Faith and desire are intertwined in this mountain village monastery. A priest who was allegedly inspired by God, a group of nuns who devoted themselves to practice, and an orphan who returned to Romania from Germany, constituted the character picture of the movie "Beyond the Mountain"; going out of the mountain, or serving God, became the focus of the movie; From the onset of psychosis to the death of exorcism, this is the main plot line of the movie. Mengji still used his long lens to record and show it quietly. He did not give the story an ending or clearly stated his point of view, but through the lens, Mengji gave the audience a lot of hints.
The protagonists in the movie are two orphans, both of whom are from the orphanage. They have formed a deep friendship and even ambiguous feelings in the orphanage. After growing up, Alina went to work in Germany, and Vickia went to a monastery in the mountains. The lives of the two have divided, one ups and downs in the red dust, desire supports her; the other retreats to religion, seeking the peace of life. However, the friendship between them is still there, and the consideration of each other is still higher than the attraction of the outside world and the refuge of faith. Alina traveled all the way to the monastery, wanting to take Vicky to Germany to work on a cruise ship. From then on, they can be together and enjoy the beauty of life. And Vicki Wei has dedicated herself to God, and the outside world can no longer attract her. She is just worried about Alina, trying to provide her with some shelter as best she can. In this lonely monastery, two orphans stand in stalemate here.
This is a stalemate between secularity and religion, as well as a stalemate between desire and belief. What happened in this mountain village monastery will actually happen in each of us. Alina felt that she was competing with God for Vekchivi, and she had no chance of winning in this battle, so she regarded the entire monastery and even religion as her enemy. Vikkivi has only a sisterhood for Alina, even if she has desires, she has already suppressed it in her heart. At least in the eyes of Alina, her heart is like a dry well, whether there is still a spring of emotion, for Alina, it is impossible to see to the end. She feels desperate, because life without Vickivi is meaningless to her. In despair, it caused her hysteria. Alina’s hysteria was not only a manifestation of her despair, but also her dissatisfaction with the monastery. Through her hysteria, the monastery was connected with the outside world. It was also due to her hysteria that eventually led to her death and made her quiet. The monastery is in trouble.
In the movie, Vicky Kia is the real protagonist, her heart is full of contradictions, and Alina is just an externalization of the contradictory side of Vicky Kia's heart. From the story, we can see her forbearance, her piety, her kindness, and her conversion to God. She always faces everything in front of her calmly, it seems that the outside world has no meaning to her, and her heart has stopped. Alina is in sharp contrast with her. She is crazy, persistent, and swears to never give up until she achieves her goal. She is full of material and physical desires, doubts the men and women in the monastery, doubts religious motives, and even has a sense of God. Doubt. In fact, this is exactly the two sides of Vickia. All Alina's performance actually represents the shaking of Vicky's faith. When Alina is in the future, Vicky has nothing to do with the outside world. No matter what she desires, she can only suppress it in her heart, but only sincerely to God, so that she can be comforted in front of the blue lantern statue. The arrival of Alina activated her worldly desires.
On the surface, she was worried about Alina, worried about her inability to settle down, worried about her hysteria, worried about her prospects, but it was Vikkiah herself who hesitated. The calm heart was rippling with Alina's arrival, and as her stepped closer, worldly desires gradually raised their heads and shaken her beliefs. Vekchia doubted the life he once believed in, and doubted the God who he believed in. She could only kneel in front of the idol in the middle of the night, reading the Bible non-stop to strengthen her conviction. The tragedy in the movie shouldn't have happened. She should have resolutely stated her attitude and let Alina, who does not believe in God, leave the monastery and return to her previous life. Her hesitation made Alina see through her heart, feeling that she stayed and attacked all the sacred things in the monastery, and she would be able to rescue Vickya from religion and return to her. In this way, Vickia transformed her inner stalemate into a stalemate between her and Alina, and finally into a contradiction between Alina and the monastery, she became a bystander. The night before Alina's death, she came to Alina's place; when Alina died, in front of the police, she questioned the monastery. Mengji's lens transition here is quite interesting.
