Catherine raced against the clock, trying to recapture her brother from the gap in the war. Billy looked at his dear sister and shook his head gently but firmly. Catherine slammed the car heavily, and she was so angry that she even questioned that he chose to go back to Iraq for the vanity of a hero, but he still smiled in return.
These two scenes make me think this is the saddest movie Ang Lee has ever made.
Billy Lynn's halftime was a double timeout, a short break from the raging war in Iraq and an intermission in the middle of the Rugby Open. The soldiers in uniform bid farewell to their comrades who had just died, and stood upright in the center of the stage, holding up a background board with the imprint of the times for the glamorous singer. There are several scenes in which the young soldier confronts those trying to find out about the war, and in every flashback, Billy Lynn refuses to acknowledge the honor of being honored—it's almost an anti-war movie, if it were this one. The director of the film is not Ang Lee's words. But Ang Lee is Ang Lee because he makes life more sad than war.
What is the saddest thing in this world for you? For me, it was the cheerleaders who fell in love with Billy at first sight, but all she "seeed" was the symbol of the war hero in her mind. It was Billy smiling gently at her sister, but she could never go home with her again. Yes, the saddest thing in this world is that the people you think love you, or really love you, are really just them. In the barren wilderness of life, you are alone in your journey.
The spectators of the consumer society will not understand the cruelty of war, and the mercenary politicians and businessmen just want to plunder money and oil from the fire. These are all well-accepted clichés. However, Ang Lee said that there is no real understanding between people, not even lovers. - This, are you ready to accept it?
I loved Billy's first encounter with the cheerleaders. Two young people with clear eyes, green and passionate caress, and vigorous sexual fantasy on a brilliant stage, have all the elements for a love story to unfold. However, her understanding of him is no more than that of the fan who made fun of gays in the army. She is a good girl, beautiful, warm, caring for the poor and children, admiring young heroes, she is a bright girl in times of peace. She just looked at him puzzled: run away? Are you not going back to Iraq?
I also really like Katherine. She was against war, she loved her brother dearly, and she was the perfect family. But in the end, everyone in the film actually looks at the war from their own perspective. Some saw heroes, some saw business opportunities and oil, some saw lace news, and Catherine, who saw the government conspiracy, actually Nor will it be different. She knew why he went to Iraq because she knew he was drafted because he fought for her, but she didn't know why he went back to Iraq because every day in Iraq she didn't share with him experience. She loved him, but she couldn't understand him either.
There is no basis for understanding without shared experience, and what is love without a basis? Those you may love, have loved, are loving, and what happened to them, you never know. And from this moment on, your lives have been separated. You'll be confused, you'll be sad, you'll smash the car with your fists in anger, but there's nothing you can do about it, and the best you can do is watch him go away.
Finally, Billy smiled and looked at his sister, and he said I should take you to Iraq. This is really an understatement of jokes, his and her expressions didn't even bother me much, and it was here that I was crying. At this moment, I finally understood what I had been doing for the past few years. I armed myself with twig mops and feather dusters, and I demanded to enter Iraq.
They joked naturally, before you enlisted in the army, you were just a Texas punk. I think joining the army is because the salary is too low now, what can I do when I come back. You can't hear them, whether on TV, on stage, or face to face. They sit in the hummer and smile at each other and say "I love you" to each other. There was no way they could go home, they went back to Iraq.
What Ang Lee wanted to say was not how meaningless the war was, but why Billy had to go back to a war whose meaning had been deconstructed. The word "war" here can be easily replaced by "life". Human nature and life are the only themes that Ang Lee is keen on, no matter if he shoots food and drink men and women, rafting in the sea or the battlefield in Iraq. You can escape from war, but can life be? Later, the sacrificed mushroom Billy said, "The shell has been fired, but it hasn't hit you yet."
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