The 43rd Cannes Film Festival has come to an end, and the entertainment pages of major newspapers around the world are reporting the same news with headlines - Wang Zijun announced his official retirement at the awards ceremony.

Fortunately, Wang's Pictures was not listed, otherwise the stock price would have to plummet as soon as the news came out.

Countless fans can't understand why Wang Zijun, who is in his thirties, retires, and for a director, 50 years old is still in the prime of life.

Wang Zijun said at the subsequent press conference that he will hold a farewell concert next year, which is not only a farewell, but also a celebration of the 20th anniversary of his debut.

The venue of the farewell concert is the Taipei Arena, which is currently under construction, and Wang Zijun will be the first singer to take the stage at the Taipei Arena.

Since June, "Holy War" has begun to land in France, Britain and other European countries one after another. Even if it's a three-hour sanitized version, there are still a lot of bloody scenes in it, and minors can't enter the cinema at all.

When the film was released, it immediately caused an uproar in Europe. All countries are countries that have suffered serious damage from fascism, and the hatred of fascism among ordinary people is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but the vast majority of people know nothing about the Sino-Chinese war.

And Wang Zijun used a movie to let them understand that there was such a massacre in the far east.

Before the release of the film, European studios had been skeptical about the box office of such films. However, the result was completely unexpected, "Holy War" was released wildly in Europe, and it actually exploded other commercial films and literary films released at the same time.

"Holy War" also has a strong response in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Nanyang region, and it is also a crowd of viewers in South Korea, and the box office response in various places has made Bai Muyang breathe a sigh of relief.

But just as everyone was about to celebrate, "Jihad" received a cold reception in the United States and Canada. After more than a month of release, the total box office in North America was less than $20 million.

This data can be regarded as hitting the streets, and the major theaters in the United States, which were originally ready to make a lot of money, have reduced the release canvas of "Holy War".

Fortunately, the movie has strong vitality and has been in theaters for more than four months, and many viewers have bought tickets and barely earned 50 million US dollars at the North American box office. Of the $50 million box office, I'm afraid at least 20% of it was Wang Zijun's box office appeal.

It's not enough to hit the streets in the United States, what is even more tragic is that "Jihad" was stuck when it entered the Yueben Film Market. As for the reason, it is that there are many contents in the film that smear the image of the book, and claim that many of the massacres in the film are slanderous.

The opposition parties in Ben have jumped out one after another, accusing some people of not facing up to history, but this opposition has no effect.

At this time, Prime Minister Toshiki Kaibe was a gentleman who was different from previous prime ministers. When he was a student, his home was destroyed by the bombing, so he hated war and called himself a peacemaker. He also said that the people of Timon should reflect on the war, and later became the first prime minister to admit that he had made an unforgivable mistake to the people of Nanjing and to express a deep apology.

But it is such a prime minister, in an interview with reporters, still said: I have always admired the works of director Wang Zijun. War is not supposed to be, we should all reflect on war and love peace, and I personally support that Director Wang's anti-war film can enter the book. However, for the review of released films, there is a special management department to carry out. Since the "Yinglun Management Committee" believes that some of the content of "Holy War" is inappropriate, according to the regulations, "Holy War" cannot be screened in the book, and I hope that Director Wang can re-edit it and then screen it in the book.

In a word, what the pacifist prime minister means is that I am very supportive, but this matter is not my business, pure tai chi.

It is the world's second largest film market after the United States, and for Wang's Pictures, "Holy War" has hit the streets in the United States and can no longer lose the box office.

After more than half a year of repeated revisions, the three-hour clean version of "Holy War" was finally cut down to one and a half hours, and finally passed the review of the "Foreign Film Department under the Film Ethics Management Committee" and was released in February 1991.

The movie has been cut beyond recognition, where is there still the slightest attraction, and it is said that he is ugly, and the public's enthusiasm for watching the movie is even lower. (By the way, last year, I once complained in the article that "The Grandmaster" didn't know what to say.) Now I take back those words, the last time I watched Lao Wang was the mainland theater version, and it was cut a long time, and I recently watched the full version and found out that this is a good film. The release of "Jihad" in the book was similar to that in the United States, and the media response was strong, but the box office response was lukewarm. Even during the screening, right-wing groups took to the streets to boycott and demand that the authorities forcibly remove the film from the original version.

Until 1992, "Holy War" was released one after another in countries around the world, and the final box office was only a pitiful $100 million.

The global box office of 100 million US dollars is enough to rank among the top five Hollywood movies of the year, but unfortunately Wang Zijun's investment in this film was 78 million US dollars.

With a box office of 100 million US dollars, Wang's Pictures can only get more than $70 million after tax, and because the production and release cycle is too long, and counting the inflation in the past few years, Wang's Pictures has also lost a lot of money.

Of course, Wang Zijun, as an international director, has a fixed salary this time, and he has made a lot of money personally.

