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Review: The Message (風聲) (2009)
This was alright. I think the first half was a bit too fast, and I preferred how the movie was handled in the second half. Overall an ok movie.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie took place in a Japanese puppet regime in Nanjing. Takeda, an intelligence officer, determined that there was a spy in the regime because the faulty information he’d planted had made its way through the system to the other side. Takeda arrested five people and imprisoned them all until he could determine who the mole was.
First, Takeda interrogated and tortured Bai Xiaonian because the writing on the information matched his writing. He was tortured to death, though ultimately it was determined that he was innocent. This part was a little murky as I missed how his innocent was proven. Second, Takeda wanted to take Jin Shenghuo for interrogation but he killed himself.
Gu Xiaomeng and Wu Zhiguo got into a series of scuffles that Takeda and company eavesdropped on. Based on Gu Xiaomeng’s accusations, they tortured Wu Zhiguo.
Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng were very close. Li Ningyu took a risk and called Gu Xiaomeng out as the spy, which she confirmed. Li Ningyu very reluctantly turned in Gu Xiaomeng, so that Wu Zhiguo would be released and sent to hospital, where he sang a song as he lay on the operating table.
Gu Xiaomeng admitted to being the mole. While Takeda interrogated her, Gu Xiaomeng goaded the others into killing her so that her secrets would remain safe.
Before Takeda was to return to Japan, he was killed by Wu Zhiguo.
Later, Li Ningyu was found working at a factory. Wu Zhiguo revealed all to her, now that the Japanese puppet regime had fallen. He and Gu Xiaomeng were both spies, but he was the superior. He took the fall because he said that she would not be able to stand the torture. However, Gu Xiaomeng sacrificed herself so that Wu Zhiguo could get to the hospital, where hopefully his song, which was a code for the spies, would reach the right people. The code he sang informed the spy network to abort the mission.
Wu Zhiguo told Li Ningyu that Gu Xiaomeng had sewn a message in morse into Li Ningyu’s qipao. Li Ningyu read it, and it was revealed to be Gu Xiaomeng’s last words, wanting her loved ones, including Li Ningyu, to know why she died, and to hope for forgiveness.
I think the first half of the story was too fast and it didn’t spend enough time developing our suspects. I know that Bai Xiaonian and Jin Shenghuo weren’t important, but I think it would have made it more of a complete mystery for me to have felt something when I saw them. I just didn’t have a good grasp of their relationships to one another. When the suspect pool was whittled down to three, it was slightly better, but honestly the most character development was seen from Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng because they actually had a relationship and personalities. There was a beginning scene where saw all of these characters at work. I think it would have preferred that scene to be stretched out more so I could recognize these characters better before they were arrested and thrown into a high tension situation.
I was a little surprised by the sincerity of Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng. I low key think the sapphics would love it but I think it could have been read platonically too. Li Ningyu used a bluff to get Gu Xiaomeng to confess. While Li Ningyu was always going to turn her in, she was surprised that Gu Xiaomeng was okay with losing her life over this. If Gu Xiaomeng had fought back, I think Li Ningyu would have felt better about turning Gu Xiaomeng in, because she would see more like a traitor with no heart, and the moles had tried to manipulate her by introducing her boyfriend to her. But seeing Gu Xiaomeng believe in something so deeply that she would die for it unsettled Li Ningyu. Li Ningyu did turn Gu Xiaomeng in, but she was not happy about it. In the end, we saw that Gu Xiaomeng did care for Li Ningyu, though unfortunately her duty always came first.
As a pure thriller, this movie wasn’t the strongest, but it was propped up by the personal story line between Gu Xiaomeng and Li Ningyu. However, the movie didn’t fully explore the cast so it felt clear that they were always angling on the Gu Xiaomeng and Li Ningyu, which in turn made this weak as a mystery. So best take this as a drama story.
Production
The story mostly took place inside the isolated mansion so there wasn’t much colour or brightness, both of which are things that I look for in movies. I know this is a war movie and less colour and more dimness is expected of this genre, but it’s another one of the reasons why this movie wouldn’t particularly stand out among a sea of other war movies. The one thing that stood out from an aesthetic point of view were Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng’s wardrobe. They’d come from a party so they were all dressed up. Otherwise they spent a lot of time hanging out on the couch in their underclothes which is certainly a look and I appreciate that. But it goes on to show that Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng’s characters always seemed to have been prioritized from the beginning.
From an acting standpoint, I think everybody did their job well. For the minor characters, like I always say, they did as well as the script could allow them. But I did think Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun did a good job for giving us a relationship that felt deep and real.
