China at war: behind the scenes

I was too slow and missed the moment when a little fake blood sprayed from actor’s equally unimpressive wound. I was expecting another take - it’s a big action scene after all - but my hope vanished with the speed of actors and crewmembers sprinting towards the lunch about to be served.

Welcome to a Chinese production set portraying war against Japan, something you don’t see very often.

The series, with the working title “The Last Prince”, is one of 11 active war-themed productions being shot at the same place. Its set is located on a hill just above Hengdian World Studios. The facility itself, located in China’s Zheijang province, is enormous, the biggest movie lot ever built. Life-sized replicas of historical buildings are erected, hills turned in battlefields and armies of professionals are there to provide whatever you may need to shoot a movie or a TV series.

In Hengdian, everything is ready for history to be shaped the way you want. Naturally, after censors agree with it.

This is also where a great deal of war movies and series are shot. China produces a lot, sometimes even a hundred such pictures per year.

According to local media reports, for the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which is marked in September in China, more than 10 new movies, 12 TV dramas and 20 documentaries will be released, alongside 183 war-themed stage performances.

I’m not stranger to movie sets. Quite the opposite. My wife and I have many close friends in that business, so I know a thing or two about moviemaking. But, honestly, something similar I have never seen. In the two days I spent on the set, most of it was filmed, including scenes of mass battles with explosions and other visual effects, in one single take.

No sound was recorded - in a river next to the set a battalion of children screamed enjoying cool water on a very hot day - and nobody cared. Extras managed their own props and costumes, curious civilians moved around filming it all with their phones.

Everything goes very smoothly and very quickly.

Actors and extras eat quickly and then everyone gathers around trucks with props and costumes - it is time to switch sides. What was the Chinese army moments ago quickly becomes Japanese.

In front and behind a truck, in a vegetable field and in bushes, actors change costumes. They know the drill, and no help is needed. Soon after, a unit of good-looking Chinese soldiers marched toward the set, where they will continue their victorious battle against the enemy.

It is worth mentioning that if an actor dies in battle, whether fighting on either side, that’s good for him because being “killed” means extra payment.

To go home with more money in your pocket, you had better die more often on the set.

An elderly actor we spoke to during one of short breaks said he died numerous times in his career, mostly as a senior enemy officer. He even played a Japanese emperor once but survived, and he thinks this time he will also survive as he is playing a Chinese soldier. Asked if people in the real world associate him with the “bad guys” he often plays, he laughs and confirms - children sometimes shout “bastard, bastard” at him.

On the other hand, one of his friends said he really hated the Japanese before but now not as much, since he plays them so often.

In my former, now late fatherland Yugoslavia we had similarly powerful and very serious cinema based on World War II. Many so-called “partisan movies” were produced and even Hollywood stars played in them. It all imploded after what was nominally communism collapsed and the system of values changed dramatically.