In recent years, domestic film and television works have repeatedly fallen into the whirlpool of controversy.
Many factors such as scripts, costumes, actors, and acting skills are often criticized by the audience for being shoddy.
However, there is a category of domestic films that often produce outstanding works: domestic documentaries.
Among them, a series of humanities documentaries produced by CCTV are represented:
"A Bite of China", "Aerial Photography of China", "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City", "Hexi Corridor" etc.
Some netizens commented: Documentaries are indeed the ceiling for domestic film and television dramas.
Recently, another high-scoring documentary with unique content and novel format has landed on CCTV.
I dare say that no one can make it except us——
Director: Jin Tiemu
Screenwriter: Dai Xiuyang/Cui Liwen/Jia Yinchao/Shi Ke/Hong Xiaochun
Type: Documentary
First broadcast: 2021-02-12 (Mainland China)
Number of episodes: 6
Duration: 50 Minutes
As can be seen from the title of the film, this is a documentary that uses letters as a narrative carrier.
A character in the film collects 30 letters from ancient people, divided into categories such as love, friendship, family, etc.
Focus on digging out character stories and historical details from the letters, and use small insights to explore the ups and downs of individuals and times behind the letters.
Director Jin Tiemu has focused on making historical and humanistic documentaries for many years.
Previously, he had filmed classic 9-point masterpieces such as "Da Ming Palace" and "Xuan Zang's Road".
I have also filmed "History", a popular historical science film with a novel format that is very popular among young people.
The latest "Book Brief Review of China" has a good reputation. So far, it has a rating of 9.3 on Douban.
The documentary begins with a very creative animation.
Various animals evolved from letters full of words, running and flying between heaven and earth.
There is a letter from home that says, "The war rages on for three months, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold."
There is a friend's letter saying "The plum blossoms are sent by mail, and the elements are passed down by fish".
There is also a love letter like "Who in the clouds sent me a brocade letter? When the wild goose comes back, the moon will be full on the west tower."
When it comes to the feature film, specific ancient letters are used as the carrier.
It tells us touching stories about love, family and friendship.
Love Letter
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Qin Jia who served as a civil servant.
Qin Jia is a standard person who fears marriage and has a certain fear of marriage.
At the same time, he also has his own insistence: he will never give in or get married for a living.
As the eldest son in the family, he must persist in looking for true love despite the pressure to continue his career.
When he was nearly 30 years old, he finally met his destined love: a female poet named Xu Shu.
Qin Jia and Xu Shu soon fell in love and got married.
They can be called a perfect couple of a talented woman and a talented man, and they also have a place in the history of Chinese poetry.
Qin Jia once wrote in a letter:
"Different marriages are the cause of blessings and misfortunes. In wars and competitions, fear of virtue but not enmity.
Divine Enlightenment He said, "I love you forever."
The main idea is to lament how lucky he is to meet his wife, which shows the deep love between the two. .
When Qin Jia was 30 years old, he received an errand to go to Beijing to report on local population registration and tax matters.
From my hometown of Gansu to Luoyang, there are thousands of miles, and I don’t know when we will see each other again.
What is even more dramatic is that not long ago, Xu Shu returned to her parents' home to recuperate due to physical illness. After arriving home, she found out she was pregnant.
Unfortunately, before she had time to tell her husband the good news, he had already left for a long journey, and the couple were separated.
After arriving in Luoyang, Qin Jia always thought about his wife, but because he was too busy taking care of himself, he had no chance to bring his family to Luoyang.
In the winter of 164 AD, Qin Jia went on a tour with Emperor Huan, but died suddenly on the way. The cause of death is unknown.
Some people say that he suffered a sudden illness, while others speculate that he was murdered by political opponents.
The love story between Qin Jia and Xu Shu also ended in tragedy.
In the first half of Xu Shu’s life, Qin Jia received warm love.
In the second half of her life, she also did three things for her lost lover:
First, she dragged her sick body to Luoyang, took back Qin Jia’s bones, and made him Was able to rest in his hometown forever.
The second is to adopt a son for Qin Jia and raise a pair of children.
Third, when she was forced by her brothers to remarry, she disfigured herself and died alone.
Love doesn’t know where it started, but it goes deeper and deeper.
Although the couple did not grow old together, the love written down in black and white became eternal under the carrier of the letters.
Youshu
The Wei and Jin Dynasties can be said to be the most unrestrained era in Chinese history, and the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove are typical examples.
Among these seven people, Ji Kang and Shan Tao are especially represented.
Shan Tao is 20 years older than Ji Kang, but this has not affected their friendship at all.
He once told people that he had only two friends in his life, one of whom was Ji Kang, which shows that the two had a close personal relationship.
Shan Tao and Ji Kang are two people with completely different personalities.
Ji Kang was arrogant, disdainful of etiquette, and even had a hobby of blacksmithing.
Shantao is gentle and kind, and has always been the organizer and coordinator of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest.
Shan Tao served as an official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs twice. He selected and recommended talented people and was highly valued by the court.
When Shan Tao was promoted and became a bigger official, the first thing he thought of was to recommend his old friend Ji Kang to his original official position.
But what he never expected was that his long-time friend Ji Kang not only did not accept the favor, but instead wrote him a letter of renunciation.
