiritual connection. This is consistent with Zhang's particular directing style and ability to elicit emotional depth and reflection in his works, notably with Cliff Walkers.

Tan Ye's conversation with Zhang Yimou, titled "From the Fifth to the Sixth Generation: An Interview with Zhang Yimou," provides an additional and unique layer of insights into the problems and changes within the Chinese filmmaking industry. The conversation offers light on the current status of Chinese film and literature, providing critical insights into filmmakers' concerns around the transition from the Fifth to the Sixth Generation of Chinese filmmakers. Zhang's thoughts on artistic expression, censorship, and the importance of personal will add to the scholarly understanding of Chinese cinema as well as the history of Zhang's own directing career. Throughout the interview, Zhang is highly critical of contemporary Chinese literature. “Literature becomes more and more maudlin, divorcing itself from the people and the interests of the broad audience, and becoming something treasured by a small circle” (Ye, 10). As an alternative, Zhang praises the creative medium of film, believing it provides more creative freedom than literature, which is often under the strict censorship system in China. Belonging to the 5th Generation of Chinese filmmakers himself, Zhang Yimou has varying opinions on the landscape for the 6th Generation of filmmakers. Due to the lack of studio funding by governments and the presence of already established directors in the industry, Zhang believes that the 6th generation would encounter substantially more challenges than his generation. Furthermore, he owes the Fifth Generation's success to their strength and power, which he believes is absent in the works of the Sixth Generation.

Comparative Analysis

Poster of "The Message"

"The Message" is a Chinese spy war film released in 2009, co-directed by Chen Guofu and Gao Qunshu. The film tells the story of how Japanese military officers tried to find Chinese Communist agents lurking in the Nanjing puppet government through brutal interrogations during World War II, and how two Chinese Communist agents protected themselves and passed information in a closed environment.

• The two films differ in their narrative techniques.

Hua Min believes that "The Message" runs through the suspense of "who is the Lao Gui" throughout the movie, while "Cliff Walkers" adopts an unconventional narrative technique, starting with a "bright card" situation . In "The Message", the mystery of identity is always with the audience until the identity of the two Communist Party agents (Lao Gui and Lao Qiang) is finally revealed. "The Message" keeps the audience in a state of suspicion and reasoning by constructing an identity puzzle, and finally brings the audience to the climax of solving the mystery.

However "Cliff Walkers" revealed the identities of the four Communist Party agents from the beginning, and explained Lao Zhou's undercover identity in the middle of the film. The director Zhang Yimou wants to let the audience into the perspective of the character by announcing his identity early, so that the audience can put themselves in the role and worry about the character. The audience is no longer an outsider, watching movies is more like an experience.

• In the same scene, the strength of shaping group portraits is different.

In "The Message"(Clip 1), these characters sit together to have dinner, each of them is suspicious of the others, and each character expresses their character through expressions or body movements. For example, Jin Shenghuo is tactful, Bai Xiaonian is more feminine but still dares to take action, Wu Zhiguo is reckless and fierce, and Gu Xiaomeng is the image of a rich child. ''The Message'' showed the audience the personality of each character very strongly through a meal.Each character can bring a strong visual and emotional impact to the audience.

However, there is also a dinner in "Cliff Walkers" (Clip 2). In this clip, every character is restrained, with fake smiles on their faces. Lao Jin tried to ask for some secrets, but Wang Yu refused to open her mouth. They couldn't even find any topics to talk about. They could only talk about boring things like sausages, wine and coffee. Completely different from "The Message", "Cliff Walkers" is so restrained in shaping the characters. Neither the Chinese Communist Party nor the enemy's agents have as strong personal characteristics as the characters in "The Message", and they do not show any very strong personal characteristics like strong emotion in expression or action. As Zhang Yimou said in an interview: The characters are all mysterious figures with a halo, and often there is no distinction between good and evil, and it is difficult to distinguish between good and evil. This is also reflected in the costumes of the characters, in "Cliff Walkers", both the good and the evil are dressed almost the same.

The less intense group portraits in "Cliff Walkers" is not a sign of failure, the more explicit group portraits in "The Message" aren't more successful than "Cliff Walkers".  The restrained style of "Above the Cliff" is to highlight the group of Chinese Communist Party agents, rather than just highlighting a few characters in the movie.

In "The Message", the charm of the curves of the female body is displayed through the cheongsam, full of desire in the closed castle.

