Review | Dongji Rescue movie review: Chinese historical epic is thrilling yet preposterous
Chinese fishermen rescue British POWs from a sinking Japanese vessel in Dongji Rescue, a thrilling – if ludicrous – wartime epic
3/5 stars
On October 1, 1942, the Japanese cargo liner Lisbon Maru was secretly transporting more than 1,800 British prisoners of war across the East China Sea when it was torpedoed by an American submarine.
More than 800 POWs either drowned or were shot by Japanese soldiers as they attempted to escape, and close to 400 men were rescued from the water by courageous Chinese fishermen who came to their aid from a village on Dongji island in the nearby Zhoushan Archipelago.
Recounting the story from the point of view of the villagers, the film, directed by Guan Hu and Fei Zhenxiang, is by turns thrilling and ludicrous, as historical fact is reshaped into a bombastic saga of defiance and selflessness.
Brothers Ah Bi (Zhu Yilong) and Ah Dang (Leo Wu Lei) are descended from pirates and considered outsiders by the residents of the island, despite being taken in and raised by village elder Old Wu (Ni Dahong).