Cheng Ying urges the Orphan to leave
1 media/Zhaoshi_2010_Film_7_thumb.png 2023-10-26T18:49:09+00:00 Julia Keblinska 8a3e8d98762f87c0579d0d96f52acf9bb4742f98 1 2 Fig. 8: Cheng Ying (right) is persuading the orphan (left) to leave with him. plain 2023-10-31T19:25:53+00:00 Screenshot from the Sunchime Audiovisual Publishing 三辰影库音像出版社 and the Guangdong National Audiovisual Culture Broadcast Company 广东国视文化传播有限公司 DVD of the film, held by OSU librariesCredit: Screenshot by CTC Project Team. Julia Keblinska 8a3e8d98762f87c0579d0d96f52acf9bb4742f98
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2023-07-24T08:36:46+00:00
Sacrifice
赵氏孤儿 (2010) 82 plain 2025-01-28T14:45:53+00:00Live Action Feature Film
Director: Chen Kaige 陈凯歌
LINKS TO THE FILM- The film with Mandarin Chinese subtitles (simplified) on Xiaoxintv.
- The film with English subtitles on YouTube.
INFORMATION
- Title: Sacrifice 赵氏孤儿
- Year: 2010
- Director: Chen Kaige 陈凯歌
- Cast: Ge You 葛优 (as Cheng Ying 程婴), Wang Xueqi 王学圻 (as Tu’an Gu 屠岸贾), Zhang Fengyi 张丰毅 (as Gongsun Chujiu 公孙杵臼), Zhao Wenzhuo 赵文卓 (as Zhao Shuo 赵朔), Fan Bingbing 范冰冰 (as Zhao Zhuangji 赵庄姬), Huang Xiaoming 黄晓明 (as Han Jue 韩厥)
- Screenplay: Gao Xuan 高璇 and Ren Baoru 任宝茹; Zhao Ningyu 赵宁宇
- Language: Mandarin Chinese
- Duration: 124 minutes
INTRODUCTION
When famed Fifth Generation film director Chen Kaige 陈凯歌 (1952- ) decided to adapt the story of the Orphan of Zhao as a film, his principal concern revolved around how to make the story convincing for a modern audience. In the Yuan drama The Orphan of Zhao and the Peking opera of the same name that inspired Chen to make the film Sacrifice (2010). The story’s most shocking plot elements involve two acts of violence perpetrated within father-son relations: on the one hand, physician Cheng Ying 程婴 sacrifices his own son for the sake of a family of righteous officials; one the other hand, once the eponymous orphan finds out that his godfather Tu’an Gu 屠岸贾, with whom he has lived for his entire life, is the person responsible for massacring his entire family, he casts his love for Tu’an Gu aside and fantasizes about a bloody orgy of revenge instead. While the play portrays Cheng’s substitution of his own child for the orphan as a heroic gesture, such an act is nearly unfathomable for contemporary parents. Thus, modern adaptations have to grapple with different parent-child expectations.
In modern Chinese families, parent-child relations have become intimate bonds that typically supersede loyalty toward the state and its agents. In fact, in recent times, the younger generations oftentimes struggle with the zealous attention lavished on them by their parents and grandparents. In the wake of China’s one-child policy that took effect in the 1980s, the trend toward deep attachment between parents and children has only accelerated and intensified. Unsurprisingly, the killing of the only son in a family and the subsequent act of patricide would strike audiences as inhuman and unreasonable. Therefore, to make the story plausible, Chen had to address the following questions: How could Cheng Ying sacrifice the life of his own son? Did he do it intentionally or unintentionally? Why did Cheng Ying choose to raise the orphan? What was the plan for revenge and how should it have been put into action? What was the nature of the relationship between Cheng Ying and the orphan? How did Tu’an Gu accept the orphan as his godson? Did he have any doubts about the identity of the child? What was the nature of the relationship between Tu’an Gu and the orphan? How should the orphan react to the revelation of his true identity? How could the orphan kill his godfather? Did he have any hesitation over executing the revenge?
In answering these questions, Chen’s creative team had divergences of opinion over how to resolve the story. For the first half of the film, Chen Kaige worked with scriptwriters Gao Xuan 高璇 (1989- ) and Ren Baoru 任宝茹 (unknown), but for the second half, he collaborated with Zhao Ningyu 赵宁宇 (1971- ) instead. Their collaborative rewriting transformed the theme of the story from an ode to loyalty, righteousness, and moral virtue to the intricate interplay of father-son love and vengeance, while being imbued with reflections on modern individualism and humanism as well as enmity, forgiveness, and redemption.
