Thanks to this film for bringing together Mel Gibson and Sean Penn, two hardcore uncles. The re-emergence of the two who have almost lived in the legend this time not only represents the weight of the story itself, but also is enough to make more people have a perfect encounter with this history due to the appeal of the actors.
This is a historical story about the birth of the "Oxford English Dictionary", and I went to watch the film with a desire for the volume of knowledge. However, when I started this film with the purest desire for knowledge, what came to me was not a boring academic documentary at all. I didn't come with sensibility, but it raised my self-doubt that was properly concealed. Regarding questions, whether they want to ask or can't ask, it has given me an unquestionable answer.
Perhaps this is the power of historical facts, the power of words, and the magic of this film.
The wedge that opens about the reason Sean Penn's surgeon, Mai, was imprisoned, still looks downright documentary. When we move to Mel Gibson's interview for Dr. Murray, our focus remains on capturing the basics of the two. But when Dr. Murray cheered the children for the joy of compiling a dictionary, when the tome of excitement collapsed with a bang, our tense nerves were instantly relieved, and at the same time we received the inner story of this story. The manifestation of sacred values.
So, the story is slowly laid out in the two clues of Dr. Miner and Dr. Murray, one is dark and one is active, one is passive and one is active. Miner struggles with his alter ego in prison, and Murray fends off questioning in the office. The seemingly unrelated two people are bound to meet in the faith of words.
When the paraphrase Murray needed was nowhere to be found, Minercha found peace among the bookshelves. Miner's excited notes saved his soul from nowhere, and at the same time saved Murray's first crisis of confidence. This was the first time I watched with interest the correspondence between two old men. The tacit understanding of the same heart has made this great project a foil.
The film was halfway through when the two met for the first time.
Americans and Scots
An Oxford and a Yale student
It's all about hair
one smart and one crazy
The two met half-jokingly and half-seriously under the fit of the old friend's meeting. Murray looked questioning when he said "one smart and one crazy". Miner spread his feet and gave a silent answer with a heavy chain. In fact, in the telling of this story, we can almost easily determine who "one smart and one crazy" refers to, just like the "professor" and "madman" in the title. So, is this feature in the word superfluous?
Remember when Miner naughty touches Murray's beard during this meeting? The similarity of the beard is the same item under the appearance of the two, and Murray's questioning about the word is precisely because he also classifies himself as a lunatic. It's just that Miner is what everyone thinks is crazy, and Murray's madness comes from a desperate attempt to "break through reason" in dictionary compilation. In this way, the professor and the lunatic in the title, can you still clearly tell who they are? Doctors and doctors are both docters, professors and lunatics have long been integrated in the vastness of words.
However, as I waited for the story to further describe how the two worked together to complete the dictionary, everything suddenly came to a standstill. The two women who were ignored gradually became clear.
Eliza, the wife of the deceased who died under Mina's gun, who appeared in the opening chapter is a woman who has grown up quietly in this story, and there is a great contrast between before and after. The extremely restrained emotional line between her and Miner is a dangerous move for the entire film. One more point will lead to bloodshed, and one point less will be isolated from the main line. And the film handles that just fine. Eliza's note to Miner becomes a turning point in the story and continues throughout the second half of the film.
If love...then what?
There are two answers to this question in the film, which in turn lead to two very different behaviors. For the two of them getting along, it is Murray who sees through. But Murray couldn't stop Miner's condition from taking a nosedive. And this note also brought Murray inspiration.
Another woman, Murray's wife, is in a position of resistance for most of the story. Although he had to agree with her husband's obsession with dreams, she obviously did not follow him willingly. In the film, the two had several extremely forbearing quarrels, and it was rare for a wife to have a strong position in that era. When the description of Eliza became more and more intense, and the audience almost forgot about this decent and strong lady, the intellectual's wife went to the internal meeting of Oxford alone, and expressed her husband's nobleness among a group of academic businessmen. Pursuit of generosity. Of course, her words could not influence the decisions of Oxford businessmen, but it was clear that she had converged with Murray's values, which was irreplaceable for Murray at that time.
Let's talk about the two functional characters of the film. The guards who have been helping Miner and Murray's Bole on the committee. The guards have seen Mina's sober professional skills, so they do a lot for Mina in good faith. He has a lot of close-ups in the film. It was an indifferent masked face whose expression could not be seen clearly, but the softness in its treatment of Mina just reflected the cruelty of his superior, the chief doctor of Mina, who hid a knife in his smile.
And the committee's Bole is really fighting alongside Murray against his colleagues. He also indirectly helped Murray get the opportunity to meet with government officials, thus saving Miner, and also allowing Murray to return to the editor-in-chief position, and finally completed the completion of the dictionary. I am very impressed with this actor. His eyes can see the long way back home, and there is a cold determination in his sadness. The "Stan and Ollie" starring him was recommended before. It is a completely different character handling from this one. You may wish to look it up.
After reviewing the functional characters, it is not difficult to find that this story has always been involved in two forces, one between appropriateness and madness, and one between shackles and belief. When we push away, it is when we need to resist. Suffering from illness, Miner wrote on the back of the spine of Paradise Lost: Only the most diligent life. This is the footnote of their perseverance, and it is the self they have spent their entire lives defending.
Let's talk about the two main characters. Some people say that Mel Gibson lost his luster in front of the maniac Sean Penn. However, I thought that Sean Penn's madness was based on the fulfillment of Mel Gibson. As crazy as the doctor is, the professor is so forbearing. In this way, the madness of appearances returns to the madness of dreams. And precisely the most moving scene of Sean Penn is when he is silent, and it is also the moment when the whole film gives us the most room for thinking. Conversely, Mel Gibson, despite his many dispassionate speech-style monologues, the first climax to get the plot on track is the scene where he slams his hands on the just-released trial book. At that moment, everything forbearance came out.
So do you know the answer?
If love...then what?
This film is about more than filling a gap in our intellectual fabric. The interpretation of dreams and emotions that it spreads out is enough to answer many questions lingering in our lives.
Faith exists because of dreams, and persistence and hard work are meaningful because of faith. At all costs, not just a superhero slogan, but a worthy interpretation for every ordinary person who still has dreams in mind. May you and I both find enough dreams to support a lifetime.
The film review was first published on the public account: listenseal
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