Assembly

Written by: Liu Heng

Directed by: Feng Xiaogang

Ison, Gianni Luigi T.

English 1
MWF 3:00pm - 4:00pm

Assembly
The movie is a 2007 Chinese war film written by Liu Heng and Directed by Feng Xiaogang.
Summary
The story took place in China in 1848 during the civil war which talks about a story of a
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soldier, Gu Zidi a captain of the 9 company along with his colleagues who together faced a
fierce war at Wen River. The whole company experienced heavy losses yet never gave up until
the end. until such time that Gu was the only one left alive, he tries to find his brothers whose
bodies were believed to be inside the old mines and are now under a huge pile of coal. Gu stays
at the mines and tries to find their bodies by digging up huge amounts of coals believing that one
day he will find them. After sometime an honor was granted to his troop as heroes and after some
years the bodies were found.
Outlines and thesis
The story is really awesome as it has action that can really wake your nerves up and a
mix of drama that could bring you to tears. The movie shows first, willingness to carry out what is
supposed to be done. This can be seen in the whole part of the movie especially on the part of
the main protagonist which is Gu Zidi. As what I can see on him, he is a kind of guy who gets
things done and even in his hardest moments, he still tries to find something that could finish the
job. Second is brotherhood. Even though Gu and his colleagues arent related to each other, he
treats them as if his own brothers and he holds them as someone who are really important to him.
This can be seen on the characters on how they treat each other so dearly even in the midst of
war which is really touching especially when Gu was the only one left alive and all he think about
his getting to see his brethren again and give them a nice funeral and an honor for their heroic
deeds.

Summary
The story begins in 1948 during the Huaihai campaign also known as battle of Xu-beng.
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Gu Zidi a captain of Peoples liberation army commands his 9 company to siege a town that is
defended by the forces of National Revolutionary Army. The company managed to capture the
said town and also managed to force the remaining enemies to surrender despite having heavy
casualties in Gus company. Meanwhile The companys political commissar was brutally killed by
an enemy field gun operator. Having Gu witnessed this, he orders one of his brethren to tell the
NRA prisoners-of-war to pick up their weapons and that NRAs request to surrender is declined
and all of their enemies to be shot but was refused by his colleagues. Gu is imprisoned as
punishment. He quickly befriended his cellmate Wang Jincun, an army teacher and pacifist who is
jailed for being a coward on the the battlefield. Liu Zeshui, Gus Superior, soon sends his
company of 46 men excluding Gu on a new mission which is to defend an old mine on the south
bank of Wen River and not to retreat until he hears the bugle call for assembly with the regiment.
Gu also received permission to take Wang as his new political commissar. As the 48-man
company prepares their defences, the NRA forces suddenly attacked with artilleries, tanks, and
infantries. They still managed to survive for two waves of enemy assault but killing as well many
of Gus colleagues. The dead bodies of his brethren were brought inside the mines and few of
them were left alive. One of his officers claimed that he heard the bugle call, as well as the
others. But Gu who was temporarily deafened by an explosion did not hear it himself. Gu stays on
his ground willing to continue the mission. His remaining men were moved by his resolution and
stayed with him and fight until death.

Sometime later, Gu wakes up in an army hospital and realizes he is the only survivor. He
tries to find his brethren but is unable to because the armys unit structure has been changed
while he was on comma. He cannot also prove that he participated in the battle and was thought
that he is from the enemy forces due to wearing the NRA uniform he took from their dead
enemies when he was found.
Gu goes on to fight in the Korean war as a foot soldier and is wounded by a landmine
after saving his commander during a mission. At the end of the conflict, he recovers and returns
to the battlefield, determined to find his lost men. As the story goes on Gu found some records to
his old commander and went to the Lius tomb. The tomb keeper turns out to be Lius bugler, and
he tells that the assembly call was never sounded during the battle of Wen River. He also found
out that Gus company was only used to hold off the NRA forces so that Liu and the rest of the
regiment could retreat. Gu flies into a rage and cursed at Lius tombstone but calms down later.
Gu stayed in a mining hut near the old battlefield and starts to dig a huge pile of coal
knowing that the entrance to the old mines are now under those huge amounts of coals. hoping
that he could find his brethren and give them a nice funeral as well as grant them as heroes of
war. Soon he got an official notice that some higher-ups remembered their company and honored
them though Gu was not satisfied since he cannot find his brothers. Years later the remains of
Gus men were found when excavations for an irrigation project are conducted at the old site of
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the mine. A large monument was them built for the 47 soldiers of the 9 company.