Most German movies look boring, so boring people can't help but pull the progress bar or at least see if there are a few minutes left. In other words, there is a lack of drama and a lack of fascinating story lines. This may be related to the Germans' speculative and narrative style. But this feature is also dialectical. The lack of narrative skills sometimes brings the theme to the prominence. Successful German films do not need any fancy, they can positively impact the human soul with the depth of their incomparable thinking, such as "Eavesdropping" "Storm", "Operation Bernard". The film "Barbara" was nominated for two European Film Awards in 12 years. It is regarded as an academic masterpiece, but overall it has not reached the height of the above two. But it is just such a well-regulated film that can give people a glimpse of the signature characteristics of German films, and can also see the changes in German films in recent years.
one. The "dissent" about freedom and
the history of the Berlin Wall have always been enthusiastically expressed in German films (the theme is strange, German films on the theme of World War II and the Cold War are always excellent), "Eavesdropping Storm", "Goodbye Lenin", "Tong" Channels to Freedom are all top grades, and such works basically have "freedom" as the motif-East Germany controlled by the Soviet Union represents closedness and despotism, while the symbol of West Germany is freedom. Therefore, tens of thousands of East Germans have to dig through the "channel to freedom" even if they sprinkle their heads and sprinkle blood.
—————————— I am the dividing line of digression————————————————
The countries that are keen to talk about freedom in movies, one is the United States, and the other is Germany, but the two have completely different complexes and expressions of freedom. In the United States, freedom is a habit, a tradition, something that is within reach and self-evident, like in "The Shawshank's Redemption", once it is lost, it should of course be regained with all efforts. But in Germany, freedom is probably an eternal pursuit, an unchanging motif in literature! Because in history, the Germans, from Bismarck’s iron-blooded politics to Hitler’s fanatical dictatorship, probably never tasted freedom in real life. Therefore, the word "freedom" is extremely abstract, spiritual, and even deified to them. Both German literature and music pursue "ultimacy", like Goethe's "Faust spirit", Schiller's "perfect humanity" in the game, Marx's pursuit of communism, and the Gothic church seems to stretch to heaven. Go to the roof. It is the extreme worship of freedom that shows the lack of freedom in real life (who would worship the ubiquitous firewood, rice, oil and salt!) Many German films are portrayals of this kind of freedom complex.
———————————— After running back—————————————————— What is
commendable is that in the film "Barbara", we watch It was the Germans' sublation of this complex. Barbara, a female doctor, had escaped to West Germany for her life like countless East Germans. After being released from the labor camp, she was assigned to work in a rural hospital. She had been unwilling, but after various experiences, at the last moment, she gave up the opportunity to escape to West Germany again and stayed in the silent land of East Germany.
The translation of the Taiwanese version of "Barbara" is "Run for Love". Many netizens think it is "Stay for Love", but these two translations are actually more one-sided: "For Love" is obviously not Barbara staying in the end. All the reasons for East Germany. Of course, there is an ambiguous feeling for Dr. Andre, but there is also a sense of responsibility and professional ethics as a doctor, and more importantly, the change in the way of thinking of Barbara. This transformation is clearly expressed in the fable that Andre told Barbara through the painting in the first half of the film: the professor demonstrated the human anatomy to a group of students, but everyone’s eyes were focused on the book, no one was serious. Observing the corpse, he mistakenly used his right hand for his left hand. Barbara finally clearly understood Andre's meaning: instead of blindly pursuing the illusory ultimate value of "freedom", it is better to focus on a living "person" in reality. Therefore, her final decision is to give up "freedom" and live in the present.
