Yoyo Jae
This review may contain spoilers
War of Faith | A "Long March" of the heart and mind
10/10 ... an EPIC and SUPERLATIVE production
There have been some very good Cdramas over the years ... from the ones I have watched, this series is at the pinnacle ... the script, the production, the sets, the score and the acting ... better than 10/10 ... it was an absolute 100/10 for me ... from episode 1 right through to episode 38. The story and pacing, the acting and production never dropped ... it just kept getting better and better. Put all together I have never felt for drama characters as much as I felt for the characters in this story ... it was so life like, so replicated the gut wrenching, gritty tragic realities of life lived in chaos. Wang Yibo ... my god ... he blew my mind with his acting ... his acting was a force of nature ... every nuance, every microexpression ... he totally nailed it, TOTALLY.
It has kept me on edge all the way through. The sets and the cinematographic atmosphere really brought the story 'alive' ... I can almost smell the bank and the alley ways ... feel the roughness and smell of the clothing ... the coldness of the water when Wei Ruolei washes his face .... so well acted and produced ... it really gets you into the lives of the characters.
The story is nerve wracking ... the cruelty and sheer struggle to survive ... the 'cheapness' of human life starkly contrasts with the lives and lifestyles of those well-endowed with money and status. I couldn't help but wonder how many people in the world are like Wei Ruolai ... people who have such brilliance and passion ... but who never get to 'bloom' ... they are lost to the 'world' because they got trampled under the heavy feet of ideology, status and money.
I was deeply moved by the rawness of the environmental and personal reality of war ... the ideological wars of faith, economic wars of faith (within China and those internationals with vested interests in China e.g. German and Japan) ... and the psychological wars that goes on in the hearts and minds of each and every individual to survive and protect what is important to them ... not just the high level stuff of ideology, morals, ethics etc but the day to day requirements of survival ... food, clothing, shelter, safety and an inbuilt desire to 'thrive' ... how to navigate betrayal and the death of loved ones, how to manage the onslaught of chaos, the overwhelming sense of powerlessness and despair ... in this sense not one character in this series was a gap filler, every single character and NPC was relevant ... they showed that this internal war is one that wages in the hearts and minds of every human being regardless of time, country or ideology ... making this series a truly powerful and profound multi-level drama ... I am blown way.
For all these characters it really was a 'long march' of heart and soul and not just the Long March of the Red Army from Jiangxi
A great sadness for me was how the powers to be (regardless of which ideology they held) used people like Qian Song and Tu Nan to be their tools ... weapons of mass destruction that were manipulated and used by the powers to be so they did not have to get their hands dirtied with the blood, sweat and tears and guts of all the people and children that fell victim to their game play ... such tragedy ... what makes it even worse is that despite hopeful beginnings ... there is not one organisation on this planet that hasn't succumbed to the power hungry who use ideology and systems for their own benefit at the cost of the people it was meant to support.
I was so glad of the ending ... Jin Zhen 'saving' her brother after she had died ... not just with a bullet proof vest but with her 'faith' as well ... (´╥︵╥`) that was so moving. Tu Nan revealing his true faith after he shot Qian Song and pointed the gun at Rou Lai ... (´╥︵╥`) and their final coming together as 'brothers' ... OMG I was in tears.
Just as an FYI (from Wiki pedia) The Long March (referred to in this last episode) was a military retreat by the Red Army from advancing Nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War in 1934 through 1936.
The most famous of these marches was undertaken by the First Red Army under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Departing from their headquarters in the southern province of Jiangxi on 16 October 1934, the 65,000-person First Army marched more than 9,000 kilometres (5,600 mi) in a large clockwise arc through the western frontiers of the country, ultimately meeting with other Communist forces in Yan'an on 19 October 1935. The circuitous route brought the First Army through some of the most difficult terrain in the country while pursued by the Nationalists: at first the NRA under Chiang Kai-Shek, and later by local cliques of Nationalist-aligned warlords. Fewer than 8,000 people traveling with the First Red Army survived the march.
