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Chinese Theater Collaborative

The Oath Repeated

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Sacrifice
赵氏孤儿 (2010)

Live Action Feature Film
Director: Chen Kaige 陈凯歌

LINKS TO THE FILM

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

Cheng Ying’s Love for his Own Son

(A) Cheng Ying gets his son killed unintentionally.

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.