With an investment of around 120 million RMB (17.6 million USD) and starring famous actors like Ge You 葛优 (1957- ), Fan Bingbing 范冰冰 (1981- ), and Huang Xiaoming 黄晓明 (1977- ), the film was a qualified success. On the one hand, its box-office performance (193 million RMB/28.4 million USD) propelled it into the ranks of a blockbuster; at the same time, the first half focusing on Tu’an Gu’s scheme to kill the Zhao family and Chen Ying’s rescue of the orphan won critical acclaim. Audiences appreciated the exquisite plot design, fast-paced storytelling, and high-quality fighting scenes. On the other hand, because Chen wanted to achieve more than commercial success, the second half of the film sought to tease out the intricacies of father-son love, vengeance, and redemption, but not everyone considered the rewritten plot a success. As the film struggled to reconcile an iconic revenge narrative with modern sensibilities, some of the storytelling and characterization suffered from inconsistencies and contradictions.PLOT SUMMARY
The story is set in the ducal state of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period. General Tu’an Gu (played by Wang Xueqi 王学圻) has a feud with the chancellor Zhao Dun 赵盾 and his son, General Zhao Shuo 赵朔 (played by Zhao Wenzhuo 赵文卓). Zhao Shuo is married to the King’s sister, Zhao Zhuangji 赵庄姬 (played by Fan Bingbing 范冰冰). Tu’an Gu plots to murder the duke of Jin and then shift the blame onto Zhao Dun. He goes on to massacre the entire Zhao family. Zhuangji begs the doctor Cheng Ying (played by Ge You 葛优) to save her newborn son, Zhao Wu 赵武. When one of Tu’an Gu’s subordinates, Han Jue 韩厥 (played by Huang Xiaoming 黄晓明), comes to get the baby, she kills herself to give Han Jue an excuse to let Cheng Ying and the baby go. Cheng Ying’s wife (played by Hai Qing 海清) gives the orphan to the soldiers of Tu’an Gu. Cheng Ying asks a friend of the Zhao family, Gongsun Chujiu 公孙杵臼 (played by Zhang Fengyi 张丰毅) to take his wife and son out of the city. Wrongly assuming that Gongsun has already left, he leads Tu’an Gu to Gongsun’s home and finds that his wife and son are hiding there. Tu’an Gu mistakes Cheng Ying’s son for the orphan and kills the baby and Cheng’s wife. Cheng Ying takes the orphan home and decides to raise him to avenge the death of his wife and son. He pretends to pay allegiance to Tu’an Gu and makes the orphan Tu’an Gu’s godson. Over the course of fifteen years, Zhao Wu develops intimate bonds with both his two fathers. Cheng Ying becomes a friend of Han Jue and they often secretly discuss their revenge plan. When Zhao Wu turns fifteen, Cheng Ying reveals his true identity to him, but Zhao Wu chooses not to believe it. Noticing the young Zhao Wu’s resemblance to Zhao Shuo, Tu’an Gu suspects he is the orphan and wants to kill him in a military campaign. However, at the last moment, he changes his mind and saves Zhao Wu. Meanwhile, Han Jue attempts to assassinate Tu’an Gu with a poisoned arrow, but Zhao Wu forces Cheng Ying to provide an antidote to save Tu’an Gu’s life. Cheng Ying shows Zhao Wu the room of his deceased son and finally convinces him of the truth about his family history. Zhao Wu and Cheng Ying proceed to confront Tu’an Gu. During a sword fight, Cheng Ying sacrifices his life in order to create an opportunity for Zhao Wu to kill Tu’an Gu.THEME: Father-Son Love
There are multiple sets of father-son relations in the film. Cheng Ying struggles between his love for his own son and for his adopted son. The two adoptive fathers compete for the love of Zhao Wu and the son is oftentimes forced to choose between them. The collision between these relations creates strong tensions. Through these tensions, we see the intricate interplay between love and vengeance as well as the film’s exploration of the complexities of father-son love from a modern point of view. All time stamps are keyed to the Chinese DVD film version (fig. 2).
Biological Father and Son Adoptive Father and Son Zhao Dun Zhao Wu Cheng Ying Zhao Wu Cheng Ying Cheng Ying's own son Tu'an Gu Zhao Wu
(A) Cheng Ying gets his son killed unintentionally.