The priests, mothers, and nuns in the monastery are also devout believers. Although there are different reasons for entering this remote monastery, they have a grateful attitude and a passionate attitude for this place that allows them to settle down. The priest turned out to be an engineer in a power plant. He got enlightenment by chance, so he gained some magical powers. We can't see the evil of these people in the movie, but only kindness, simplicity, and some ignorance in the mountains. God is supreme in their hearts, and they strictly follow God's will. They only practice in the monastery in the mountains, and they also provide a spiritual sanctuary for the people in the city. They also go to the city from time to time to provide food for the orphans there. Although there is a card hanging in front of the monastery, it says that pagans are not allowed to enter, showing their intolerance. But for people living in a desolate mountain village in Romania, how much rational knowledge can they have? Believing in God, abiding by morals, and persisting in kindness are all these believers have.
Although the priest was not happy about the arrival of the non-believer Alina, he still acquiesced to Vikkiah to take in Alina. And Alina's fierce attitude towards religion also broke the tranquility of the monastery, so that the nuns who had nothing to do with each other were disturbed. There are multiple scenes in the film showing these nuns, running around for the crazy Alina. When Alina developed hysteria, the dean and the nuns sent her to the hospital in the city, but the hospital asked them why they didn't keep her in the monastery. She said that reading the Bible to her was more effective than sending her to the hospital. A mad woman who was resolutely anti-religious should be controlled by the secular world was pushed by the secular world to the monastery she resisted, and the monastery could only accept her and afford to save her from the body to the soul. So far things are quite ridiculous. For a crazy woman who is no longer accepted, does not believe in God, doubts God, accuses priests and nuns of having an affair, desperately making noise in the monastery, the monastery is no longer able to carry out normal activities, and the way they can think of can only be like a hospital. , To tie her up. They could only think that this mad woman was possessed by a demon according to their thoughts, and could only reluctantly offer it the most effective magic weapon that they thought was the most effective exorcism for her, and the tragedy happened.
From the real event to the movie itself, the priests and nuns in the monastery are all criticized by people. The serious ones condemned it as the sin of religion, the light ones also regarded the priests and nuns as ignorant and cruel. Of course, judging from the death of Alina, the priest and nun in the monastery were at fault, after all, a young life passed away. However, to attribute this tragedy to the monastery is probably too harsh for religion. We don’t know what the real events are. Judging from the movie, everything that happened in the monastery has its own logic. In such a lonely place, what can the priests and nuns have to solve their immediate predicament? Therefore, Mengji did not express his attitude easily in the film, but only presented the event to the audience and let the audience judge by themselves.
Many people think that religion is full of sin, hypocrisy and ignorance on the one hand, and on the other hand they hold too high moral requirements on it. It should be ethical and innocent. The Bible once said that whoever is innocent can stone her first. But who can say loudly that I am not guilty? At the end of the movie, the priests and nuns are all locked into a police car by the police and taken to the prosecutor for questioning. The prosecutor was not there, because a son killed his mother, he went to deal with it. Therefore, the police officer said that there are crimes everywhere, seeming to point to the movie, thinking that there are also crimes in the monastery. Of course, Mengji may have another meaning here. The monastery is the same as the dunya, and various factors lead to evil. Even if there is sin, it does not mean that the sin in the monastery is more serious than the world. Is evil everywhere? Maybe so, because there are demons hidden deep in people's hearts.
The title of the film is also very interesting. Like the film, everything is inconclusive, it is just a relative concept. For the city, beyond the mountain is the monastery. Although there are occasional believers who come here to seek spiritual comfort, the mountains and plains are still too far away from them. For the monastery, beyond the mountain is the city below the mountain, where the red dust exists opposite to them. For Alina and Vickia, beyond the mountains is the vast world, which is Germany, and the dunya. However, whether it is in the mountains or outside the mountains, it is God's territory. God's eyes are always on the world and all of us. Good and evil are there, it depends on our choice.
View more about Beyond the Hills reviews
