''The Message'' (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 风声;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Fēngshēng'', literally "Sound of the Wind") is a 2009

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

thriller set in 1942

Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, featuring a cast of top Chinese stars include

Zhou Xun Zhou Xun (, born 18 October 1974) is a Chinese actress and singer. She is regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China. She gained international fame for her roles in '' Suzhou River'' (2000) and ''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'' ...

Li Bingbing Li Bingbing (; born 27 February 1973) is a Chinese actress and singer who rose to fame with her role in '' Seventeen Years'' (1999) and since then received critical acclaim for her roles in ''A World Without Thieves'' (2004), '' Waiting Alone'' (2 ...

Huang Xiaoming Huang Xiaoming or Mark Huang (, born 13 November 1977) is a Chinese actor, singer, and model. He graduated from the Performance Institute of the Beijing Film Academy in 2000. Huang first rose to prominence in 2001 for playing Emperor Wu of Han i ...

Zhang Hanyu Zhang Hanyu (born 19 December 1964) is a Chinese actor. Zhang became the first Chinese actor to win the "Grand Slam", winning Best Actor trophies from the Golden Horse Awards, Golden Rooster Awards, Hundred Flowers Awards and Huabiao Awards. L ...

and

Alec Su Alec Su You-peng (born 11 September 1973) is a Taiwanese actor, singer, television producer, and film director. Su became a popular teen idol in the 1980s as a member of the boyband '' Xiao Hu Dui''. He was known as the "Obedient Tiger" (乖� ...

. The film was adapted from

Mai Jia Jiang Benhu (; born 1964), better known by his pen name Mai Jia, is a Chinese novelist. He also served as the president of Zhejiang Writers Association and vice president of the Zhejiang Literature and Art Association. Biography Jiang was born ...

's 2007 novel, ''The Message'' (

: 风声;

: ''Fēngshēng''), and was co-directed by

Chen Kuo-fu Chen Kuo-fu (born 13 May 1958) is a Taiwanese film director, screenwriter and producer. His film '' The Personals'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Biography Born in 1958 Chen worked as a film ...

and

Gao Qunshu Gao Qunshu () is a Chinese film director. Filmography * '' The Tokyo Trial'' (2006) * ''Old Fish'' (2008) * '' The Message'' (2009) * '' Wind Blast'' (2010) * '' Beijing Blues'' (2012) * ''Crimes of Passion'' (2013) * ''The New Year's Eve of Old ...

. In addition to being a blockbuster, ''The Message'' has also received extensive critical acclaim and was nominated for a total of thirteen awards at the 2009 Golden Horse Film Festival, 2010 Asian Film Awards, 2010 Hong Kong Film Awards, and 2010 Hundred Flowers Awards. It won the best film award at 17th Beijing University Student Film Festival.

won the Best Leading Actress Award at the 46th

Golden Horse Film Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

for her role as the code-breaker chief in this movie.

Plot

April 26, 1940, former

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

vice president

Wang Jingwei Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...

made peace with Japan and set up a Japanese-supported regime during World War II, a

puppet government A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sover ...

. Oct 10, during an anniversary ceremony of the government, a Wang government high official was assassinated, the last in a series of such attacks. Taketa (Huang Xiaoming), chief intelligence officer of the Japanese Imperial Army, believed that it was an action of an underground anti-Japan group and that there was a mole, nicknamed "Old Ghost" (aka The Phantom) inside the Wang government's Anti-Communist Command. Determined to catch the mole, Taketa sends out a telegram with false information about an opportunity to assassinate a high-ranking officer. When it is apparent that the underground group knows its contents, he arrests the five personnel who saw the telegram, bringing them to the closely guarded fortress Qiu Castle for interrogation. They are: (1) Anti-Communist squad captain Wu Zhiguo (Zhang Hanyu), (2) Bai Xiaonian (Su Youpeng), an aide to the commander, (3) chief telegraph decoder Li Ningyu (Li Bingbing), (4) mailroom staff Gu Xiaomeng (Zhou Xun), and (5) military intelligence director Jin Shenghuo (Ying Da) Taketa (Huang Xiaoming) and Wang Government's intelligence chief Wang Tianxiang (Wang Zhiwen) need to identify "Old Ghost" in five days. After the suspects are tormented by constant interrogations, they began informing against each other for their own survival. Increasingly horrific physical tortures are used as the interrogators become impatient, while the tormented suspects come close to losing their sanity. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese

agent attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting their own identity.

Casting

Main cast

as Gu Xiaomeng *

as Li Ningyu *

as Wu Zhiguo *

as Takeda (Wutian) *

Wang Zhiwen Wang Zhiwen (, born June 25, 1966) is a Chinese actor born in Shanghai, China. He was selected by for his acting abilities at an early age and began to pursue a career in acting that has flourished in recent years, culminating in his role in Che ...

as Wang Daoxiang *Su Youpeng (

) as Bai Xiaonian *Ying Da as Jin Shenghuo

Supporting cast

*Ai Dai *Liu Jiajia *Liu Weiwei *Shi Zhaoqi *

Wu Gang Wu Gang (), formerly romanized as Wu Kang and also known as Wu Zhi in some sources,Eberhard, Wolfram. ''Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought''pp. 76 ff Routledge & Kegan Paul (London), 2013. Accessed 12 Novem ...

as Liu'ye *Zhu Xu *

Zhang Yibai Zhang Xiaoling, better known by his stage name Zhang Yibai () (born 14 April 1963, in Chongqing, China) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and producer. Directorial career Zhang began his career in television and music videos before dir ...

Duan Yihong Duan Yihong (; born May 16, 1973) is a Chinese actor best known for his role as Yuan Lang in '' Soldiers Sortie'' (2006), Long Wenzhang in '' My Chief and My Regiment'' (2009), and Hei Wa in '' White Deer Plain'' (2011). Biography Duan Yihon ...

Ni Dahong Ni Dahong (; born 1960) is a Chinese actor best known for his roles as Sima Yi in the historical television series ''Three Kingdoms'', based on the classical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' by Luo Guanzhong; and Su Daqiang in family dram ...

Reception

The film earned at the Chinese box office.

References

External links

* Official website (English)
TheMessage2009.com
* Official website (Chinese)
Message.hbpictures.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Message, The 2009 films 2000s spy thriller films Chinese thriller films Second Sino-Japanese War films Films based on Chinese novels Films directed by Chen Kuo-fu Films directed by Gao Qunshu Films with screenplays by Zhang Jialu Films set in Nanjing Films scored by Michiru Ōshima 2000s Chinese films