Today’s Film Review | "We are the First Secretary": A Deep Emotional Notebook
Special feature of 1905 film network The documentary film directed by Ren Jie was shown in the national cinema on December 3, 2021. The film truly recorded the deeds of the first secretary of poverty alleviation in villages all over the country, such as engaging in industry, promoting education, resisting typhoons and ensuring a bumper harvest, and told their vivid experiences of doing practical things for the people.

The "first secretary" refers to the first secretary in the village, who is also the closest person to the people in the fields and countryside. This "first" contains courage, responsibility, responsibility and mission. "We are the First Secretary" tells the touching stories of more than a dozen first secretaries in villages. Since the film was released, word-of-mouth performance has been good, with Cat’s Eye score of 9.4 and Taobao Film score of 9.2. This issue of "Today’s Film Review" invited Ren Jie, the director of this film, to talk about this film with you.

During the preparation of the film, there were more than 1,000 alternate secretaries with touching stories. In the end, Ren Jie selected more than 10 of them to shoot. Some of them led villagers to engage in industry, some set up kindergartens to promote education, some responded to natural disasters such as typhoons, some took care of crops to ensure a bumper harvest, some moved to other places to help the poor, and some even sacrificed their jobs for poverty alleviation … … What considerations did the creator make when choosing the secretary for shooting? Ren Jie mentioned: "We take into account the characteristics of gender and different cultural regions from different regions and time dimensions, and try our best to make the group of the first secretary fuller, so that the written reports seen by ordinary people from the news can be vividly changed back to flesh-and-blood figures, so we still choose in a wider range."

The film begins with the story of Wang Qingluo, a post-80s secretary, who chose to raise sheep to help the poor and lead everyone out of poverty. This angle is chosen as the opening, because Wangqing is the representative of industrial poverty alleviation, and industry is a key to fundamentally solve poverty. This angle is also friendly to the audience and easy to understand the concept conveyed by the film.
Ren Jie believes: "When we went to Tibet, the biggest problem of getting rid of poverty in our village was the industrial problem. In this home, industry is the key to complete the task of getting rid of poverty and fundamentally solve the poverty problem. Because at the time of filming, they were raised by retail investors and it was difficult to form an industry, so the secretary persuaded everyone to turn individual behavior into collective behavior, tide over the difficulties together, and build a new cooperative mechanism together. "

In the film, the story of Hu Xiaoming, the former first secretary of Bozuo Village in Butuo County, Sichuan Province, is impressive. After the secretary’s term of office, out of a sense of responsibility, he resolutely chose to return to his poverty-stricken Daliangshan village to help Secretary Luo Hong. He knows the local situation and has very sincere feelings for the local people. It is also because of him that the first kindergarten has been established in the local area. In addition, he also built a chicken farm and gave eggs to the children. When the children peeled eggshells and ate eggs in front of the camera and naturally smiled on their faces, the audience in front of the screen could feel the greatness of this poverty alleviation cause.

In fact, when interviewing Secretary Hu Xiaoming, the process was not smooth. Hu Xiaoming is willing to show his work, but he is somewhat resistant to showing his inner feelings in front of the camera. His mother was ill in bed and didn’t even recognize him. It is reasonable to say that he should take care of his mother before his deathbed, but he chose to stay here because of his responsibility to Daliangshan. Although he didn’t mention his feelings, the camera also captured his tender side.
Ren Jie said: "I know why these secretaries don’t want us to shoot this. First, they don’t want to cut open the soft side of their hearts. Second, they feel guilty about their families. Third, most importantly, they don’t have the heart of fame and fortune. But for me, it is possible to tell this story well. I need these things. I hope that the audience will not know the data and reports of the first secretary, nor the news communication in the traditional sense. I hope that it is their emotions and flesh-and-blood youthful strength and life. How did they spend these years in the most difficult moments in China? "

In February, 2021, we achieved a comprehensive victory in tackling poverty, and the lens of the film also shifted from tackling poverty to rural revitalization, which is also the next task mentioned by several first secretaries. After watching the film, An Mingtai, secretary of the Youth League Committee of the School of Drama and Film of Communication University of China and the first secretary of Cha ‘ersen Gacha in Horqin Right Front Banner of Xing ‘an League, said: "It really amazes me to have such a screen work to show to the audience. Poverty alleviation is only the first stage. How to make them develop better in the process of rural revitalization is what I need to consider, and this is also the biggest inspiration that the film has given me."

Su De Bi Lige, First Secretary of Wulan Halaga Sumuxin Guolegacha; Han Geng, First Secretary of Shanxi Yangpo Village; Qin Qian, First Secretary of Henan Sunzhuang Village; He Zhengzheng, First Secretary of Yangchun Xinpo Village; Guan Yanping, First Secretary of Zhuhai Basket Doctor; Ranbo, First Secretary of Liuzhou Anning Village; Wen Weihong, Feng Yongcheng, Wang Xinfa, Huang Wenxiu, Wang Qiuting, Yang Zhengqing, Zeng Hongmei and Zeng Yuxiang. … Behind these names are the feelings of not being afraid of difficulties, being the highest in the mountains and the selfless dedication to the people.
"We are the First Secretary" truly records the story that the first secretaries live a happy life for the people and practice construction of the village in an emotional way. What this film conveys is the spirit of courage, responsibility and dedication. These people’s public servants who irrigated the flowers of hope with faith and belief wrote their initial heart and dedication on the land of the countryside, which deserves to be remembered by the people forever.

Director’s Observation of Today’s Film Review
What impressed me most in the documentary film was Hu Shuji, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. I know that place, where there are Xichang and Erhai Lake. But there are more mountains there. As the director said, although the countryside in Tibet is extremely cold, villages can still be seen. And the hinterland of Daliangshan, where slavery was finally eliminated in China, contains many hidden things. After the first term of office, Secretary Hu resolutely went back, hoping that what he had done would change there, help the children there and pay tribute to all the first secretaries in the front line. (Director of Luo Chuhao’s Today’s Film Review)

