• The functions performed by female characters are different.

Li Xiang mentioned in his article that the female characters in "The Message" satisfy the audience's viewing needs and desires, and strengthen the commerciality of the film and the consumption function of female images. "The Message" puts more emphasis on the consumption function of female film characters, and the shaping of the two female characters Gu Xiaoman and Li Ningyu serves more commercial purposes. In "The Message", the two female protagonists almost always wear cheongsam, which can reflect the curves of women's bodies and also represent a symbol of desire. Second, there are multiple interrogations of women in  "The Message", such as the interrogation of Li Ningyu (Clip 3), the interrogation of Gu Xiaoman (Clip 4). The fragments of these interrogation methods are also a kind of consumption of female characters, because a lot of female bodies are involved. Whether it is a cheongsam or an interrogation full of fleshy images, they all use female characters to serve commercial purposes.

In "Cliff Walkers", the similarity of clothing between male and female characters reduces gender differences between Revolutionary characters.

In "Cliff Walkers," the consuming function of the female characters is greatly downplayed. Li Xiang's point of view is not correct, Zhang Yimou's portrayal of female characters in "Cliff Walkers" is not to heal the audience's trauma of the epidemic, but to narrow the difference between male and female characters in the context of revolution and create more diverse female figures. The image of Xiaolan represents the young women in the revolution. In "Cliff Walkers" (Clip 5), she cherishes her love and cares about her boyfriend, but she is so helpless and pitiful in front of the facts. Xiao Lan is also a brave character in the movie. In the same clip, she is so brave to fight the enemy. The scenes of Wang Yu represents the mother in the revolution. In "Cliff Walkers" (Clip 6), she cares about her children. Also she showed her wit and bravery, even if she took a small piece of poison by herself, she still told Chu Liang that the people around her were enemies. In "Cliff Walkers", the costumes of female characters are also designed to narrow the differences between male and female characters. Whether Xiaolan or Wang Yu, they both have the characteristics of traditional women-caring about their relatives, but they can also take on the heavy responsibility of revolution.

• The difference in shaping a loyal revolutionary hero is reflected in the response to torture.

In "The Message", the role of Wu Zhiguo is portrayed as a revolutionary hero and an excellent undercover agent. In "The Message" (Clip 7), Wu Zhiguo was tortured very cruelly, and those tiny needles caused him great pain. Wu Zhiguo's reaction was to curse these enemies, and he didn't say a word except howling in pain. Such a tough hero is very in line with the traditional image in revolutionary propaganda films. Revolutionary heroes will not confide a single word to the enemy.

In "Cliff Walkers", Zhang Xianchen is also portrayed as a revolutionary hero and an excellent agent. But he's not a typical tough-guy character like Wu Zhiguo in "The Message". "Cliff Walkers" is more tolerant of the role of revolutionary heroes, or in other words, the current society is no longer limited to the traditional definition of revolutionary heroes. The society is more humane now. In "Cliff Walkers" (Clip 8), Zhang Xianchen was injected with hallucinogens and then interrogated. Zhang Xianchen did not act like the traditional hero, he said something about how to contact Xiaolan. In traditional film and television, Zhang Xianchen's behavior is treason, just like Chu Liang's first reaction. But Zhang Yimou told us through Zhou Yi's words that this is not a betrayal, he is loyal. Through this paragraph, Zhang Yimou showed that the society’s requirements for revolutionary heroes are no longer as strict as before, but more humane. After being injected with drugs, people cannot control themselves in real life. Such scenes design is an improvement of Chinese political propaganda films.

As for Similarities:

• The setting of both movies follows: The dilemma created by limited time and limited space.

According to what Hua Min said in her article, both films follow the combination mode of "limited time + limited space" in traditional spy films in terms of genre expression, allowing the audience to maintain a high sense of tension in the puzzle of identity And the sense of suspense, through a series of uncertain factors, breaks the audience's thinking pattern, and subtly pulls the audience's emotional expectations.

In "The Message," much of the movie takes place in a closed castle, and Chinese Communist Party agents must send intelligence to the trap within five days. In "The Message" (Clip 9), the film begins by explaining the traps set by the enemy, and the Chinese Communist Party agents must deliver the information before the friendly forces fall into the trap, so limited time and limited space in the castle. This environment creates a seemingly impossible dilemma for the protagonist.

