Product Details

• Actors: Weidong Cai, Lianmei Chen, Qiang Chen, Zhijun Cong, Hongbo Jiang
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Chinese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Homevision
• DVD Release Date: April 19, 2005
• Run Time: 139 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007PAMJW
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,977 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and banned in its native country, Jiang Wen’s ravishingly photographed anti-war epic is set in 1945 in a Japanese-occupied rural Chinese village. Wen stars as Ma Dasan, a peasant, who, one night at gunpoint, is compelled to shelter two prisoners. One is a captured Japanese soldier who wants to be killed, the other his Chinese interpreter, who wants to stay alive. As the days turn into months, Dasan and his fellow villagers keep their unwanted guests hidden from the Japanese forces, while deciding whether or not to execute their captives. A plan to exchange the men for grain leads to the film’s harrowing and devastating climax.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT WWII BLACK COMEDY FROM CHINA, April 1, 2005

By	Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A masterpiece of recent Chinese cinema, Jiang Wen's DEVILS ON THE DOORSTEP (Home Vision Entertainment) has two big endorsements: it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and was banned in China.

It's 1945. The Japanese army occupies a tiny north Chinese village. Ma Dasan (played by director Wen) is a peasant, who, one night at gunpoint, unexpectedly finds himself responsible for two Japanese soldiers bound in bags. One hostage wants to be killed, while the other, his interpreter, wants to live. Time passes and everyone around Dasan wants him to kill his prisoners, but he has another plan. What starts out as a howling farce, quickly turns fiercely harrowing.

Jiang Wen has not been allowed to make another film. This is a great looking black and white film. Its rich and bold cinematography perfectly matches its subject matter.

This work of by one of China's greatest filmmakers is not to be missed.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply great, September 16, 2005

By	Aditya Vedula (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is simply one of the greatest movies that I have ever seen. Shot in stark black-and-white with excellent screenplay and direction, it has the most unexpected ending I have ever seen in a movie. Suffice it to say that the movie does a complete u-turn about midway. It is a movie about the brutality of war, occupation and how kindness is often repaid by cruelty.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Six Stars (my wish), October 2, 2006

By	Mastorna "8 1/2" (Dominican Republic) - See all my reviews

I could not give a better review to this movie. ( no more stars available to give).
after viewing it, I thought it was indeed movies like this one what makes collecting them worthwhile.
The quality of this film rests above the accomplishment of its fundamental subject and inclination, it goes beyond conventions, delivering an extremely creative approach to the delicate and still latent issues regarding the Japanese invation of mainland Asia. This movie has one of the most dramatic and well structured endings I have ever seen.... it wraps everything up in the most masterly way. Every piece falls in place, either with uttermost dignity or brutality.

Europeans have well assimilated the plain facts of WWII. Dutch and Germans often mock eachother, although it is in generally meant as joke. This is not the case of Asia, It is still, sadly, much more "emotion" than pragmatism and honest understanding of history. This movie shows, the inner gohsts of the ruthless Japanese Asian conquest campaign.

Script structure: Flawless, Photography: impeccable, direction: pristine, editing: superb.