'I Am Blake': Never put your life in someone else's hands
Zhuo Zaozao (WeChat public account: Zhuo Ranbuqun)
1
(Hint: Contains spoilers, please be careful)
When you're 59, you don't have savings, you don't have any information age skills, and your wife just passed away. At this time, you have to stop working because of a worsening heart condition. You have lost all sources of income, what will you do next?
In "I, Daniel Blake" ( I, Daniel Blake ), the protagonist Blake faces such a desperate situation. Black had no choice but to try to apply for social assistance.
Ken Loach's films, always known for their "neo-realism", always reveal harsh truths to the audience, and "I Am Blake" is no exception.
The main storyline revolves around Black's dealings with various official agencies when applying for relief, and his situation is getting worse after encountering various inefficiencies and bizarre logic.
But even in his own dire situation, Black didn't forget to help others.
The sub-story line of the film is about the process of Blake helping each other with the Katie family, a single mother who is also struggling, and it is also a touch of warmth in cruel reality.
What struck me the most was this shot:
Blake accompanied Katie to make his final appeal. After listening to the assistance lawyer's analysis of the situation in the waiting room, Blake passed the temporarily opened door and stared at the decision-makers sitting in the office, half joking and half feeling emotional. Say:
"It's funny, my life is in their hands."
Yes, when a person can only put his life in the hands of others, the ridiculous thing is the absurd system, the cumbersome process, and more importantly, the person himself.
2
Yes, I'm saying that Blake's tragedy, in part, does lie in himself.
Blake is certainly sympathetic, because it's not that he doesn't want to work or doesn't have the skills, he's an excellent carpenter and repairman who just can't really afford to work full-time because of his heart problems.
But not being able to work full-time does not mean that you have to give up all kinds of opportunities to make money.
While Blake helped Katie's family, he neatly repaired various furniture and made beautiful wooden ornaments for Katie's young daughter.
When Blake was unable to apply for social assistance and could only sell the furniture for some money, the furniture buyers saw these wood handicrafts and asked the price with great interest. After learning that they were not made for sale, they also returned When Blake wants to sell this kind of handicraft, he can contact him for verbal trading intentions.
It is true that the one given to the little girl cannot be sold, but since it has reached the end of the mountain, and this kind of handicraft does not require long-term uninterrupted high-intensity work, why not try to make some other small pieces. of woodwork to support their livelihood?
Or, if you really can't do carpentry all the time, isn't there a "cross-ocean international trade" of neighbor black boys... Although it's just reselling sneakers from a Chinese factory to the UK, the other party sincerely invited Blake to join, and many times Saying that if Blake needs any help, please feel free to speak up.
But what makes people both pity and appreciate is that Blake is a very "shaft" old man, and he is single-mindedly insisting on fighting for the rights he deserves - the social assistance that the government should provide him.
Persistence is of course a good thing, but Blake who persevered to the end, in the end, when he was about to appeal and was very likely to succeed, he couldn't hold on, his heart problems recurred, and he passed away...
The director let Blake use his life to prove the inefficiency of some government agencies in the UK and the difficult situation of thousands of people in similar situations to him.
But if this is not a script, but a life that really needs to be lived, when we face similar situations, it is more reliable to take our life and wealth in our own hands as much as possible.
3
When it comes to taking your life and life into your own hands, there is another point to pay special attention to:
Don't be too hasty, and use the method of endless trouble.
Katie in the film, because she was unkind when she was young, became a single mother prematurely and had no ability to survive. She could only live by receiving a quota of food from the "Food Bank" set up by the British government for the extremely poor.
I can't help but open the meat sauce directly in the Food Bank and pour it on my hands.
Later, he fished in troubled waters in the supermarket to get more things secretly, but was discovered by security personnel.
Katie, who really has no survival skills, can't find a cleaning job if she wants to. In the end, only go to the kind of prostitutes who pick up clients at venues provided by special agencies.
I don't discriminate against prostitutes, after all, for quite a long time in ancient China, and now in many parts of Western countries, this was a legal business, and it could be regarded as "self-reliance".
But this method of making quick money is typically shortsighted and self-defeating. After staying in this industry for a long time, not only will you not get any improvement, but you will even be slowly dragged down by money and desire. In the future, it will be more difficult to withdraw and return to a normal life track.
Take control of your own life, you can't use this method that only focuses on the present and does not consider the future consequences.
4
In fact, Katie also has a dream. She wants to buy some books and apply for community college after her life situation improves a little.
After Blake found out she was working as a prostitute, he tried to persuade her to turn back with this dream.
And Black himself, after being repeatedly tortured by various cumbersome and insignificant government processes, finally chose to use his own method to fight for rights and interests.
He bought graffiti paint and wrote big names and demands on the outer walls of government-related institutions.
Although it was the first time in his life that he was arrested at the police station, he really got the opportunity to appeal as soon as possible.
When people live in this world, all living beings suffer. But no matter what, we always have to work hard to do something and take the initiative in our own life.
Even if there are not many choices to make, but many temptations to face, we should not be discouraged or lose our hearts.
Let's end with Blake's final statement in the movie.
"I'm not a customer, I'm not a customer, I'm not a service user. I'm not a lazy person, I'm not a thief, and I'm not a beggar thief. I'm not a string of social security numbers, not a piece of data on a screen. I pay taxes on time and pay a lot. I I'm proud of it. I don't bow down to the powerful, I treat my neighbors sincerely, and I do what I can to lend a helping hand. I don't accept, let alone seek alms.
My name is Daniel Black. I am an upright person, not a dog begging on the street. I hereby reclaim my rights and ask you to treat me with respect.
I, Daniel Black. is a legal citizen. No extravagance, no compromise. "
via Zhuo Zaozao (WeChat public account: Zhuo Ranbuqun)
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