Wu Ziniu

b. 1952, Sichuan

Film director

Wu Ziniu is a ‘Fifth-Generation’ film director best known for his war epics. A graduate of the Sichuan Leshan Art Institute, Wu worked in both a creative and on-stage capacity with the Leshan Song and Dance Troupe until 1978, when he was admitted into the historic class of 1982 at the Beijing Film Academy. Assigned to the Xiaoxiang Film Studio after graduation, Wu’s first film, Reserve Team Member (Houbu yanyuan, 1983), was an interesting account of children’s lives in contemporary China. His second feature, Secret Decree (Diexue heigu, 1984), was set during the War of Resistance; it was commercially successful and established Wu’s trajectory as a director of war films.

The film actually predates Zhang Junzhao’s One and Eight (Yige he bage), which has led some film historians to credit Secret Decree as the first ‘Fifth-Generation’ film.

Wu Ziniu went on to direct more than half a dozen war films, including The Last Day of Winter (Zuihou de dongri), Evening Bell (Wanzhong), Joyous Heroes (Hunaleyingxiong), Between the Living and the Dead (Yinyang jie) and the Vietnam War epic personally banned by Deng Xiaoping, The Dove Tree (Gezi shu). Throughout his career Wu has had a tense relationship with the Chinese censors, who withdrew The Big Mill (Da mofang, 1990) from competition at the Berlin Film Festival. In 1993 Wu made Sparkling Fox (Huohu), an avant-garde film about the pursuit by two hunters of a mythical fox. The culmination of Wu’s decade-long exploration of war was the epic Nanjing 1937 (1994), a Taiwan co-production about a Chinese doctor and his Japanese wife who struggle to keep their family together during the ‘Rape of Nanjing’. After a five-year hiatus, Wu Ziniu returned to directing with National Anthem (Guoge, 1999), a biographical film about the life of the legendary playwright Tian Han, who also penned the lyrics for China’s national anthem. The film’s didactic political message marks a dramatic departure from Wu’s earlier iconoclastic trajectory and was even described as party propaganda by several critics.

Further reading

Zhang, Yingjin (2003). ‘Evening Bell: Wu Ziniu’s Vision of History, War and Humanity’. In Chris Berry (ed.), Chinese Films in Focus: 25 New Takes. London: BFI, 81–8.

MICHAEL BERRY