welcome back to movie recaps today i
will show you a drama war film from 2020
titled the 800.
spoilers ahead watch out and take care
in 1937 china is in the middle of the
second sino-japanese war a group of
soldiers has been given the mission of
protecting the international settlement
of shanghai but to reach the city they
first need to cross the countryside when
they finally reach their destination
they first come across the destroyed and
abandoned side of town so the group
begins discussing how to proceed as
young xiaohube tells his uncle that his
brother is gone his brother is dwan wu
who has gone exploring to see what's
going on he discovers there are japanese
soldiers in the area and these soldiers
see him in return so they charge after
him and find the rest of the chinese
troops dwan wu grabs his brother and his
uncle so they can hide together and
escape by sneaking around through the
ruins of buildings while their group is
killed
when night falls they reach the nicer
still-inhabited part of shanghai only to
find the nra shooting fellow chinese
soldiers for being deserters afraid of
being labeled deserters as well they
look for another group to join in order
to cross safely and eventually they find
a machine gun company they can join
these soldiers are deserters as well but
at least they are being taken to a
shanghai warehouse where they're needed
instead of executed this is the seahang
warehouse the last standing stronghold
between shanghai and the japanese army
commander zhu zheng zhang isn't happy to
have deserters working with him and
wants to kill them but lieutenant
colonel shie jinyuan tells him they're
going to need all the help they can get
so he sends the new arrivals to work
outside on the fortifications dwan woo
takes the chance to talk to the colonel
and clarify he and his family aren't
deserters just part of the troops sent
by the wompy headquarters that got left
behind but genuine sends them to work
anyway
while the group is working outside one
of the soldiers sounds the alarm but
it's nothing to worry about it isn't the
japanese that are coming just a group of
chinese refugees heading for the
international shanghai settlement juan
wu's uncle sneaks out of the warehouse
to join them and try to enter the safety
of the settlement but at the gates he
isn't allowed to enter because he is
wearing an army uniform and soldiers are
not authorized to be there back in the
warehouse the soldiers enjoy the
beautiful singing from a woman in a
building across the river while who
babyfriends the only other boy his age
in the group called xiaoquai ua
on the roof of the warehouse kway shows
obey the stark difference between the
worlds at the front and the back of the
building meanwhile a group of soldiers
finds a hole in the wall hidden behind a
bunch of boxes when they go through it
they are surprised to find a stable with
a white horse still in it as soon as
they open the stall door though the
horse gets spooked and runs out but
thankfully kwa whistles at the horse and
calms it down before it gets shot the
next day worry takes over the civilians
in the streets when they suddenly hear
explosions and notice the japanese have
taken over yet another building waving
their flags as a sign of victory
thinking the warehouse is low in defense
next the japanese try to take over it as
well but it is all a trap the chinese
army has been hiding to ambush them and
manages to quickly defeat them thanks to
the element of surprise juan wu's group
is still seen as deserters though so
they are not allowed to fight
they wait in a locked room and are only
let out when the battle is over
one of them tries to run away but he's
immediately shot for trying to desert
again juan wu joins the soldiers in
clearing and looting the bodies although
he doesn't dare to kill any enemy that
is still alive like the others do
however there still are japanese troops
outside the warehouse and they retaliate
by throwing gas bombs through the
windows
all soldiers run to find cover grabbing
towels to pee on them and cover their
faces to protect themselves from the gas
fear and worry make it impossible for
dwan wu to relieve himself but
thankfully another officer lends him his
mask
the gas begins to leak out of the
building and reaches the settlement
causing civilians to panic and push each
other in the streets while trying to
enter any building which proves
difficult because owners are locking the
doors
at the warehouse the soldiers are
starting to successfully remove the gas
but dwan wu accidentally gets pushed