Characters
Li Ningyu
Li Ningyu was the head of the decoding department, and a friend of Gu Xiaomeng’s. They were out partying when they were called to the mansion and arrested. Using the bloodied book from the killed spy, Li Ningyu determined the code that the Anti-Japanese alliance were using. Li Ningyu had a boyfriend, an actor by the surname Liu. She hadn’t seen him for about a week before she was arrested.
Li Ningyu was interrogated by Takeda in a humiliating way, forced to strip and be inspected, sexually harassed. She was clearly disturbed and traumatized by it. After the torture, Takeda determined that she was innocent and she only cared about her boyfriend Liu.
After Bai Xiaonian and Jin Shenghuo were dead, Li Ningyu bluffed and called Gu Xiaomeng out as the spy, but said that she wouldn’t out her. Gu Xiaomeng took her to a side room where there were no listening devices. It was then that Li Ningyu admitted she’d bluffed.
Gu Xiaomeng admitted to being the spy, and also admitted to Ningyu that her boyfriend Liu was also part of the anti-Japanese alliance. Xiaomeng’s station was too low and they needed someone higher up who could have access to more information. Liu was planted to be Ningyu’s boyfriend in hopes of converting her. This of course upset Ningyu as she’d loved her boyfriend.
Gu Xiaomeng was fine with being turned in by Li Ningyu, because she loved and respected her. That just upset Li Ningyu because she didn’t understand why Xiaomeng would die for something as small as a message. But maybe Li Ningyu understood a little bit, because just as Xiaomeng followed orders, so did Ningyu, and she turned in Xiaomeng and stopped the torture of Wu Zhiguo.
After the fall of the Japanese regime, Li Ningyu was found working at a factory. She considered it good luck that she was even able to find work after having worked for the puppet regime. Wu Zhiguo found her and revealed all to her. Ningyu was a little incredulous that Wu Zhiguo and Gu Xiaomeng would risk their lives for such a small chance of Wu Zhiguo sending out a message to abort the mission. Wu Zhiguo told her that in the lining of her qipao would have been a message from Gu Xiaomeng.
Being an expert in morse code, Li Ningyu understood that Gu Xiaomeng had no regrets, only hoping that her family and loved ones, including Li Ningyu could understand and forgive her, which I believe Ningyu did.
Gu Xiaomeng
Gu Xiaomeng was a staff member in the mailroom of the puppet regime. She was known to come from a rich family, and the investigators felt her combative behaviour was a result of her having been spoiled growing up. Between Xiaomeng and Ningyu, Xiaomeng was the fun-loving one, having drank a lot at the party prior to being arrested. Xiaomeng assisted Ningyu in cracking the code of the anti-Japanese alliance, though Ningyu was the brains.
Towards the beginning of the movie, Wu Zhiguo was singing a song which Gu Xiaomeng recognized, and they realized they were from the same hometown. It was revealed that this song was actually a song taught to the spies, and the song had confirmed that they were both part of the anti-Japanese alliance.
In the earlier days, we saw more of Ningyu and Xiaomeng’s friendship. Xiaomeng had at one point helped Ningyu mend her qipao. We also saw Xiaomeng exhibit a bit of naivete, believing that they would be out of the mansion in a few days. Though we later realize that it was probably an act.
Wu Zhiguo and Gu Xiaomeng got rather combative at a meal, accusing each other of not being patriotic enough. This was a collaborative effort to protect the mission. Nobody would suspect them of being allies, so if one of them was found out, the other would be safe. Whereas if they were seen as allies, then people would be suspicious of them both being rebels.
Wu Zhiguo slipped into Gu Xiaomeng’s room and they staged a sexual harassment of Wu Zhiguo on Gu Xiaomeng. This was to further the antagonistic relationship they had in public, and was also an excuse for them to get around the room and cover up all of the listening devices. Wu Zhiguo told Gu Xiaomeng that he would take the fall because he could handle the torture. He was the head of the anti-Japanese alliance, and Gu Xiaomeng’s superior. But Gu Xiaomeng had always been willing to sacrifice herself, and she let herself be turned in by Li Ningyu.
Xiaomeng’s family was threatened by Takeda, so Xiaomeng agreed to cooperate. Before doing so, she bit on Takeda’s ear, prompting the security to shoot her, leaving her secrets unknown.
After the time skip, Wu Zhiguo told Ningyu that Xiaomeng had actually sewn her heartfelt words into Ningyu’s qipao, which she had stored, and we saw that Xiaomeng had always valued Ningyu, even if they were on different sides. But she was a patriot and did as patriots do, which was to sacrifice herself for greater good.
