EVENING BELL

Winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear, EVENING BELL is a powerful drama about human relationships. After Japan's World War II surrender, a five-man Chinese patrol is defusing landmines and burying the dead when they come across a Japanese soldier who is unaware the war is over. He leads them to 32 starving Japanese soldiers holed up in a munitions–filled cave. The Chinese offer them food and try to convince them to lay down their arms and come out. While the Japanese eventually believe that the war has ended, they are nevertheless unwilling to surrender. The tension-filled stand-off between the two groups forms the focus of the film. Shot in striking wide-screen, the stark and brooding images of EVENING BELL carry much of the film's message, while the dialogue is reduced to the barest minimum.