The three-hour-long film made me want to give up several times during the viewing of the film. The film is narrated with large sections of dialogue, and the Turkey under the lens is picturesque.
The male protagonist is a cynical young man. It mainly tells the story of how he returned to his hometown after graduating from college, wrote a novel, raised money for publication, finally fulfilled his wish, and completed some explorations of the meaning of life.
The story begins with his return home after graduating from college.
He has a father who is a teacher in an elementary school. His father will go to his grandfather's house in the countryside on weekends. One thing he insists on is to dig a well. No matter how the surrounding villagers persuade, his father firmly believes that the well will be dug out. water. This water can make this place full of greenery.
"Can the water be dug out of this well?" After less than 15 minutes of watching the movie, the director threw the first question to the audience. We later learned that "digging a well" is a thread running through the film, and "irrigating the land by digging well water", this seemingly unrealistic thing that was declared by my father to do it, is like a poem Like a dream, maybe you haven't noticed, the director has laid the tone for the film's literary aesthetics since then. At the same time, he also announced to the audience like a host that the film is true to its lines: the story and the philosophy behind it are all in the lines.
Now, are you ready to complete your "reading comprehension"?
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## Line Aesthetics
### Natural Science
"Where is your brain with frogs but no water?"
Father's questioning about grandfather responded to such words. This sentence seems to be very scientific, but there are also flaws. Frogs are amphibians. They can only live in water when they are young. Water is the basis for their survival, but when frogs grow up, they can live on land. Therefore, frogs that appear near the wellhead can also be regarded as animals living on land, and there may not be a water source near the wellhead.
The father's seemingly powerful rebuttal, after thinking about it, the argument is untenable, and it also lays a foreshadowing for the end of the film, the father gave up digging a well and succumbed to reality. Here, there is even a sense of absurdity. How can we infer from a frog whether there is a water source near the wellhead? This absurdity not only exists in my father's words, but also shrouds my father's life. Teacher Biao, in his later years, gambled silently so much that he overwhelmed the house, and he was obsessed with digging a well in the arid land without listening to persuasion.
### Religious Philosophy
1. Independent thinking
"Why do we always like to quote our most famous companions, aren't there other important scholars out there?"
"Sometimes, when the spark goes out, people try to bring the secondary characters back to life, and that's what you're doing"
"The most important person is the most quoted person, that's natural, don't make it a matter of acknowledgment"
"I'm not saying we should favor lesser-known people, just look at what they say and think"
Two common human tendencies come to mind for this set of conversations. One, we like to show that we are a xx person, so we quote famous quotes, perhaps, we have not read the source or even understood its original meaning, but we will give ourselves a sense of satisfaction by quoting, Satisfy the need for yourself to "know" or "understand the truth." Second, everyone seems to pay more attention to the "first place", whether it is as big as "landing the moon" or as small as "exam ranking", it is more important to take the first place first, and more emphasis is placed on the timing. It is undeniable that "doing it first" is a kind of worthwhile The praise is for wisdom and courage, but the defect is also obvious, that is, it underestimates the perfection of the results presented. I agree more. We focus on the points that need attention according to our own preferences, so that we can really learn skills and understand the truth. "Quoting" is a way of standing on the shoulders of giants. There are so many giants. How to filter depends on the ability to think independently, so that we can cope with changes.
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2. Use the Quran as an introduction to discuss the writer's work and the reader's interpretation
"Imagine an architect building a building, his work is detailed, he gives the foreman a plan but doesn't tell him how to lay the bricks, so the builders use their initiative to add their own interpretations to the building"
"If everyone made their own prescription, there would be as many religions as there are people in the world"
"But our prescription, it's signed, it's signed by a doctor, we go to the pharmacy and ask for a specific drug, and if they don't have it, they give the same drug with the same active ingredient," he said.
"There is no end to this discussion, it's all thanks to the people"
"I choose unquestioning obedience"
"You think that with limited insight, you can pierce the mystery and penetrate the great wisdom of God, then madness is your choice"
In the face of authority, one should not blindly follow. I think the same is true for the understanding of the author's work. After the author stops writing the last stroke, the work has nothing to do with the author. You can broaden your understanding by reading the author's interpretation of the work, but you do not need to fully follow the author's will to understand the work. The reader's reading of the work is a process of re-creation. The reader should have the autonomy to feel and understand the beauty. The clichés that always compare the finitude of man with the strength of God or other unknown forces are meaningless.
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3. Faith (theism or atheism)
"Who needs self-criticism"
"We pray to ourselves every night and through these prayers we reveal all our flaws and failures"
"Is there a better self-criticism"
"Then do what we love, then confess at night and relax"
"A believer, you need to show common sense in all things, you should be cautious and thoughtful"
"Why are only believers and others don't need common sense?"
