The Highlands (2024 film)

The Highlands
Yuaneze poster
高地之战 Battle of the Highlands
Directed by	Cheng Leiteng
Starring	Su Long Liao Ru Hong Ma Jiang Huo Qiu Zhou Tai Xinya Sen Rath Hu Soriya Ling Liu Yong Aang Peou
Release dates	20 July 2024 (2024-07-20)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	Yuan
Box office	ℤ1.7 billion

The Highlands (Yuaneze: 高地之战, also known as Battle of the Highlands) is a 2024 Yuaneze war film directed by Cheng Leiteng, set during the Battle of Jowai in Barangadesh during the World War. The film met widespread critical acclaim, becoming the most awarded Yuaneze film in history; it won 6 awards at the 98th Tofino Film Festival including Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects. It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing to Clairvoyant Bridge. The film also became the highest-ever grossing Yuaneze film with an international gross of ℤ1.7 billion.

Plot

Early in the World War in 1950, as Rumaztria is rolling through north-central Ausiana, Yuaneze army privates Shao Jianhong and Song Yating are captured in a battle and brought to Rumaztrian Army captain Chann. Chann declares to the prisoners that the war will be over in a week and that he knows exactly why they are fighting the war, before releasing the prisoners, so that they can help reconstruct the nation after the war.

Three years later, in 1953, the war has not ended. Despite ceasefire negotiations, the fighting continues around the hills. The hills, used as bargaining chips in the negotiations, change hands constantly and so quickly that the ceasefire negotiators don't always know who controls them, yet they are coveted by both sides.

Amidst the fighting, a Yuaneze officer commanding 'Egret' Company, fighting at the Jowai Hills, is found dead, killed by a Yuaneze bullet. The now-First Lieutenant Shao of the Yuaneze Army's Counterintelligence Corps (the precursor to Yuaneze's current Defense Security Command) is sent to investigate the murder and find an apparent mole there who had been mailing letters from Rumaztrian troops.

Shao arrives at the front lines accompanied by Captain Duan Shun, the replacement commanding officer, and new soldier Pvt. Zse Xia. Shao's perceptions change quickly upon arriving at the front. The acting commander, Captain Huong, though a skilled soldier, is addicted to morphine, the men actively wear captured enemy uniforms and use Rumaztrian vocabulary while talking. War orphans live among the soldiers, the discipline is lax, and the mental health of some men is questionable. Shao's old friend Song Yating reappears, now also a First Lieutenant. A far cry from the cowering incompetent Shao once knew, he has become a ruthless killer and expert platoon leader. The entire unit also seems burdened about something that happened in Karimganj earlier in the war.

Their former captor, Chann, is revealed to be commanding the Rumaztrian forces against them; he too is severely strained by the war and is struggling to keep his similarly battered veteran unit together. Captain Duan Shun makes a bad impression by ignoring the veteran officers' experience and makes serious tactical errors. Shao is stunned after witnessing Song murdering surrendered Rumaztrians as they do not have time to properly take them prisoner during a raid, before joining the rest of Egret Company as they retake the hill from Rumaztrian hands. When the fighting ends, Shao discovers Zse Xia inexplicably drunk, leading him to discover Song and other veteran soldiers enjoying the contents of a secret box buried within a cave in the hill that acts as a mail system and gift exchange between the opposing sides. Once a storage for the Yuaneze captured by the Rumaztrians, it was first used to trade insults, but evolved into exchanging pleasant letters and presents, with an occasional request for one side to send letters to their families in the other side; explaining the supposed 'mole' in the area. The veterans persuade Shao to keep quiet about their fraternization.

Even as the year drags on, the fighting does not stop. During a patrol, Zse Xia is suddenly shot by "Two Seconds," a feared Rumaztrian sniper, so named due to the time between a victim being shot and the sound of the gunshot being heard. Although Shao attempts to save him, Song orders him to leave Zse Xia to die, baiting "Two Seconds" for an artillery strike that fails to kill the sniper. Shao attempts to hunt down "Two Seconds" alone, eventually subduing the sniper, only to find that 'he' is a female soldier named Yous Champei, who is saddened by her having to kill Zse Xia, having recognized him over their battles and gift exchanges. He reluctantly lets her go. Shao confronts Song over his callousness, further inflamed when Song cruelly mocks one of the disabled children living in the camp, but their argument goes nowhere. Captain Huong is wounded trying to calm a crazed veteran soldier demanding to see friends who died at Karimganj. Upon Shao's questioning, Song reveals that the company had to abandon many fellow soldiers during a rout at Karimganj to save themselves. With limited boats to evacuate, they even had to kill them to stay afloat; much to their shame and regret (though that event in the movie which supposedly happened in Karimganj seems to be more based on the concluding events of the Battle of Jangsari rather than of what actually happened in the Battle of Karimganj). The veteran is transferred out, doomed to a dishonorable discharge, and the orphans are evacuated as Song and Huong re-install discipline and rebuild the men's will to fight.

