The Holocaust or "comfort women" is a moral dilemma in filming, and the artist's creation must give way to morality, and there is also a problem in publicity and distribution. If a film with this theme is promoted on a large scale, it will appear very commercial and will give people the feeling of selling suffering. But if it is not promoted, the movie has no attention at all.

How to promote a movie with this theme and how to grasp the degree of publicity will be a test for any distribution company. This is true of "Twenty-Two", and the same is true of "Angel of Justice". However, Zhang Ran assured Guo Ke and Zhang Xinyi that he would personally check to ensure that there would be no mistakes in the promotion of the film, let alone use low-level publicity as a gimmick.

In fact, the moral level of some domestic filmmakers is really low. In the West, a film like "Life is Beautiful" will raise doubts, because many critics think that the Holocaust is so serious, how can it be used as a joke? But some people in China will hype this kind of film in a low-grade way for the sake of the box office. For example, more than 10 years ago, when the movie "May and August" was promoted, the poster was openly marked with the words "the first Nanjing Massacre film to expose the rape and murder of Chinese women", which aroused public anger;

Guo Ke believed that this kind of thing would not happen with Zhang Ran's publicity of "Twenty-Two", and he told Zhang Ran that this kind of theme, and it is a documentary, there is a great possibility of losing money, and if he can make a little profit, he is ready to donate it to the old people.

Zhang Ran chatted with Guo Ke and Zhang Xinyi for a long time, talking about the film distribution strategy, the promotion of the movie, and the box office of the movie. chatted until ten o'clock in the evening, when Zhang Xinyi and Guo Ke left.

After Zhang Xinyi and the others left, Zhang Jingchu said with emotion: "Zhang Xinyi looks like she is two-hearted, I didn't expect to participate in this kind of project, it's really impressive." ”

Zhang Ran said proudly: "Of course, Zhang Xinyi was taught by me." ”

Zhang Jingchu laughed and said, "You really know how to put gold on your face!"

The next day, the crew continued to shoot Zhang Chunru's interview with Xia Shuqin. After Zhang Chunru interviewed Xia Shuqin, they went to No. 5, Zhonghuamen Dongxin Road, the site of the massacre. The house was still there when Zhang Chunru visited, but it has now been demolished. In order to shoot this scene, the crew built the house according to the original appearance at the Shiqiu base.

Zhang Jingchu and the actor who played Xia Shuqin performed very well, and the scene was completed quickly.

In the evening, the crew filmed a scene in the studio where Zhang Chunru entered the day's interview.

At that time, in order to facilitate Zhang Chunru's work, Professor Yang Xiaming's wife borrowed an air-conditioned room and a multi-standard TV in the research building of NTU. When Zhang Chunru returned from the interview, he played the survivors' testimonies taken during the interview, and then Yang Xiaming interpreted the video into English, and Zhang Chunru entered it into his laptop.

After the filming preparations were completed, Zhang Ran shouted the password "start", and the three cameras pointed at Zhang Jingchu and Professor Yang Xiaming in the room from different angles. In the movie "Angel of Justice", some of the roles are played by myself, such as Zhang Chun's parents, and Professor Yang Xiaming.

In the monitor, Professor Yang Xiaming began to translate the interview with the old man Xia Shuqin: "When I wake up, all the Dongying soldiers are gone. ”

Zhang Jingchu tapped on the keyboard of the notebook and asked, "About 20?"

Professor Yang Xiaming said: "Yes, 20. Then, I found my sister dead under the table. ”

Zhang Jingchu frowned and asked, "How old is she?"

Professor Yang Xiaming said: "About 15 years old. His clothes were stripped and he was bleeding. ”

Zhang Jingchu asked in a slightly trembling voice, "Raped?"

Professor Yang Xiaming nodded solemnly: "Yes, there is another sister who died in bed and has no clothes." ”

Zhang Jingchu said in a trembling voice: "How old is she?"

Professor Yang Xiaming said: "At about 14 years old, both of them died. ”

When Zhang Jingchu heard this, she finally couldn't control her emotions and stood up, walked quickly to the window, and wanted to breathe. According to the requirements of the plot, Zhang Chunru stayed at the window for a while, and then he would talk about studying law. However, Zhang Jingchu couldn't control her emotions, and after running to the window, she first grabbed the windowsill with both hands and couldn't stop crying, and then squatted directly on the ground and cried bitterly.

Zhang Ran hurriedly shouted "stop", walked out of the command center, and came to the shooting site. He put his arm around Zhang Jingchu, patted her gently on the back, and couldn't help comforting: "It's okay! It's okay! I'm by your side! Don't be sad!"

Zhang Jingchu leaned on Zhang Ran's arms, hugged Zhang Ran's waist, and cried so much that Zhang Ran's chest was wet. The staff on the set, especially the female staff, were "infected" by Zhang Jingchu's crying, and they also wiped their tears.

After Zhang Jingchu finished crying, Zhang Ran said gently: "Forget it today, let's shoot it tomorrow!"

Zhang Ran knows that filming this kind of scene is very painful for actors. In the past two days, Zhang Jingchu couldn't control her emotions, and often cried when she patted it. In fact, today's scene is quite good, two days ago, Zhang Chunru went to the places where the massacre occurred such as Straw Shoes Gorge and Yanziji to investigate, and that was the real torture.

Zhang Chunru would take pictures of these places during the investigation, and then he would stand there, close his eyes, and put himself in the situation when the incident happened. This is one of the characteristics of Zhang Chunru's creation, that is, to try to return to the past, to the situation when the incident occurred.