Ji Kang wrote in his letter:
"Every step of the way leads to a clear path, and there are many things that can be done but few that are strange. I have a straight and narrow nature, and many things are unbearable. I know each other by chance."
The general idea is: I am narrow-minded and can't stand many things. It's just an accident that I made friends with you.
After hearing this, who can not be angry?
But as an old friend for many years, Shantao was really not angry because he knew the real reason why Ji Kang rejected him.
At a time when the country was in turmoil and the country was divided, the Sima family and the Cao family were at war with each other.
Shan Tao and Ji Kang had cronies on both sides of the Sima family and the Cao family respectively, which forced them to face a confrontation.
Shan Tao recommended Ji Kang to be an official to keep him safe.
Why didn’t Ji Kang understand Shan Tao’s intention? But he is not a mediocre person.
Considering the future of his friend, he resolutely chose to break off the relationship with Ji Kang.
Less than a year after writing this letter, Ji Kang was sentenced to death by Sima Shi.
In prison, Ji Kang entrusted his two children to Shan Tao.
After singing "Guangling San", Ji Kang was killed.
After Ji Kang's death, Shan Tao raised Ji Kang's only son as his own.
The highest state of friendship is to help each other in life and death.
Letters from home
In addition to Shan Tao and Ji Kang, Qin Jia and Xu Shu, this documentary also tells about some letters from ordinary people.
They are not celebrities and have not made great achievements, but they also wrote touching letters.
In the winter of 1975, a tomb was unearthed in Suihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province.
In the tomb, scholars discovered a piece of "Wooden Calf" written in the late Warring States Period. This is the earliest existing physical family letter in China.
The owner of this tomb is Zhong Zhong, a minor official of the Qin State.
The sender is a Qin soldier named Heifu, who is Zhong’s younger brother.
In that war-torn era, Heifu was just an ordinary soldier among thousands of Qin soldiers.
He fought bravely on the battlefield to obtain a title in exchange for a better life for his family.
Life in the army is hard and boring. The happiest time for Heifu is when he writes letters to his family.
He wrote in the letter:
"If Mr. Hei is frightened and dares to ask her again, it is because my mother is not well."
Mr. Hei is frightened and is not well. Heihu and Jing said goodbye to each other the day before yesterday, and we will meet again today. "
The general idea is to send greetings to my mother and brother, and to report to my family that they are safe, so that they don't have to worry.
In Zhong’s grave, people found these two letters from home.
In ancient times, the Chinese believed that the soul was immortal, and people often took their most precious things with them when they were about to die.
One can imagine how precious these letters are to Zhong.
Scholars speculate that Heifu died on the battlefield and could never return to his hometown.
But the titles they received are still valid, and Zhonghe's family can live a better life.
History has never recorded the names of these soldiers who unified the world, but we can get a glimpse of them through these two pieces of wood.
It is thousands of them who created a unified China.
There are countless letters in Chinese history, and they are presented in various ways:
From Sima Qian's "Report to Ren An" to Liu Bang's "Handwritten Letter to the Prince" arts".
From Zhuge Liang's "Book of Commandments" to Ouyang Xiu's "With the Twelve Nephews" and so on.
In different eras, they all reach the same destination by different routes, telling the authors’ life stories, deep family ties, and expressing their concerns and sustenance for the country and society.
This documentary also does a lot of ingenious things when presenting the letters of these ancients.
The first is a summary of modern language and outline.
At the beginning of each letter, there is a brief subtitle.
For example, the letter between Qin Jia and Xu Shu is "little luck", while the letter between Ji Kang and Shan Tao is "Ah! Goodbye, friend"
The concise language is concise and concise. It summarizes the content of the letter and conveys its connotation.
When reading each letter, the translated vernacular is used.
The voice actors also assume the first person perspective and even use some modern spoken language.
Its expressive and emotional expression allows the audience to understand the writer's mood at that time in a more straightforward way.
Let these letters that travel through time solidify their lives in the world like sculptures.
Of course, the most noteworthy thing is the interesting animation design in the film.
Letters use words as a carrier, which will inevitably make people feel boring.
In order to make this documentary more vivid, the creative team timely added some animation elements to the film to popularize important historical knowledge mentioned in the science letters.
For example, in Heifu’s letter home to Zhong, he mentioned Qin’s military merit and title system.
The more enemy heads you kill, the greater your military merit will be, and you will be able to obtain more titles, lands and salary.
This kind of system explanation was made into the Qin Bing version of Super Mario.
While vivid, it also has the effect of entertaining and educating.
China has a splendid civilization that lasts for five thousand years, and there are countless classics and books in history.
Through these historical data, we can understand the major events in history.
Through the records of predecessors, we can get a glimpse of the great deeds of ancient celebrities and generals.
But at the same time, there is also an irreparable shortcoming - the history of ordinary people has been forgotten.
"Book Brief Review of China" takes this as its starting point. For the first time, it tells the stories of ordinary people in ancient times in the form of a documentary based on the subject of letters.
As the creative team said in their creative notes:
“I hope that through this documentary, we can tell the history and stories of ordinary people.
Let those who have been The grand historical narrative has been forgotten, or the people who have only been remembered a few times stand before us again."
Although they are unknown, we must not forget that they are the ones. Make up the majority of every great history.
*Author of this article: Aguai