KUALA LUMPUR: China's latest World War II film The Eight Hundred has taken more than 1.2 billion yuan (RM728 million) at the box office since its release on Aug 21.
This is despite critics panning it for sensationalism, distorting facts, and its loose plot.
Entertainment portal AsiaOne recently reported that the film about the heroics of Nationalist Chinese troops countering Japanese forces during their invasion of Shanghai in 1937, was pulled from release last year by the government ahead of celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Communist Party rule.
The first Chinese film to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras, and with a production budget of over US$80 million (RM331 million), The Eight Hundred is directed by Guan Hu, whose previous efforts include Cow (2009).
The film is based on a chapter in the Battle of Shanghai 1937, during the second Sino-Japanese War, in which around 400 Chinese soldiers had received orders to defend the Sihang Warehouse against the invading Japanese army.
They were the only soldiers to hold out in Shanghai after the other Nationalist forces withdrew from the city.
To boost morale, the commander of the defending forces, Xie Jinyuan, told citizens outside the warehouse that there were 800 soldiers defending it.
The soldiers held out for four days and four nights, successfully overcoming six Japanese advances, and in the process boosted the morale of the Chinese military and populace.
The battle took place in full view of Western and Chinese civilians, allowing Western journalists to capture footage of the fighting.
Guan used the warehouse's location, just across the Suzhou Creek from the foreign concessions in Shanghai, to create a spectacular visual contrast between the bloody battle and the lavish nightclubs and neon-lit casinos on the other bank.
He showed residents of the foreign concessions watching the action from a distance, and placing bets on the outcome.
The head of the Nationalist government, Chiang Kai-Shek, calculated that sacrificing 400 soldiers in defence of the warehouse might spur the Allied powers to pledge more help for the besieged Chinese at a forthcoming international conference.
When it was delayed, the soldiers holding out at the warehouse were ordered to beat a hasty retreat. Shanghai eventually fell to the Japanese.
Chinese film-goers have been anticipating the release of The Eight Hundred since the scrapping of its world premiere at the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival in July last year, and it has been rated 8.3 out of 10 on Douban, China's answer to film review portal Rotten Tomatoes.
Film-goers have hailed it as China's answer to Hollywood war films Dunkirk and Saving Private Ryan.
Beijing resident Cyrus Choi who enjoyed the film said: "It allows me to see things that are overlooked in history. The film gave delicate portrayals of various characters who just wanted to be reunited with their families. They laid down their lives for the country, and that touched the audience."
One of the reasons for Guan's focus on the four days the soldiers held out in defence of the warehouse was to show the patriotic response of the Chinese civilians witnessing the fighting from across the river.
That aspect of the story was sensationalised, some critics said. A blogger on the Ifeng movie website said: "The slow-motion treatment coupled with tear-jerking music is corny. Those scenes are repetitive like a music video."
The blogger contended that if the gist of the film had instead been a critique of the Nationalist decision-makers' use of the soldiers as political pawns, it would have been a first-rate war movie.
Film review blog Dazhuangshuodianying pointed out that the stories of many minor characters introduced in the first half of the film were not followed up.
"The flow in the second half is problematic. To sentimentalise the film's atmosphere, the sacrifices of the soldiers are exaggerated. The plot of the second half doesn't feel authentic. The film also failed to mention the eventual fate of the soldiers in real life."
Chinese historical records have shown that after the surviving soldiers withdrew, they entered the British concession.
The Japanese threatened the British with invasion of the concession if any of the Chinese soldiers left its confines, so the British set aside a compound for the house arrest of the soldiers for the duration of the Sino-Japanese War.
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941 and declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom, the Japanese took over the concession and the surviving solders were sent to different places, including Papua New Guinea, to work as labourers.
In Guan's movie, the commander of the warehouse's defenders, Xie (played by Du Chun), died in battle. In fact Xie survived, only to be assassinated by pro-Japanese traitors while under house arrest in the British concession.
The film is the first in the world this year to have taken more than 1 billion yuan (RM600 million) in a week, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic had shut cinemas.
Its spectacular box-office performance has given a much-needed boost in fortunes for the film's producers, Huayi Brothers.