BIGGEST -WAR FILM- BITINGS : HISTORY

Making Waves : Biggest war film ever. The Korean flick ousts 'Dunkirk' grossing more than any war film ever.

The Battle of Lake Changjin topped the global box office, putting itself ahead of current hits like No Time To Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

An epic Korean War film made in China has topped the global box office tapping into the country's growing patriotism and prompting viewers to post videos eating frozen potatoes to emulate the hardships endured by soldiers in the conflict, reported Reuters.

The Battle of Lake Changjin, released to coincide with China's October 1 national holiday, had grossed nearly 5 billion yuan [ $779.13 million ] as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Lighthouse, a company from Tracking the box office owned by Alibaba Pictures.

This figure puts it ahead of current global blockbusters, such as th-Chi and the latest 007 film, No Time to Die, and Marvel's Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, according to the film data website, Box Office Mojo, backed by 1MDb.

It also makes it the highest grossing war film in history, beating Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, which grossed $526.9 million.

Released 20 days ago, the three-hour film currently accounts for half of the screenings in Chinese theaters, according to the Lighthouse. The film was made with the support of the central government's propaganda department, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

Starring Wu Jing, who directed and played the title role in Warrior Wolf, alongside 20-year-old rising talent Jackson Yee, the film is another Chinese nationalist blockbuster that depicts Chinese soldiers fighting much-better equipped American troops during the extreme cold of the 1950-53 war.

The conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, so US-led UN forces are technically still at war with North Korea.

The film is the latest in a series of patriotic titles that China has produced in recent years. It has been welcomed by the official media and a former journalist was arrested by the police for suggesting on a social network that the soldiers frozen in the film had been fools.

Co-directed by A-list Chinese filmmakers Chen Kaige, Hark Tsui and Dante Lam, it is also believed to be China's most expensive film ever made, having cost $200 million to produce.

Audiences deeply moved by The Battle of Lake Changin have spontaneously paid tribute to the Chinese People's Volunteers CPVs] who sacrificed their lives during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea [1950-53], Global Times reported.

As per a video on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, students from a middle school based in  Central China's Henan Province experience how Chinese soldiers ate fried flour and frozen potatoes on the battlefield after watching the film.

In a voice choked with tears, one student remarks how they need to cherish their hard-won lives without complaining anymore.

In a similar fashion, a clip of a young woman in Southwest's China's Yunnnan Province eating frozen potatoes has gone viral on social media. The woman makes a lot of effort to bite off just a small piece, which eventually leads to her bursting into tears.

In Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, a cinema screened the film for 88-year-old CPV veteran Li Huawu, who lost his right eye and both hands on the battlefield.

After the film ended, he raised his mutilated right arm, to salute the screen, expressing awe for the moving depiction of history and his respects for his passed comrades, which touched many Chinese.

Dubbing it ''Changjin Lake Effect'' the outlet claims the film has reached all levels of society, ranging from the patriotic individuals to the nationalistic ones and more.

It has become the first film in China to have mobilised the enthusiasm of the audience so extensively and deeply that it has led the world to reexamine that period of time and listen to the voice of China.

The World Students Society thanks the author : News Desk, The Express Tribune.