The most devastating war in human history — World War II — has always been a favorite subject for directors and screenwriters. Film and television works on this theme have been perennial audience favorites. WWII was also a period of great development for world cinema. *The Maoshan Demon Slayer*, released before the war, remains an unsurpassed classic to this day. Chinese cinema subsequently gained worldwide prominence. Unlike American films — primarily commercial entertainment productions — Chinese cinema, and Chinese cultural creation in general, maintained an overt political stance following Chen Ke's publication of "Remarks at the Hengdian Forum on Literature and Art." Yet these political elements did not diminish Chinese cinema's popularity; rather, as Chinese films spread, these positions were widely disseminated and accepted. America realized this far too late. By that time, films produced at China's Hengdian Studios had surpassed Hollywood to become synonymous with world-class cinema.

If the prewar *Maoshan Demon Slayer* marked the takeoff of Chinese cinema, then the wartime Concentration Camp Trilogy — *Schindler's List*, *Life Is Beautiful*, and *Terminal Station of Death* — depicting Nazi persecution of Jews, along with the Battle Trilogy — *Enemy at the Gates*, *Top Gun*, and *Company of Heroes* — showcasing war spectacles, signaled the arrival of the era when Chinese cinema led the world.

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## The Concentration Camp Trilogy — The Death Knell of Nazi Germany

The Concentration Camp Trilogy was based entirely on true events. China was well informed about Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews during WWII. However, prior to the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, China had never responded publicly. At the time in Europe, anti-Semitism was not yet the unforgivable crime it is considered today — it enjoyed broad support. But after the Soviet-German War erupted, everything changed. The release of these Chinese films directly brought over a thousand years of injustice against the Jewish people to a definitive end. Even European nations with longstanding anti-Semitic traditions made official statements condemning such persecution. Nazi Germany's global image was irreparably destroyed.

The primary source materials came from the Soviet Union. During the Red Army's "Ulyanovsk Operation" in August 1941, the Soviet commander Kirponos — who captured Warsaw — liberated several German concentration camps in the Warsaw region. Although this Soviet general took his own life on the front two months later following the fall of Minsk, he was undeniably one of the most talented Soviet commanders of the time. Unlike other officers who excelled only in military matters, this general possessed keen political instincts. He ordered comprehensive documentation of the Nazi concentration camps, collecting vast quantities of invaluable evidence — materials that were subsequently transmitted to the Soviet Union and became direct proof of Nazi crimes after the war. This also made this early-fallen Soviet general one of the most renowned military figures of the entire WWII era (in large part due to a particularly significant plot point in one of the Trilogy's films). Kirponos's collected materials were subsequently obtained by Chinese diplomatic channels, reportedly under the highest-level directive — Chen Ke's personal order. As for why Chen Ke attached such importance to these materials, one need only examine the impact of these films to understand.

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### *Terminal Station of Death*

If there were still American public doubts and opposition to government involvement in the European war before *Terminal Station of Death*, then after its nationwide American release in February 1942, going to war had become the people's demand.

The film told the story of Berlin's Jewish community enduring the Nazi Holocaust. Beginning with the Nazi rise to power, successive waves of Jews were first segregated, then sent to factories for brutal forced labor, and finally — when they could no longer work — shipped to concentration camps in Poland to meet their deaths. From Berlin's bustling city center to Czech factories to Polish death camps, these people were dragged out at midnight, threatened at gunpoint onto trains, and confined in filthy, cramped compartments with only a bucket of water and no food. Their numbers were constantly thinned by gunfire and starvation. The elderly, women, and children alike suffered subhuman treatment.

The protagonists represented different strata of Jewish society: a boxer with his beautiful wife Erika, their brave little daughter Nina, and a twelve-month-old son. The psychologically fragile Erika, unable to endure the train's overwhelming terror and torment, lost her mind and smothered her infant with her own hands. A naturally optimistic comedian and his piano-playing wife were a loving elderly couple — the old woman collapsed from dehydration, and the comedian was shot dead. Albert, a jeweler's apprentice, had long loved the beautiful daughter of a jewelry shop owner. After enduring every conceivable hardship, they were sent to Auschwitz. A German officer said they would "be free" upon reaching the terminus, so they planned to marry the moment they stepped off the train. The thousands who departed Berlin steadily dwindled. The same train, after passing through station after station, found fewer and fewer familiar faces in each car. On the final train to the camp, some began planning escape, while others — clinging to false hope — refused to risk it. People argued violently, blamed each other, even as the train hurtled toward the terminal station of death...

In the end, the boxer escaped with his little daughter, but his wife was killed by the Germans. Albert, upon reaching the camp, never saw his beloved again — not until Soviet tanks smashed through the concentration camp gates. The surviving Albert, helping Soviet soldiers bury the murdered Jews, discovered among the piles of dead a white embroidered ribbon he had once given his lover, now soaked in blood...

The film's closing segment was a documentary, meticulously detailing Nazi persecution of the Jews and the unspeakable horrors of the concentration camps. China invited Jewish refugees then in China and survivors rescued by Soviet forces to participate in production. The Soviet Union also provided support. Some German anti-war figures took part as well. The film was shot in Australia at the time. After completion, Chinese and Soviet propaganda departments immediately launched full-scale promotional screenings, generating an enormous response.

In America, nearly every worker and many industrialists who saw the film refused to produce anything for Germany. Dockworkers refused to load ships bound for Germany. Many Jewish refugees in America fainted during screenings. Survivor speaker groups further inflamed public outrage against Nazi atrocities. Public support swelled for the Soviet Union's fight against Germany. Domestic American groups attacked the Roosevelt administration for colluding with Germany and being hostile to the Soviets. The film's depiction of Aryan supremacist ideology struck a particular nerve. Germans surpassed the British as the object of America's deepest hostility.