"But the believer tests himself with a higher morality, so he feels extra responsibility"
"But he felt it because he was told he should"
"Why do I have to take responsibility"
"There is no one more reliable than the act of conscience and free will"
"Because he established this responsibility, he did not accept it, so he must bear all the consequences of his actions"
"Who said free will is free"
"Even if it is, how can you believe it"
"Isn't that why, people without courage, choose slavery over existence?"
...
"Most people are believers, and the moral pillar of man is faith"
"Why do atheistic countries have very low crime rates"
"It means that justice and morality have nothing to do with faith or religion"
"So, in this vast universe, don't people feel lonely?"
"These countries may have low crime rates, but high suicide rates, people don't commit crimes, but they're not happy."
"Which do you prefer, someone wrote that if the truth is proven to be outside Islam, he would rather believe in Islam than the truth, proving the famous argument that faith does not want to know the truth"
"Is faith a belief in the inconceivable?"
"Faith Unknown"
"The bottom line is, do you want to live in a world where God exists, or a world where he doesn't exist"
Finally, the conversation ends with a poem by Yunus Emre, "I was walking along a road and I saw a tall tree, very charming, very sweet, my heart, how is it?" Nus Emre was a 13th-century Turkish poet who believed that the existence of man was a gift from God, that man was aware of the greatness of God, loved God, and was happy in peace and passion, and the leisure and Beauty is shaped by God's gift. Interlocutors are believers.
It is undeniable that faith brings spiritual power. I don't know which faction I belong to, but I think psychological peace and contentment are the best destination.
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## Refraction of society
1. Official speech and playing football are the reflection of society
As soon as they met, the mayor asked the male protagonist, are you the son of so-and-so, who is your father, and what does he do? It's not only in China that fights for fathers. This is common in the world.
The male protagonist's book, neither of the propaganda nature of a tour guide, nor based on fact, is only a fictional personal work in a literary way, which can be said to be unprofitable for the mayor and the committee, no matter what the mayor declares himself. How the government has opened its doors to the public, and how hard I have tried to serve the public, these words are only used as official shirk. Yes, the same mercenary businessman goes there.
2. Wild pears (ugly and powerless things)
This concept first appeared when the male protagonist asked the mayor for financial assistance to publish his book, and the mayor who browsed the manuscript uttered it. I have been a soldier there, I feel familiar, and I came to praise the hero for "knowing a lot", but when the hero explained that the wild pear in his book is not a place, but refers to the wild pear tree, the mayor. Apparently the interest has waned, because the wild pear trees, the rough, stunted trees, and although the place is full of wild pear trees, not everyone knows about it. Here, the director revealed a truth to us, it is not easy to arouse people's interest in the face of ugly and unknown things without emotional intimacy, even if it exists around you and gets along with you day and night.
3. The cynical newborn calf
The male protagonist met the most famous local writer Mr. Suleiman in a bookstore. Before he had published any works and received any recognition, he called himself a young and aspiring writer, and took the initiative to chat with Mr. Suleiman. During the conversation, the male protagonist used a frivolous tone, questioning all attitudes, and qualitatively defining concepts, such as "literature, when pen and paper meet, there is no other center except language. Do you believe in this?", Such a vague and huge subject.
He is obviously a newborn calf, but he does not have the attitude of humility and learning. The attitude of being aloof and thinking that he knows everything really makes the audience dislike it. After watching the movie, will you think of the "advanced" self in the past, will you? Has it also become a defiant newborn calf invisibly?
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## Symbols: wild pear trees and digging wells
At the end of the film, the father said the following to his son about the strangeness of the wild pear tree fruit and the strangeness of human nature.
"Everyone has their own temperament. The key is to accept and like it. The fruit of wild pears is as deformed as you said, but I ate it for breakfast a few days, and it was very delicious."
Each of us is an independent individual, and we also have "weirdness" in one way or another, but don't worry, the video finally gives you the answer to your doubts.
"Survival or Destruction", survival requires change. Even if his father succumbs to reality and stops digging wells, the male protagonist is still willing to jump into the well and continue to dig down wells, defending his dream in the snow-filled sky, and destroying the well. Hanging in the well, of course, destruction is the easier option.
The well that seems impossible to dig out of water is like a key to the other side of the dream. The act of digging a well is a struggle to smooth the edges and corners without compromising life and unwilling to be "taken for granted".
In the film, the director uses a method of interweaving reality and fantasy, opening up the possibility of imagination.
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## Afterword
As a movie, the large dialogues, the quiet and soft light and shadow effects, and the three-hour film length are all powerful tools for "hypnosis". I chose to watch the movie in the afternoon, but I didn't fall asleep, and I was constantly being stunned by philosophical people. The words are amazing.
The male protagonist has been fleeing, fleeing from the mediocre life, fleeing from the unwilling mediocrity of the self. The hometown is backward, but it is also as beautiful as a fairyland. Life is flat, but it is safe and sound, and everything is not as bad as he thought. But this seemingly intellectual moaning, is it not the awakening of personal consciousness, a journey of searching for spiritual sustenance?
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