Cheng Ying’s Love for his Own Son
In the film, instead of willingly letting his own son die for the orphan, Cheng Ying gets his son killed unintentionally because of several misjudgments:
Clip A1: 34:00-35:10
His wife wrongly turns in the orphan of Zhao to the soldiers and thus puts their own son in danger of being mistaken for the orphan.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 程婴：孩子呢？ Cheng Ying: Where is the orphan? 妻子：你刚走兵就到了。我哪知道是谁？我也没想抱着孩子去开门，可赵家的孩子放下他就哭。 Wife: The soldiers arrived immediately after you left. How could I know who they were? I didn’t intend to open the door with the orphan in my arms, but he cried every time I put him down. 程婴：你让他们把赵家的孩子抱走了？ Cheng Ying: You let them take away the orphan? 妻子： 我也没办法，人就冲孩子来的。 Wife: I had no choice. They came only for the baby. 程婴：你不明白。赵家的孩子是当咱家的孩子抱走的，那咱家的孩子又是谁的孩子。全城的孩子都交了，剩下的一个不就是赵家的孩子。不是他替了咱们的孩子，是咱们的孩子替了他了。 Cheng Ying: You don’t understand. They mistook the orphan for our son and took him away. Then who is our son now? All the other children in the city have been turned in and any remaining one would be taken to be the orphan. It is not that the orphan takes the place of our son, but that our son will suffer in place of him.
Clip A2: 46:10-46:45
Cheng Ying leads Tu’an Gu to Gongsun Chujiu’s house thinking that Gongsun has led his wife and son away from the house.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 屠岸贾：你把孩子交给谁了？ Tu’an Gu: Who did you give the orphan to? 程婴：小人不能说。 Cheng Ying: I can’t tell you. 屠岸贾：不说也行。我现在就告诉门外的父母，杀死一百多婴儿的凶手，我找到了。 Tu’an Gu: Fine. Now I’ll go tell the parents outside the door that I have found the killer of over one hundred babies. 程婴：我把赵家的孩子交给公孙杵臼大人了。 Cheng Ying: I gave the orphan to Mister Gongsun Chujiu.
Clip A3: 52:10-53:00
Cheng Ying believes Tu’an Gu’s lie that he will not kill the child.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 屠岸贾：你们不给我，就是逼我杀这个孩子。 Tu’an Gu: If you don’t give the baby to me, you’re pushing me to kill him. 程婴：屠岸大人，你答应我只看一眼。 Cheng Ying: Mr. Tu’an, please promise you won’t hurt him and just take a look.
(B) Cheng Ying raises the orphan up to avenge his dead son.
The reason why Cheng Ying decides to raise the orphan and one day make him kill Tu’an Gu as Tu’an’s godson is that he believes it is a better way to avenge himself on Tu’an. “When this child grows up, I will bring him to Tu’an Gu and tell him who the child is and who I am.” (等他长大了，我要把他带到屠岸贾面前，告诉他这孩子是谁，我是谁。) The same resolution appears twice in the film and Cheng Ying calls it an oath. Such an emphasis reveals that the main story centers on Cheng Ying's revenge for his own son rather than the orphan’s revenge.
Clip B1: 1:00:10-1:00:40Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 韩厥：那死了的那个孩子是谁。 Han Jue: Who was the dead child? 程婴：是我的儿子。这就是命。我得好好把这孩子养大，让他去替我儿子报仇。 Cheng Ying: That was my son. This is fate. I’m going to raise the orphan and lead him to avenge the death of my son. 韩厥：那要等多久？ Han Jue: How long shall we wait? 程婴：多久都等。等他长大了，我要把他带到屠岸贾面前，告诉他这孩子是谁，我是谁。 Cheng Ying: I will wait no matter how long it is. When this child grows up, I will bring him to Tu’an Gu and tell him who the child is and who I am.
Clip B2: 1:47:25-1:47:45Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 屠岸贾：韩厥没有机会杀我，你可有的是机会把毒下在我药碗里，还用得着等十五年吗？ Tu’an Gu: Han Jue doesn’t have the chance to kill me but you do. You can easily put poison into my medicine. What took you fifteen years? 程婴：我发过誓，我要好好把这孩子养大成人，“我要把他带到屠岸贾面前，告诉他这孩子是谁，我是谁。” Cheng Ying: I made the oath to raise the orphan well: “I will bring him to Tu’an Gu and tell him who the child is and who I am.” Cheng Ying’s Love for his Adopted Son
(C) Cheng Ying’s love for his adopted son outweighs his love for his own son.
Clip C1: 1:39:19-1:39:33
Seeing Zhao Wu’s strong bond with Tu’an Gu, Cheng Ying changes the plan from persuading Zhao Wu into killing Tu’an Gu to poisoning Tu’an by himself. After the assassination attempt, Cheng Ying decides not to flee on his own but together with his adoptive son. It shows that he stops using the son as a tool of revenge on account of his parental love as an adoptive father. He suggests they “live the common people’s life,” (去过老百姓的日子) which was also the hope of the child’s own mother, Zhuangji. When Cheng Ying finally decides to take Zhao Wu to “live the common people’s life,” he becomes a complete father to the child. It implies the triumph of love and redemption over vengeance.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 赵武(程勃)：那药呢？干爹受伤了。 Zhao Wu(Cheng Bo): Where is the medicine? Godfather was injured. 程婴：打胜了。 Cheng Ying: You won. 赵武(程勃)：药呢？ Zhao Wu(Cheng Bo): Where is the medicine? 程婴：勃儿，我要带你走，去过老百姓的日子。 Cheng Ying: Bo, I’m taking you away. Let’s live a commoner's life.
