Back To 1942 From Well Go U.S.A. On May 14

On May 14, Well Go U.S.A. will deliver DVD and Blu-ray editions of director Feng Xiaogang’s epic World War II fable of power-held and power-lost, Back to 1942.   

 
The ARR is 165 days and the domestic take for the film’s major metro run was $311,952 (a descent number for a foreign language import).   The Blu-ray and DVD launch by Well Go U.S.A. give audiences that were not near selected cinema showcases a chance to catch this magnificently mounted film presentation (product values that match any Hollywood-produced A-list film).

It’s 1942, the world is at war … the Japanese are on the march and the Americans and English are in full retreat all across Asia.   China is being torn to shreds.

It is here, in this chaos, that we are introduced to Master Fan (Zhang Guoli — The Founding of a Republic, A Sign), a regional war lord in the Henan area.   Despite the Japanese invasion and a disastrous famine, he and his underlings continue to live reasonably comfortable lives.   All of this changes when a band of wartime scavengers attack and burn their village — his son is killed and the rest of his family, along with the survivors, are force to flee.  

On the road, he teams up with a fellow villager (Feng Yuanzheng) and his family, but soon their little band is beset by both the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and those of the advancing Japanese army.  It is literally a hell for them on earth as one by one they succumb to the terrors of the day.

Politics, death, treachery and even the word/wrath of God are all faced by Fan as he struggles first to escape his tormentors and then just to survive starvation.   The horrors of war are seen, ultimately, through the eyes and experiences of a single individual.

Also on the docket from Well Go U.S.A. in May are the May 7 DVD and Blu-ray release of The Assassin’s Blade (in Cantonese with English subtitles) and the May 21 Blu-ray and DVD launch of Nightfall (also in Cantonese with English subtitles).

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report