A War of Faith indeed ... well worth watching and definitely worthy of repeat watches ... 100% recommend it.
There have been some very good Cdramas over the years ... from the ones I have watched, this series is at the pinnacle ... the script, the production, the sets, the score and the acting ... better than 10/10 ... it was an absolute 100/10 for me ... from episode 1 right through to episode 38. The story and pacing, the acting and production never dropped ... it just kept getting better and better. Put all together I have never felt for drama characters as much as I felt for the characters in this story ... it was so life like, so replicated the gut wrenching, gritty tragic realities of life lived in chaos. Wang Yibo ... my god ... he blew my mind with his acting ... his acting was a force of nature ... every nuance, every microexpression ... he totally nailed it, TOTALLY.
It has kept me on edge all the way through. The sets and the cinematographic atmosphere really brought the story 'alive' ... I can almost smell the bank and the alley ways ... feel the roughness and smell of the clothing ... the coldness of the water when Wei Ruolei washes his face .... so well acted and produced ... it really gets you into the lives of the characters.
The story is nerve wracking ... the cruelty and sheer struggle to survive ... the 'cheapness' of human life starkly contrasts with the lives and lifestyles of those well-endowed with money and status. I couldn't help but wonder how many people in the world are like Wei Ruolai ... people who have such brilliance and passion ... but who never get to 'bloom' ... they are lost to the 'world' because they got trampled under the heavy feet of ideology, status and money.
I was deeply moved by the rawness of the environmental and personal reality of war ... the ideological wars of faith, economic wars of faith (within China and those internationals with vested interests in China e.g. German and Japan) ... and the psychological wars that goes on in the hearts and minds of each and every individual to survive and protect what is important to them ... not just the high level stuff of ideology, morals, ethics etc but the day to day requirements of survival ... food, clothing, shelter, safety and an inbuilt desire to 'thrive' ... how to navigate betrayal and the death of loved ones, how to manage the onslaught of chaos, the overwhelming sense of powerlessness and despair ... in this sense not one character in this series was a gap filler, every single character and NPC was relevant ... they showed that this internal war is one that wages in the hearts and minds of every human being regardless of time, country or ideology ... making this series a truly powerful and profound multi-level drama ... I am blown way.
For all these characters it really was a 'long march' of heart and soul and not just the Long March of the Red Army from Jiangxi
A great sadness for me was how the powers to be (regardless of which ideology they held) used people like Qian Song and Tu Nan to be their tools ... weapons of mass destruction that were manipulated and used by the powers to be so they did not have to get their hands dirtied with the blood, sweat and tears and guts of all the people and children that fell victim to their game play ... such tragedy ... what makes it even worse is that despite hopeful beginnings ... there is not one organisation on this planet that hasn't succumbed to the power hungry who use ideology and systems for their own benefit at the cost of the people it was meant to support.
I was so glad of the ending ... Jin Zhen 'saving' her brother after she had died ... not just with a bullet proof vest but with her 'faith' as well ... (´╥︵╥`) that was so moving. Tu Nan revealing his true faith after he shot Qian Song and pointed the gun at Rou Lai ... (´╥︵╥`) and their final coming together as 'brothers' ... OMG I was in tears.
Just as an FYI (from Wiki pedia) The Long March (referred to in this last episode) was a military retreat by the Red Army from advancing Nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War in 1934 through 1936.
The most famous of these marches was undertaken by the First Red Army under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Departing from their headquarters in the southern province of Jiangxi on 16 October 1934, the 65,000-person First Army marched more than 9,000 kilometres (5,600 mi) in a large clockwise arc through the western frontiers of the country, ultimately meeting with other Communist forces in Yan'an on 19 October 1935. The circuitous route brought the First Army through some of the most difficult terrain in the country while pursued by the Nationalists: at first the NRA under Chiang Kai-Shek, and later by local cliques of Nationalist-aligned warlords. Fewer than 8,000 people traveling with the First Red Army survived the march.
A War of Faith indeed ... well worth watching and definitely worthy of repeat watches ... 100% recommend it.
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