In fact, when I first saw "Men Be Self-improvement", many HK film critics felt that Wong Fei-hung seemed to have become a little insignificant. The whole story is also scattered, every bridge is good, there are bright spots everywhere, but the whole is a bit complicated. Fortunately, the narration of this part is very stable and can withstand the temperament, which can be described as "complex but not chaotic".
The story is based on the Guangzhou Uprising in 1895, when China and Japan signed the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", and the pattern was unprecedentedly broad. But Tsui Hark did not describe the Guangzhou Uprising head-on, but started with the barbaric behavior of the White Lotus Sect, when Huang Feihong took the train from Foshan to Guangzhou. Interspersed with all kinds of jokes about Huang Feihong and Liang Kuan's master and apprentice, and the emotional desire to talk with Thirteen Aunts, it is also full of flesh and blood in terms of the shaping of the characters, and it is not overwhelmed by the grand narrative.
Small-angle narrative is what Hong Kong films are best at, but what is unique about "Men Be Self-improvement" is that it does not show the "neighborhood justice" that is common in Hong Kong films. For example, "October Besieged City" depicts the private motives of individuals participating in the revolution, which seems to be very human, very close and very new, but how different is this treatment from Wei Xiaobao in "The Lu Ding Ji"? Huang Feihong is different. To a certain extent, he does not represent a petty citizen, but the "squire class" in modern Chinese society. Tsui Hark once said: "I think Huang Feihong is very hard as a folk hero and idol, and he has to bear a lot of burdens and responsibilities... Master Huang's views are too traditional, and he is not too accurate in terms of external values; he became a folk hero at that time, Mainly because of the emotional factor and his relationship with important local people."
Huang Feihong is a "scholar" who is close to the people. He has natural worries about the affairs of the family and the country. He is just as confused as ordinary people and can't see where there is hope. In the second part, no matter Sun Yat-sen or Lu Haodong, the spiritual enlightenment of Huang Feihong fits Huang Feihong's own confusion, which is not only in line with human affairs, but also has the effect of enlightenment.
I have always believed that whether making art can impress people does not depend on whether you uphold the logic of the elite or the philosophy of life of the common people, but on the appropriateness of things and the appreciation of human feelings. If a film has a human touch and doesn't seem to be deliberately pandering to it, that's half the battle.
Chaotianguan and Tongwenguan, changes and pains
The story of "Once Upon a Time in the Man Who Became Self-improvement" took place in Guangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty. Compared with other areas, this place should be regarded as a relatively open place. When the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were closed to the country, they also left Panyu (ie Guangzhou) alone as a trading port. Kang Youwei also set up Wanmu Caotang here to promote the idea of reform and reform.
At first, when I heard that Huang Feihong went to rescue the students of Tongwenguan, I thought it was Tsui Hark who made a historical mistake. It was only because the Tongwen Museum in the capital established during the Westernization Movement was so famous that I overlooked the fact that there was also a Tongwen Museum in Guangzhou at that time, teaching children to learn foreign languages and natural sciences. It was located on Chaotian Street at that time.
So naturally, I was reminded of the "Chaotian View" of the White Lotus Sect's lair in the movie. Whether this view really existed in history and whether it was indeed in Guangzhou is unknown, but since it is arranged on the same street in the movie, there must be a meaning .
Perhaps what Tsui Hark wants to say is that there are several walls, one side is innovation, which represents China's future, and the other side is old-fashioned, which symbolizes the pain brought about by change, and people are hesitant in ignorance.
So, is innovation necessarily good? In "Xinhai: Shaking China", Zhang Ming once said that in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, the theory of evolution dominated the mainstream intellectual circles. suit oneself. He even believed that the most suitable political system in the late Qing Dynasty was not a republic, but a constitutional monarchy. An example is the rise of Japan. But I think that the national conditions of Japan and China are different. Before the reform, Japan was a vassal system, which has many similarities with the feudal lord system of the Europa society (see Tang Degang's "Seventy Years of the Late Qing Dynasty"). In China, it has to be said that the full Qing foreign rule was the most important reason why the constitutional monarchy could not be realized. When faced with the dilemma of power and sacrifice of rule, an alien ruling regime with a minority will almost naturally stand on the opposite side of innovation. This is also why during the Revolution of 1911, the "anti-Qing" thought "resurrected from the dead" and revived.
