How an American war film, Midway, got past Chinese censors when home-grown ones have been pulled
- Roland Emmerich’s Midway secured approval for a general cinematic release in mainland China this week
- However, domestic war films such as The Eight Hundred and Liberation remain in limbo
Recounting a United States naval fleet’s triumph over its Japanese counterpart in a four-day battle in the Pacific in June 1942, during World War II, Roland Emmerich’s latest outing is being marketed as a celebration of America changing “the fate of the world”.
Somehow, however, Midway secured a general release in mainland China on November 8, the same day it opens in cinemas in North America.
It certainly helps that Midwayis partly financed by Chinese money. Speaking to the media ahead of the film’s release, Emmerich – the Hollywood hitmaker behind action blockbusters such as Independence Day (1996) and The Patriot (2000) – said he travelled to China to hunt for support after American studios balked at the US$125 million budget.
Emmerich found financial backing from Ruyi Films, the Shanghai-based outfit behind domestic hits such as Tiny Times (2013) and Detective Chinatown (2015). He also signed a multiple-film deal with Starlight Culture Entertainment, joining the Hong Kong-listed company’s high-profile roster of filmmakers, which – according to its website – includes James Wan, Robert Zemeckis and Sylvester Stallone.
Still, Midway’s screening in China contrasts sharply with uncertainty surrounding several home-grown war movies.
Among them is Guan Hu’s The Eight Hundred, a film about an outnumbered Chinese military unit’s four-day defence of a warehouse against the Japanese army, in Shanghai, in 1937. Though similar to Midway in its championing of the self-sacrifice of a few for their country, The Eight Hundred’s fate remains unclear, after its original July 5 release was cancelled, with rumours swirling about the authorities’ disapproval of the film’s celebration of the achievements of a Kuomintang-led platoon.
The festival’s director, Marco Müller, told US trade magazine Variety that the screening was cancelled not because of official interference but due to “market censorship”. Producers have demanded more changes to what they described as an “unfinished film”, he said.
It would be interesting to know what Emmerich thinks of all this. The German-born, US-based filmmaker, who turns 64 on November 10, is known for being outspoken: he is an advocate for LGBT rights, supported Hillary Clintonin the 2016 US presidential election, and has declared himself a “globalist” as opposed to a “nationalist”.
Indeed, Emmerich could proffer his 2009 film 2012 as proof of this. Set at a time when a series of cataclysmic disasters has put the Earth on course for obliteration, the film revolves around the idea that only international cooperation can save humankind from extinction. In a surprising turn, 2012 puts a heavy emphasis on China’s role in the world, with the country working in tandem with the US and other Group of Eight nations to build arks as hell and high water strike.
While promoting Midway, Emmerich has repeatedly highlighted his intention of telling a story that warns against the perils of nationalist demagogues, those he accuses of causing wars. The film offers a rebuke to the ruling elite: while US officers decry the cluelessness of their superiors in Washington, Japanese admirals get plenty of screen time, too – among them Isoroku Yamamoto (Etsushi Toyokawa) and Tamon Yamaguchi (Tadanobu Asano) – to articulate their perspectives on war and their discontent.
How mainland Chinese audiences will react to this world view remains to be seen.
