Sacrifice

Sacrifice is a 2010 Chinese historical drama film directed by Chen Kaige. The film is based on the Yuan era play The Orphan of Zhao. The story is set in the Jin state during the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China. The chancellor Zhao Dun and his son, General Zhao Shuo, have a rift with General Tu Angu. Tu secretly murders the duke with poison and pushes the blame to the Zhao family, using that as an excuse to massacre the entire Zhao clan of about 300 people. The only survivor is Zhao Shuo's baby son Zhao Wu, born to the duke's older sister Princess Zhuang. Zhuang pleads with Tu Angu's... subordinate Han Jue to spare her child and commits suicide after entrusting Zhao Wu to the physician Cheng Ying, telling Cheng to bring the child to Gongsun Chujiu, a friend of the Zhao family. When Tu Angu learns that the orphan had escaped, he slashes his sword at Han Jue's face in anger, disfiguring him. Subsequently, Tu issues orders to seal the gates and to gather all newborn babies in the city. The ploy was to identify the Zhao orphan since Tu was counting on those hiding the baby to not hand him over; hence singling out the one baby left in the city to be the Zhao infant.
more