In "Cliff Walkers," however, two of the four-man agent team fall into the enemy's trap from the start. For example, on the train to Harbin (Clip 10), there is a closed space formed by the train. Zhang Xianchen must try to pass the information before his teammates get off the train. And then the bookstore, the closed interrogation room, and the heavily guarded police station, all of these are divided and limited spaces. In "Cliff Walkers", the limited time is reflected in the task deadline of Operation Utra to escort Wang Ziyang out of the country before the 18th. In terms of narrative techniques, both films create very difficult dilemmas for the characters in the films through the limitation of space and time, so as to ensure that the plot can advance amidst the tension and expectations of the audience.

• Some items in both movies represent the same movie symbols.

In both movies, bulletin boards (places for posting advertisements) appear and are used as a carrier for conveying information. Both movies use the bulletin board as a means of communication is to show that the Chinese Communist Party was in a backward position in terms of technology and equipment at that time. There was no reliable ways of communication between agents, and information could only be transmitted through the wisdom of such nobody. . In "The Message" (Clip 11), the crippled man uses an ad posted on a bulletin board to deliver an assassination tip. In "Cliff Walkers" (Clip 12), Zhou Yi used a pen to mark the movie schedule on the bulletin board at the entrance of the theater to pass information to Xiaolan.

In "The Message", after witnessing Zhang Xianchen's execution, Zhou Yi smoked to hide his sadness, and neither the audience nor the enemy could see his expression clearly.

Cigarettes are used as an important movie symbol in both movies. Whenever a cigarette is in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party agents, audience can know there is something has happened or is going to happen. Cigarettes symbolize calmness and concealment in both movies, and the protagonist uses cigarettes to hide his emotions and his identity. The symbol of cigarettes appears because in some scenes, the characters cannot express their emotions normally, and then the cigarette can appear as a symbol.

For example(Clip 13), when Li Ningyu was shocked by the code she had just deciphered in "The Message" , and when she was questioned for the first time , the cigarette in her hand expressed her inner anxiety. Use cigarettes to calm yourself down. Another very interesting scene involving cigarettes is when a lame agent posing as a Japanese waiter appears next to Wu Zhiguo at a banquet , both of them smoking. This is very strange, because the waiter is not supposed to smoke at the banquet, but through the act of smoking, audience can feel the tension of the two Chinese Communist Party agents, who are forcing themselves to keep calm and pretend not to know each other. Even at the end of the film, when Wu Zhiguo assassinated Takeda, Wu Zhiguo’s smoking behavior at this time on the one hand shows that he hides his identity and sneaks into the station, on the other hand, he wants to calm himself down, which shows from the side He was so eager to avenge Gu Xiaoman.

And in "Cliff Walkers", there are similar shots where cigarettes appear as a movie symbol. For example(Clip 14), after Zhang Xianchen came out of the bookstore, he found that the enemy was chasing him. At this time, he took out a cigarette and looked through the mirror of the cigarette case, and then lit the cigarette. The cigarettes at this time, as mentioned before, represent hiding and also help Zhang Xianchen hide. In addition, when Zhou Yi sat in the car and read the information obtained through the pharmacy , he also lit a cigarette, and the cigarette at this time also played a role in helping to hide. As mentioned before, whenever the main character lights a cigarette, it's always a sign that something is about to happen or has already happened. When Zhou Yi watched the execution of Zhang Xianchen at the end, he still smoked to hide his emotions, and at the same time expressed his sadness by smoking.

• Commercial films with political propaganda purposes.

Through the character's lines, the political views of the film are promoted.

The two films first meet the attributes of their commercial atrributes. The actors in "The Message" and "Cliff Walkers" are well-known actors in China, and these actors have brought profit success. But in essence, both films are also political propaganda films.

In "The Message," the enemies are established at the beginning of the film: the Japanese army and the Wang puppet government. In "The Message" (Clip 15), in a lively festive atmosphere, the audience saw the death of an official of the Wang puppet government and the death of Heisuke Yanagawa in the newspaper. The director celebrates the death of the enemy with the opening festive scene. In fact, Yanagawa Heisuke was a real Japanese soldier, and he was one of the main criminals in the Nanjing Massacre, but he did not die in the assassination. The director's use of the film to complete revenge on the country's enemies, and it is also a manifestation of political propaganda. Secondly, the assassination of Takeda at the end is also revenge for the enemy. "The Message" expresses a kind of political declaration of China through these assassinations, especially the assassination of Heisuke Yanagawa, a historical war criminal, that no enemy will have a good ending.

