After watching "Birdman" the day before, I deeply felt that this film would definitely win the best picture at this year's Oscars. I watched "Foxcatcher" yesterday, and after thinking about it for a long time, I finally felt that this film should be the crown.
Fox Hunter is a true story set in the tragic tale of former wrestling Olympic champion Mark, his brother Dave, and the Du Pont family's richest man, John Du Pont.
Mark is a person who has no friends, has few external expressions, and is prone to turbulence on the inside, but has a persistent American dream. At the beginning, when he was so depressed eating instant noodles, the director meaningfully gave a famous oil painting of "Washington Smuggling the Delaware River", just like the energy and desire in his heart, which also echoed John's patriotic declaration later. After meeting John for the first time, it seemed like the dawn of his life. He saw the possibility of climbing higher steps, and he raised his arms in the bathroom, eager to try. His dream soon became a reality with John's help. Medals and bonuses, everything seems to have embarked on the road that Mark dreams of, but Mark, who is not resolute, has encountered Waterloo at this time. His next performance was as fragile as his heart. Mark couldn't accept that John, the person he admired so much, was such a person. He couldn't accept the insults John had made to him. He couldn't accept that John immediately turned to Dave after his loss in the qualifiers. Although with the help of Dave, Mark got through the difficulties temporarily, due to the knot with John, he finally chose to leave Foxcatcher, and also ended in failure in the final Olympiad.
Mark's feelings for Dave are relatively complicated. On the one hand, he is grateful for Dave's nurturing grace. On the other hand, Dave is a spiritual anchor for him. The first clues can be seen soon after the film begins. Mark looked into the mirror and kept slamming himself on the left side of his face. I was very impressed with this shot. He did it because he had just been pinned to the ground by Dave in training with his left cheek pressed to the ground. Under John's instigation, Mark gradually firmed up the idea of not relying on Dave and staying away from Dave. Even after being humiliated by John and then asked by Dave what happened, he still didn't want to hear any comfort or advice from Dave.
Dave in the film gives the image of a man who lives tenaciously. He loves his younger brother, Mark, and is willing to provide him with any help. Dave supported the opportunity John gave Mark from the beginning and encouraged him to take it. After his brother yelled at him not to ask him what happened to him and John, Dave not only didn't get angry but also helped his emotionally unstable and self-defeating brother to finally pass the qualifiers. Even when my younger brother decided to leave the base, he still wanted to help his younger brother get financial assistance. For a while, Dave pays attention to practicality and won't do things that are crazy for a while. After his brother's first contact with John, he first asked Mark how he was paid. Dave is steady and responsible, but not adventurous. When he first received John's invitation, he didn't jump in because of family and contracts. He is also a man who respects himself. His first meeting with John was not overly enthusiastic, even a little cold. When he was asked to say something about John's "coaching style" and some compliments, he tried his best to cooperate, but he was never able to say decent flattery and false words.
John is an intriguing character, and the one that interests me the most. Simply describing a perverted rich man or a mentally twisted paranoid is insufficient to describe this character.in a privileged position, but his mother's name placed him in a deformed position. Growing up, he was washed in the word "freedom," which pervaded his patriotic manifesto to Mark and permeated his own purpose in life. His family was a family that started out as a supply of war munitions for the United States. In other words, in the family stigma, John deeply regarded himself as an active defender of state power. Interestingly, the understanding of freedom by families who made their fortunes through war is just like the declaration of the United States when it launched an unjust war, and it cannot stand any scrutiny. John advocates strength in his heart and refuses weakness. Like a mighty river that is about to flow into the sea, but in the face of the calm and vast real power, the shock of resentment eventually turns into calm. John can use the power of money to build a team and build a wrestling base, but when he asks how much he can buy Dave, the answer he gets is beyond his comprehension.
John's mother loved horses, and John was an ornithologist. Like a family curse, they have no friends and no real commitment to other people's emotions. They also never recognize each other's hobbies. John enjoys bird watching because it is beautiful and free. John's mother loves horses and believes that horses are a symbol of elegance and that wrestling is a lowly sport. But captive horses will lose their wildness and natural charm. The first thing John did after his mother died was to release all the horses and return them to their freedom. In order to get rid of his mother's imprisonment, John himself chose to wrestle when he was fighting for his freedom. He chose to absorb all his strength, a destructive way forward, and eventually he gradually went astray. In order to prove everything to his mother, in order to cover up his soulless body and prove his strength and correctness, he threw an olive branch to Mark, made a documentary for his "coaching", and even organized an amateur wrestling match to get "champion". When his mother came to watch the team practice, he was even willing to pretend to demonstrate the basics to prove that he had achieved something. Everything John did was to gather strength out of arrogance to gain that American "freedom" that was long gone.
A high existence, if not its own nobility, but only the accumulation of power, will be alienated. John's childhood is estimated to be spent alone under the shackles of the family. Ironically, in such a situation, John's mother's way of expressing her love was to use money to make John get that bubble-like friendship, which was empty without any precipitation. This makes John believe in the power of power and money and denies the way that people build real emotions and their meaning, laying the foundation for all tragedies. Because the "freedom" obtained by denying the true and beautiful fetters of human beings can only be the result of willful violence. As Dave plays an increasingly important role in the team, John watches the fake documentary he made and chooses the ultimate solution to prove he is not a loser—shoot Dave.
The inability to build true inner resonance with people is what John lost in the shadow of his family and his own obsessive pursuit. The turning point of the whole film happened after all of John's efforts were still denied by his mother (the mother still thinks wrestling is low). He wanted to use Mark's next championship title to prove his correctness, but found that Mark gave his teammates a day off and didn't train. He lashes out, calling Mark "ungrateful". This directly led to the extreme emotional instability of Mark, the loss of the game, and the cold war with John. But the following time, although he tried to communicate with Mark many times, he was unsuccessful, and he could only let Dave try to help Mark solve the psychological problem. John couldn't soften Mark's heart, nor could he break down the barriers he had built with Mark with the force of fire. In fact, the more serious problem is that in John's heart, he only wants Mark to prove his strength and achievements, but he doesn't care about how to solve Mark's problems, and he doesn't care about the joy of others' success and the pain of failure. For him, it doesn't matter whether it's Dave's help or paying for it, as long as there is a result. And this directly led to Mark finally choosing to leave Foxcatcher.
Before Mark left Foxcatcher, when I heard that John was going to appear as a coach at the upcoming Olympic Games, the anger in my eyes made me instantly understand Mark's heart. Once again, lost the direction of the dream, the Olympic stage seems to have lost its original luster. At least his position in the competition has changed because of John. At the end of the film, we can see that he chooses another path—an underground wrestling match. It was full of savagery and murderousness, just like the Colosseum, but with only random killings. But to Mark, it was very real, and every drop of blood seemed to have boiling value. The audience off the field clamored for the USA, shouting loudly, like all the people who are crazy about the word freedom.
There are many themes in life, and freedom and dreams often give us great strength. This kind of power is likely to be lasting, to be relentless, and to pay a great price. The twists and turns of fate always make us keep letting go of the original treasures in the pursuit of the road, so that we can gradually only see the successful scene at the end and blur all the surrounding scenery, so that we lose our due judgment. force. Maybe in another setting, we see the same end point, but the route and process may be completely different.
View more about Foxcatcher reviews
