In the best foreign language films of the past few years, Spanish films have been amazing frequently, from the 2009 Oscar for best foreign language film "Mysterious Eyes", 2015's "Wild Story", and then to 2016's "Outstanding Citizen". In addition to let us remember one who does not intend to enter Hollywood, but only wants to be an Argentine actor: Ricardo Darling, this time we met another calm acting school: Oscar Martinez.
In addition to the unique name and the poster with a unique concept, the film has a sharp start. What's more, the story is shocking from the beginning. In the first shot, the protagonist sits alone in an empty room, with a emcee of ceremonies and a security guard standing beside him blankly, while his head is lowered, the director deliberately gave a close-up close-up, even though We didn't see his face, and we could feel his exhaustion and helplessness.
In the first ten minutes of the film, when the first conflict appeared, the theme was completed for the film. Even if the contradiction here is not a violent conflict full of gunpowder, it is buried deep in the author’s acceptance speech. "Thanks" from the organization, thanking them for using a Nobel Prize to end their writing career. And he doesn't think his work has pleased the Swedish royal family and the awards jury is such a lofty artistic achievement. Here, under the identity of the author, the protagonist’s inner reality and the hypocrisy in reality, the gap between the real existence and insurmountability, is like after his short and sharp acceptance speech, the silence on the scene seems as if time has been stopped. For a long time, there were sporadic applause from the audience, and then the award ceremony returned to normal.
The story of the dead flamingo and the writer who became famous uses the Nobel Prize event to introduce the characters, and then unfolds the introduction of the protagonist. The dead flamingo in the pond once again grabbed the audience's attention. Such meanings and symbols are the foreshadowing that the screenwriter buried in the hearts of the audience early in the morning. The writer stands quietly by the pond, and the two reflect each other. It also set the tone of abstraction and illusion for the film early in the morning. This is echoed with the new book launch conference at the end of the story. The cover of the new book is also the flamingo that died in the pond, and it adds another possibility of interpretation to the story.
Under the opposition between reality and hypocrisy, the writer narrated the contradiction between himself and his hometown through self-reporting. An invitation letter from his hometown made him confide his heart: "The most successful thing in my life is to escape from that place. The protagonist in my novel will never be separated, and in reality I will never return. go with.". This contradiction is both typical and common, giving the audience more sympathy and curiosity for this writer and protagonist, hoping to see how he unlocks this hometown complex.
This letter from his hometown, drawn out of many official invitations to events, made the protagonist Daniel determined to return to his hometown alone and receive this "outstanding citizen" medal. I believe that more of the motives are his struggle with his heart, his reflection on his escape, and his face up to forgetting. In fact, he has never forgotten his hometown, he remembers his teacher, and he remembers the site of his home. He is not a defector from his hometown, he said he just doesn't want to write a political leaflet.
The film draws the characters from imaginary famous writers back to celebrities in the small town, and then through the mayor and old friends, it constantly elicits contradictions in reality and progresses layer by layer. Local hegemony against the goal because of conflicts of interest, friends against the goal because of old lovers, readers disappointed after being rejected, and the mayor who was angry because of being told the truth. After Daniel returned to his hometown, in a few short days, He changed from an "outstanding citizen" to a "public enemy of the town" because he refused to live in a false game, act as a pawn, and become a member of the maintenance of illusions and vanity interests.
(There is no shadow of beauty and art in these three works, but the flattering, religious and emotionally numb life that pleases others.) In the film, the writer's several public speeches are amazing, that is, with him The identity of the writer matches, and it shows the protagonist's wisdom. Whether it is the questioning of the Nobel Prize, the admiration of the author who has not been recognized by the award, and the attack on the reputation, it shows that Daniel has already thought about the relationship between himself and creation, and the relationship between himself and reality very clearly. That's why he Dare to return to his hometown, back to this place where he was unable to change and didn't want to be assimilated.
In a quarrel where the contradictions in the film are intensified, we see how easily a writer's work can be used against the public, be misinterpreted, questioned, and used against the author himself. The cultural creator, the writer himself, responded: Once again reality defeated fiction. Where is the power of culture? What is the author’s contribution? In the last 20 minutes of the plot’s climax, Daniel stood in front of the microphone and said his views on culture and his hometown: "People always Culture is regarded as fragile, needs to be protected, and needs to be funded. However, culture is inherently indestructible and can survive even in the most difficult environment. The best cultural policy is no policy. ".
The contradiction between the protagonist Daniel and his hometown was finally reconciled through "death." It also echoed the story he told the driver when he just returned to his hometown: his brother killed his brother to gain a new identity and a new life, and he By letting the past self die in the wild hometown, let the real self be reborn through new works. You may ask, why does he know the danger and accept the invitation of his old friends to hunt? Because he said in the concluding remarks of the third class that the ending of his thirty-year escape, and his only shortcoming as a celebrity, is his own death.
The reversal of the ending and the possibility of multiple explanations. I believe that when they see the black screen at the end, the audience is guessing whether this will be a tragic ending, or will there be hope of a reversal? The screenwriter did not give us a simple answer. The average screenwriter will decide the final destiny of the protagonist according to their creative intentions and goals, whether it is a tragic ending or a happy ending. Before and after such a black and white, good or bad ending, there are other ways to deal with it. For example, the film can also end after the gunshots sounded, making the life and death of the protagonist a suspense. The ending will depend on the audience's optimistic or pessimistic attitude towards reality.
In addition to ending early and not giving an ending, you can also use the carbine or add subsequent sections to add another possibility of interpretation to the film. For example, going back to before the incident, it is implied that everything that happened in the film may be the protagonist’s own imagination, and this "Outstanding Citizen" uses the same technique to give the audience that everything may be just the writer’s imagination, and his hometown. Possibility of reconciliation. Regarding the wounds on his body, his own values and authenticity are all unknown puzzles. Just as all the "truths" in this world are not necessarily "true", such uncertainty is both good and evil, and good and evil. Isn't it true that is closer to reality?
The film has clear symbols, compact plot, frequent highlights, high intentions but not fiction, big but not empty, rich characters and dualities. The truth itself is people's fiction of reality. How to express such a profound theme through character stories allows people to see the skill of screenwriters. The documentary effect presented by the shooting technique is another good example of a low-cost film.
May 7, 2017 Toronto Xiaoxuaner Ji————————————
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