Wu Zhiguo
Wu Zhiguo was a captain, and also the head of the anti-Japanese alliance. I didn’t remember much about him, except that he had fought in the war, and he had gotten into an argument with Xiaomeng over the fact that he felt she’d done nothing while he was risking his life out there. We saw that their antagonistic relationship was furthered through the eavesdropped conversations.
Wu Zhiguo was taken in for torturing. He was taken immediately to the hospital after Ningyu turned in Xiaomeng. About to be operated on, Wu Zhiguo sang a song. This was the same ‘hometown song’ that Xiaomeng had recognized as the anti-Japanese alliance song. Wu Zhiguo said that the lyrics would be changed to communicate certain messages. On the operating table, one of the nurses was a member of the alliance, and she’d recognized the lyrics as telling the alliance to abort the mission, keeping them safe.
Wu Zhiguo lived, and he sought Ningyu to tell her all about what had happened.
Takeda
Takeda was the officer investigating the leak. He resorted to cruel torture that often yielded little results in investigation.
Takeda had something of an inferiority complex due to his family not having acted very honourably during the war. This was his last major assignment before returning to Japan, and he wanted to prove himself with this case so that he could return a hero. It was later revealed that he didn’t actually have proper authorization to conduct the investigation, but he didn’t care, and he doubted that anyone else would either.
After the case, Takeda was killed by Wu Zhiguo before he returned to Japan.
Bai Xiaonian
One of the suspects, an aide to the commander. He was portrayed as effeminate. He was the first to be tortured to death.
Jin Shenghuo
Another of the suspects, a director. He could not handle the stress and killed himself as he was being taken in for questioning.
Themes
As often is the case with Chinese Republican Era media, patriotism was the biggest theme. Particularly for the ‘heroes,’ Gu Xiaomeng and Wu Zhiguo, they were willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good, even over their most precious family and friends.
On the other hand, the Japanese were portrayed as cruel, as often the case, but especially so in this case since this movie would have taken place only a few years after the Rape of Nanjing.
Overall
The mystery and thriller aspect of this movie was not fully taken advantage of. The movie seemed like it was always angling towards the drama aspect and maybe it would have been better if they focused on that, as the first half suffered by the directors trying to rush through the characters who did not matter. But I think Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun did a great job and I liked them a lot in this movie.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie took place in a Japanese puppet regime in Nanjing. Takeda, an intelligence officer, determined that there was a spy in the regime because the faulty information he’d planted had made its way through the system to the other side. Takeda arrested five people and imprisoned them all until he could determine who the mole was.
First, Takeda interrogated and tortured Bai Xiaonian because the writing on the information matched his writing. He was tortured to death, though ultimately it was determined that he was innocent. This part was a little murky as I missed how his innocent was proven. Second, Takeda wanted to take Jin Shenghuo for interrogation but he killed himself.
Gu Xiaomeng and Wu Zhiguo got into a series of scuffles that Takeda and company eavesdropped on. Based on Gu Xiaomeng’s accusations, they tortured Wu Zhiguo.
Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng were very close. Li Ningyu took a risk and called Gu Xiaomeng out as the spy, which she confirmed. Li Ningyu very reluctantly turned in Gu Xiaomeng, so that Wu Zhiguo would be released and sent to hospital, where he sang a song as he lay on the operating table.
Gu Xiaomeng admitted to being the mole. While Takeda interrogated her, Gu Xiaomeng goaded the others into killing her so that her secrets would remain safe.
Before Takeda was to return to Japan, he was killed by Wu Zhiguo.
Later, Li Ningyu was found working at a factory. Wu Zhiguo revealed all to her, now that the Japanese puppet regime had fallen. He and Gu Xiaomeng were both spies, but he was the superior. He took the fall because he said that she would not be able to stand the torture. However, Gu Xiaomeng sacrificed herself so that Wu Zhiguo could get to the hospital, where hopefully his song, which was a code for the spies, would reach the right people. The code he sang informed the spy network to abort the mission.
Wu Zhiguo told Li Ningyu that Gu Xiaomeng had sewn a message in morse into Li Ningyu’s qipao. Li Ningyu read it, and it was revealed to be Gu Xiaomeng’s last words, wanting her loved ones, including Li Ningyu, to know why she died, and to hope for forgiveness.
