(This article was written in November 2019)
Before seeing "The Mule," I seldom rated a movie protagonist as "cheeky." There are only a few people who deserve this honor. One is Cage in Lord of War, and the other is George Clooney in "In the Clouds."
A work of art is inseparable from conflict, and the stronger the protagonist, the more difficult and even darker the issues that need to be dealt with by him. Therefore, even the invincible male protagonists in martial arts novels often bear a deep hatred or some inexplicable obsession.
Therefore, although the protagonists of many movies have extremely outstanding abilities and even super abilities, they are not worthy of envy. Many times I even feel that most protagonists are pathetic, because behind this ability is a huge mission and obligation. The protagonists do not have the right to choose their own destiny, and can only try their best to reverse them in the predetermined pattern, and this reversal requires a very high price, even all their own abilities and vitality.
Just to name a few examples. Among the orthodox superheroes, Iron Man used to want to be chic, but he didn't have time to be cool in his life. you. He was not forced to sacrifice his life, nor was he forced to return to the arena, but was put in such a position and made many choices that "must be made voluntarily".
Captain America is a more representative one who can't be dashing, and even said that he is a victim of the government's transformation of super soldiers. As a person who always bears the mission of happiness and joy in the future, being able to die in a parallel world is indeed the biggest screenwriter. merciful. As for the Wolverines, it is a fate that is far from being enviable. Even if you have the same ability as God, you still don't get the same treatment as God. This kind of life is too sad.
I admit that the captain of the pirate series is also very dashing, but such dashing is just a deep reverence for fate behind the surface cynicism, and it is nothing more than a forced strategy to deal with suffering. Thousands of pains passed through him, but he didn't realize it. If the same fate was placed on anyone else, he might have gone crazy. This kind of dashing is not envied, but sympathized with dashing.
Andy Shawshank, or 1900 in the pianist at sea, seems to be able to do it with ease or die calmly, but it is not chic. It is nothing more than a character who has been burdened with a tragic fate from the very beginning, and has been struggling with fate in this life.
Thinking of it this way, being able to achieve a man like Eastwood in "The Mule" who has spent his entire life being unrestrained in his own choices is really commendable. In this sense, he has realized a dream of a free life and independent choice, which is the envy of countless people.
The story of The Mule isn't complicated, but it's interesting enough and intriguing enough. The so-called mule is actually a drug mule, a role that transports drugs for drug gangs. This kind of person is often not the core member of the gang, just earning a hard-earned money to deliver an illegal cargo.
However, the mule of this movie is an octogenarian.
Clint Eastwood personally played the protagonist, a former soldier who ran long-distance cars for half his life. When he got old, he planted flowers and won awards. In his twilight years, he went to the drug cartel to drive and transport drugs, and he just became the first drug mule in the whole group. , the dashing old man who has made a name for himself.
Envy, really enviable.
This kind of life once again proves the nonsense of knowing the destiny of fifty people. In many cases, age is not only a constraint, but an advantage. No one would suspect an 80-year-old man in a battered pickup truck with half a ton of drugs in the trunk, traversing the North American continent all year round.
Decades of experience and experience made him take everything calmly, he dared to carry the amount that other mules dared not to carry; he dared to walk the road that other mules dared not to walk. Even passing by the police several times, he was able to deal with it calmly and save himself from danger.
Such a thing, once or twice is luck, three or four times is courage and courage.
For an old man who has been on the battlefield and experienced countless storms, it doesn't matter whether the cargo is drugs or bombs. This kind of free and easy and calm, can make him feel like a duck to water in a circumstance where others are cautious.
The most amazing thing is not his ubiquitous ease and ease, but that the old man will always pursue some small but certain happiness for himself under the conditions at hand.
There is a segment that is very interesting. The old man transported too much cargo, and some people from the drug cartel couldn't trust him, so he sent someone to check, followed him the whole time when he was transporting the goods, and also installed bugs in the car. This was a good investigation. The old man was driving K-song, staying in a motel, looking for two young ladies, doing good deeds like Lei Feng, stopping on the side of the road to help others change tires, dropping by to see old comrades in arms, and deviating from the planned route without authorization, just to eat On a famous snack. An exciting drug trafficking activity was turned into a pleasant self-driving tour by the old man. The higher-level special commissioner followed the big head all the way, but he had nothing to say. In the words of the boss of the group, such a delivery habit is more unpredictable, it is better to go with the flow.
