Chinese Film Review: The Message (風聲)

We got tickets to the Hong Kong premiere of the new Mainland movie, 'The Message' (Chinese title is 'Feng Shang', 風聲) starring Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Zhang Hanyu, Alec Su Youming and Zhang Xiaoming and co-directed by Chen Guofu and Gao Qunshu.We didn't know anything about the film going into it other than the artwork on the poster:Turns out this is an espionage triller set in WWII occupied China.  A Japanese intelligence officer and his Chinese collaborator stooges are trying to find a mole in their organization who is working for the Chinese resistance and assassinating all their top people.  They narrow it down to five Chinese staff in one communications office and arrange to get them to a secluded mountain mansion for an investigation.At this point the film turns from a historical thriller to a bit of a "whodunit" mystery.   Except its told primarily from the bad guys POV as they hunt for the good guy spy.  Which leads the audience to try and figure out which character is the hidden hero and which of the rest of them are evil collaborator traitors.   its a bit strange to have the protagonists in the movie be the 'bad' guys, but just in case you forget, they resort to plenty of cruelty to make sure you don't get confused who the real bad apples are and what horrible fate awaits one or all of the suspected people if someone doesn't get caught.  Be warned, it has a LOT of sadistic scenes and nightmare inducing scenes of torture mixed in with the suspense and tension of the investigation part. Did I mention that Zhou Xun is in it?  its worth watching any movie for that reason alone (ok, except for Mingming...)The film is reallywell made - the writing,  the sets, the costumes, the camera work and of course the acting. I liked the fact that it feels very fresh and creative for a Mainland production, not just another rehash of an imperial-era costume piece or a WWII tragedy/propaganda piece.  It feels a lot like an Agatha Christie mystery (the cast of unique, memorable characters all locked up in a dark mansion from which they can't leave... right down to the large table they're all sitting around accusing eachother of being the guilty party),  and yet at some points the bizarre situation carries over to the setting itself,  you almost feel like you're in some creepy ghost film.  Ultimately though, there's no supernatural excuse for the depravity on display,  its just humans being evil.  :-/  Despite being billed as a movie celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic (it opens on the actual anniversary),  the film leaves the over-the-top propaganda and stereotyping out of the story for the most part (unlike Yip Man,  it doesn't claim that China defeated Japan all by itself) :-P.  Definitely the best Mainland Chinese film I've seen in a while.   Its the kind of movie you and your friends will keep talking about on the way home as you try to decipher the story and the characters.... in a good way.I'll give it an 8/10.  Minus one or two if you're extremely squeamish!ps - pics from the HK premiere (Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Chen Xiaoming, etc) are here!!