over and he falls into an underground
canal he didn't know about he decides to
explore around a little and that's how
he discovers there's an entrance that
can easily be used to sneak in and out
of the warehouse in the meantime mr
fangzingwin a chinese journalist
approaches the japanese army to sell
them all the information he has about
the warehouse troops this is well
received by japanese colonel konoe isao
who immediately begins planning a new
attack
back in the warehouse the soldiers have
opened the doors to take out all the
bodies which allows the horse to escape
and run through the streets the
civilians see it and follow the animals
escape taking it as a good sign
this provides a good distraction from
the cruelty happening at the building
the japanese took over they have
captured chinese soldiers and are now
displaying their bodies on poles as they
demand the warehouse troops to surrender
juan wu is devastated to find out one of
those bodies is his uncle but he doesn't
have time to grieve because his group is
gathered to kill the few japanese
prisoners they have as an answer to the
taunting the deserters don't want to do
this thinking it is going too far but
commander xinjiang shoots one of them
and threatens to do the same to the
others if they don't follow orders
the soldiers begin shooting the
prisoners yet even under threat duan who
can't bring himself to do it to save him
from getting killed one of his superiors
grabs juan wu and reminds him the
japanese killed his uncle so an angry
dwan wu finally pulls the trigger
later when night falls kwa shares a
special snack with hubei while dwan who
tries to convince his superiors to let
him and his brother go because they are
just farmers that weren't made for this
since his request is rejected dwan woo
decides to return to the underground
canal to see if he can escape two other
deserters find him and join him but on
their way out they find japanese troops
sneaking in through the same tunnel the
trio hides underwater against the wall
and waits for the japanese to pass by
but they hold their breath for so long
that they lose one of their friends juan
wu and his remaining friend rush toward
the exit and are seen by civilians so
they pretend they aren't escaping and
instead warn everyone about the japanese
army attacking the police turn their
lights at the warehouse while the
civilians raise an alarm and such
warning is a godsend the chinese army
wakes up and immediately raises their
defenses earning them a victory with
only a few losses
outside the civilians praised juan wu
and his companion for being heroes even
inspiring three young schoolboys to join
the troops
but when they go back inside they are
still scolded by colonel genuan who
suspects what they were actually trying
to do when getting into the tunnels
as punishment they are set out to fix
their defenses the next day civilians
once again begin panicking when they
notice bigger japanese troops are
approaching
mr fang takes advantage of his intel to
take bets on the results of the incoming
battle from foreigners although he
doesn't gamble himself
a few hours later the japanese finally
come close enough to attack and the
warehouse troops are soon so overwhelmed
that the deserters including the
brothers and the schoolboys are given
weapons in order to fight the battle is
brutal and both sides are losing men at
an alarming rate so hubei is doing his
best to sneak around and survive
however when he peeks out a window and
notices the white horse running by he
can't help telling kway about it this
causes kwa yue to try to look at the
horse too but as soon as his head sticks
out he gets shot by the enemy while the
chinese army is smaller in numbers they
know their strategy well and make use of
various plans to defend their city they
make holes in the wall to shoot out
grenades use mirrors to follow the
enemy's movements and when they have no
other choice the soldiers strap
explosives to their bodies and charge
toward the japanese to blow up a good
amount of their troops
civilians across the river are moved by
these sacrifices and decide to help so
they send a group of volunteers hiding
under a nazi flag to deliver supplies a
japanese sniper kills a few of them
making them lose the phone line so
another civilian man sacrifices himself
to run across the bridge and roll the
wire over as he is shot down
now the warehouse can communicate with
the city and when they are asked how
many soldiers are left colonel genuan
decides he wants to give people hope so
he responds 800 instead of the real 452.