The old man was a liberal liberal, and for him it was a way of life. Others were trembling as if walking on thin ice, for fear of saying one more word and delaying for one more second, but he was unwilling to miss any beauty in this journey.
Later, he became a model worker in the industry and was appreciated by the group bosses. The first sentence when entering the villa is: How many people have you killed to live so well? The two of them chatted and laughed eloquently. Ordinary people would have been silent about this kind of thing, but to him, those underworld armed with guns and unsmiling bodyguards were nothing more than low-level means for children a few decades younger than him to give him courage. .
It is very rare for people to know exactly what they want and how to get it. People with this ability will not be helpless in any situation. On top of this ability, there is also the ability to live any life to the rhythm you want. Such a person can enjoy himself in any environment.
If it is said that he was forced to sell drugs at the beginning: his daughter ignored his wife's dislike, the flower house that had been in operation for many years was mortgaged, and only a truckload of junk was left. But soon, he began to gradually replace the passive elements of this forced trajectory with his own. He used to boast proudly that this old pickup hasn't broken down with me for decades. But after the first drug delivery, I found that the ignition was a little difficult, so I turned around and changed to a brand new luxury pickup to continue on the road.
He's such a quickie. What is the old pickup truck that has not broken down for decades, it is not that there is no money to replace it with a new one. The first thing I do when I get rich is to change to a reliable guy and enjoy it.
He can always allow himself to achieve self-satisfaction in a boring life. He started selling drugs because he promised to pay for his granddaughter's wedding, but he had no money. After the first vote was made, he said he would not come back. Forbearance, make another vote to buy the flower shed back; the bar I have been to for half my life accidentally caught fire and could only close down. Just to keep drinking here.
As long as it is possible, he will not make any compromises for his hobbies and life. If he really has to compromise, he will just change another hobby.
The most commendable thing is that, while making money by delivering drugs to maintain his hobby, he gradually regarded drug transport itself as a fun.
This is a libertarian at the highest level. In any situation, he can find something that makes him happy and put himself in it, and no one can limit me.
Shaking his head and smiling, looking at the world often, why did you come here after working hard for dozens of years? The so-called complacent, sing and indulge. I have seen all the worlds in the world, and I have seen the ups and downs, I have seen the ups and downs, I have seen the ups and downs, and I can still be obsessed and have fun in my old age.
Yet if there's one thing that's been holding him back in his pursuit of a career he loves, it's his family.
Another line in the movie is his family line. He once said that he was on the road fifty hours a week to support his family. However, after watching the whole film and then re-reading this sentence, he couldn't help but smile knowingly, it must be his own pursuit that can make him invest so much time. He loves to drive, grow flowers, and support his family is only one of the favorable results of this matter, but it is by no means the driving force that motivates him to do it.
For the old man, family is a contradiction that cannot be abandoned and unwilling to compromise. He hopes that he can always do whatever he wants, and he is not heartless enough to abandon his relatives and do everything he wants to do alone. He is also tangled, and he has not been able to balance the relationship between work and family well in his life. I understand that such people will do their responsibilities for the feelings of their families, but they still cannot let go of the fun they pursue in their hearts.
The second half of the film magnifies this inner conflict of self-emotions to the extreme. He lives in the same motel with the detectives investigating drug gangs. During breakfast, he saw that the detective missed his wedding anniversary and was scolding the street. The old man enlightened others and said a lot of rhetoric about the supremacy of family. I want to convince myself.
He once missed his daughter's wedding because he participated in the flower competition award. Since then, his daughter and his ex-wife broke up with him for a full twelve years. He felt that he should do something, so he was trying his best to make up for his granddaughter's wedding and graduation ceremony.
But such people, I know too well. They are not completely irresponsible, and they can also give a lot for their families, but their inner nature cannot be suppressed.
So when he said that, he was actually persuading himself to take care of his relatives. Hope you can do it.