In "Cliff Walkers," the film also opens with subtitles telling the viewer who the enemy is. In "Cliff Walkers" (Clip16), Zhang Xianchen stated the true purpose of Operation “Utrennya”, and the Beiyin River and Unit 731 mentioned in that scene are real. Zhang Yimou's intention here is to uses Zhang Xianchen's words to emphasize the crimes committed by the Japanese Unit 731, and it is to accuse them of inhumane human experiments, which is also an expression of political stance. The film ends with Zhou Yi killing the traitor Xie Zirong, a Chinese Communist agent. Traitors are shameful, and traitors, like enemies, should not have a good ending. Although Zhou Yi's behavior may expose his identity. "Cliff Walkers" also propagated a political stance through Zhou Yi's behavior, no matter what the price is, the traitors must be cleaned up.

Although many years have passed since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the new generation of Chinese young people can only learn about this history from history textbooks, the two films "The Message" and "Cliff Walkers" both bear a part of the inheritance History, the responsibility of propagating China's historical position and political ideas, so political propaganda is also a common point of these two films.

Alternative Interpretations

Xiao Lan explains the meaning of “Utrennya” during her last conversation with Zhou Yi.

After Xiao Lan, one of the two remaining members of the original team that is sent for the mission of “Utrennya”(Russian: "утренняя" or "dawn"), sees the escort mission's success, Zhang Yimou lets the viewers listen to a conversation between her and Zhou Yi (played by Yu Hewei). To Xiao Lan, Zhou Yi emotionally says: "I want you to live and see the dawn.". However, this scene is not the actual ending because after it, Zhang Yimou presents to the viewers a denouement, where Zhou Yi kills the traitor Xie Zirong (played by Lei Jiayin) and ties the last loose end. The scene Zhou killing Xie may seem to be a denouement, where the former has eliminated the last person who stands as an enemy that can reveal his true identity, but this scene also leads to another possibility. Though tying the last loose end is one way to interpret Zhou's motive here, his action also almost guarantees the exposure of his own identity as a CCP spy, hiding within the enemy for years; the enemy agents will not stand still after discovering that Xie has vanished. In Zhang's film, what ultimately happens to Zhou remains unknown. The uncertainty can also be interpreted as an unresolved ending.

The director's choice of such an ending leads viewers to more questions than answers. For example, one question that many viewers want to have have the answer to is: does Zhou Yi survive after killing Xie Zirong?

Perhaps the answer to this question remains in earlier parts of the film.

During the conversation between Wang Yu, Chu Liang, and Zhou Yu in the hospital, other CCP comrades have been sent to complete the mission of the escort. If so, then what is Zhang's intention for the Xiao Lan's appearance in the ending? More importantly, what is the director's intention for the viewers to hear her conversation with Zhou Yi?

These questions seem difficult to answer. As Simon Abrams, an American movie critic, writes on Roger Ebert, "[the] makers of 'Cliff Walkers' rarely give viewers enough time to process what they’re looking at" because the characters constantly move from one location to the next, and one scenario to the next.

An extreme close-up shot of Xiao Lan putting the poison pill into Zhou Yi's, following the latter's request.

However, Zhou Yimou has actually given a number of hints; Zhou Yi, as an experienced and senior member of the CCP, tells Wang Lan, a new member, to survive the war against Japanese invaders. He says so not only to give hope to his less experienced comrade but also because he may not be able to see the dawn, meaning the day of the victory, himself. Moreover, Zhang Yimou may have intentionally used an extreme close-up shot when Xiao Lan puts her poisonous pill into Zhou Yi's hand, foreshadowing what Zhou Yi may do with the pill. After the exposure of his identity, like Chu, Zhou may also use the pill to end his own life instead of being captured by the enemy. Zhang Yimou uses the character Zhou Yi to exemplify the heroism and high capabilities of the Chinese communist fighters, who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the better lives of their fellow comrades and citizens.

Zhou Yi, painfully recalls the death scene of Chu and Zhang, where the tone of his voice has changed when he says that he cannot save them.