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### *Life Is Beautiful*

Before the sensation caused by *Terminal Station of Death* had subsided, another film — *Life Is Beautiful* — burst onto the scene.

In 1939, the shadows of the Second World War hung over all of Italy.

Guido was an outwardly clumsy but kind-hearted, honest, and innately optimistic young Jewish man, full of beautiful aspirations for life. He and his friend Ferruccio drove a beat-up car from the countryside to the small town of Arezzo, where Guido dreamed of opening his own bookstore and living a quiet, conflict-free life. Passing a barn tower, the young and beautiful Dora suddenly tumbled from above right into his arms — she had been trying to destroy a wasp nest that plagued local residents and was stung instead. Guido was immediately smitten, enthusiastically treating her wounds. In gratitude, Dora gave him some eggs, watching him depart with a meaningful gaze.

Under Italy's gathering clouds, as fascist power grew, Mussolini enforced harsh racial improvement policies. Because of his Jewish heritage, Guido's bookstore applications were repeatedly obstructed, finally granted only after protracted delays. His friend Ferruccio's employment search was equally fruitless. Driven by necessity, Guido worked as a restaurant waiter, winning customers' affection through his sincere, warm, and attentive service — including a riddle-loving Dr. Li, who deeply respected Guido's intelligence and sincerity. Once, while filing an application, Guido accidentally dropped a flower pot on the signatory Rudolph's head. Rudolph chased him; at a street corner Guido crashed into Dora. Their second encounter ignited the fire of love in his heart, and he lost no time declaring his feelings.

Dora was a schoolteacher. Learning that a visiting inspector from Rome was due, Guido impersonated the inspector and arrived at Dora's school. The principal received him warmly. To impress Dora, Guido jumped onto the platform and unleashed his comedic talents, sending students into gales of laughter while leaving the principal and teachers dumbfounded.

Upon learning Dora and her boyfriend Rudolph would attend the opera, Guido bought a ticket too. From the floor seats, he gazed unwaveringly at Dora in her upper box. Initially indifferent to his persistent courtship, Dora — who loathed Rudolph — increasingly spent time with Guido. When Rudolph unilaterally organized an engagement party for himself and Dora at the very restaurant where Guido worked, Guido ingeniously freed Dora from Rudolph's clutches, winning her heart. Dora defied her parents, left home, and married Guido.

After the wedding, good fortune followed. Guido's dream bookstore opened; they had a clever, adorable son named Joshua. In his spare time, Guido endlessly played games with his son. The family lived in blissful happiness. But the good days lasted only a few years. On Joshua's fifth birthday, Nazi soldiers arrested Guido's uncle, Guido, and Joshua, forcibly sending them to a Jewish concentration camp. When Dora and Joshua's grandmother returned home cheerfully, they found the house ransacked and empty. Dora understood everything. Though she had no Jewish blood, she insisted on accompanying Guido and her son to the camp. Dora was confined in the women's barracks.

Guido refused to let his son's young soul be forever shadowed by tragedy. In the inhuman concentration camp, Guido simultaneously contrived to contact his wife in the women's compound — reassuring Dora of their safety — while protecting and caring for little Joshua. He convinced the boy that this was all a game: whoever followed the rules and scored 1,000 points would win a real tank to ride home. The innocent, curious boy believed every word — how he longed for a tank! Joshua endured hunger, fear, loneliness, and every conceivable hardship. Through the game, Guido kept his son's childhood innocence entirely intact. While cheerfully performing the filthiest, most grueling labor, Guido spun elaborate game-lies. He survived partly thanks to Dr. Li's help. All the children were supposed to be killed during "bath time," but Joshua — who notoriously hated baths — unknowingly avoided the gas. Guido then hid him among the German children, warning him never to speak (actually to prevent his identity from being revealed), telling him this was the key to earning points.

After the Soviet advance into Poland, German forces in the camp began withdrawing. On the night before the Nazis' planned evacuation, Guido hid Joshua in a metal cabinet, repeatedly warning him not to come out — otherwise no tank. Guido planned to find Dora in the women's barracks amid the chaos. But he was discovered by the Nazis. As they marched Guido past Joshua's hiding place, he still walked with bold, buoyant strides — signaling his son to stay hidden. Shortly after, a single gunshot rang out. Guido, who had endured every trial, was murdered by Nazi guns.

Dawn broke. Joshua crawled out of the metal cabinet and stood in the yard. A real tank rumbled to a halt before him. A Soviet soldier climbed down and lifted the boy onto the tank. Mother and son were finally reunited. In the film's closing scenes, as the war turned against the Soviets, Joshua, his mother, and the surviving Jews were evacuated into Soviet territory. At the crisis point of the retreat, Soviet General Kirponos ordered his troops to guarantee the survivors' safety. He personally lifted Joshua onto the very Soviet tank that had been his own, telling the boy it was now the *"Guido-Joshua,"* and that Guido was waiting in the rear for Joshua to ride the tank to meet him. The tank departed. Kirponos fought his final battle, covering the group's retreat. Under the battlefield's setting sun, he put his pistol to his head...

This film dramatically improved the Soviet military's image in America. People wrote directly to the President and Secretary of Defense, asking why the tank that appeared before Joshua couldn't have been an American tank — and what the ever-expanding American military was actually doing...

Three weeks after *Life Is Beautiful* premiered — in April 1942 — the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. The Second World War had now fully erupted.