2. It is the real meaning of the US military who invaded Iraq to be used by the behind-the-scenes financial masters of the US President and Secretary of Defense to make money.
3. Without this unjust war, his life will be meaningless, just a diaosi in the Texas countryside.
Countries go to war only in one situation: when rich people feel they can make money from war. —George Orwell
The rich fight and the poor die. - Jean-Paul Sartre
The story is simple. Billy Lynn, a poor dick who was born in a broken house in the rural south of the United States, smashed his sister's boyfriend's car on the spur of the moment because his sister had a car accident and was punished by his sister's boyfriend. Father was sent to join the army. After joining the army, I came to Iraq, a place full of yellow sand, no bird shit, full of hostile people and terrorists, and they will die at any time. During a mission, because the newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, Billy Lynn rushed out to rescue the squad leader who had been hit by bullets, engaged in close-range gunfights and hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and finally inserted a dagger into the enemy's throat to kill him. The fight is over. Billy Lynn's "act of bravery" was filmed and sent back to the United States because of a camera that was left at the scene. became a household name hero. Then, Billy Lynn's class will go to the United States and have a big parade as an American hero. The last stop of the parade was to perform on the same stage with "Destiny Girl" Beyoncé at a major football game. After the performance, he bid farewell to the lover he had just met that day, and regardless of his sister's objection, he resolutely set foot on the car returning to the Iraqi battlefield.
What exactly does this movie mean? There are mixed opinions online. My opinion is: If you can't read Billy Lynn, then you should read Pi. Like "Pi", the story of "Billy Lynn", if written, would seem really bland. But like "Pi", "Billy Lynn" is all about the details.
The film is simply a hodgepodge of details. If not summed up, it is easy to be confused by the complicated and overwhelming details. So what do these details show? Give a few examples and you will understand.
Black producers in Hollywood just want to invest in hero stories and make big money by making them into movies.
Actresses who intend to make their stories into movies are only willing to disguise themselves as men.
The football team owner Chase was only willing to give each player $5,500 to buy their story.
Football players only care about the effect of machine gun bullets penetrating the human body on the battlefield.
The audience sitting in front of them only cares if there are gays in the troops.
The set porters at halftime of a football game only care that they can get out of the field as soon as possible, so as not to delay the next game.
The black boy who danced with Beyoncé scolded Billy Lynn with a dirty word.
The set porter and the soldiers couldn't get into a physical conflict, and ambushed the soldiers on their way back to the parking lot, and then got into a group fight with them...
many, many details. Thousands of words come together into one sentence: Do you think you are defending your home and country? People don't care at all.
Where is the truth? The truth lies in what Billy Lynn's sister said at the dinner table (to the effect): Iraq has neither invaded the United States, nor has it found the weapons of mass destruction that the United States declared when it sent troops. So your war in Iraq doesn't make sense at all.
There are some shots in the middle of the film about Billy Lynn and his comrades patrolling the streets of Iraq. Iraqis treat them with wariness, fear and hatred. American soldiers smashed open the door in the middle of the night and broke into the sleeping Iraqi home. Under the cry of his wife and the resentful eyes of his children, they took away the former Iraqi Republican Guard officer who was hiding the portrait of Saddam Hussein. The movie gave the child a close-up of hateful stares.
The US military action in Iraq is more than meaningless. The United States is an aggressor in Iraqi territory. American soldiers invaded their country, subverted their government, killed their soldiers and civilians, causing chaos in Iraq. In name, it was to end Saddam's rule and bring so-called democracy to Iraq. In fact, the disaster caused by the American soldiers was even worse than Saddam's. It is also mentioned in the movie: How is the situation in Iraq? It sucks. Americans and Iraqis fight. Iraqis and Iraqis fight each other.
The details of this "former officer of the Iraqi Republican Guard" are also interesting. Those who are not familiar with international politics may not know: the main force of the "ISIS" that is now raging in Iraq and Syria is composed of former Iraqi Republican Guard officers who were dispersed by the US military. The US invasion of Iraq not only failed to bring peace and tranquility to Iraqis, but also gave birth to ISIS.
