Denken! Denken!

Theo 2022-01-19 08:03:03



When Hanna appeared, she was already in a comfortable living room, belonging to the New World, in the twilight. In the audience's field of vision, the middle shots are pulled in parallel, recording the witty conversation between her and her American friends. Hannah was annoyed by her friends. Of course she was just feigning. How could she stand on my ex-husband's side and speak for him? The causes and consequences of the quarrel are hidden outside the narrative. Hannah, her German accent is always so strong and gentle, and she answered without thinking: How can I speak for him? Don't forget that I only met him through you, you are my friend.

Similar words once echoed in the classic Chinese novel "A Dream of Red Mansions" in the 18th century. The protagonist Baoyu’s little girlfriend, Daiyu, was jealous for a time, forcing Baoyu to take the initiative to clear himself, saying that he had nothing more than to think about another cousin, Baochai: "You know, how can you even say, "You don’t know you, don’t arrogantly confess." "I don't know?...He just came, so how can someone spare you for him?" Baoyu said, it is the basic principle of the Chinese people's interpersonal relationship and social construction since ancient times. Similar ethical teachings exist widely in the Confucian cultural circle. Its obvious shortcoming is that it doesn't tell right from wrong, and it's just a wish. Confucius said that the first condition for good friends is integrity. The reason for this is precisely because such people are too rare. What is more common is that things gather together, their personalities are similar but do not have any intentions; the similarities between everyone are regarded as morals. As for the investigation of mutual protection of relatives and resistance to public power, it is even directly regarded as an embodiment of integrity itself. There is no room and no need for philosophy to be contemplated. Older biological instincts have been working in humans for 100,000 years. Baoyu and Hannah are just two recent examples.

In the blessings and doubts of old Jewish friends in New York, Hannah flew to Israel alone to observe Eichmann’s public trial; ---- Visit the old at the same time. The new generation of audiences in the world film may be surprised that the Jews in the film talk in German, and the dust of history must be wiped out to realize that the old Jews can be regarded as a group of (once) German citizens who were untouchable and separated by the Nazis. Landlords and intellectuals removed by the republic.

The trial began. Eichmann, who was later described as trivial and mediocre by Hannah, is more like an old (historical) professor who sees everything through the lens, repeating "you don't understand that era", but always carries the subtext "you too" Boring". When the prosecutor was finally provoked and sternly asked: You said you were only executing the order, so if the superior ordered you to kill your father, would you also execute it? At this time, Eichmann replied: "If he is proven guilty by the leader, of course I will execute it."

If it is an audience who is deeply immersed in Chinese culture, you should feel intense hatred and fear at this time; not just contemptuous comments on the intellectual level, such as those adjectives Hannah added to Eichmann, such as extremely stupid. kind. Killing of relatives belongs to the most serious crime in ancient Chinese penal codes, second only to killing of kings. But the term slaying the king can occasionally be seen in scholars' argumentative writings, because there are too many historical records, and the slaying of relatives is almost exiled from speech, and it is difficult to discuss it. In a country where father and son hide each other and resist the power of the state as the norm, if there is a person who openly argues that the father can be killed and the murder of relatives is not guilty, how can the public say that he is just mediocre and stupid? How can you not say that he has been possessed by the devil?

It is difficult to easily cast a "don't think" conclusion on Eichmann, who was edited from a documentary. Is it possible that Eichmann just through thinking (no matter how wrong or passive it is), for example, to break all the so-called feudal bad habits and individual instincts to create a powerful nation-state, he chose to join the Nazi system and was also selected by the Nazi system , And sat in that position? On the contrary, is it possible? In Eichmann’s eyes, the kind of talk that separates the old and the new from the old and the far and the left and the right, the kind of belief between friends that are not good, and the confidence that everyone will eventually reconcile their words are truly mediocre. And the biological instinct that refuses to think (and the ignorance belonging to the East), and it is equally likely to commit sins to any alien and weak at any time and place, but its sins are more commonplace, even daily?

Everything is left to the audience to think about. The film is really full of stamina.

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Extended Reading

Hannah Arendt quotes

  • Heinrich Blücher: Dearest. Don't cry.

    Hannah Arendt: I spoke to the doctor. He said you only have a fifty percent chance.

    Heinrich Blücher: Don't forget the other fifty percent.

  • Hans Jonas: But Eichmann is a monster. And when I say monster, I don't mean Satan. You don't need to be smart or powerful to behave like a monster.

    Hannah Arendt: You're being too simplistic. What's new about the Eichmann phenomenon is that there are so many just like him. He's a terrifyingly normal human being.