The story of "Nebraska" is very simple. An old man living in Montana received a winning letter from Nebraska, so he tried to claim his million dollars by walking.
He made several attempts, but was stopped by police on the interstate, and his wife and two sons repeatedly told him the winning letter was a hoax, but the old man didn't believe it. In American movies, if an old couple has two sons, usually one of the sons will look very much like the father. After some tossing, the old man's young son took his father to Nebraska to fulfill his wish amid the mother's abuse.
The original simple journey was changed because the old man accidentally broke his head. They could not reach Lincoln in a short time, so they decided to go to the small town of Hawthorne to rest first. This is where the old man was born and grew up. The elder brother's family and friends from the past, as well as the old man's wife and eldest son, also came by bus one after another.
In this short weekend, the younger son accompanied his father to the cemetery to pay homage to the ancestors of the family, then walked on the streets of the year, sat in the bar of the year, and went to meet the people of the year, including the father's former lover ...
The image of the father as an alcoholic gradually changed in the eyes of the younger son, and he slowly discovered the other side of the father, or what the original real father was like; just as when they arrived in Lincoln and were told that they had not won the lottery After so much, in the face of the other party's rhetorical question, "Is your father suffering from Alzheimer's?" The younger son simply replied, "He just always believes what others say." This also just confirmed the old man's wife's evaluation of him: Never knew how to say no, that's what ruined him. So much so that when a former friend tried to blackmail him after learning that he became a millionaire, he still said, "If that person is really in trouble, I don't mind helping him."
Although he didn't get a million-dollar bonus, but The youngest son fulfilled his father's lifelong wish in his own way: owning a pickup truck and a portable air compressor. In the end, when his father didn't have a driver's license, the younger son gave him the driver's seat. The father drove the truck in his name, shuttled around the town of Hawthorne, greeted everyone who used to be, and then slowly Driving away...
All this seems like a dream. An old man who has not been home for many years returned home with a bizarre surprise in the most unexpected way. After going through the absurdity, he was able to leave in the most dignified way.
American movies have always been about creating characters, not gods. So, it's hard for us to see perfect people in American movies, but we can see benchmark people. In "Nebraska", despite the limited time span of the story, the creators still try to express every kind of relationship, between father and son, between husband and wife, between brothers, between friends, and between the predecessors.
The director observes his father's life from the point of view of the youngest son, even if it is forced, but he will naturally understand after observing. This is actually looking at the life of the previous generation from the perspective of this generation. Without this observation, the younger son may never have learned from his father's predecessor that the reason why his father's long-term alcoholism was because he had set foot in North Korea battlefield and wounded.
What about the old man and his wife? In Montana's quiet and unchanging life, his wife complained to him, claiming to send him to a nursing home countless times; but in Nebraska, when the husband encounters difficulties and misunderstandings, it is the usual He stood up to his accusing wife and defended the old man's interests, even if the interests were false.
Speaking of which, I have to mention the old friend of the old man. After learning that the old man won the lottery, this guy tried to extort a small sum of money. After being rejected, he robbed the old man of the redemption ticket. The result was that it was a scam at a glance. So, when the old man and his son found the bar, the friend laughed at the old man in public; but at this moment, facing the ridicule, the old man still took the redemption ticket seriously, and the friend's expression changed from playful to abusive. A kind of sadness, which may be both for the elderly and for oneself. The old man's son once said that the reason why his father was so stubborn was because he wanted to find a goal to live on. So, has this friend who has been squatting in his hometown laughing at the old man found the goal of living? When the old man carefully collected the worthless redemption roll in front of him, did he ever feel sad for himself?
Of course, there are still many detailed topics in the film, such as the breakup of the youngest son and his girlfriend. He didn't know whether to propose to his girlfriend, so he was drinking with his father in the bar while asking his father and mother when they got married. childbirth status, etc. This kind of setting should be regarded as the performance of the generation headed by the director bowing to the previous generation.
Therefore, whether it is the title of the film or a state in the plains of the Midwest of the United States, "Nebraska" has become a symbol so far. (Note: The Nebraska accent is known as the "Mandarin of America.") Like Texas' unshakable status among conservatives, Nebraska symbolizes the most primitive and direct of the American westward movement. The representative is also the most simple embodiment of the American spirit: directness, innocence, and trust.
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