War in heaven

Alex 2022-01-03 08:01:12

Only after seeing the last scene did I know what Legadas’ "war in paradise" means. Above the cemetery full of white crosses, young soldiers staggered forward, as if driven by fate, in front of the camera. I turned around in fear and signed the book of life and death with his eyes (you may not die if you don't sign). Looking at the backs of them marching away, I thought to myself, isn't this Rilke's "angel's shift"? It turned out to be the death guard.

Life is a war. The veteran said, "If I die, the war will not end." The most kind and honest person is the incarnation of this war. Akira Kurosawa said, "This is a dark world, floating like a dream." This world is dark, but it doesn't matter. The important thing is to win one's own battlefield and die in one's own war. This is to die well. This is not an idea, this is a way of thinking.

Gu Cheng said, "Go to sleep, close your eyes, the world has nothing to do with me". The hometown has changed. It is no longer the place where childish speech is unbridled, but full of lies. The last word the protagonist said to his mother was a lie. Or is it him who has changed, or no one has changed, but everyone was wrong at the beginning? It doesn't matter anymore. The important thing is "my battlefield". Here are my kindness and gentleness (veterans) and my stupidity and brutality (enemy). They have "never been so close" (Zhou Tielun's words). This is the real world. It is right. Virtual world (Kafka's world) virtual.

The simple messenger at the beginning completed his brutal transformation, proving that the devil (God) is the link between the two worlds. The protagonist and his hometown have been split in different worlds.

The battle of heaven, the battle of heaven: The battle of life is heaven, our only meaning!

mercy……

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Extended Reading

All Quiet on the Western Front quotes

  • Hair-peak soldier: And manufacturers. They get rich.

    [murmurs of agreement]

    Albert Kropp: I think it's more a kind of fever. Nobody wants it in particular, and then all at once, there it is. We didn't want it. The English didn't want it. And here we are fighting.

  • Albert Kropp: Ah, the French certainly deserve to be punished for starting this war.

    Detering: Everybody says it's somebody else.

    Tjaden: Well. how do they start a war?

    Albert Kropp: Well, one country offends another.

    Tjaden: How could one country offend another?

    Tjaden: You mean there's a mountain over in Germany gets mad at a field over in France?

    [Everyone laughs]

    Albert Kropp: Well, stupid, one people offends another.

    Tjaden: Oh, well, if that's it, I shouldn't be here at all. I don't feel offended.

    Katczinsky: It don't apply to tramps like you.

    Tjaden: Good. Then I could be goin' home right away.

    Paul Bäumer: Ah, you just try it.

    Katczinsky: Yeah. You wanna get shot?

    Tjaden: The kaiser and me...

    [the others laugh]

    Tjaden: Me and the kaiser felt just alike about this war. We didn't either of us want any war, so I'm going home. He's there already.

    Hair-peak soldier: Somebody must have wanted it. Maybe it was the English. No, I don't want to shoot any Englishman. I never saw one 'til I came up here. And I suppose most of them never saw a German 'til *they* came up here. No, I'm sure *they* weren't asked about it.

    Paul Bäumer: No.

    Detering: Well, it must be doing somebody some good.

    Detering: Not me and the kaiser.

    Hair-peak soldier: I think maybe the kaiser wanted a war.

    Tjaden: You leave us out of this!

    Katczinsky: I don't see that. The kaiser's *got* everything he needs.

    Hair-peak soldier: Well, he never had a war before. Every full-grown emperor needs one war to make him famous. Why, that's history.

    Paul Bäumer: Yeah, generals, too. They need war.