Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness, and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, or they become legends." Intoning with purple-prose profundity by an old Indian narrator, the movie Legends of the Fall begins.
Today, I want to introduce the movie Legends of the Fall to you. It is adapted from a novel by Jim Harrison, directed by Edward Zwick, and published by Columbia Tri-Star. The film brings together good actors: it stars Brad Pitt as hero Tristan, Anthony Hopkins as old Ludlow and so on.
This epic melodrama deeply impresses me by the free and untamed soul of the hero Tristan. Blue eyes, long hair, rakish grin, strong muscles, Tristan totally conquered me at first glance. All his behaviors reflect a pioneering spirit, a great wildness, a courage daring to challenge, and a characteristic refusing to be constrained. I can feel the hotness of his blood; I can smell the wildness of his bone; I can read the burning fire in his eyes. This is the man I appreciate.
Tristan is twisted with bear all his life, blending with animalism and power. Bear is an indication of his characteristics. This movie opens with a fierce fighting between little Tristan and a bear, and closes also with a conflict between two of them. The only The difference is: in the former fighting, the bear gave its own blood – the burning blood and the untamed spirit – to Tristan; in the latter one, the bear brought its blood away, also brought Tristan. His death as a result honors his whole life.
Many behaviors of Tristan can be interpreted in a manner of bear's action. When he teared Samuel's chest and brought Samuel's heart away to liberate his soul, he behaved as a bear; when he aimed at the bear but refused to shot at it, he viewed bears as his partisan; when he decided to begin his burning crusade to the other side of the ocean -- the wild forest, he was to live as a bear. It reminds me of an old novel The Call of Wild by Jack London. In this novel, the dog was called for by its inner voices of wolves, and in this movie, Tristan was called for by his inner voices of bears.
Tristan also has intense affection with others. Susannah was attracted by him by first sight, and even died for him. Little Isabel set up her mind to marry Tristan when she was only a child and insisted on her wish when she grew up to be a beautiful lady. Tristan cherished his younger brother Samuel, companying with him in the battlefield and revenging for him. His elder brother Alfred once said:”I followed all the rules: men's, God's, and you followed none. And they all love you more , Samuel, father, and even my own wife.” Yes, Tristan lives by his own heart, not by his brain – this is why he has intense feelings with others and is fonded of deeply by others.
The vast expanses of Big Sky Country Montana sets off the spirit of freedom and passion of Tristan. Only in this limitless wilderness can horses run fast, hairs fly freely, and Tristan own the untamed characteristics. Tristan is the son of wildest nature, “living in a borderland anyway, somewhere between this world and the other”.
Tristan lives a life which I appreciate. He represents my wildest dream about life. Many people are born, and many people die. But how many people can say it clearly why he should live and how he should live? How many people can hear their inner voices, and how many people dare to pursue them? I acknowledge that in reality no one can only care their own feelings and behaves what he likes. Such people could only become legends or crazy. Nevertheless, one should never lose his inner voices and should always try to live by them as well as be harmony with the society.
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