"21 Grams" belongs to Inaritu's early works, and continues the previous multi-line narrative storytelling method. It is said that Inaritu was deeply influenced by Quentin's "Pulp Fiction", but I think that in many Online narrative, Inaritu seems to go further. The three stories of the three families converge and intersect in the middle and at the end. The director even disrupted the sequence of time, and asked the audience to collage the fragments and flashbacks? order? Interlude? Neither. It seems to be forcing the audience to calm down and watch the puzzles patiently.
The story of three families focuses on three main characters. I have always disliked Sean Penn, but I like this Paul, played by Sean Penn, who is reserved and restrained. The film starts with Paul lying in the hospital, and ends with him lying in the hospital. Paul, a mathematics professor at the university, suffers from a serious heart attack and has less than a month to live. His girlfriend hopes to conceive Paul through artificial insemination. children, Paul can be accompanied by children after he leaves. Fortunately, someone donated his heart while he was waiting quietly in the hospital, and Paul survived after a successful heart transplant. The heart came from Christina's husband, who died in a car accident that killed her husband and two daughters. A grief-stricken Christina donated her husband's heart. Christina, who originally had a happy and happy family, was completely overwhelmed by the unexpected disaster. Only by relying on alcohol and drugs to survive every day, life seemed to become meaningless at this time, leaving only the body. And it was Jack who caused the car accident. Jack used to be a street gangster who committed all kinds of crimes and was jailed many times, but now he is a devout Christian, living quietly with his wife and children, and enthusiastically serving the church and helping young people. But in a traffic accident on the way home, he collided with Christina's husband and two daughters. Jack fled in a hurry, causing Christina's family to lose their lives. Three families, intertwined by a car accident, are completely changed. Some die, some are reborn, some fall into the abyss of pain, some are trapped in the sin of the soul.
Paul, who has been reborn, is stubbornly going to find the owner of his heart. Maybe it is the magical power in the dark, maybe it only starts with sympathy. Paul is in love with Christina, and Christina, who is in pain and unable to extricate himself, needs comfort and sustenance, maybe pretending to be Paul, who is in her husband's heart, has her husband's shadow, and the two come together. Paul promised Christina to avenge her and kill Jack, only to shoot the bullet at himself. Christina is pregnant with Paul's child, Paul dies and a new life is born.
I have always been in awe of religion, be it Christianity, Buddhism or Islam. Although I don't believe in religion, I still believe that religion has some kind of magical and mysterious power. But I don't know how to comment on Jack, a devout Christian who is almost fanatical. Jack, who has reformed from evil, believes in God, and is even enthusiastic to influence bad young people like himself to believe in God. His daily life is strictly and rigidly based on the teachings of the Bible, so that his wife said that he still wants to see some of his previous appearances. But ironically and tragically, the pickup, regarded by jack as a gift from God, became the maker of the tragedy, making jack unable to forgive his crimes. A dialogue between jack and the priest in the cell, jack recites the bible, what we see is jack's doubts about God. Jack is contradictory. On the one hand, he hopes that God will give him the power to relieve his pain. When he finds that God cannot satisfy his desire for relief, he begins to doubt God. Going to jail and committing suicide is Jack's way of atonement and liberation. I don't believe in religion, and I have no right to comment, but there are many believers who talk about their beliefs and believe in them for very practical and utilitarian purposes.
The collage of the intertwined fragments of the film is about the cycle of life and death. The birth of life is the beginning of death. Death is the continuation of life. Life is impermanent, I don't know which day, it will go to the unknown world of death. Death, unpredictable, unpredictable. About death, after the death of my mother, it often becomes a lingering thought that pops into my mind. I often wonder if there is really a reincarnation of life in the world, and when a life ends, will it return to this world in another form of life. At least I hope so, I often feel that my mother is quietly watching us somewhere not far away. Christina's husband dies and Paul is reborn. Paul died, Christina had his child, and life went on. Death and the continuation of life are eternal topics for human beings.
In addition to life and death, there is also redemption. The unexpected disaster caused the three protagonists to experience the struggle and torment of the soul, and the suffering of purgatory. Jack couldn't get rid of his guilt and chose to surrender himself. His devout faith did not give him strength. After he was released from prison, Jack, who had no faith, chose to self-exile. Jack, who was suffering from conscience, even hoped that Paul would end his life so that he could live from liberation from sin. Christina is intensely revengeful after experiencing great grief, although killing Jack does not restore lost loved ones. And Paul, although the transplanted heart allowed him to be reborn, but God seemed to have played a joke on him, and the strong rejection heralded the coming of the next death. This time, Paul didn't want to die in the hospital, so he went to help Christina kill Jack. The three lives collided between life and death. When they finally understood that death is not the way to obtain redemption, Christina and Jack looked at each other peacefully in front of Paul. Christina was freed from hatred, Jack was forgiven, and finally had the courage to return to his wife and children. , Paul can also die peacefully and peacefully. The salvation of the soul comes from understanding and love. Is it just that? It seems that it is more than that simple. It seems that there are always many things in the topic of life and soul that cannot be expressed in words. You can only experience it with your own life.
Let's go back to the title, 21 grams. When a person dies, they will lose 21 grams of weight. This is the weight of the soul. When the soul leaves the body, it is death. 21 grams, like five coins, a hummingbird, or a piece of chocolate, is unacceptably light. It is really too light for life to bear. Whether life is silent or turbulent, we can't predict when and where it will come to an abrupt end, let alone where death begins on the other side of life. Life is so fragile, so light, and it is so difficult to put it properly. Life is impermanent, and life is short. Only by facing it with love and sincerity can you be calm and peaceful when you lose 21 grams.
Finally, let's end this article with Paul's dying monologue in his hospital bed:
How many times have we lived?
How many times have you died? We all lose 21 grams
at the moment of death all of us
How much does 21 grams weigh?
How much have you lost?
When will we lose 21 grams?
How much disappears with these 21 grams?
How much did you get?
21 grams weighs
five nickels
a hummingbird how much does
a piece of chocolate
weigh in 21 grams?
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