Since the first film "Factory Gate" came out in 1895, as a representative of modern science and technology, the film focuses on the progress of human civilization. Whether it is the works of Chaplin, the master of comedy in the early silent period, "Modern Times" and "City Lights", or the classic movies "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Blue Bridge", "Casablanca" under the Hollywood studio system ", and the recent box office hits "Transformers", "Human Eraser 2" and "Guardians of the Galaxy", most of these well-known movies are about people and people, people and technology, people. relationship with industry. However, as the nature that nurtures human beings and embraces all human phenomena, it is rarely favored by mainstream movies and commercial movies.
With the emergence of ecological films at the turn of the century, many documentaries, feature films, and cartoons have shown a green orientation. Films such as "2012", "Ocean" and "Dolphin Bay" reveal the human nature by showing ecological disasters and existential crises. Disadvantage ---- egocentrism, which has caused countless viewers to reflect on the relationship between man and nature. However, the environmental awareness blindly obtained through disasters and destruction must be superficial. Just as the depression after the war cannot prevent the next war from the root cause, this kind of risk avoidance awareness for self-protection cannot make human beings truly Being fully aware of the energy of nature itself, it is impossible for human beings to perceive the comfort and tranquility brought by nature as the homeland of human habitation. The reverence for nature cannot fundamentally refuse the next round of human attack on it. Only by truly returning to nature and perceiving nature can it maintain its original beauty and at the same time return people's minds to the original state of balance.
The essence of images, the essence of life, returning to nature
In the film exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, Terrence Ma Lick's work "The Tree of Life" abandoned the ordinary linear narrative and concealed the main contradiction in the development of the story. Growing memories, the source of the universe, the whispers of all things in nature, and the call of religion are intertwined. These seemingly fragmented and messy splicing techniques of stream of consciousness unreservedly show the instantaneous beauty generated by visual jumps, and at the same time highlight the details of memories. , which integrates people, life and nature into one so it is very smooth. In Jack's memory of growing up, Malik seems to have given up the concept of creating stories, but let the image return to its essence, simply capturing the movement and development of things through light and shadow, and adding spice to reality to prevent the erosion of time. The natural behaviors of children’s lives, the complex emotions that are sometimes close and sometimes hostile between brothers, the guilt and anxiety of adolescence, the mother’s kindness and greatness, the father’s irritability and strictness, the most subtle emotional and character changes are all objectively observed. Neutral cameras record them one by one. The shooting angle of the child is combined with the dizziness of the handheld camera, the fast movement of the Steadicam, the close-up of the back and the side at 45 degrees, the jumping clip and the symphony of Brahms. Every frame of the film exudes clarity and simplicity. The sincere taste is also shocking and beautiful, and the screenshots are all postcards. It is worth noting that the film hardly shows enclosed spaces. The floor-to-ceiling windows in the home, the sun shining on the dining table, the green vegetation in the garden, and the reunion of the family by the sea at the end all make the characters in the film closely connected with nature, making the characters Return to nature, live with nature and cherish each other. The strong family affection, the brilliance of human nature, and the beauty of life we see in the film all stem from the power of return. Images return to records, and human beings return to nature.
Not only that, the biggest success of the film is that it breaks through the interweaving of the microscopic family with the grand nature and the universe, placing human beings in the vast nature again. Using stunning computer-painting special effects technology to restore the Big Bang, the emergence and extinction of dinosaurs, active volcanoes, ocean tides, canyons, sandbars, cells magnified under a microscope, embryos and the derivation of human life, for many viewers, this may It will bring visual and psychological surprises to the coherent viewing process, but it is worth affirming that Malik uses this to focus the lens on the original state of nature, and connect the different dimensions of the world together. Afterwards, the ever-expanding humanism and egocentrism reminded the audience that nature is the source of human life. People who come from nature will also disappear in nature. Only by perceiving nature first, and then perceiving life and love, can human beings return to the original paradise.
But it is the plethora of brilliant cosmic images, trivial family fragments, and Malik's deeply personal texts that make the film extremely critical. Some viewers will applaud for the beauty of the picture and the unfathomable theme of the film, while some people on the other side will think that the pictures that are drawn from the main line of the story but piled up by technical means are too artificial and not worthy of the Palme d'Or trophy. Maybe it can be a prose or a poem, but it is not enough to be a movie. A large number of metaphors and symbols such as tree, sunshine, universe, door, father and son cannot be established because they are separated from the most basic film narrative. Direct connection, which requires the audience to insist on being an intellectual, and use more subjective and deep thinking to interpret. The excessive use of "literary intentions" to defend his films may be the source of Malick's criticism. On the one hand, he relied on beautifully carved pictures, but on the other hand, he rejected the coherent pictures and turned to "prose culture" and "personalization". Appears obscure. This is precisely the relationship between man and nature. On the one hand, he relies on nature, but on the other hand, he refuses to embrace the most essential and pure beauty of nature, and instead seeks benefits for himself and himself.
"The most important days of my life, to nature"
Reflecting on the development of modern film, in order to pursue visual stimulation and economic benefits, we seem to pursue the development of image technology too much, and forget the simple beauty of light and shadow that images originally presented. In order to achieve the purpose of political propaganda, the film, as a means of thought control, is attached with subjective information, while forgetting that the essence of the image is "reproducing the fantasy of complete reality", "I simply present the world in front of you"; on the other hand, modern technology In order to make up for the impetuousness of modern society and the void of mind brought by fast food culture, we create artificial intelligence and social networks, but as shown in the film "Her", when we no longer pay attention to interpersonal communication in real life , loneliness and anxiety have become human nature, and love is nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst; looking at the development of human society, since the Industrial Revolution, in order to ensure its own development and progress, human beings have long regarded human beings as "the supplement of natural creations, The concept of "rather than replace" is left behind, constantly demanding from nature and wantonly destroying it. The reinforced concrete buildings in the city separate people and nature from space, and the modern city with the roar of machines and busy traffic no longer has the The original charm of nature makes it difficult for human beings to return to the source of life, to perceive nature, and to maintain their own psychological balance. People will further make up for the unbalanced heart through creation. Therefore, the development of man and nature falls into a vicious circle. We might as well think about this question: when things are separated from their essence, will their beauty remain the same as before?
The relationship between man and nature is like the relationship between man and man. When human beings get along with each other, or do what they do is no longer out of the most essential love, belief, tolerance and patience will be eroded by selfishness, greed and desire for control, we wear a mask of disguise, and continue to purposefully take from others Our needs, and others are no longer given out of self-preservation. Here, the relationship between people is out of balance, deteriorating, and deadlocked. Therefore, when we feel frustrated and uneasy because of getting along with others, we might as well look back at the initial state of getting along and think about the most innocent and often easily abandoned bud, love. When we can't find the meaning of life, we can imagine standing among the overlapping mountains, running along the golden beach with the waves, or being surrounded by the sun. The tide ebbs and flows, the seasons change, and the development of all things is a combination of nature. Only by returning can we find the lost innocence of human beings.
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