Literally, it's an allegorical film, and artistically, it's an expressionist film. It does not pay much attention to the authenticity and logic of the content, it focuses on expressing a thought and explaining some contradictions. There are many groups of contradictions hidden in the film, which make this film so thought-provoking and shocking. After watching it, I felt a lot of thoughts, and my heart was very heavy.
Body and soul, world and hell, vitality and death, industrialization and human culture, modernization and primitiveization. This group of contradictions creates a feeling of intense conflict and great dissonance that makes one want to be resolved urgently. This is a bit like the harmony theory in music. I can't help but sigh here, this is really a masterpiece full of beauty, blending the beauty of art, music, literature, philosophy and religion.
When I just finished watching this movie, I also felt that I couldn't understand it, and I was deeply puzzled by many things in the film, and I couldn't figure out the intention and theme of the film. And when I calmed down and thought about the film's background and the author's life experience, I felt a sense of enlightenment, and the metaphors in it were unraveled one by one.
It was that era. Not long after the colonization and plundering of Indians on the North American continent by Western countries, the contradiction and hatred between whites and Indians are still fierce. On the one hand, the Americans at that time stepped up industrialization and urbanization of that primitive place, and on the other hand, they used Christian teachings to speed up the assimilation and transformation of the Indians. And all of this is only in the early stages of social transformation. Looking at it now, the Americans are successful, and now there is a scene of civilization and harmony. In the period of social transformation, there are bound to be many mistakes, loss, pain and distortion.
The church at that time, to be precise, the Christian church in the western part of the United States at that time, had already changed its taste, lost the true meaning of Christianity, and was more formalistic and utilitarian. Although the people there also follow the Christian customs and open and close their mouths are God, but very few of them actually believe in God.
As for the author Jia Muxiu, some people say that he is against God and advocating Satan. I don't think so. He should be a person who understands the true meaning of Christianity. What he opposed was only the wrong God who was lost in the minds of the public at that time. And he admired Satan because he felt that the souls of people at that time were lost too far, and the light of God could not shine on them, but at this time, Satan could "save" and liberate their souls. Just imagine if a person does not understand what God is like, how can he oppose and hate God?
Such a Machine Town (machine town) in the desolate west, and the people in this town, are a microcosm and a model carefully fabricated by the author, representing the sad distortion and lost soul in that period of social transformation.
Who is the hero of the movie? I think it should be the soul of William Blake. And the "man" of William Blake is just a shell to which his soul is temporarily attached. The film is about the process of his soul returning home, returning to its true destination~~ Hell or heaven, whatever.
The author narrates from the perspective of the soul, and we should also experience the film from the perspective of the soul. We have to imagine ourselves as a soul in another world, looking at people and things in this world from the eyes of a bystander.
The words of the mysterious furnace burner on the train are a clue and a foreshadowing. Prompted the theme of the film, but also determined the tone of the film.
The train is stationary, but the scenery outside the window moves. The boat is stationary and the water is moving. Likewise, the soul is still, and life is what moves. This is the uniqueness of the author's vision and thought, he stands in the opposite angle to the public. He is standing in heaven looking at the world. Ordinary people take the present body as the reality, as the foundation, as the soul and the destination of everything.
In one scene, Nobody looked at William in a drowsiness, and what he saw was a skeleton. He started by saying that William was a dead man, and yes, he was a "dead man". A "dead man" whose heart is still beating, blood is still flowing, and his body is still temporarily warm.
Dead man refers not only to William who strayed into this town, but also to all those who have lost their souls in this town, but also to all those who have lost their souls in real life represented by Machine Town.
If William hadn't come to this town, and if he had left this town in time, he might not have died, not so short-lived. But it happened to be a book, and he happened to encounter a murder case, which made him trapped in this small town and could not escape. There is an inscription at the beginning of the film that reads "Don't walk with the dead." The dead here, of course, refer to the living dead. Coming together with these dead people is destined to die quickly.
Well-dressed and gentle-mannered, William wanted civilization, beauty, and vitality. That kind and beautiful flower girl Latier, like William, also symbolizes civilization, beauty and vitality. However, they all died quickly because they all walked with the dead. Therefore, the consequences of walking with the dead are very serious, and it is the same in real life. If you are too close to the dead, it is also easy to get unlucky, hehe. Stay away from the dead, live life, live beautifully! !
Machine Town is actually a hell that exists on earth, and the people in this town are actually a group of dead people who are temporarily alive. If it is a normal person, a person with vitality, is destined to be incompatible with this bad place. So when he was still a normal person before walking with the dead, William was so out of place in that small town. When William and the employee met in the factory, they gave way to each other. When he turned left, he turned left, and when he turned right, he turned right. I think the author did it on purpose at this awkward time.
The evil killer, Cole Wilson, killed his parents, boiled them, and later killed both of his fellow killers and ate one of them. This is a typical demon. I'm still wondering if his frequent toothaches are due to eating too many people? Later, when he saw the dead policeman lying in the pile of firewood, his head looked like a deity that scatters light, and he stomped his head down angrily. Step into a pile of disgusting meat sauce. It highlights the cruelty of this demon, as well as the rebellion and blasphemy against the gods.
The same false believers and the priest in that little shop. As a priest, he was supposed to be the representative and messenger of God, but he was greedy, opened a shop to make money, and sold ammunition and tools specially used to kill and kill animals. And he is also a dishonest, cunning, racist who sees money. Therefore, as long as the soul is lost and the conscience is lost, even the clergy are dead.
Someone is alive, but he is dead. Someone died, but he was still alive.
A "living man" is different from a "dead man" in that there is something called life force in him.
View more about Dead Man reviews
