Rescue at Dongji
I think a story like the one that directors Zhenxiang Fei and Guan Hu tell here is worth watching because it unfolds a piece of history that- chances are- most audiences are unfamiliar with. Case in point- during WWII, I did not realize that an island of Chinese fishermen tried to rescue British soldiers who were being held captive by the Japanese when a Japanese ship is torpedoed off its shores. I’m down for that, and I think “Rescue at Dongji” has some great moments. Having said that, I also feel like it’s not quite sure from which perspective to tell this story, and in that way, its 133-minute running time is a bit uneven, though it gets remarkably rousing at the end.
Dongji is an island off the coast of China with a Japanese outpost on it. The population is made up of fishermen who are more used to bringing fish out of the water than people. A nearby Japanese warship, The Lisbon Maru, is torpedoed off the coast of Dongji Island; a British soldier is found by the fishermen, and nursed back to health. He’s not the only POW on the warship- over 300 more British POWs are on the ship, which is gradually sinking. Even with the ruthless Japanese officers clamping down on dissent, will this island village rise up and help rescue the men?
Though I said, in the first paragraph, that the screenplay by Shu Chen, Runnian Dong and Ji Zhang feels like it’s not quite sure which perspective its telling this story from, I do think that it wants to approach this from the perspective of the fishermen, first and foremost. This is a film about rising up against an authoritative power to do the right thing, and I think that’s the correct perspective to go from. Where this film trips up for me is partially because I’m an English speaker, so that when that first POW comes on-screen, I automatically look at him as a main protagonist, but also because the film doesn’t necessarily center in on a central protagonist from the island. Truth be told, it has several, and that’s not a bad thing for an ensemble, especially as the rescue of the title takes hold in the third act (which is the film’s strongest act), it feels like we change protagonists again to characters we aren’t as familiar with, and it’s a bit jarring. I think “Rescue at Dongji” has the makings of a terrific “inspired by true events” war film, as well as a commentary on resistance to fascism; unfortunately, the narrative just didn’t land the emotions for me to get fully captured by its most rousing moments en masse.
