One and Eight

One and Eight is a landmark Chinese film from 1983. The film tells the story of eight criminals and a deserting Chinese officer in the communist Eighth Route Army caught in the midst of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Directed by Zhang Junzhao, One and Eight also features cinematography by the soon-to-be-acclaimed Zhang Yimou and stars Chen Daoming. It is based on an epic poem by Guo Xiaochuan.

One and Eight
Traditional Chinese	一個和八個
Simplified Chinese	一个和八个
Hanyu Pinyin	Yīge hé bāge
Directed by	Zhang Junzhao
Written by	Wang Jicheng Zhang Ziliang Guo Xiaochuan (poem)
Starring	Tao Zeru Chen Daoming Lu Xiaoyan
Cinematography	Zhang Yimou Xiao Feng
Production company	Guangxi Film Studio
Running time	90 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin

Significance

One and Eight constituted an early collaboration between the graduates of the 1982 class of the Beijing Film Academy, notably classmates Zhang Junzhao and Zhang Yimou. Both Zhang Yimou and Zhang Junzhao were members of the "Fifth Generation", or the first major group of filmmakers to graduate after the end of the Cultural Revolution. As such, One and Eight is often considered one of the first films to move towards the more artistic and experimental mentality that is the hallmark of Chinese cinema of the 1980s.^[1][2]

In particular, the film's focus on humanism and personal conflicts signaled a paradigm shift away from the propagandistic films of the Cultural Revolution.^[3][4]