I think the first half of the story was too fast and it didn’t spend enough time developing our suspects. I know that Bai Xiaonian and Jin Shenghuo weren’t important, but I think it would have made it more of a complete mystery for me to have felt something when I saw them. I just didn’t have a good grasp of their relationships to one another. When the suspect pool was whittled down to three, it was slightly better, but honestly the most character development was seen from Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng because they actually had a relationship and personalities. There was a beginning scene where saw all of these characters at work. I think it would have preferred that scene to be stretched out more so I could recognize these characters better before they were arrested and thrown into a high tension situation.
I was a little surprised by the sincerity of Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng. I low key think the sapphics would love it but I think it could have been read platonically too. Li Ningyu used a bluff to get Gu Xiaomeng to confess. While Li Ningyu was always going to turn her in, she was surprised that Gu Xiaomeng was okay with losing her life over this. If Gu Xiaomeng had fought back, I think Li Ningyu would have felt better about turning Gu Xiaomeng in, because she would see more like a traitor with no heart, and the moles had tried to manipulate her by introducing her boyfriend to her. But seeing Gu Xiaomeng believe in something so deeply that she would die for it unsettled Li Ningyu. Li Ningyu did turn Gu Xiaomeng in, but she was not happy about it. In the end, we saw that Gu Xiaomeng did care for Li Ningyu, though unfortunately her duty always came first.
As a pure thriller, this movie wasn’t the strongest, but it was propped up by the personal story line between Gu Xiaomeng and Li Ningyu. However, the movie didn’t fully explore the cast so it felt clear that they were always angling on the Gu Xiaomeng and Li Ningyu, which in turn made this weak as a mystery. So best take this as a drama story.
Production
The story mostly took place inside the isolated mansion so there wasn’t much colour or brightness, both of which are things that I look for in movies. I know this is a war movie and less colour and more dimness is expected of this genre, but it’s another one of the reasons why this movie wouldn’t particularly stand out among a sea of other war movies. The one thing that stood out from an aesthetic point of view were Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng’s wardrobe. They’d come from a party so they were all dressed up. Otherwise they spent a lot of time hanging out on the couch in their underclothes which is certainly a look and I appreciate that. But it goes on to show that Li Ningyu and Gu Xiaomeng’s characters always seemed to have been prioritized from the beginning.
From an acting standpoint, I think everybody did their job well. For the minor characters, like I always say, they did as well as the script could allow them. But I did think Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun did a good job for giving us a relationship that felt deep and real.
Characters
Li Ningyu
Li Ningyu was the head of the decoding department, and a friend of Gu Xiaomeng’s. They were out partying when they were called to the mansion and arrested. Using the bloodied book from the killed spy, Li Ningyu determined the code that the Anti-Japanese alliance were using. Li Ningyu had a boyfriend, an actor by the surname Liu. She hadn’t seen him for about a week before she was arrested.
Li Ningyu was interrogated by Takeda in a humiliating way, forced to strip and be inspected, sexually harassed. She was clearly disturbed and traumatized by it. After the torture, Takeda determined that she was innocent and she only cared about her boyfriend Liu.
After Bai Xiaonian and Jin Shenghuo were dead, Li Ningyu bluffed and called Gu Xiaomeng out as the spy, but said that she wouldn’t out her. Gu Xiaomeng took her to a side room where there were no listening devices. It was then that Li Ningyu admitted she’d bluffed.
Gu Xiaomeng admitted to being the spy, and also admitted to Ningyu that her boyfriend Liu was also part of the anti-Japanese alliance. Xiaomeng’s station was too low and they needed someone higher up who could have access to more information. Liu was planted to be Ningyu’s boyfriend in hopes of converting her. This of course upset Ningyu as she’d loved her boyfriend.
Gu Xiaomeng was fine with being turned in by Li Ningyu, because she loved and respected her. That just upset Li Ningyu because she didn’t understand why Xiaomeng would die for something as small as a message. But maybe Li Ningyu understood a little bit, because just as Xiaomeng followed orders, so did Ningyu, and she turned in Xiaomeng and stopped the torture of Wu Zhiguo.
After the fall of the Japanese regime, Li Ningyu was found working at a factory. She considered it good luck that she was even able to find work after having worked for the puppet regime. Wu Zhiguo found her and revealed all to her. Ningyu was a little incredulous that Wu Zhiguo and Gu Xiaomeng would risk their lives for such a small chance of Wu Zhiguo sending out a message to abort the mission. Wu Zhiguo told her that in the lining of her qipao would have been a message from Gu Xiaomeng.
Being an expert in morse code, Li Ningyu understood that Gu Xiaomeng had no regrets, only hoping that her family and loved ones, including Li Ningyu could understand and forgive her, which I believe Ningyu did.