It is worth mentioning that "Holy War" has set off a movie-watching frenzy in Chinese mainland. Not only that, "Holy War" is a key film supported by the Ministry of Culture, and various departments of the military, public and education systems have organized patriotic viewing activities. The film lasted for more than a year before and after its release in the mainland, and the final box office reached a staggering 100 million yuan, which was an unimaginable figure at the time.

It's a pity that this 100 million has nothing to do with Wang Zijun, because it was already said before filming that the box office in the mainland is all owned by the Chinese film co-production company.

These are all afterwords, Wang Zijun returned to Taiwan and Bay with the praise of a group of film critics after the Cannes Film Festival.

On the second day of his return, Mr. Li Dengshen just officially took office as the eighth "president" of the Republic of China (in the previous two years, he automatically succeeded Xiao Jiang as the "president" as vice president).

Perhaps because the old bottom was exposed, Mr. Li did everything he could to save his image two years ago. Not only was he meticulous in his work, but he also studied and implemented Mr. Xiao Jiang's style, and went down to the factories, mines, enterprises, and peasants and fishermen's homes to inspect and express condolences at the end of three days, which was simply a model of diligence and love for the people.

In this regard, Wang Zijun can only say that politicians are all actors.

Sun Xibi and Sun Fatzi were also promoted, and they were officially elected as the county magistrate of Taipei County.

Competing with Sun Xibi for the post of county magistrate is You Qing, a member of the Green Party whose political proposition is that "Taiwan and the Bay must be independent and independent", and he should have been the magistrate of Taipei until 1997, when he stepped down amid doubts that he had embezzled billions of dollars.

But now it seems that something is wrong, just at the end of last year, You Qing, who was running for the mayor of Taipei County, had the highest support rate, and was suddenly scandalized by the "Gongxin Daily". The front page of the newspaper published an article pointing out that when You Qing was a lawyer, he had bribed witnesses to commit perjury, and later after the formation of the Green Party, as a senior member of the Green Party, he also embezzled hundreds of thousands of Taiwan dollars from the party.

"Gongxin" has always had evidence to break the news, unlike "Liberty Times", which always starts spraying based on speculation. After attaching a series of evidence, Mr. You was at a loss for words and had no choice but to withdraw from the election.

And Sun Xibi, who was already hopeless to be elected, began all kinds of high-profile shows. Voters, who were originally disgusted with KMT rule, began to turn their votes to Sun Fatzi, and Sun Xibi was finally successfully elected as the county magistrate of Taipei County.

............ "Zijun, I can't pass this day!" Jiang Laosan threw away his suit jacket and couldn't help but sit on the sofa and sigh.

Jiang Laosan seems to be suffocated, he doesn't have many friends who can speak, and Wang Zijun is barely one. No, the day after Wang Zijun returned to Taipei, Jiang Laosan stopped by after work to vomit bitterness.

Wang Zijun went to the wine cabinet and took a bottle of brandy, poured it for him personally, and said with a smile: "Brother Jiang, why bother, let him be cross, and the villain's face will be revealed sooner or later." In comparison, the surname Li is already a bad old man, Brother Jiang is still in his prime, and the victory or defeat is still early. ”

Jiang Laosan is very good at doing business, and he also has scheming, and his methods are also very vicious. However, his opponent is an old fox, and he is an old fox with a good deck of cards in his hand.

If it weren't for Li Dengshen's scandal, Jiang Laosan would have been forced to immigrate to Canada with his family two years ago.

After two years of operation, Li Dengshen has gradually mastered the overall situation. The upper echelons of the political axe were all in the hands of his people, while the local positions were mostly run by the Greens, and Chiang's conservatives were squeezed into idle posts one by one.

"What Brother Wang said is that I am younger than that old thing," Jiang Laosan took a sip of wine and said fiercely, "but I am angry in my heart." Why don't we mess with him with the newspaper again? ”

Wang Zijun was amused in his heart, and dared to love this purpose when he came today.

It's not that Jiang Laosan can't support the wall, and he only knows how to engage in crooked ways, but he can't shake his opponent from the front, so he has no choice but to do so.

In the past two years since the newspaper was launched, the "Gongxin Daily" has scolded the KMT and the Green Party, but no one has been given face, and it has always been true to its words, and it has long established a good reputation in the hearts of the people. Once you start scolding someone, readers will be inclined to believe Kung Sin, even if there is no evidence.

It's just that Wang Zijun doesn't want the newspaper he got to become anyone's private weapon.

Wang Zijun said with a smile: "Okay, as long as Brother Jiang finds evidence of the other party's corruption and perversion of the law, I promise to plan a wonderful show for you." ”

Jiang Laosan gritted his teeth and said: "The surname Li is not easy to get, if you don't give it to his henchmen, it won't be so clean." ”

Wang Zijun shook his head secretly, this Jiang Gongzi's vision is still not far enough. Speaking of which, the biggest enemy of Chiang's conservatives was not Li Dengshen, but the Greens, who gradually seized local power. The conservatives and Li Dengshen are both in the same boat, and the scandal of exposing the Li family has damaged the political image of the entire KMT and cheapened the Greens for nothing. This is nothing but harm to others and to oneself.

(To be continued)