The first thing that touched me was the gentle gaze the director cast on nature, children, the poor—these are well-known, but rarely cared, vulnerable groups.
In the film, the director spends a lot of space to pay attention to them, there is a handsome five-year-old boy who shines shoes, happy and content, even if he has no time to play, no school. What he loves most are the little notebooks that go to Wikipedia, and the dad who takes care of his entire life (including shoe shine and support for the family).
There are refugees in closed and backward regions of Africa who are struggling to survive, with no water, no electricity, no food, and only fourteen starving children.
There is a father who is a gardener in Dubai, eats frozen curry every day, and saves money to send back to his hometown in Africa... These self-shooting clips are all preserved in a relatively original way in the film.
And those bright and beautiful men and beauties may have passed by in a flash, and I have almost no impression. When the life at the top of the pyramid was really magnified and presented, the theme song A day at a time sounded for the first time:
a group of African women pounding rice hard, singing folk songs with simple melody; a common western restaurant in the United States, revolving table belts Stacks of squeak and oily steaks lined up neatly; a snow-white adult bull, waiting to die in a clean shed.
The women's monotonous and powerful ballad, which has been sung all the time, gradually echoes the clear film theme melody
"Water should be clean...I don't want to over-reach..."
On the same day, the northern and southern hemispheres, three shots, recorded The same thing - a group of African women and a cow feeding an American's lunch.
Two shots rang out, and the cow fell, still white. I knew what was going to happen next and closed my eyes. When I looked again, it was a dazzling red. The women's monotonous and powerful ballad continued to be sung. I covered my mouth and wept uncontrollably.
I eat meat a lot and go to restaurants occasionally, just like those Americans, taking up most of the resources provided by people on the other side of the world, devouring the flesh and blood of natural life. For a split second, I even had the urge to go vegan - naively thinking maybe that was the most I could do right now.
Today, when I traveled to the city, I was in a trance on the subway, and the scenes before my eyes were all the pictures of the movie. I leaned against the railings, looking for a day in Shanghai, a world without the people of the Celestial Dynasty would be incomplete after all.
I saw lingering young couples, heard twilight lovers who went to Xiamen with 599 group purchases, many deliberate decorations could not hide their tired and sluggish faces, and a dark crowd of busy mobile phones... I moved my eyes slowly, and the seats in front of me happened to be empty. Now, just as I was about to sit down, a fat uncle appeared, his face was shaking at me. I looked at the burly man, despised him for two seconds, and said, "You sit down."
Just as the fat uncle sat down, he beckoned someone to come over. It turned out that his granddaughter was already asleep in his father's arms. I watched him gently take the little girl, adjust to a comfortable position, and put his fat face close to him, soothing the little body in his arms.
The little girl's head was facing my line of sight, with black fluffy hair and a white forehead, she fell asleep peacefully.
The fat uncle's hand, black and fat, looks very bulky, strokes and strokes, caressing the little girl's white forehead, light and gentle.
Once again I burst into tears uncontrollably, on day two.
I remember at the end of the film, an ordinary girl, who worked overtime until late at night, recorded a long confession at the last moment of the day. She said, I am ordinary, I know I have no special talent, but I try to make every day a little bit different, like today, right now, I feel special.
On the second day of Floating Life, as this girl said, my life is still the same, and there are not many great changes. If there is a difference, it may be that when I see beggars in ragged clothes on the side of the road, some are no longer sad and sympathetic, but happy for them. Because of the gap between the rich and the poor, they get alms from the rich in the bustling city center. Maybe when I am eating, I will think of the lives that have been created, nurtured, and ended by humans, and I will think of the countless pairs of hands that work for this dish, and I will finish it with gratitude. It may also be that I prefer to put down my phone, observe with my eyes, feel the real world I live in, and be moved by the inexplicable warmth.
It may also be that I will stop reading those unnutritious news tonight, and write down these sloppy words that cannot be divided into paragraphs, record the most real mood at the moment, and look forward to the sun tomorrow.
View more about Life in a Day reviews
