It's a love story, but it's a story that's bigger than love. The frequent use of montage editing in the film makes the time and space jump back and forth between Liz's novel and the real world, which creates a certain obstacle in understanding for first-time viewers. However, the whole film is also full of tension. The first scene of the film is a fierce battle scene - a team of Spanish troops invaded into the depths of the South American rainforest and fell into the trap of the Indian natives. Except for the fearless leader, all the other soldiers escaped. Here, combined with the title of the film (the literal translation is "The Fountain of Youth", which is the legendary Indian's mysterious fountain of immortality), many people will think that this is an adventure film. But—wait a minute, and continue to watch with patience, when the captain was stabbed in the abdomen, and the indigenous priest was about to give him a fatal blow, the scene suddenly switched to another scene that was incompatible with the eight poles. . In this scene, a man—thin, bald, and alone, floats alone in a vast expanse of space. Are you totally alone? No, he was accompanied by a tree, a giant tree on which he lived. We can see him gently strip a little bark from the trunk and put it in his mouth, then look at the golden nebula that is getting closer, and whisper to the tree, "We're almost there, we'll all be fine. ." At this point, I believe that most people will feel as if they have fallen into the fog, not knowing what the movie is trying to express. However, please continue reading patiently. When the figure of a woman in white appears in the camera and repeats the phrase "finish it!" gently but firmly, we enter the backbone of the story with the transition of the camera, and it is also the part that is easiest for us to understand. Tommy, a life scientist, refuses to accompany his wife Liz to see the first snow because of his busy schedule. As the story unfolds, we will find that Tommy is not a man who treats his wife with extreme indifference, on the contrary, he loves his wife like his life. Unfortunately, however, his wife Liz suffered from brain cancer, and the cancer cells are eating Liz's life at an alarming rate. So, Tommy, who didn't want to lose his wife, used all means to compete with death for his wife. He even risked the world to inject an untested chemical into experimental animals with brain cancer - that is Extracted from the bark of a tree found in South America. In order to save his wife's life, Tommy spent all day in the laboratory, working hard to contain the cancer. At this time, Liz was going through the most difficult process in her life-the process of dying. You can imagine how much she longed for her husband to be by her side all the time. However, smart and gentle, she didn't shout and cry for her husband to accompany her. She focused her attention on a book she was creating, and often looked for inspiration under the stars. She only suggested to her husband to read her soon-to-be-finished book when he was free, while her husband, Tommy, was experimenting almost all the time, with no time to pay attention to his wife's book, or to share his wife's thoughts on life and death. comprehension and spiritual sublimation. Until that day, when the experimental animals showed signs of rejuvenation, but the tumor was not affected in the slightest, he hugged his sleeping wife and whispered in her ear: "You will be safe." Later, he himself was extremely depressed. Sobbing aloud, at this time, he saw his wife's book. So, he finally opened the book. At this time, the camera moved to Spain, and we took a closer look, and then realized that this was the antecedent of the scene at the beginning of the film. It turned out that Liz's book was a book that bridged the political and religious struggles of Spain and Mayan mythology, and the book implied Liz's realization of immortality and death. However, Liz eventually died a chapter short of writing. When she realized that she was dying soon, she gave Tommy the pen and manuscript, and asked him to complete her posthumous work. Perhaps, the figure of Liz seen by the man in levitating and space at the beginning of the film and the phrase "Finish it!" can be understood as the figure of Tommy's wife that keeps appearing in his mind as he reads and sound.
It can be said that Tommy and Liz are two completely different people. Tommy resists death and hates death. He declares: "Death is also a disease, and we must cure it!" And Liz, not without fear of death, however, in the end, she has insight into death with a sincere and pious heart The mystery of connecting with new students, and she had always hoped Tommy would understand it too. It's a pity that Tommy, who was so obsessed with life and death, didn't understand when she closed her eyes. He hated death, and he gnashed his teeth unforgettable, because it took Liz's life when the experiment had been successful. So his heart sank when he read Liz's book in which the tree of life suspended in space begins to wither after the Indian priest strikes a fatal blow on the Spanish conquistador, and everything points to death. Going down, he thought desperately about Liz's death, so he covered his face and wept. He couldn't understand Liz's moral, let alone how to continue the unfinished ending. In fact, Liz gave him countless inspirations during the last journey of her life. She said: "In Mayan mythology, there is the first father who sacrificed himself to create the world." She also said: "Death is a journey of awe."
In the end, Tommy finally understood Liz's meaning, he walked down the road Liz had walked, followed the direction she instructed, and finished the whole journey and completed the book. At the end of the story, the lonely and desperate space traveler who sees the tree of life wither comes to the face of the Queen of Spain, who promises him "you find the Garden of Eden (where the tree of life is), and you wear it. (A ring), when you come back, I will be your Eve." Now, she asked him again, "Will you untie Spain?" So the distant memory suddenly came back to life, and he finally He remembered her, remembered his oath, and remembered his answer at that time-"May it be at the cost of life and honor." Then he finally understood that he was the conqueror who broke into the depths of the Mayan jungle, It was he who cut the bark of the tree of life and found the source of eternal life, and he was covered with flowers and plants for a long time, until the whole human being and the earth ceased to exist, and only he and the tree of life and the earth were left. An oath sealed deep in memory. And when the oath reappeared, his queen had long since vanished. And at this moment, in front of the withered tree of life, in front of the dying nebula, her shadow reappeared, she was calling him, she was calling his Adam. So he smiled and said, "I'm going to die." He went back to the moment he invaded the Mayan sanctuary, picked up the ring that he had dropped when he fell, and slowly put it on the ring finger of his left hand, and then peacefully The earth drifted toward the blazing stars, turning into countless dazzling rays of light. When this light fell on the tree of life, the tree of life miraculously reborn, and the green branches and leaves showed the splendor of life around the stars of Nirvana. It was the end and the beginning, he was the last, and yet he was the first. This is the interdependent relationship between death and rebirth that Liz wants to convey. During the interlocking period, it is the great power of love.
I think at the end of the film, when Tommy swept away the snow on Liz's tombstone and looked at it quietly, if Liz could speak at this moment, then we might think that she would say with a calm smile: "Honey, I'll be waiting for you at the end of time."
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