Opportunities come quickly. The wife of Jifa was found to be terminally ill, and the doctor even exempted him from treatment, and sent him home directly for a day. At this time, the old man had just ushered in the replacement of the leadership of the drug cartel, the boss was killed, and the new leader implemented an iron fist. Any unplanned action may lead to death. So when his granddaughter asked him to go back, his first reaction was to refuse. But in the face of his granddaughter's doubts, he hesitated after all. This section is probably the battle between these two heavenly beings with the greatest xinxing. In the end he chose to compromise.
Just this time, for the sake of my wife's dying. Just this time.
So he went home with half a ton of drugs, leaving the world looking for him.
Looks like a very positive ending. The old man finally put his family above his work or himself, regardless of the pursuit and blockage behind him, he must spend the last time of his life with his wife. But it's not, like I said, it's still a compromise. You are worth my sacrifice, but this is your maximum credit limit.
After returning from his wife's funeral, the old man was beaten by the drug dealer who came to the door, and then continued to deliver the unfinished goods. As a result, the anti-narcotics police descended from the sky, and the old man was sentenced to prison.
When he was in court, his daughter had reconciled with him, and his lawyer had tried his best to defend him. However, the old man just smiled and admitted that I was guilty and I didn't need to defend.
Because he can finally plant flowers in prison.
Your uncle will always be your uncle.
It's an epic ending. At the end of the story, the old man is in prison, undisturbed, enjoying himself, looking at the flower seedlings he has carefully cultivated, showing a gratified smile.
He can finally devote himself to his flower business, and no one can bother him anymore.
A person who pursues freedom all his life and is uninhibited, the ultimate way to achieve freedom is to choose to go to prison. Isn't it a great irony? True freedom lies in the human heart, and all beings are obstacles. For the old man, going back to see his wife for the last time at the risk of being silenced by drug dealers is his final compromise to his family and loved ones. After this, he finally got his inner balance, I have done enough, and every day of my life will be my own.
Seeing that he can still immerse himself in his own fun in the end, he can't help feeling emotional, if such a person still has to succumb to the so-called family and responsibilities in the end, it is really sad.
Eastwood, 86, directed and played such a lovely and enviable old man. The calm and sophisticated lens language makes people feel indescribably comfortable. Every movement of the lens and every layer of color matching are just right. Such expressiveness must be mastered.
In the movies I have watched, there are very real youth dilemmas and profound mid-life crises, but this is the first time that an elderly man is pursuing his own peace of mind.
The film's translation in Hong Kong is called "Drug Man". This translation is very expressive, the old man is carrying poison, and his heart is lonely. In this world where no one can understand him, only he can find peace for himself. The Hong Kong version of Eastwood's most famous The Bad and the Dead series is called "The Lone Ranger", although Hong Kong people have always liked to inexplicably choose a second and best translation regardless of the style of the film, and this film is slightly sad, deep and It goes against the heavy tone, but in a word, it is still convincing.
The last time I saw a satirical and profound old man's work was last year's "The Wife". The so-called consciousness determines the height. When some people reach this age, they will only rely on the old to sell the old to cause trouble for future generations and society, while some people can dedicate works of this level to the world. It is indeed ironic.
One thing that may or may not be mentioned is that the prototype of the mule in the movie is real, and an old man in the United States who has been a drug mule for a drug gang for ten years is finally arrested and jailed. So this is a movie based on real events.
Some people always take this into consideration when evaluating movies, as if a social-themed movie is adapted from a real event, which is different from other movies and deserves to be treated more leniently or watched more seriously. The evaluation criteria also changed accordingly.
This is a misunderstanding.
In my opinion, whether it's a writer's idea while squatting on the toilet, or something that actually happens in life, it's now a movie, not a documentary. He's just a two-hour story on the screen, not unlike the short parenting dramas you see on local TV.
Many people look at so-called social-themed movies because they are adapted from real events. Whether it's "The Furnace", "Su Yuan", or "The God of Medicine", which was very popular last year, they will be different because they are adaptations of real events. Highly recommend to others, or find them meaningful. But the truth is that apart from the parties involved in the archetypal event, to the vast majority of the audience, it is still just a story, no matter where it comes from.
Real events are not a fig leaf for bad movies. Many movies are lengthy and slow, without ups and downs, because of real events. This is the director's failure and the audience's lack of cognition.
Eastwood, in his late 90s, slapped such a person in the face, proving that a story can be malleable with such an excellent film, regardless of whether it is true or not.
(over)
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