What's even more interesting is that Saddam, ISIS, and bin Laden, whom the U.S. government has portrayed as devils, are all armed forces that were once helped by the U.S. government. The U.S. government helped Saddam to fight Iran. It helped the Syrian rebels, the predecessor of ISIS, to fight Assad. The American government helped Osama bin Laden to fight the Soviet Union. So to sum up: the US government is the originator of the chaos and turmoil in the Middle East, the war is raging, and the people are struggling.
So Billy Lynn himself was confused. He asked the squad leader, the one who died later, what was the significance of this war? The squad leader said earnestly (to the point): "Son, you can do what the organization asks you to do. What's the use of thinking so much?"—Yes! What are you thinking about? Anyway, the purpose of your joining the army is not to defend your homeland, spread democracy, and maintain justice.
What is the purpose of joining the army? It was also explained in the movie: In the stadium, Billy Lynn's comrade-in-arms had an acquaintance who seemed to be a canteen worker. The worker took Billy Lynn and comrades into a construction site just to find a place where no one could smoke. The worker said: "I heard that when you enlisted in the army, you were given a one-time reward of $6,000! Our family is already making ends meet. In order to support my wife and children, I also want to enlist in the army." - This is the real purpose of many Americans joining the army, right? .
In a conversation, Billy Lynn disclosed a more interesting detail: the squad leader who died was on the plane carrying his body back home, and there were many "private contractors" of the US Department of Defense. They drank and smoked cigars next to the corpse to celebrate another fortune. Billy Lynn thought it was fucking ridiculous. We are covered in blood and the enemy is fighting hand to hand, yet you treat war as a business?
Well, what should I say, this is where Billy Lynn's social class is limited. As the bottom of the society, he did not know that in the interest chain of war, their soldiers were just cannon fodder. This chain of interests is very complicated and lengthy. There are big companies, arms dealers, Washington lobbyists and politicians in the upper reaches, and private contractors and suppliers of the Ministry of Defense in the middle reaches. At the bottom, the meat and soup are all eaten, and only the bones are left. These American soldiers who don't know why they go to die.
So many people watched the movie and said, "I really want to cry when I see these heroes set up for the cabaret show at halftime in a football game." - What are you crying for? Being a vase and making decorations is the real meaning of the US military that invaded Iraq. Because their actions are meaningless in the first place, it is the real meaning of the US military who invaded Iraq that they are used by the behind-the-scenes funders of war criminals such as the US President and Secretary of Defense to make money. So, if you don't understand American politics, you don't understand this movie at all.
Where is the climax of this movie? I think it's here: A Texas oil businessman came over to Billy Lynn and his comrades and said: I'm developing a new technology for oil extraction. When this technology matures, we won't have to rely on Middle East oil, and you won't have to go there to die.
What a kind man! But he was scolded. Billy Lynn's squad leader scolded him in front of the businessman (to the point): You may be in business to make money, but we are killing machines. We are happiest when we kill people. We would love to go to war in Iraq. You know the shit!
Ok. This passage gives Billy Lynn the reason for his final journey to Iraq. Because he left his home country, left the army, and left the battlefield, Billy Lynn was nothing but a diaosi in the Texas countryside, and even his new love would hate him. Without this unjust war, his life would be meaningless.
So despite all his doubts about the meaning of the invasion of Iraq, even though the only sister he cared about in the world, in his own words, "an angelic person," cried and said you don't want to go back, and if you died, I'd kill myself too ! Although he faced the hateful eyes of Iraqi children and knew that by kidnapping his father in front of the children, he was training future terrorists with his own hands, but he went back without hesitation. He walked into the car and said I love you to every comrade in arms, which was actually self-hypnosis and self-deception.
Because life is a road of no return. You can never go back to the past.
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