Ten Years·Looking Back | Recorder Guo Ke: Filming “Twenty-Two” is the most important thing in this decade
2023/12/11 16:50 Junction News
Editor’s note: 2023 marks the 86th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. On December 13 this year, we will usher in the tenth National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Every solemn commemoration is an awakening of memory and a hope for peace. Here, we tell stories about inheritors, recorders, researchers, reciters, and designers, and take you to look back at the past ten years of national public memorials.
On December 8 this year, director Guo Ke posted on WeChat Moments: “Today in 2012, we were filming “Thirty-Two”; eleven years later, Shanxue went to find Mrs. Wei.” Guo Ke mentioned “Wei” The old lady is Wei Shaolan, a victim of the Japanese military’s “comfort women” system during World War II. She passed away in 2019, and the “Shanxue” is her son “Luo Shanxue”.
Guo Ke’s relationship with mother and son dates back to 2012, when he saw an article on Weibo about Wei Shaolan, the only “comfort woman” in the world who disclosed the identity of herself and her Japanese son. From this, Guo Ke shot a documentary short film “Thirty-Two”, which was not released to the public, but its rating on Douban reached 9.5.
Posters for the documentary short “Thirty-Two” and the documentary “Twenty-Two”
“The reason why it is called ‘Thirty-two’ is because at that time, there were 32 ‘comfort women’ survivors in the country whose identities were disclosed, but by 2014, 10 of these 32 elderly people died one after another.” This made Guo Ke realize ” “We can’t wait any longer.” Guo Ke, who has had a deep relationship with his grandmother since childhood, has a natural affinity for the elderly. He decided to start filming “Twenty-Two” to record the lives of these elderly people in their later years. But what he didn’t expect was that the process would be full of twists and turns.
Investors thought the film was boring and feared that no one would take it seriously, so they withdrew their funding midway. Guo Ke lamented in WeChat Moments that his mother wanted to sell her house to support him. Actor Zhang Xinyi, whom he did not know well, came to the rescue with 1 million yuan, and the filming was completed. Before its release, “Twenty-Two” faced the dilemma of having no publicity and distribution fees. Unwilling to remain silent, the creative team could only imitate the Korean film “Ghost Town” to raise publicity and distribution fees. In the end, 32,099 people raised funds through crowdfunding. Thanks to the help of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Invaders, “Twenty-Two” was able to enter theaters.
In 2014, Guo Ke and his team were filming “Twenty-Two”
On August 14, 2017, on the fifth World “Comfort Women” Memorial Day, “Twenty-Two” was released nationwide. This was the “tiniest” summer release of the year, with a shooting cost of only 3 million yuan. It was considered by many to be a “one-day trip to the cinema”, but it created a miracle: the cumulative number of domestic moviegoers exceeded 50 million, and the release was less than 3 million yuan. Within six days, it became China’s first documentary with a box office of over 100 million yuan, and the final box office was set at 170 million yuan.
Countless netizens thanked Guo Ke for his “gentleness” and just quietly recorded rather than showing the wounds. Guo Ke called on everyone to no longer just label them as “comfort women”, but to perceive them through the film and some of the stories behind them. A group of “live people” and a group of “very lovely old people”. “We look at them tenderly, care for them, and protect them. This is also a way to remember history.”
One year after its release, “Twenty-Two” announced donations on its official WeChat account, donating 10,086,003.95 yuan of love from many people to the Shanghai Normal University Education Development Foundation, and setting up a special fund for the “Comfort Women Research and Assistance” project. The payment included Guo Ke’s previously promised personal income of 4 million yuan. As early as August 14, 2016, Guo Ke came to Nanjing and donated the original copy of “Twenty-Two” to the exhibition hall of the old comfort station site in Liji Lane, Nanjing.
Since 2017, “Twenty-Two” has been screened in the United States, Australia, Germany, South Korea and other countries and regions. On September 18 this year, “Twenty-Two” premiered in Japan and attracted attention. “It is self-evident that Japanese audiences can see this film. At the same time, every comment on the film’s official WeChat account over the past six years is also its meaning.” Guo Ke said.
During the ten years after filming “Twenty-Two”, when Guo Ke drove back to Chengdu from Beijing every Spring Festival, he would make a large circle to visit the elderly and chat with them. The elderly live in various places, but Guo Ke still insists on visiting them once a year. Guo Ke feels that this is his responsibility, “Because I photographed them, if it causes secondary harm, I hope to make up for it with more companionship.” When he met an elderly person with poor living conditions, Guo Ke would buy rice, noodles, and oil on the road and deliver them to her. When the weather was cold, he would buy the elderly person a new quilt to put on so that she could sleep warmer. The elderly person’s legs and feet were inconvenient. He brought a wheelchair to the old man and pushed the old man out of the narrow space to see that the sky outside was now as clear as new. In Guo Ke’s circle of friends, the most content is related to these old people.
Guo Ke and Wei Shaolan
On November 9 this year, 98-year-old Li Meijin, a survivor of the “comfort women” system of the Japanese invaders, passed away in Chengmai, Hainan. What is sad is that by now, all the elderly people in “Twenty-Two” have passed away. “On January 1, 2014, we started the research for “Twenty-Two” in Hainan, looking for these elderly people. Now, all the elderly victims in “Thirty-Two” and “Twenty-Two” have left. While remembering, I am fortunate to have used a medium like documentary to keep them all in the frame, so that our next generation can also see them.” Guo Ke lamented that ten years seemed like yesterday, “For me, filming “Twenty-Two” is a great moment. The most important thing of this decade.”
On November 9 this year, with the departure of old man Li Meijin, all the old people in the film “Twenty-Two” have passed away.
Time will erase them, but history will never forget them. As of now, there are still 9 registered survivors of the Japanese military “comfort women” system in mainland China confirmed by the Shanghai Normal University Comfort Women Research Center. Perhaps their images and names are slowly fading, but our understanding of history gaze and remember, the pursuit and protection of peace will never fade.
Xinhua Daily·Intersection reporter Huang Huan
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