Last October, I read a novel called "St. Louis Ray Bridge" by Thornton Wilder. He is the only American writer to win both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Novel.
This book tells about five ordinary people who lost their lives in a bridge collapse accident, looking back on their lives, and trying to solve a problem, "Why are they?"
In addition to literary fame, this book is a more well-known reason. It was Blair who quoted a sentence from this book in his 9/11 commemorative speech. "Soon, we will all die."
But frankly, I didn't understand this book.
"Soon we will die, and all the memories of these five people will go with the wind. We will be loved briefly and then forgotten. But this love is enough; all the urges to love will Return to the love that generates these impulses. Even for love, memory is not indispensable. There is a bridge between the kingdom of the living and the kingdom of the dead, and that bridge is love. It is the only one that survives. Object, it is the only meaning."
This is a very famous passage in this book, which is quite moving, whether you have read this book or not, whether you have experience of life and death or not. But until today, I dare not say that I finally have a little sympathy with this passage.
2
Prior to November last year, I've never heard of Paul Greengrass's name. To be honest, I don't know much about him now, I just made two films with him.
It all stems from an article I saw on Weibo.
"Mike Fleming Jr, a well-known Hollywood journalist/columnist, published a long article about "Flight 93", about how Paul Greengrass used a piece of treatment (script statement) to impress Universal Pictures and get investment. Make a documentary tragedy without a star.” (Quoted from the original PO’s original words, address: http://weibo.com/2878864092/AjsjDAFQC )
At that time, he would click to read it just out of curiosity, but in the end he was caught The director's sheer perseverance was impressed.
"I must find a way of talking about it. I've got to go to the heart of it, where it began, and what I've got to do is say, what does it mean?" There is an important thing , I can’t figure it out, I want to make a movie to figure it out. In fact, this is what the long text means, but the perseverance and enthusiasm of the screenwriter is really moving. [Want to do] One thing, that's probably it.
This is my intuitive feeling at the time. But I didn't watch this film in the follow-up, until Captain Phillips went through the awards season, and I realized that it was the same director.
Several films of Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips, United 93, Bloody Sunday, are all film reviews based on real events. Divine messenger, I suddenly thought of a paragraph in his long paper:
"And I also believe that sometimes, if you look clearly and unflinchingly at a single event, you can find in its shape something precious, something much larger than the event itself...the DNA of our times. "
What is the DNA of our times he wants to explore?
Then I clicked on Flight 93.
3
I feel about 93 flights so.
If you put aside the labels of "X country theme" and "X country conspiracy theory" to watch this film, most of which are speculative, pseudo-documentary films, you will find that there is only one important fact:
many people are here this time. Died in the incident.
After watching the movie, I lay straight on the bed, thinking about it repeatedly.
One thing we have always taken for granted hit me at that moment.
All passengers, in the last message to the outside world, without exception, all are, believe me, I love you.
In other words, in an extremely dangerous situation, in addition to delivering the necessary information to the outside world, the last and last personal emotion left to the ground is related to love. This should be the most beautiful and sad thing they can leave.
Love is the most powerful and weakest appeal of mankind.
Now look at this passage:
"Soon we will die, and all the memories of these five people will go with the wind. We will be loved for a while, and then forgotten. But there is this love. Enough; all impulses of love will return to the love that produced them. Even for love, memory is not indispensable. There is a bridge between the kingdom of the living and the kingdom of the dead, and that bridge is Love. It is the only thing that survives, it is the only meaning. "
I don't know what others think. I think it is different from when I first read it.
4
Some people may feel very sensational when they see the word "love".
Indeed it is. One thing that must be clarified is that the filming of this film is actually very restrained and not sensational. My personal perception is that the last passengers’ self-help did not have the “heroism” that some people say. From a different perspective, I think Paul Greengrass has achieved everything he wants to express in the script statement.
"And the question asked of the passengers on Flight 93, the terrible dilemma they faced, is the same question we have been facing ever since. Do we hope this all turns out okay, or do we fight back? Do we strike at them before they strike at us? And what will be the consequences if we do?
This is why, I believe, the events on that plane continue to hold such immense power over us…for although we can only dimly understand the shape of what went on during that ninety minute flight, we can know enough – from the two dozen phone calls, from the 30 minutes cockpit voice recordings – to know that at some level it distills and symbolizes everything that we face today."
Greengrass is in the script statement to Universal Compare the situation faced by passengers on Flight 93 with the situation faced by people in the world today, and consider it to have a certain consistency.
"I hope watching this film will make its audience think very carefully about where we are right now – in a world where the threat is so real and clear and present, that we have come to believe that pre-emptive strikes are our only salvation. Because sitting where I sit now, it seems to me that the choice faced by those poor souls on Flight 93 was no choice at all. If they did nothing, their work died. If they struck back, their world died.
We'd better find other choices, and fast. Before it's too late – preferably beginning at the G6 summit in Gleneagles next month. Because right now, we are all on Flight 93…"
Until I finish watching this film, I can’t express it in words, What he said above is the DNA of our times. However, after reading these two paragraphs, perhaps you can understand why Paul Greengrass has made so many movies adapted from real events.
5
This film is not recommended for anyone to watch.
RIP
PS: The keywords for me in the two films are, copy, real world, love.
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