"When a ship sinks to the ocean floor, when a person becomes a mystery." This line from the theme song of the film "Continent" conceals a devastating true story that unfolded over 80 years ago. But this story centers not on a single "person", but on 828 of them.
In late December 1941, Japanese forces occupied Hong Kong, capturing thousands of British soldiers. By the end of September 1942, the Lisbon Maru, carrying 1,834 British prisoners of war (POWs), departed from Hong Kong bound for Japan. As it navigated near Dongji Island in Zhejiang Province, the ship, armed with cannons and without any identification as a POW transport, was struck by a torpedo fired from the American submarine "Grouper". As a result, the Lisbon Maru sank in early October.
In the 25 hours between the torpedo strike and the ship's sinking, the Japanese military confined the British POWs in the lower decks, sealing the hatches with wooden planks and canvas. The prisoners fought desperately for their lives, breaking out of the holds in a bid to escape. In a remarkable act of bravery, fishermen from Zhoushan, Zhejiang, ventured into the tumultuous waters, risking their lives to rescue 384 British soldiers and providing them with food, clothing, and shelter. Tragically, however, 828 prisoners drowned, were shot or died trapped inside the vessel during this catastrophe.
Fang Li, the producer of "Continent", had experience in shipwreck salvage before entering the film industry. In 2014, after he learned about the story of Lisbon Maru's sinking while on Dongji Island, he pinpointed the current location of the Lisbon Maru with the aid of a marine technology team. Over the subsequent years, he utilized the sonar footage of the wreck to visit every survivor, victims' families, and even the descendants of the American and Japanese personnel responsible for the incident. The tragic story of the sinking, along with the ongoing sorrow haunting hundreds of families for over 80 years, was brought to light through the documentary "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru".
Fang Li noted that the tale of the Lisbon Maru is far more tragic than that of the Titanic. The Titanic disaster stemmed from a natural calamity compounded by human error, while the sinking of the Lisbon Maru was a consequence of atrocities. The development of the event is dramatic. A Japanese armed transport carrying numerous British soldiers was struck by an American torpedo, while Chinese fishermen braved gunfire to save those lives. The blend of brutality and heroism in this story is truly beyond any screenwriter's imagination.
Since its release on September 6th, the film has achieved an impressive rating of 9.2 on Douban, a content-sharing platform, with viewers commenting, "I shed a liter of tears in the cinema," "The truth carries immense weight," and "One of the most emotionally impactful films in recent years."
