​’Dongji Rescue’ review: Rousing Chinese war film recounts the Lisbon Maru tragedy

Dirs. Guan Hu, Fei Zhenxiang. China. 2025. 133mins

Guan Hu and Fei Zhenxiang’s summer time blockbuster contender Dongji Rescue takes the Lisbon Maru incident that occurred off the coast of China throughout World Warfare II as the idea for a rousing spectacle, however in doing so arguably strays too removed from historic sources. This occasion was lately excavated by Fang Li’s documentary The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru (2024), which chronicled in exacting element how a Japanese cargo ship carrying prisoners of conflict was torpedoed by an American submarine, with a whole lot of drowning captives saved by selfless Chinese language fishermen from the close by Dongji Island. As indicated by its title, Dongji Rescue tells the story from the Chinese language perspective with the islanders initially unwilling to intervene however finally guided by their code: “These in peril at sea should be saved”. But it additionally fictionalises historical past in a way that could be deemed solely pointless by these now conversant in the harrowing tragedy.

The in depth underwater sequences are concurrently visually attractive and suspenseful

These artistic liberties might be an element within the movie’s underwhelming estimated $30 million home opening weekend. Native audiences are nonetheless flocking to Shen Ao’s wartime true story Useless To Rights, now in its third week of launch, which has been praised for its genuine depiction of citizen resistance throughout the Nanjing Bloodbath. Which means Dongji Rescue gained’t come near replicating the success of co-director Hu’s earlier army epic The Eight Hundred, which tallied $461 million to turn out to be 2020’s second-highest international grosser. If an abroad launch all through August is unlikely to create main box-office waves, fairly taut pacing and several other bravura set items ought to give Dongji Rescue streaming viability.

In October 1942, most of China is below Japanese management, together with Dongji Island within the far jap area of Zhoushan. The island’s inhabitants have been forbidden by the Japanese authorities from taking their boats out, lowering these seafarers to self-described “turtles”. This restriction has so infuriated rebellious younger fisherman Abi (Zhu Yilong) that he intends to depart for Shanghai along with his lover Ahua (Ni Ni), who’s the foster daughter of stoic island patriarch Previous Wu (Ni Dahong).

The remoted group is pulled into a global incident when British POW Thomas Newman (William Franklyn-Miller) is discovered floating close by after being blown out of a torpedoed Japanese ship. Newman is harboured by Abi’s brother Adang (Wu Lei) with help from alcoholic college instructor Chen (Chen Minghao). Japanese troops quickly arrive to retrieve Newman; additionally they take three Chinese language hostages, together with Adang, to ensure compliance with their plan to depart the ship to sink. It’s whereas attempting to spring his brother that Abi discovers a shipload of malnourished POWs trapped on a waterlogged vessel.

Budgeted at $80 million with IMAX cameras utilised for underwater images, Dongji Rescue is an impressive manufacturing with Hu (in partnership with co-director Fei) honing the technical know-how demonstrated with The Eight Hundred on a equally grand scale however in opposition to a special wartime backdrop. The in depth underwater sequences are concurrently visually attractive and suspenseful, whereas painstaking recreations of the island village and the Lisbon Maru pay dividends when it comes to scale, with the hellishly-lit maintain of the ill-fated cargo ship constituting a huge coffin. The eventual rescue packs a kinetic wallop as this logistically advanced sequence reaches a crescendo as soon as the sinking ship causes a whirlpool. It’s a triumph of staging that thrillingly blends bodily and digital components. First-rate modifying by Yang Hongyu and Li Weiwen ensures a way of spatial readability amid the escalating chaos, whereas Atli Orvarsson’s rating offers a thunderous accompaniment.

Nonetheless, the type of heroism totally on show is problematic. The Lisbon Maru incident is an instance of collective civilian motion, however Dongji Rescue seeks to weave the standard hero’s journey into these occasions. After establishing that Abi and his brother are descendants of pirates slightly than born islanders, the movie transforms Abi right into a nautical superman who can handily deal with Japanese aggressors. Completely tanned and impressively toned with tousled hair flowing in movie-star style, Zhu confidently asserts himself as a rugged motion lead following psychologically fractured turns in Misplaced In The Stars (2022) and Solely The River Flows (2023). As certainly one of Chinese language cinema’s new breed of masculine protagonists, Abi displays a fiercely individualistic streak but evokes others by steadily turning into an emblem of cultural virtues. However having the near-herculean efforts of an outsider stir the fishermen to behave renders this group passive and even cowardly for a lot of the working time.

Though taking liberties with historical past is par for the course in standard cinema, the flagrant invention in Dongji Rescue turns what must be a tribute to pure humanism past borders into one other full-blooded resistance/revenge story. Misguidedly searching for to stoke viewers fervour, the screenplay fictionalises the occupation of the island and the specter of a bloodbath if POWs are hidden, whereas there are lashings of gore that stem from each rampant Japanese savagery and a need for retribution. Whatever the technical craftsmanship on show, such gildings diminish the basic energy of a singular story and place this unfastened cinematic retelling squarely inside China’s typical war-movie output.