''The Chinese Widow'' (), also known as ''In Harm's Way'' and ''The Hidden Soldier'', is a 2017 Chinese

war drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular supe ...

film directed by Danish director

Bille August Bille August (born 9 November 1948) is a Danish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer of film and television. In a career spanning over four decades, he has been the recipient of numerous accolades, making him one of the most acclaimed co ...

, starring

Liu Yifei Crystal Liu (born An Feng; August 25, 1987), better known by her stage name Liu Yifei (), is a Chinese-American actress, singer, and model. She has appeared multiple times on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four D ...

and Emile Hirsch. The film premiered at the 2017

Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai''), abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia. "China's biggest film festival" according to the Hollywood Reporter. Nex ...

as the opening film and was released on 10 November 2017 in mainland China.

Plot

Jack is an American Air Force pilot with a mission to carry out the first US bombing run on Tokyo. After the mission is successful, his plane gets detached from the rest of the squadron due to bad weather. With low fuel, he is forced to go to China's

Zhejiang Province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

. Due to malfunctioning autopilot, he is forced to fly the plane manually while his crew parachutes out and he jumps out in the last moment before the plane crashes. The next day, his unconscious body is discovered by a local widow named Ying, who lives with her daughter Nunu weaving silk. She hides him in a nearby cave with the help of her childhood friend and village head Kai. Soon after, the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

(who already have captured and executed the rest of Jack's crew) come in search of Jack and capture the village, holding Kai at gunpoint to tell where the pilot is hiding. Kai refuses to do so and is executed. Nunu insists Ying to tell what she knows to her grandparents but Ying does not, remembering Kai's advice not to tell it to anyone. The next day, she goes to the cave with some food and seeing Jack conscious, leaves it there and returns promptly before he can confront her. The Japanese army sends search patrols in the jungle and Ying is forced to bring Jack into her house. Although distant at first, Jack quickly befriends Nunu by whistling

Yankee Doodle "Yankee Doodle" is a traditional song and nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today. It is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its ...

to her. Jack is able to convey to Ying that he has to go to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Co ...

where the US Army base is. She hides him in the basement, while she tries to find a way to contact the Chinese guerrillas to get him a safe passage. One day, while Nunu is in her school, the IJA Captain Shimamoto comes into Ying's house and attempts to rape her, only to be shot in the head by Jack. They hide the body in the basement and as Jack consoles Ying, they form an intimate bond. In school, Nunu accidentally whistles Yankee Doodle which is noticed by her teacher. The teacher then rushes to Ying's house with Nunu and on confronting Jack, reveals that he is with the Chinese guerrillas. When Jack shows him the Captain's body, he tells Ying and Nunu to escape along with Jack, as the IJA will execute them once they find out. While they make their escape, the IJA find the body and pursue the group after torching the village. The Japanese eventually catch up and fire on them, and the teacher stays behind with a few guerrillas to slow them down, and is killed. With the group only a few metres away from the escape boat, Ying is shot in the chest by a sniper. Devastated, Jack kills the sniper and barely escapes with Nunu and the remaining guerrillas. In Chongqing, he reports to General

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...

, also expressing his wish to adopt Nunu. The General rejects it by saying that Jack cannot be a soldier and her father at the same time. Instead, Nunu will be given to a Chinese family living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. Jack reluctantly accepts and bids Nunu a tearful goodbye. 50 years later, an elderly Jack writes a letter to a grown-up Nunu saying that he was truly in love with her mother and despite missing her everyday, he has come to peace with himself. The address on the envelope in which Jack inserts the letter indicates Nunu is at a San Diego, California address.

Cast

as Ying * Emile Hirsch as Jack *Li Fangcong as Nunu * Yan Yikuan as Kai *Yu Shaoqun as teacher *Tsukagoshi Hirotaka as Captain Shimamoto *

Vincent Riotta Vincenzo Ricotta (born 14 October 1959), professionally known as Vincent Riotta, is a British actor. Career Riotta studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He went on to perform in various stage plays, such as Shakespeare's ''Romeo'', wh ...

Gong Hanlin Gong HanLin (; born 20 October 1957) is a Chinese actor and xiangsheng performer and sketch comedy performer. Gong is notable for performing sketch comedy in CCTV New Year's Gala since 1990. Biography Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaoning on Octo ...

as Ying's father-in-law *Jin Zhu as Ying's mother-in-law *

Gallen Lo Gallen Lo Ka-leung () is a Hong Kong actor and singer who primarily acts in television series. He is sometimes credited as King Gallen or Law Ka-Leung. Career Lo started his television career in 1984 at ATV. He received short-term success in a ...

as Captain Xu *Gong Tiankuo as Lieutenant Sun *Shu Yaoxuan as hawker *

Vivian Wu Vivian Wu ( Wu Junmei; ; born February 5, 1967) is a Chinese-American actress.Chen Nan ''China Daily'', 27 April 2007. Her big break came in 1987, appearing in the biographical film '' The Last Emperor''. She later went to starring in films '' ...

as elderly Nunu (the character did not appear in the final cut of the film but was credited with a special acknowledgment).

Release

The film was released in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

(10 November 2017), the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(2 November 2018) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(14 November 2018). In France, the film was released with an alternative English-language title: ''The Lost Soldier''.The Lost Soldier
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Awards and nominations

*Nominated -

Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film The Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film (Chinese: 金爵奖最佳影片) is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival internat ...

References

External links