This "humanistic" choice is undoubtedly a betrayal of the obsessive German film "pursuing the ultimate." This can be said to be a testament to the invasion of Europe by American culture and values, and it can also be said to be a change in German society in recent years: Freedom is no longer an out-of-reach spiritual luxury for them, but something that they have become accustomed to in life. The literary world always complements real life: people always love to talk about what they don’t get. Once occupied by people, it will go down the altar-this is a disenchantment of freedom, but also an enlightenment about freedom. People often say that "the country is unfortunate for poets", and the opposite is true: the withdrawal of the "freedom" motif may dim the most glorious spirit of Germany, but for the rights and freedom of ordinary Germans, how lucky is it?
Don't earn my tears The
typical German director's lifelong faculty is to smother you within ten minutes of the beginning of the film. To achieve this effect, they have three ultimate tricks: the first, as mentioned above, is to abandon all the "burden" of the storyline, and the second is to chop branches and leaves, be bare and froze (or minimalist). The narrative method of ism), and the performance style that is suppressed to the bone (or zero emotion). Of course, the German films in recent years have strived to change to meet the expectations of ordinary audiences for the enjoyment of watching movies. The narratives and performances of "Lola Run" and "Goodbye Lenin" are extremely leaping and full.
But the movie "Barbara", although a new work in 12 years, is a signature German style. Just look at the heroine—Nina Hoth’s performance in the film—is almost the same expression from start to finish? Do not laugh without smiling, the corners of the mouth are raised no more than three times. With her eyes that are as round as a copper bell and always look straight at people, is it terrifying? (The above parallel sentence does not match the high-end western style of the whole article, I hope you can delete it). In China, this kind of actor will be called a facial paralysis vase (actually she looks pretty...), but in this film, there is no sense of disobedience. Why? ——Because all the characters are the same (囧), but the acting is natural, and Dr. Andre, with flexible facial features, looks particularly entertaining — I suspect that he is a cheerful and easygoing comrade spy from the United States who ran over to the United States~~~
——— ——————— Okay, let’s be more serious—————————————————
The finishing touch of the film is at the end. If the whole film can only hit three stars, the end is definitely five stars: the rolling sea in the dark night, the roaring wind, Barbara turned her head expressionlessly, and helped her bike to walk in silence. On the ground... the next morning, the lost Dr. Andre suddenly saw Barbara returning, and the two eyes met... the card... the subtitles rolled out, the film ended, and all the complicated emotions and connotations were thrown away. A piece of void. Seeing this, I really feel that all the performances and dialogues are superfluous. A truly touching movie has the power to point to the soul and shock people's hearts, instead of earning people's tears through exaggerated lyricism and description. Earning tears depends on addition, which is the addition of all the sections, gimmicks, and hard performances, while the shocking depends on subtraction, which is to abandon all the incidentals and highlight the power of the story itself-such an excellent ending, The tradition of "not telling a story" in German films and Nina Hoss's "no acting skills" are a plus. Let us imagine the same story, what kind of ending would the triumphant director who filmed "Tangshan Earthquake" tell: It
is raining on the sea in the dark night, and Barbara is soaked and crying on the shore, toward the boatman. The eldest brother shouted hoarsely: "Bring good to the relatives of West Germany~~~I can't go~~~The people of East Germany still need me~~~~~ But my heart will always be with you~~~~ ~~~~~~blablablablablabla~~~~~~~~"
Only in recent years has it been discovered that emotional depression and restraint, even directly stripping emotion from the narrative, are more shocking than the overwhelming "cry" . People have a tendency to be abused, and sometimes subconsciously want to be cried by something, so often the so-called "sensationalism" is just a technique. As soon as a few passages come out, the audience's tears fall off. The facial tissues issued in advance came in handy (Director Veuve’s is really not aimed at you, it’s okay to take what you need)...This is actually a certain instinct of human beings, it is animal nature, not human characteristics, human nature The characteristic is thinking. Therefore, good movies always leave a blank space, leaving a way for smart audiences themselves, instead of filling the movie with various elements. This is why, Yu Hua's "Being Alive" and "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" books with extremely cold and refined narratives are particularly moving. In this regard, give a "like" for the cute and cute "Barbara" and Nina Hoth.
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