Starring: Zhu Yilong, Huang Zhizhong, Chen Shu, Jiao Junyan Director: Li Jun

SURPASSING “Free Guy” to move to the top of the Chinese box office at its opening last weekend, “Cloudy Mountain” is a Chinese disaster movie directed by Li Jun. The effects-heavy film grossed US$19.1 million over its three-day opening.

With major scenes shot in Guizhou Province’s Shuanghe Cave, the longest of its kind in Asia, “Cloudy Mountain” teams up actors Huang Zhizhong and Zhu Yilong and casts them respectively as a father, who is also a former soldier specialized in constructing railways, and son, a geological engineer.

Set in a fictional town, the nerve-wracking story follows a series of natural disasters taking place after a severe ground collapse, which pulls the father and several bus passengers into an underground cave.

In order to rescue his father and other people, the son enters the cave but the rescue mission becomes more dangerous after weather monitors discover that an upcoming mountain collapse will create an unprecedented catastrophe, threatening the lives of the 160,000 locals in the town.

To attain their goal of presenting the truest disaster relief story, the crew trekked deep into the Shuanghe Cave, which is as long as 240 kilometers, to take some of the most visually arresting scenes. A real-life tunnel replica was also built for the film.

Due to the steep terrain and traffic congestion, it usually took the crew an hour and a half to walk to the shooting site. When encountering narrow places, they needed to bend down and crawl through, not to mention the difficulty of transporting photographic equipment while trekking through mountains and rivers.

For interpreting the ordinary people-turned heroes who brave natural disasters, the crew members had to break their physical and mental limits. During the shooting, the most challenging part was a rock climbing scene. For nearly a month, Zhu and Huang needed to hang on a cliff and soak in the rain for shooting the scene. Huang said frankly that it was “the most challenging task since he entered the industry.”

With veteran Li serving as the director, the film, penned by Sha Song and Li, also includes actresses Chen Shu and Jiao Junyan in its cast, who also overcame enormous shooting difficulties. When Chen, acting as Ding Yajun, the general manager of an engineering department, went to look for Hong Yizhou (Zhu Yilong), she needed to hang upside down outside a helicopter in an extreme weather condition with strong wind and heavy rain. Jiao, who acted as a radar technician called Lu Xiaojin, had to climb the canyon with a heavy load when filming the scene of rescuing children trapped in the mountains.

Before the shooting, the crew members spent a lot of time reading background materials, going to museums for more knowledge of infrastructure history, visiting construction sites and talking to construction workers, according to director Li. The clothing and safety helmets they wear in the film, with mud and scratches on them, are from real construction workers, he said.

Li said he once had an opportunity to learn the history and stories of China’s railway engineering corps and was deeply touched. He had hoped to create a film about the railway corps ever since then, he said.

“I hope I can reveal to the world Chinese people’s life attitudes and courage when facing natural disasters through a different perspective,” he said. (SD News)