‘Cliff Walkers’: Zhang Yimou turns to propaganda cinema

Just over a year ago, Chinese director Zhang Yimou was able to release ‘A Second’ in Spanish cinemasfeature film accidentally censored by the communist regime in his country, as it was forbidden to be screened within the Official Selection of the 69th Berlin Film Festival, in which it was competing for the Golden Bear. The director had to rework the editing of the film in order to be able to distribute the film both in his native country and in the rest of the world. Seen as a gesture of courage, it seems that the director has chosen to join the regime led by Xi Jinping, as ‘Cliff Walkers’, his new film, is a real propaganda exercise. which, moreover, was chosen by China to represent the country in the category of best international film at the 94th Academy Awards, those awards that refuse to broadcast in the country.

‘Cliff Walkers’ is set in the 1930s at the dawn of World War II in the puppet state of Manchukuo., which is the historical region of Manchuria. The film narrates a secret mission orchestrated by agents of the Communist Party of China to rescue a prisoner of war from the pro-Japanese government of Manchukuo, as his testimony would serve to expose how the Japanese imperialist regime experiments with humans, as well as committing other crimes against humanity. Called Operation Utrennya, itself the premise invites us to think that it is a show with propaganda connotations, since the heroes are agents of the Chinese Communist Party.

In principle It can be seen as a historic exercise, with which Zhang thus seeks to be able to continue directing in a country with which he has been particularly critical in his filmography., titles such as ‘The Jewel of Shanghai’ or ‘Homecoming’ attest to this, and even more after the censorship attack that ‘One second’ suffered. However, what could be seen as a mere gesture, with which to take advantage of narrating the chiaroscuro of a historical period unknown to the non-Chinese public, ends up degenerating into a clear homage exercise to the communist regime, with a spy story that ends up making water everywhereespecially since the famous Operation Utrennya ends up blurry in the middle of the footage.

The least lucid work in Zhang Yimou’s filmography

The excuse for forgetting about the secret mission is that there is a mole among the agents, but that only serves to entangle a plot with too many characters, so many that they are constantly confused and lose the thread of the plot. Nothing can be said against the set design and cinematography, splendid and typical of a filmmaker of Zhang’s stature, which once again proves his knack for period cinema. However, the technical virtues of him are not enough for a confusing story, which changes meaning in the middle of the footage and which one it prioritizes the propaganda message over a meaningful plot, in a clear exercise in whitewashing the Communist Party of China.

‘Cliff Walkers’ manages to be the weakest film of Zhang Yimou’s career, even more so than ‘The Great Wall’, which is already saying. Although the director has already flirted with propaganda with “The Flowers of War”, this was complex enough to further enhance it, with characters with chiaroscuro and a much more down-to-earth story. Neither actor manages to stand out, despite the work of Zhang Yi or Liu Haocun, both of whom are featured in the aforementioned ‘One Second’. A failed opportunity that once again reminds us how the regime of Xi Jinping shamelessly continues to shape the film industry of the Asian giant.

Note: 5

The best: Its technical section is exquisite.

Worse: How confusing the story ends up being, to the point where you lose interest.