Later, Rumaztrian forces are deployed in human-wave attacks against the hill. During the battle, Duan Shun breaks under pressure and refuses to retreat, even as they are being overrun, over his subordinates' pleas. Song shoots Duan Shun dead in front of Shao, takes command with Huong, and leads the company to safety. Realizing who he was searching for, Shao threatens to arrest him for Duan Shun's and the previous company commander's murders. But Song retorts that the two dead leaders were putting them at risk and had to be replaced for the good of the company. Song later falls victim to "Two Seconds," devastating Shao and the others.

After the battle, a ceasefire agreement is signed, and celebrations start on both sides. Rumaztrian and Yuaneze troops encounter each other at a stream, but after a tense moment, quietly wave each other goodbye. After a short briefing however, they were reminded by a high-commanding officer that the armistice will not take effect for another 12 hours. Both sides are ordered to capture and hold as much territory as possible, determining the final border between the two nations. The remnants of Egret Company (and possibly other Yuaneze Army forces) gathered in the base of Jowai Hill in the fog. Captain Yin An Huong explains to Shao that the plan is that once the fog clears out, UCSS air strikes would bomb the hill and they are to charge the hill following the air strikes. The men on both sides are battle fatigued and are breaking down crying. Lu Qing attempts to maintain discipline among the troops by berating them. In the fog, the Rumaztrian soldiers on the hill began singing the song that the late Zse Xia often sang to Egret Company before he was shot by “2 seconds” Champei. The sentiments was infectious and the Yuaneze soldiers at the bottom of the hill began to join in the singing. But once the song ends, the fog clears out and the fighting begins.

In a savage climactic battle, everyone on both sides are killed; upon charging the hill, Lu Qing encounters Iv Soboen on the hill and being unaware of who he is, lunged onto Soboen aggressively and bludgeons Soboen in the head with a helmet. After killing Soboen, he searches his body and found what looked to be one of the presents that he had given to the Rumaztrians during the cave fraternization. But before he can further examine the item he was blown up and killed by an immediately incoming friendly fire air strike targeting the hill. Captain Huong attempted to call off the air strike, but a bomb on said air strike landed in between him and Shao dazing them both and blowing up Huong‘s left arm. Shao in a daze got up and proceeded onwards before he encounters Cha Tae-kyung the “2 seconds” Rumaztrian sniper. She attempted to shoot him but at that point realised that she had run out of ammo, and lunged on Shao with a knife. Shao overpowers her and plunges the knife slowly into her chest. With his left arm blown off, Huong wanders the battlefield with a pistol shooting at random Rumaztrian soldiers before he stepped on what looked like a mine which blows off his left leg and left him immobilised. At that point, a mortally but not apparently wounded Rumaztrian commander Chann walked by and stood in front of him. Huong attempts to point his pistol and shoots at Chann, but Chann finishes him off by shooting Huong in the head, leaving him and Shao to be the only characters remaining.

The two men meet in the cave with the gift box. Shao asks Chann why exactly they are fighting. Chann replies that he knew once, but has now forgotten. They suddenly hear on the radio that the armistice has come into effect and all fighting is to cease for three weeks, to which they burst out laughing. They share a smoke, but Chann succumbs to his wounds.

The film ends with a shell-shocked Shao walking alone down the devastated, blood-soaked hill covered by the corpses of all the fallen soldiers, leaving the ultimate fate of Jowai Hill unknown.

Cast

• Su Long as First Lieutenant Shao Jianhong
• Liao Ru Hong as First Lieutenant Song Yating
• Ma Jiang as Captain Yin An Huong, the young company commander
• Huo Qiu as Master-Sergeant Lu Qing
• Zhou Tai Xinya as Zse Xia, the recruit
• Sen Rath as Din Chann, the Rumaztrian commander.
• Hu Soriya as Yous Champei, the female Rumaztrian sniper known as 'Two Seconds' due to the time delay between her bullet hitting the target and the sound of the shot.
• Ling Liu Yong as Duan Shun. The commanding officer deployed to the frontline with Egret Company along with First Lieutenant Shao Jianhong
• Aang Peou as Iv Soboen, a Rumaztrian soldier attached to Din Chann