Clip C2: 0:27:20-0:27:50
The words of Zhuangji represent the pure love of a mother, whose only hope is the safety and peaceful life of her son. She says those words to Cheng Ying in front of Han Jue because she wants to show that the child will not be a threat in the future. It is how she asks for Han Jue's mercy to let her baby go.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 庄姬：程婴听着，等这孩子长大了，不许告诉他父母是谁，也不许告诉他仇人是谁。忘了报仇，就过老百姓的日子。 Zhuangji: Listen, Cheng Ying, when the child grows up, don’t tell him who his parents and enemies are. Let him forget about the revenge and live a commoner's life.
Clip C3: 0:48:32-0:48:44
Zhuangji’s words are also repeated when Cheng Ying begs for Tu’an Gu's mercy.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 程婴：庄姬夫人把孩子交给我的时候，说等他长大了，不许告诉他父母是谁，也不许告诉他仇人是谁，就过老百姓的日子。 Cheng Ying: When Lady Zhuangji gave me the child, she asked me not to tell him who his parents and enemies are when he grows up and just to let him live a commoner's life.
Clip C4: 1:40:05-1:40:45
Cheng Ying agrees to provide the antidote when Zhao Wu threatens to die together with the poisoned Tu’an Gu.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 程婴：把药箱放下！放手！ Cheng Ying: Put the medicine box down! Let go! 赵武：给我！ Zhao Wu: Give it to me! 程婴：放手！你想救他你？所有的都该结束了！ Cheng Ying: Let go! You want to save him? All should be ended now! 赵武：不给我，那我就和干爹一块儿死！ Zhao Wu:If you don’t give it to me, I will die together with Godfather!
Clip C5: 1:48:03-1:48:08
In the scene where the three of them meet, Cheng Ying admits that he saved Tu’an Gu only for the sake of Zhao Wu.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 屠岸贾：那我就明白了，你不是要我死，你是要我变成天下的笑柄，生不如死，对不对？ Tu’an Gu: I see. Your purpose is not to kill me but to make all the other people laugh at me, which is worse than death, isn’t it? 程婴：不对，我救你是因为勃儿要报答你。 Cheng Ying: No. The reason why I saved you is that Bo wanted to repay you. Zhao Wu’s Love for his Adopted Father
(D) Zhao Wu’s love for Cheng Ying outweighs his love for Tu’an Gu
Clip D1: 1:50:00-1:50:21
In the film, the orphan, Zhao Wu, is no longer an ambitious and capable young man who takes responsibility to take revenge on his enemy for his family. He is instead a young man not fully in control of his own life, tragically struggling between his love for his adoptive father Cheng Ying and his godfather Tu’an Gu. In the climactic three-way confrontation scene, he reveals his intention to take revenge against Tu’an Gu on behalf of his adoptive father’s dead son.Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes
Chinese Subtitles CTC Translation 屠岸贾：我问完了，你们可以走了。 Tu’an Gu: I finished my questions. You can leave now. 赵武：他还有件事没做，他还没替他儿子报仇呢。拿起你的剑来！ Zhao Wu: He still has one thing to finish. He hasn’t avenged the death of his son. Hold your sword! A Father's Sacrifice
Final Clip: 1:52:40-1:53:50
To protect Zhao Wu, Cheng Ying joins the duel and sacrifices himself to create an opportunity for Zhao Wu to kill Tu’an Gu. At last, both Cheng Ying and Tu’an Gu die.WORKS CONSULTED CLICK TO EXPAND/COLLAPSE
Chen Kaige and Kerry Fox talking Sacrifice and Official Competition.” Sydney Film Festival. April 16, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B74MgN4EUAs.
Gong, Haomin. “A World without Enemies: Revenge, Sacrifice, and Redemption in Chen Kaige’s Adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao.” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) 43 (2021): 69-84.
Ji, Junxiang 纪君祥. Zhaoshi gu’er da baochou 赵氏孤儿大报仇 (The grand revenge of the orphan of Zhao). In Yuan qu xuan 元曲选 (Select Yuan Plays), vol. 4, edited by Zang Maoxun 臧懋循. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961.
Wang, Shih-pe. “The Orphan of Zhao: The Meaning of Loyalty and Filiality.” In How To Read Chinese Drama: A Guided Anthology, edited by Patricia Sieber and Regina Llamas, 127-150. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022.
AUTHOR
Xuezhao Li
