Art imitates life. Many films draw inspiration from real life. These films succeed because their stories resonate with viewers, who get moved by their details. Listed below are some Chinese films that showcase the world that has achieved great success at the box office:
1. The Bravest
A group of firefighters puts their life in danger to save people in the vicinity after a chemical plant explodes, causing a series of fires. This movie is an adaptation of a Bao'erji's book, featuring an anthology of firefighters who joined the battle to put out the fire by an explosion in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province.
2. Operation Red Sea
An eight-member team from the Chinese Navy's special force launches a hostage rescue operation. Meanwhile, the team foiled a terrorist plot to obtain nuclear materials. This film is on the evacuation plan of Chinese and foreign national citizens during Yemen's civil war in 2015.
3. The Chinese Pilot (2019)
The windshield of a commercial airplane shatters at 30,000 feet in the air, so the pilot and flight crew work to ensure the safety of the passengers and land the plane. The film is about a real-life incident of a flight in Sichuan Airlines Flight 3U8633, which successfully dealt with danger on 14 May 2018.
4. The Shadow Play
A naive rookie cop witnesses the death of the Chief of Construction Committee. He begins to investigate but gets dismissed from his job and pursued by unknown enemies. He escapes to Hong Kong and meets the daughter of the victim. He continues to seek the truth.
5. Up The Yangtze (2007)
The story revolves around two teenage kids. One 16-year-old girl leaves her family to work as a hostess on a cruise ship while her family gets forced to leave the village due to flooding from dam construction. The other is a 19-year-old boy from a more prosperous family who tries to earn cash on the ship as a singer and porter. The film focuses on people affected by the dam across the Yangtze river in Hubei, China.
6. Dying To Survive
This story tells how a small drugstore owner became an exclusive selling agent for cheap generic drugs from India to China to fight against Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia. This film is an adaptation of the real-life story of Lu Yong, who imported cheap anticancer drugs for himself and other patients.
7. Operation Mekong
This movie got inspired by a real-life event known as Mekong Massacre in 2011. The Chinese government prepares a group of elite narcotics officers to investigate a merchant vessel that got attacked by bandits, causing the death of 13 people.
8. Dearest
The movie is based on a true story, on kidnapping in China in 2008. The plot centered around a divorced couple living in Shenzhen, a southern Chinese city, and dealing with the sudden disappearance of their son.
9. Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (2004)
Kekexili is a moving story about a group of volunteers protecting antelope against poachers in the mountains of Tibet. The film got inspired by a real-life volunteer group, Wild Yak Brigade, that patrolled the Tibetan Plateau during the 1990s.
10. Behemoth
Behemoth is about the environmental, public, and sociological health effects of coal mining in China. This documentary is known for its surreal cinematography and poignant imagery, based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.