Because the film tells the story of a young Iraqi soldier, and the entire filming is very much the director's self-reflection on the video medium, and I happen to have watched a lot of war movies recently, so I watched it. There is a feeling of confirmation everywhere in the film.
Uh. The following spoilers begin...
In the post-Cold War era, we are not only living in images surrounded by television media, but also under the weight of war violence and video violence. In the rear, images serve as spiritual replenishment and become an intrinsic part of war. In the Iraq War, news images no longer consist of aerial bombings. We can also see street battles at close range, and the images that make Billy Lynn a national hero are also images of his life-and-death hand-to-hand combat. .
The main line of the film also begins here. When the American people saw the footage, they cheered their heroes, and Billy Lynn and his comrades returned home, only to return to Iraq two weeks later. The main plot of the whole story is about the experience of participating in the halftime performance of the football game during this period; the sub-line is the memory of life in Iraq and the battle that lost his comrade, died in close combat, and made the protagonist famous.
The heroes who exist in the images finally return to the motherland, and naturally they are welcomed and sought after by people. But the so-called "love and respect" are accompanied by the media's interrogation of the fighting situation, accompanied by the media's complete ignorance of the tragedies of war and the injustice of the killings, and the veterans have become established models, and cannot be exposed. Any negative, ordinary, selfish words or deeds.
This dehumanizing orientation even exists in the supporting actress who fell in love with Billy Lynn at first sight: when he finally said goodbye to his girlfriend, Billy Lynn was persuaded by his sister to have a hint of whether to stay in the United States for medical treatment and get along with his girlfriend. He hesitated, but his girlfriend actually asked, "Aren't you supposed to be a hero for your country?", so Billy Lynn could only say that he was joking and that he would go back to fight. I feel really sad seeing this here. Even in the eyes of this "heart-to-heart" girlfriend, Billy Lynn is nothing more than a high-profile war hero who "should" have the selfless dedication and sacrifice she is fascinated by - even if this unjust war is not worth anyone's life to sacrifice. So let's just assume at this point that when the war is finally over, Billy Lynn does come back alive, when he unloads his weapons and heroic aura and goes back to his small Texas town as a Burger King waiter or some other low-paying job. Will those forgetful people remember being grateful to veterans and working to improve their lives? Is there any reason for his girlfriend to continue to love him? I guess not. You must know that Billy Lynn and his comrades have only been back for two weeks, and the sponsors justifiably distrusted their words and discounted their expected salary for the film by about 1/2: "In Hollywood, after two weeks you guys It's not worth much." Well, the value of a person is so cheap, and the world is thriving, all for the benefit.
In fact, in the film (and perhaps part of it exists in real American society), almost everyone except the male protagonist's sister ignores the PTSD symptoms of these veterans that are so serious that I can't let go, knowing that the soldiers are all for the sake of They work hard to support their families but wantonly squeeze the remuneration of veterans. The country and capitalists are just relying on them to work their lives to make war fortunes. After earning a lot of money, they go back to consume the war audio-visual feast presented by the soldiers.
Perhaps at the moment, killing scenes can be easily spread through the media, turning "war" from abstract patterns to flesh and blood. But the reality is that this is no more evocative of genuine humanism that does not succumb to anti-war slogans; the reality is that selectively unreal images in the frame are often mistaken by the masses for dehumanizing, entertaining The “real” of sex; and the soldiers who experienced bombing casualties, chronic nervousness, and lack of private life were reduced to manipulative puppets in the spectacle society on camera. No one really cared about them, no one asked why the war happened and why it couldn't be stopped, no one helped war-traumatized soldiers like Billy Lynn to properly position their own presence in the society of the spectacle.
People in the United States enjoy the comfort of the military's life protection, but there are countless people who are still making extremely unfair comments on the soldiers. These finger-pointing and even nitpicking behaviors are like playing monkeys. The performance, I can only watch it outside the image, I feel angry but more sad, but at the same time, I also realize that for this group of soldiers, the comrades who understand and support each other are born and die, comfort and encourage each other , was actually the most warm and dignified life choice at that time. No wonder Mr Corporal said, you have no choice, we have no choice.
But having said that, although Billy Lynn first went to the front line to get a salary to treat his sister's illness, in the end, when it was found that people would always have a view of war that could not be unified with them, they often couldn't get real compassion and understanding. , I think the reason why he decided to leave without choosing to stay was neither for his relatives nor for the so-called country, but more because of the "spiritual belief that transcends the existence of oneself and the country" mentioned by his deceased comrades-in-arms. , a peaceful state of mind that is willing to face fate -
say "I love you" to each other on the edge of life and death, and then put aside the pain and fight bravely.
Also, regarding the scumbag's cinematic look and feel:
In fact, if it weren't for 3D, it might be less prone to visual fatigue, and I watched 60 frames...
But the cinema space design is super invincible, and the Chinese subtitles are very, very, very extreme, spicy chicken .
So, like my dumb roommate, she was about to fall asleep when she saw it - I actually felt that my physical strength was at the limit for a while, and only my brain and eyes were left to move - until the stage "exploded" and blew her up Woke up with a start, but since I couldn't hold back the tears from there (God I decided to forgive myself) I almost thought the seat really shook itself =. =
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