At the beginning of the film, two methods of speaking to the camera and voice-over were used, which not only announced the original Song Lian The live girl's attitude of confronting the invisible feudal monarchy has also achieved a high degree of unity between the director and the characters and the plot of the script from the very beginning: the visible and invisible confrontation and confrontation. Breaking the sound of Song Lian's dream at the beginning of the night, Xiang Zheng was not the original Song Lian himself, or the human nature - Qingyue, trying to interrupt the dream of feudal monarchy. And after the play sounded for the last time, it was Song Lian herself who interrupted it. At this time, she had been gradually anesthetized, and unknowingly began to become an accomplice of the feudal monarchy's enslavement of human nature and life. It wasn't until Yan'er and Mei Shan were killed that Song Lian was shocked to realize her change. At this moment, the feudal monarchy has completely killed Song Lian, who had tried to fight.
The empty shot of the Chen Family Courtyard perfectly shows the structure of this feudal mansion and the director's attitude. The few shots that are facing the Shensuimenyuan are very layered due to the characteristics of the building itself and the camera position. The beauty of this depth of field naturally reminds me of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, but more of a worry about Songlian's subsequent fate. From the front and back, Song Lian faced only one road and one destination. The house is far-reaching but not wide at all, and it is not flat if you can see the end. This obviously interprets the meaning of the whole building: the layers of thresholds symbolize class; the closed space reflects tyranny. In addition, the high walls, thick tiles and the pitifully low space in the center from the top down, present a perfect cage where the feudal monarchy shackles humanity.
The red lantern is indeed beautiful, just like life - the scene where Song Lian raised the lantern under the instructions of Master Chen is dazzling and admirable. However, in the entire Chen family compound, only when the eldest man who symbolizes the monarch's power is "fortunate" will he bring a little anger. Even this anger is not an impromptu charity, but to satisfy physical desires and to inherit power. The rest of the time, the whole house is a gloomy prison. After Song Lian was "sealed", the lanterns covered with black cloth were as eerie as hanging bones. "Bumping the feet" is obviously anesthesia and comfort to the captive humanity. Instead of beating the back, only men and women who bear the descendants of men are eligible to enjoy it. Women can only beat their feet, and it is the soles of their feet, when a man is "happy". Wasn't it the woman who was trampled under the feet of the monarchy? The twisted human nature is like the second wife Zhuo Yun, who is not only addicted to this "drug", but also goes to great lengths to kill with the master's knife without blinking an eye.
It's strange that I didn't think of the characters until here. I don't know if it was because of the strong symbolism. There seem to be only two "people" in the film. Song Lian is a person who wants to be a "human" but can't, and Yan'er is a person who doesn't want to be a "human" and ends up being a ghost. The rest of the characters are more like symbolic symbols. The role of the third wife, Mei Shan, is rather ambiguous, and she probably still has a bit of humanity in her possession, otherwise she would not have been sent to that room in the end. Along the way, her constantly struggling legs seemed to be kicked in my heart every time. At that moment, hallucinations and feelings overlapped, and I came back to my senses and marveled at Zhang Yimou's talent.
Zhang Yimou's early films have been heard and fascinated for a long time, but unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to watch them. The earliest I only saw "Alive", it felt very heavy, and it was not very "sharp". Of course, heaviness is a common feature of many Chinese directors and our national history. "Raise the Red Lantern" made me seldom recall carefully, perhaps because of her shocking beauty, or because she revealed and criticized her own traditional culture. Even Lu Xun's words didn't shock me as strongly and truly as this movie - isn't this the unique power of the movie?
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