AllMovie

This Chinese war drama is set within the cave-riddled hills and valleys of the Chinese-Vietnamese border. The film was actually made in the mid-eighties, but it was banned because authorities perceived that it showed weakness within the Chinese army. The film opens as a group of front-line soldiers are sheltering themselves in a small cave while the Vietnamese shell them. But for a small portable phone, the soldiers have no contact with their troops. Much of the story focuses on the psychological effects of their confinement in the face of unrelenting bombing. Matters do not improve when the water runs out, and the mice and snakes that inhabit the cave appear.