China selected The sinking of the Lisbon Marua documentary on the Second World War by director Fang Li, as its representative at the 97th Academy Awards in the best international feature film category. The choice marks the first time since China began submitting titles to the Oscars in 1979 that it has submitted a documentary, but the choice also continues China's trend of choosing films that stir nationalistic feelings at home.
The film, which was the opening film of the Shanghai International Film Festival in June, revives a relatively dark episode from 1942 during World War II, when an unmarked Japanese troop carrier, the Lisbon Maru, was torpedoed by the navy American. At the time the ship was being used to transport prisoners of war and over 800 British soldiers died as the ship sank, either from drowning or from Japanese gunfire. Nearly 380 other British POWs were rescued by nearby Chinese fishermen, who risked their lives to rescue and protect the prisoners from Japanese forces. The film finds its emotional core in the courage and sacrifices of these ordinary Chinese heroes.
Feng, the film's director and producer, traveled extensively to reconstruct the story of the ship's sinking and the experiences of the survivors. The director, who has a long career in Chinese industry and also has experience as an ocean surveyor, told Chinese media that he had traveled across China, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States and Canada, tracking down prisoners of war survivors or their family members. families. He also worked to uncover what is believed to be the real shipwreck of the Lisbon Maru, documenting the process on film. Feng said he interviewed more than 130 descendants and collected tens of thousands of historical photos to enrich the film's story. Other voices in the film include the only known living Chinese fisherman who participated in the rescue, as well as the first historian to conduct extensive research on the episode.
The shipwreck of Lisbon Maru became a word-of-mouth hit in China after its release on September 6. It has an impressively high user rating of 9.3 on movie site Douban and 9.6 on ticketing app Maoyan. According to Maoyan, the film grossed about $5 million in Chinese theaters – an unusually strong performance for a documentary in the country.
In the 25 years since China began entering the Oscar race, it has been nominated twice in the best international film category. Zhang Yimou gave his country its first Oscar nomination in 1990 with the romantic tragedy starring Gong Li Ju Douand later repeated the feat with classic Wuxia Hero in 2002. No Chinese film has ever won an Oscar.