For example, Nalan Yuanshu in "Men should be self-improvement" also knows that the telegraph railway is to promote China's progress. But in order to suppress the revolutionary party and contain the foreigners, they had to indulge the White Lotus Sect to kill innocent people indiscriminately.
Huang Feihong said it well: deceive the gods and deceive the ghosts, what else do you say to save the country and save the people?
So is it true that all gods are false, and belief in science should not believe in religion? When Lu Haodong and Huang Feihong went to the embassy to meet the rescued children, they had a discussion about gods.
Huang Feihong said: Why are the gods in the West so painful?
Lu Haodong said: We believed in one god when we were young, but when we grew up we believed in another, until one day we found out that all myths are lies
. MS is atheism, but in the previous "Top Gun", a missionary also said to Huang Feihong: "Material" The world is short-lived, the spirit is eternal. Huang Feihong asked back: Can God help me testify? (He was wronged at that time); but later when Bao Zhilin was set on fire, it was the missionary who stood up to testify for him, and even blocked a gun for Huang Feihong and died at a critical moment. In the subsequent Huang Feihong films, missionaries are often seen, including Aunt Thirteen who is also a Catholic believer.
So, in my opinion, regarding religious beliefs, Tsui Hark is also contradictory. On the one hand, he knew that the gods could not be relied upon, and even sometimes served as an excuse for people to escape, but on the other hand, he could not deny the influence of the advanced culture brought by these missionaries on China.
In many cases, the artist is just feeling, but may not be able to find the answer. Regarding religion and science, one is the fear and consolation in the unknown field, and the other is the bridgehead occupied by continuous exploration. This is also the eternal contradiction of human beings.
The ideal of salvation that only strives for the day and the night
Let alone religious contemplation, for China in the late Qing Dynasty, no one with ideals could stand idly by. Time waits for no one, and we are far behind. Sun Yat-sen and Lu Haodong had to check their watches every time they met, which was obviously symbolic. Lu Haodong also sighed to Huang Feihong, Chinese people don't know how to use time.
Although revolutionaries do not necessarily make mistakes (often they do), their magnificent vitality shines brightly in the dark night, like the rise of a morning star.
I don't know how many times I revisited this movie. Whenever I saw Sun Wen and Lu Haodong shaking hands and swearing that no matter who sacrificed, the other party must persevere, and I would not feel tears welling up. When Lu Haodong and Huang Feihong entered the Chaotian Temple together and turned their heads in three steps, the students of the Tongwen Museum looked at him with tears in their eyes. At this time and then, it seems that time and space are integrated into one, and Tsui Hark has such a skill, so that the passion and feelings can be harmonious.
The battle between Huang Feihong and Jiugong Zhenren in Chaotian View reflects Huang Feihong's wisdom in addition to bravery. In the face of the incited people, Lu Haodong could only sigh with a gun, "The Chinese are all like this, is there any help?" However, Huang Feihong had an idea, pretended to be the original Tianzun, and came to "fight the gods". During the melee, Lu Haodong accidentally killed a little girl who was bewitched by "invulnerability". This price can be described as "well-written". But it didn't stop there. In order to protect the roster of the revolutionary party, Lu Haodong also sacrificed, Nalan Yuanshu also died at the hands of Huang Feihong, and Liang Kuan was seriously injured.
When Huang Feihong's master and apprentice finally overcame many difficulties and came to the pier to send Mr. Sun away, they only had a piece of the burden cloth left by Lu Haodong before his death. Huang Feihong threw it far away, and Sun Wen took it in his hand and shook it off in the wind. It was the blue sky and white sun flag of the Republic of China...
A friend in front of me asked where the tragic music at the final farewell came from. I searched and found that the original soundtrack did not contain this song, but the melody sounded somewhat similar to "Descendants of the Dragon". Some experts on the Internet pointed out that it was adapted from "Descendants of the Dragon" and "Ode to the Republic of China". The first two sentences are "The Descendants of the Dragon" in "There is a river in the far east, its name is the Yangtze River", and the climax part is taken from "Ode to the Republic of China". I have to admire Huang Zhan's talent. Once he's adapted, the soundtrack is not only majestic, but also mixed with a lot of emotions and thoughts. It rippling along with the sea breeze and the waves.
Sun Wen's line is the finishing touch: I hope the morning sun will always shine on my soil, and don't forget the blood of the martyrs. It is precisely "Wanjia ink face has no artemisia, dare to sing and mourn. The mind is vast and wide, and I hear thunder in a silent place."
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