Devils on the Doorstep
| Devils on the Doorstep | |
|---|---|
American poster for Devils on the Doorstep
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| Directed by | Jiang Wen |
| Produced by | Jiang Wen Dong Ping Yang Hongguang Liu Xiaodian Liu Xiaodong |
| Screenplay by |
Shi Ping Shi Jianquan Jiang Wen You Fengwei |
| Based on |
Survival by You Fengwei |
| Starring | Jiang Wen Kagawa Teruyuki Yuan Ding Jiang Hongbo |
| Music by |
Cui Jian Liu Xing Li Haiying |
| Cinematography |
Wang Min Zhao Xiaoshi |
| Edited by |
Zhang Yifan Folmer Wiesinger |
| Distributed by | Fortissimo Films (United States) |
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Release date
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12 May 2000 (Cannes) 27 April 2002 |
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Running time
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139 minutes |
| Country | China |
| Language |
Chinese Japanese |
| Budget |
US$3.9 million US$2.6 million |
Devils on the Doorstep (simplified Chinese: 鬼子来了; traditional Chinese: 鬼子來了; Japanese: 鬼が来た!; literally "the devils are here") is a 2000 Chinese black comedy film directed, co-written and produced by Jiang Wen, starring Jiang himself, Kagawa Teruyuki, Yuan Ding and Jiang Hongbo. Shot in black and white to mimic old-time war movies, the film premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival on 12 May and clinched the Grand Prix but was subsequently banned in its home country.
Inspired by the novel Survival by You Fengwei, Devils on the Doorstep is set in the last years of the Second Sino-Japanese War during World War II and tells the story of a Chinese villager who is forced by a mysterious figure to take custody of two prisoners from the Japanese Army (Teruyuki and Yuan). Fearing both the mystery man and the Japanese, the village falls into a dilemma over what to do with the two prisoners.
Contrary to its title, Devils on the Doorstep is not at its core an anti-Japanese war film. In Jiang's own words, the film shows how Chinese literature and film has perpetuated an attitude of blaming the aggressor and casting the Chinese population as passive victims of aggression. Jiang hopes that the film illuminates this common human psychological trait of blaming others for disaster that goes beyond Chineseness.
In a small village named Rack-Armor Terrace in Hebei, at the foot of the Great Wall of China, a local peasant called Ma Dasan (played by Jiang Wen) is caught by surprise when a man bursts into his home one night and deposits two men in gunnysacks, instructing him at gunpoint to keep them captive but alive for the next few days and interrogate them. The man, identified only as "Me", leaves before Ma can catch a glimpse of him. One of the gunnysacks contains Kosaburo Hanaya (Kagawa Teruyuki), a belligerent Japanese sergeant; the other Dong Hanchen (Yuan Ding), an obsequious Chinese interpreter working for the Japanese Army. Ma hurriedly enlists the help of his fellow villagers. Fearing both the mysterious "Me" and the Japanese, the village decides to follow the instructions from "Me" and detains the prisoners in Ma's cellar. Hanaya repeatedly attempts to provoke the peasants into killing him, but Dong, fearing for his own life, alters Hanaya's words in translation to make him appear conciliatory.
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