one of the civilians that came over
under the flag is mr fang who begins
filming and taking pictures of the
soldiers dwan wu's friend steals mr
fang's coat to try to escape because he
is scared and wants to see his wife but
dwan who stops him almost shooting him
too and only deciding not to do so when
he sees him ask for mercy meanwhile
hubei is grieving the loss of kwa so
commander xinjiang offers him a drink
hubei ends up grabbing the whole bottle
while he watches the city lights
there is a donation collection happening
in the streets and every civilian is
eager to collaborate after seeing the
sacrifices in battle not to risk another
incident like the bridge this time they
slingshot the supplies reaching the
soldiers through the windows of the
warehouse the casino owner surprises
everyone by donating a flag and a young
girl crosses the river by swimming to
take the flag to the troops juan wu sees
her and tosses a rope through the window
to help her get inside which causes a
hidden sniper to shoot at him but at
least the bullet only grazes the neck
and now hubei thinks of him as a hero
afterward colonel genuine informs his
troops that the generalissimo wants them
to defend the warehouse for two more
days to gain worldwide attention however
this could possibly mean they shouldn't
raise the donated flag because it would
taunt the enemy provoking them to fight
harder while they lack the men to
counter-attack
a huge argument begins among the
soldiers and while the answers are mixed
the majority votes for one conclusion
they shall raise the flag anyway the
next morning the deserters are tasked to
raise the flag on the roof of the
warehouse which earns them the cheer of
the civilians the japanese army wastes
no time in attacking and their fighter
planes concentrate on specifically
targeting the flag while the chinese
troops are losing many men by the second
they still hold on to the flag to keep
it up so the japanese turn to attack the
civilians too because there are
foreigners there they receive a message
saying this may be seen as an act of war
by the other nations
the flag eventually falls and while the
chinese decide to stop attacking to
avoid unnecessary sacrifices they still
raise the flag again
fortunately the japanese begin to
retreat when they receive objections
from the british so dwan will begin
celebrating their victory before he
realizes he has been shot with his last
breath he asks mr fang to take a picture
of him for his brother
later while hubei is once again watching
the city and grieving another loss the
white horse shows up and allows him to
petted his comfort
that night colonel genuan reenacts an
old chinese tale of war with a map and a
puppet to remind his troops of the
importance of what they're protecting
the following day the british put a red
cross flag outside the settlement to
mark it as a safe zone
colonel isao comes over in a black horse
to talk so colonel genuan meets him by
riding the white horse it turns out isao
will be replaced by another colonel soon
and he knows the chinese will receive
orders to retreat
so for the sake of their honor and to be
seen less as a failure he requests one
last battle
colonel genuan accepts and rushes back
to the warehouse to get the troops ready
hiding under an english flag the
commissioner comes over to give an order
to retreat to the settlement at midnight
this is not accepted by colonel genuan
who thinks that if they continue to
fight they may inspire the international
community to help
sadly the commissioner already knows
nobody is coming after the nra fell the
rest of the world lost interest in their
conflict the higher-ups have decided is
better to accept the loss it may be not
honorable but the country has suffered
enough
this upsets colonel genuan who thinks
these orders make all their sacrifices
lose their meaning
when night falls the searchlights are
turned off so that the soldiers can
retreat through the bridge but a small
group will have to stay behind to
provide cover mr fang takes pictures and
letters from this group promising to
take them home to their families while
the civilians flood the streets to watch
the soldiers cross the bridge who bay
decides to stay behind as one of the
defenders the japanese soon turn on
their own searchlights firing a flare to
light up the area and make it easier for
them to attack the soldiers on the
bridge the group of volunteers leaves
the warehouse to approach the japanese
camp in an attempt to slow them down but
they quickly get shot
civilians try to help as well be by
reaching out with medical supplies or
shooting with their own weapons from the
balconies of their homes
little by little most of the chinese
troops are killed including colonel
genuan so only a handful of men make it
to the settlement where the civilians
are reaching out to them through the
gates in modern-day shanghai the white
horse emerges from the ruins of the
warehouse
these ruins are still up as a memory of
the sacrifice that allowed china to be
the main battleground for the
anti-fascist war in the orient
the chinese army accounts for 70 of
japanese casualties in the second world
war
make sure to subscribe and turn on
notifications so you can watch more
videos like this thanks for watching