By Tao Zihui

W hen the word “battle，” or any other war-affiliated term， pops up in a movie title， youre usually in for an action-packed， loud， at times cruel， but ever-grand spectacle： Dunkirk， Pearl Harbor， Hacksaw Ridge， Enemy at the Gates. Yet theres more to it than meets the eye.

Three prestigious directors-Chen Kaige， Hark Tsui and Dante Lam-are behind the 176-minute-long war epic The Battle at Lake Changjin， shot with the help of an unprecedented 70，000 extras and Chinas largest-ever production budget of $200 million， that follows the Chinese Peoples Volunteers （CPV） who joined the battle at Lake Changjin， or Chosin Reservoir， in the northeast of the Korean Peninsula during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea （1950-53）.

With total revenue reaching 5.3 billion yuan （$830 million） as of October 26， the film has made it into the worlds box office top two this year. Estimates from Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan indicate the movie will end up making a total of more than 5.4 billion yuan（$846 million）. If this assessment proves correct， the film will beat box-office sensation Hi， Mom to become the highestgrossing movie of 2021 in China.

In recent years， patriotic-inspired films have explored historical and cultural resources， especially the red cultural ones， to enrich their imagery， portrayals and overall genre. From multiple angles and with diversification in production， these films show more mature features and a higher level of industrialization.

A piece of history

The Battle at Lake Changjin has garnered hundreds of millions of reviews on several of the countrys most popular social media platforms like Chinese Twitterequivalent Sina Weibo and Douyin， Chinas TikTok， with the majority of netizens mentioning how the epic tale stirred up their sense of national pride.

What strikes people most is the realistic depiction of the battle. “War is not glamorized in The Battle at Lake Changjin， but the spectacular battle is brilliantly created，” Liu Wenwen， a history teacher at a Beijing middle school， told Beijing Review. “It hits every raw nerve in peoples conceptions of war. It shows how terrifying it can be， how strategic， brutal， heroic and unforgiving it can be； it is a masterpiece of modern Chinese filmmaking，” she said.

From its release onward， the film had a huge impact on Chinese audiences. The younger generations were especially affected by the film.

“It was heart-wrenching，” Wang Yuhao， a 26-year-old student at Tsinghua University， told Beijing Review after watching the film. “Its so hard to imagine that the battle， the sacrifices， were all real. But they were.”