Prague Spring and the "Velvet Revolution"
In 1968, Dubček, the first secretary of the Czechoslovak Central Committee, initiated the Prague Spring Reform, which was intended to weaken the Soviet Communist Party’s control of the Czech Republic and set off a domestic campaign. Political democratization movement. The Soviet Union decided to carry out armed intervention in the Czech Republic. On the evening of August 20, the Soviet Union landed a civil aviation passenger plane at Prague Airport on the grounds of "mechanical accident and forced landing." Dozens of commandos quickly occupied the airport. A few minutes later, the Soviet airborne division went straight to Prague. In the early morning of the 21st, the Soviet army occupied Prague. Six hours after the offensive, the Soviet army controlled the entire Czech Republic. The Prague Spring is a significant international political event, marking that the rift within the Warsaw Pact has gradually emerged, and is regarded as the prelude and fuse of the drastic changes in Eastern Europe.
In a narrow sense, the "Velvet Revolution" refers to the democratic revolution that took place in the Czech Republic in November 1989 against Communist rule. Broadly speaking, the Velvet Revolution is in contrast to the violent revolution, which refers to the realization of regime change without large-scale violent conflict, which is as smooth as velvet. The democratization movement in the Czech Republic was suppressed by the Soviet Union in 1968, but domestic intellectuals who were dissatisfied with the rule of the Czech Communist Party are still operating underground. For example, we are familiar with Milan Kundera, Ivan Klima and so on.
On November 17, 1989, there was a demonstration of more than 100,000 people in the capital Prague, demanding the promotion of the democratization of the Czech Republic and the realization of a peaceful transfer of power. In 1993, the Czech Republic declared its independence.
Video overview:
Luca, a 55-year-old unmarried old Czech man who is a cellist of the Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra. Because his younger brother defected from the Eastern camp to the West, he lost his qualification to play in the Philharmonic Orchestra. In order to support his elderly mother, Lu Ka can only play mourning music for people at the funeral with his companions and trace tombstones for the cemetery management office. Luca has the play habits of a single man and maintains a strong demand for the opposite sex. Due to the embarrassing economic situation, Luca agreed to fake marriage with a Soviet woman. No, two days after the marriage, Luca's "wife" fled to Germany to meet her lover through the Czech citizenship she obtained, and left her son, Kolya, a Soviet boy. Luca only knows a little Russian, and Kolya can't understand Czech at all. The relationship between father and son began in this freshman year.
Interpretation of the film:
1. Representation of metaphors for characters:
Czechoslovakia is geographically located in the middle of Europe, in the gap between Western Europe and the Soviet Union. The survival in this gap is not only reflected in geographic location, but also in ideology. . Under the high-pressure control of the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic was lifeless. It is against this background that
the ingenuity of the character setting in this film is revealed.
The Czech Republic, which has always been controlled by the Soviet Union and treated like a "son", is metaphorized in the context of the film as a tall and vicissitudes of adult-Luca; while the Soviet Union, which has always controlled the Czech Republic as a "dad", is metaphorized Become a weak child in need of protection-Corea. Since Corlia is the oil bottle left by Luca's fake wife, their psychology has been given a strong metaphorical color. Luca was forced to adopt Corey from the Social Welfare Bureau as a stepfather, reluctant but helpless, but Corey felt abandoned, helpless and hopeless. The invaded Czech Republic became the father in the film, and the powerful Soviet Union became a little boy and called the old man father. This kind of revenge character design caters to the Czech people and makes them happy in their hearts. The national sentiment can be released and vented.
2. The performance of women in the
film: The female images in the film include Luca's elderly mother, who hates the Soviets extremely; a young female singer who sings at funerals, she sings badly because of Luca's teasing. At the same time, she also maintains a fixed sexual relationship with Luca; Luca’s friend teaches a female teacher in Russian, she tells stories in Russian for the lonely Kolia; a young female cellist wants to be Luca as a teacher, The two completed an "artist"-style soul exchange during the teaching period.
From a feminist point of view, the setting and performance of women in the film is still a male's overhead perspective. The camera language in the director constructs the gender identity of men and women. Women are seen, irrational, teased, needed, coaxed, and toyed with. Women only appear when caring for children, expressing motherhood, telling stories, and solving physical needs. They are materialized as a tool and become a chess piece for the director.
3. Dialogue design:
Kolya grew up in the Soviet Union and was strongly influenced by Soviet culture. But there is no absolute opposition in the child's worldview, and he does not understand or understand the hostility of ideology, which makes the world of adults a friend or an enemy.
Set up excellent dialogue twice.
Luka and Kolya lay on the big bed, and Soviet tanks roared past the window.
Corlia: Is it ours?
Luca: No, it's yours.
Corea: Are they going to Moscow?
Luca: No, they are going to stay here, unfortunately.
Corea: Just like me.
Kolya's world only has the concepts of "I" and "Non-I". As an adult, Luca no longer uses such a simple scope to delimit and judge the world.
Luca was urged by the apartment manager to put the flags of the Soviet Union and the Czech Republic on the windows.
Corea: Ours, beautiful. (In Russian, this word has both beautiful meaning and red meaning.)
Luca: It's similar to my red underwear.
Luca's deliberate misinterpretation of Kolia's words carried a strong national sentiment, and achieved the purpose of easing his emotions by desecrating the flag of the Soviet Union.
In addition to the above, the film's lens application and lens language are also very commendable. Although the techniques of contrast montage and lyrical montage are old-fashioned, they still have artistic vitality. Using a national sentiment to attack Oscar, the director and Luca's actor, the director's father, is very shrewd.
In summary, this movie, I give three stars.
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