Gu Xiaomeng
Gu Xiaomeng was a staff member in the mailroom of the puppet regime. She was known to come from a rich family, and the investigators felt her combative behaviour was a result of her having been spoiled growing up. Between Xiaomeng and Ningyu, Xiaomeng was the fun-loving one, having drank a lot at the party prior to being arrested. Xiaomeng assisted Ningyu in cracking the code of the anti-Japanese alliance, though Ningyu was the brains.
Towards the beginning of the movie, Wu Zhiguo was singing a song which Gu Xiaomeng recognized, and they realized they were from the same hometown. It was revealed that this song was actually a song taught to the spies, and the song had confirmed that they were both part of the anti-Japanese alliance.
In the earlier days, we saw more of Ningyu and Xiaomeng’s friendship. Xiaomeng had at one point helped Ningyu mend her qipao. We also saw Xiaomeng exhibit a bit of naivete, believing that they would be out of the mansion in a few days. Though we later realize that it was probably an act.
Wu Zhiguo and Gu Xiaomeng got rather combative at a meal, accusing each other of not being patriotic enough. This was a collaborative effort to protect the mission. Nobody would suspect them of being allies, so if one of them was found out, the other would be safe. Whereas if they were seen as allies, then people would be suspicious of them both being rebels.
Wu Zhiguo slipped into Gu Xiaomeng’s room and they staged a sexual harassment of Wu Zhiguo on Gu Xiaomeng. This was to further the antagonistic relationship they had in public, and was also an excuse for them to get around the room and cover up all of the listening devices. Wu Zhiguo told Gu Xiaomeng that he would take the fall because he could handle the torture. He was the head of the anti-Japanese alliance, and Gu Xiaomeng’s superior. But Gu Xiaomeng had always been willing to sacrifice herself, and she let herself be turned in by Li Ningyu.
Xiaomeng’s family was threatened by Takeda, so Xiaomeng agreed to cooperate. Before doing so, she bit on Takeda’s ear, prompting the security to shoot her, leaving her secrets unknown.
After the time skip, Wu Zhiguo told Ningyu that Xiaomeng had actually sewn her heartfelt words into Ningyu’s qipao, which she had stored, and we saw that Xiaomeng had always valued Ningyu, even if they were on different sides. But she was a patriot and did as patriots do, which was to sacrifice herself for greater good.
Wu Zhiguo
Wu Zhiguo was a captain, and also the head of the anti-Japanese alliance. I didn’t remember much about him, except that he had fought in the war, and he had gotten into an argument with Xiaomeng over the fact that he felt she’d done nothing while he was risking his life out there. We saw that their antagonistic relationship was furthered through the eavesdropped conversations.
Wu Zhiguo was taken in for torturing. He was taken immediately to the hospital after Ningyu turned in Xiaomeng. About to be operated on, Wu Zhiguo sang a song. This was the same ‘hometown song’ that Xiaomeng had recognized as the anti-Japanese alliance song. Wu Zhiguo said that the lyrics would be changed to communicate certain messages. On the operating table, one of the nurses was a member of the alliance, and she’d recognized the lyrics as telling the alliance to abort the mission, keeping them safe.
Wu Zhiguo lived, and he sought Ningyu to tell her all about what had happened.
Takeda
Takeda was the officer investigating the leak. He resorted to cruel torture that often yielded little results in investigation.
Takeda had something of an inferiority complex due to his family not having acted very honourably during the war. This was his last major assignment before returning to Japan, and he wanted to prove himself with this case so that he could return a hero. It was later revealed that he didn’t actually have proper authorization to conduct the investigation, but he didn’t care, and he doubted that anyone else would either.
After the case, Takeda was killed by Wu Zhiguo before he returned to Japan.
Bai Xiaonian
One of the suspects, an aide to the commander. He was portrayed as effeminate. He was the first to be tortured to death.
Jin Shenghuo
Another of the suspects, a director. He could not handle the stress and killed himself as he was being taken in for questioning.
Themes
As often is the case with Chinese Republican Era media, patriotism was the biggest theme. Particularly for the ‘heroes,’ Gu Xiaomeng and Wu Zhiguo, they were willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good, even over their most precious family and friends.
On the other hand, the Japanese were portrayed as cruel, as often the case, but especially so in this case since this movie would have taken place only a few years after the Rape of Nanjing.
Overall
The mystery and thriller aspect of this movie was not fully taken advantage of. The movie seemed like it was always angling towards the drama aspect and maybe it would have been better if they focused on that, as the first half suffered by the directors trying to rush through the characters who did not matter. But I think Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun did a great job and I liked them a lot in this movie.