General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

One and Eight

One and Eight (一个和八个, Yige he bage) is a 1983 Chinese war film directed by Zhang Junzhao (张军钊), based on the 1957 long poem of the same title by Guo Xiaochuan (郭小川). It is widely regarded as the first work of the Fifth Generation, the group of Beijing Film Academy graduates who transformed Chinese cinema in the 1980s, and it introduced the cinematography of Zhang Yimou (张艺谋).¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director / screenwriter	Zhang Junzhao; screenplay by Zhang Ziliang and Wang Jicheng¹^•³
Source	Guo Xiaochuan's (1919–1976) long poem "The One and the Eight", written in 1957⁴
Cinematography	Zhang Yimou and Xiao Feng¹
Studio	Guangxi Film Studio, Nanning; the first film made at the studio's new youth production unit⁵^•²
Release	Made in 1983; mainland release listed as 6 July 1984; Japanese theatrical release 1 December 1989¹^•³
Runtime	87 minutes per the Chinese database 1905.com; 90 minutes per Rotten Tomatoes¹^•⁶
Historical standing	Considered the inaugural work of Fifth Generation cinema; a 4K restoration is listed as forthcoming by the China Film Archive⁷

Spoilers

Story

The action is set in northern China in 1941, during the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937–45). Wang Jin, a political instructor in the Eighth Route Army, is falsely accused of treachery on the strength of a traitor's denunciation and imprisoned with eight criminals: bandits, deserters, a poisoner, and others.⁴^•⁸

The nine prisoners march with a escorting unit across the plain. The eight, who quarrel among themselves and hope to escape, are gradually drawn to Wang's character and come to believe in his innocence. When Japanese forces surround the unit and the regular soldiers are killed one after another, the prisoners take up arms under Wang's command. Most of them die in the fighting; Wang survives, carries the wounded commander across the plain, and walks on in search of friendly forces.³^•⁸

The narrative follows the shape of what film scholars describe as a classic revolutionary war myth, built on devices such as "the hero meets misfortune" and "pure gold proves its worth": a wronged hero whose loyalty is tested by humiliation and the prospect of death, redeemed through courage at the moment of peril.⁹

Production

The film was made by recent Beijing Film Academy graduates assigned to the small regional Guangxi Film Studio in Nanning, near the Vietnamese border. The studio's new management lacked a firm production mandate, which allowed Zhang Junzhao to press successfully for his own independent production team; this arrangement let young filmmakers bypass the seniority system that blocked them at larger studios. The team left for Ningxia to begin filming shortly after its founding in 1983.¹⁰

It was the first film made at the studio, which had been established in April 1983 for "youth productions"; Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth was the unit's second.²

Style

The film broke with the theatrical conventions of earlier Chinese war cinema. Scholars identify it as the antithesis of the "three prominences" style derived from classical theater and used in early 1970s films: instead of idealized heroes, it centers on bandits, deserters, and other marginal figures, some of whom die fleeing rather than heroically.¹⁰

Its visual language, the work of cinematographers Zhang Yimou and Xiao Feng, is characterized by disproportionate framing, natural lighting, and barren landscapes, with characters pushed to the margins of the frame, jump cuts, stationary camera work, and extreme stylization. Critics have highlighted Zhang's use of the desert setting of pock-marked cliffs and bluffs, along with experiments in color, black-and-white shots, and unusual angles.¹¹^•⁹^•²

Censorship and release

When the film was completed, the authorities in Beijing objected, reportedly because they felt it showed disrespect to regular soldiers in its depiction of the courage of the criminals. The filmmakers were ordered to make about 70 changes, and re-shooting and re-dubbing are said to have watered down the original considerably; the original version is reported to be lost.²^•¹²

The film was held up before release. Sources differ on the release year: some list 1983, while the Chinese database 1905.com gives a mainland release date of 6 July 1984, and the film's Japanese release came only on 1 December 1989.²^•¹^•³ By the time it reached audiences, other Fifth Generation films, including Yellow Earth (1984), had already appeared.¹³

Legacy

Fifth Generation filmmakers themselves consider One and Eight their inaugural undertaking, and it is usually cited as the first film of the movement, although Yellow Earth had the greater impact on the movement's naming and international reception.⁹^•¹⁴ The China Film Archive includes it in its program marking the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, describing it as a seminal work of the Fifth Generation notable for its critical perspective, with a 4K restoration listed as coming soon.⁷

The story has been adapted twice more: Guo Xiaochuan's poem became this 1984-released film and a 39-episode television series first broadcast in China in 2015.⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1963 to 1998

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?