Zhang Ran knew that it was very painful to substitute himself into that kind of situation, so he said to Zhang Jingchu, you just close your eyes and stand there, you don't really need to be in the situation. But Zhang Jingchu insisted on substituting herself in the context of the massacre, which she thought would be closer to Zhang Chunru's real state.

When acting in this part of the scene, Zhang Jingchu had to stop filming several times because of crying bitterly. After acting in this part of the play, Zhang Jingchu's whole person was about to collapse, with nightmares at night and began to lose her hair. Zhang Ran knew that Zhang Jingchu's psychological state was affected, but the movie was finished in more than ten days, and he did not stop filming, but asked a psychiatrist to provide psychological counseling to Zhang Jingchu every day.

Zhang Jingchu wiped the tears on her face, smiled at Zhang Ran, and said cheerfully: "I'm fine, I feel much more comfortable crying, let's continue to shoot!"

Zhang Ran saw Zhang Jingchu say this, so he asked the makeup artist to come over to touch up Zhang Jingchu's makeup and prepare to shoot again.

More than ten minutes later, the reproduction began. Zhang Jingchu got up and ran to the window, looking at the dark sky outside, panting, and trembling slightly. Yang Xiaming sighed slightly, his eyes full of sorrow.

When her breathing calmed down, Zhang Jingchu returned to her seat, she looked at Yang Xiaming and said solemnly: "After this book is finished and published, I will no longer be a writer, I will go to study law, and in the future, I will represent the survivors in a lawsuit with the Dongying government, so that the Japanese side can compensate." ”

Yang Xiaming was very surprised and said, "Why do you think so?"

Zhang Jingchu's gaze is complicated, mixed with sadness and anger: "It's so unfair, while the Dongying soldiers who participated in the Nanjing Massacre received all their pensions and other allowances from the Dongying government, thousands of victims silently endured poverty, shame, and long physical and mental suffering. The Dongying government is so rich, as long as it pays a little loss, the lives of the victims can be greatly improved. Someone should step up and do this. ”

Yang Xiaming was very moved when he heard this, and even a little ashamed, he didn't think about doing these things, but Zhang Chunru was thinking, but he still reminded: "The Dongying government has not officially apologized for the Nanjing Massacre so far, and it is very difficult to ask them to compensate!"

Zhang Jingchu nodded, and said very firmly: "It is obviously inappropriate to ask Dongying people to be lawyers in a lawsuit demanding compensation, because the Chinese government has long publicized the waiver of compensation, and the door of mainland lawyers in this regard has also been closed, and it is difficult to make a difference, and Westerners will not wholeheartedly fight lawsuits for these survivors, because the West and Dongying have an inexplicable relationship entanglement, so it is necessary for the descendants of Chinese in the West like me to stand up and run and shout for these survivors." ”

In the monitor of machine A, Zhang Jingchu's close-up shot, her eyes are shining, revealing indomitable determination and unprecedented perseverance.

Zhang Ran had never seen Zhang Chunru in person, and he didn't know what she looked in her eyes when she said this. But if he was to choose one, then he believed that it was Zhang Jingchu's eyes at this time. Zhang Ran stood up and said loudly: "Stop! Jingchu, you acted very well." You're in great shape and in your eyes, we'll keep you!"

Nanjing in July is like a big steamer, stuffy and hot. In the summer in the north, it will be cooler when you stand in the shade of a tree, or when the wind blows, but the heat of Nanjing is wrapped in the water vapor evaporating from the ground, and you will feel slimy in the sun for a few minutes, which is particularly uncomfortable.

July 12th is the last day of filming of "Angel of Justice", and the scene on this day is an outdoor scene, and the whole crew can only work under the scorching sun. However, no one in the crew complained, and the work was extremely dedicated.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Ran, who was sitting in front of the monitor, breathed a long sigh of relief, the movie had been filmed for nearly seven months, and now it was finally finished. Zhang Ran stood up, held the walkie-talkie, and excitedly announced: "The last shot of the movie has passed." The movie "Angel of Justice" is officially finished!"

The applause and cheers at the scene rang out, and many staff began to hug and say goodbye to the people around them. The staff of "Angel of Justice" come from 54 countries and regions around the world, and in the nearly seven months of filming, everyone has become friends, and now they are about to separate, and there is a lot of reluctance in their hearts.

Zhang Ran came out of the command center, took over the loudspeaker prepared for him by the first assistant director, stood on a chair, and said loudly: "After nearly seven months of hard shooting, our film has finally been successfully completed! Without your efforts, the film would not have been completed so smoothly, so I really want to say thank you to everyone." ”

The crackling applause was like firecrackers, and the deafening cheers soared into the sky.

Zhang Ran took a deep breath and said: "This scene has been filmed for nearly seven months, I feel like practicing every day, every department works together to do the best, and I have also formed a deep relationship with everyone in the hard work, I am very impressed by the filming of the movie, and every scene is extremely valuable to me." However, there is no banquet in the world that will not be dissolved, and I hope that we can continue to cooperate in the future, and I also hope that our film can be a success. That's all I have to say, thank you!"

"Angel of Justice" is officially finished, but Zhang Ran knows that the real battle has just begun.

In 1997, Newsweek planned to publish a long excerpt from Zhang Chunru's "Nanjing Massacre," but Toyota and other companies tried to prevent Newsweek from publishing it under the threat of withdrawing the advertisement. When "Angel of Justice" is released, these bulls, ghosts, snakes, and gods will definitely jump out.

For Zhang Ran, this is a battle that cannot be lost, and he also believes that he will not lose!