The non-diegetic music in the background is another notable part of the mise-en-scène in this last conversation between Xiao Lan and Zhou Yi. As a well trained and experienced agent, throughout the entire mission, Zhou Yi rarely shows his internal emotions through his facial expressions. In fact, Zhou Yi does not even show a significant amount of pity when witnessing the death of both comrade Chu and Zhang. However, when recalling those two pieces of memory in this conversation, Zhou's tone has changed. Zhang Yimou's use of the music here aligns with the amount of grief Zhou has hidden in his heart. It also helps the viewers relate to the already emotional atmosphere of this conversation. Therefore, the non-diegetic background music helps this scene become one of the great emotional constructions in this film between not only the characters, but also between the characters and the audiences.

According to “The true story behind ‘Above the Cliff’ is more cruel than the movie shows” on iMedia, “[audiences] who have watched the drama version of "Cliff" should find that these two films are named after “Cliff." Zhou Yi (in fact, the hidden underground party), Gao Bin, and Lu Ming on the enemy's side are also the main characters of the drama version, and The background of the story all takes place in the northeast under Japanese rule.”. Zhang’s repeated use of the same names for multiple crucial characters as the drama is highly unlikely to be a coincidence, suggesting Zhou Yi is the same person in the movie “Cliff Walkers” as in the drama. According to the official Wikipedia page for “Cliff Walkers” in Chinese, Zhang Yimou’s movie is a prequel of the TV series “Cliff”. Therefore, for Zhou Yi to resume being alive and continue his missions in “Cliff”, despite potential exposure of his identity, he must have survived after the killing of Xie Zirong, the traitor in the movie.

Furthermore, another reading on the ending that reaches the same conclusion but is less dependent on reasoning about the timeline and historical context. The director’s choice of name for this film can also be translated as “Above the Cliff”. This very translation has been used at multiple occasions , such as in the article mentioned above, and also by scholars. For example, Guangyun Yu of Cheongju University, in “Research on the Transformation of Director Zhang Yimou's Artistic Style”, also uses the translation “Above the Cliff”. A natural question to ask is then: does staying above the cliff mean?

Zhang Yimou gives us the answer to this question moments after Zhou kills Xie; the car where Xie’s body is in plummets straight to the bottom of a cliff, while Zhou stays above it. Using this scene, Zhang subtly tells his viewers that above the cliff implies being alive, while the bottom of the cliff is death. The next question then be: which group of people stay above the cliff in the end? The answer is clearly who won the second Sino-Japanese war. What is more, throughout the film, Zhang Yimou has designed Zhou Yi as a character who remains calm under pressure and seems to always be able to construct a calculated plan.

The car, where Xie Zirong's body is in, falls and hits the bottom of the cliff and later sinks into the ice.

Zhou Yi stays above the cliff after killing Xie Zirong.

For example, Zhou’s plan for Wang and Chu in the hospital after the capture of Zhang Xianchen. Also, how he manages to formulate a plan when he and Zhang are both under enemy fire in the car in an attempt for Zhang’s escape. Zhang Yimou, therefore, has designed Zhou Yi as a character who does not act without discretion. Combining the director’s design of the character and the symbolic meaning of “Above the Cliff”, Zhou Yi has a high probability of survival.  

Conclusion

Cliff Walkers impresses the audience with concise and clear stories and thrilling plots. The unsung heroes are struggling hard on the road to complete the revolutionary task. Spirit. For people who grew up in peaceful times, war has always been a relatively distant and unfamiliar vocabulary, but Cliff Walkers brings the cruel but true history (Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, Unit 731) to the audience. Cliff Walkers reminds people of the present peace and pays tribute to those revolutionary heroes who put their hearts to the dawn and sacrificed their lives.

Cliff Walkers, for Zhang Yimou and many viewers, is another excellent group portrait spy movie after The Message. Compared with The Message, Cliff Walkers has a less sense of drama and more sense of historical reality. Though certain scenes such as the ending can seem unresolved for many, Zhang Yimou may have intentionally planted these uncertainties; the sense of anxiety for the unknown reveals another brutally realistic side of the world of spies. To reflect the reality and brutality of war, certain scenes in the movie can be even graphical. However, for audiences who like spy movies, it is still a great choice.

The complex narrative of Cliff Walkers captivates viewers, leaving them with a sense of mystery and possibility for interpretation. Zhang Yimou crafts a film that examines the sacrifices and courage of Chinese communist soldiers during a turbulent moment in history by employing elements of symbolism, emotional narratives, and character development. While Zhou Yi's ultimate fate is unclear, the film sparks debate and challenges viewers to consider the intricacies of devotion, sacrifice, and survival in the face of hardship.

References

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