Details and Symbols of Angel's Egg

"Angel's Egg" is an experimental animation film by Mamoru Oshii in 1985 with almost no dialogue. Due to the high song and widowhood, the box office is basically no. But with his esoteric philosophical and religious thinking, he was able to make a name for himself in film history. There has been no consistent statement about this film for many years. The poor monk only interprets the details and symbols in it, and does not make value judgments. If you have seen it but didn’t understand it, you can watch it, and if you haven’t seen it, you can watch part of it first and then watch the original film, otherwise it will be boring and incomprehensible.

The owner of Tokuma Bookstore, Tokuma Kangkui, is a Japanese leftist who has also met Premier Zhou. It is not surprising that this film was published by Tokuma Bookstore.

At the beginning, the hand touched and touched, and finally there was a sound of crushing an egg, but there was no egg in the hand. The audience has been told that certain beliefs are false, they have never been true, and when they are finally broken, they are also false, because they do not exist at all.

The male protagonist (the villain in the open space on the right) represents science and rationality, and the human civilization in the entire film has been ruined, and those things that seem to have a sense of technology are rotten. It shows that science and reason do not solve all problems, and even bring about the destruction of human civilization in the end.

The big flying machine that has descended has both high-tech things and religious statues on it. It stands tall and is a more successful civilization than the scientific and technological rationality represented by the male protagonist. It monitors what is about to happen in this world. What is its purpose? Eventually we will know.

The whistle of the aircraft woke the little girl, who hid in a safe place to sleep. The reason why she is interested in this sound is that you notice that the whistle sounds a lot like a bird chirping. And the core belief of the heroine is about birds.

We can see that the egg is already on her bed at this time. It was not given to her by the aircraft or the male protagonist. The exit from where she was hiding was round, and it was known from the back that it was the porthole of the ship.

The title of the film is in a very primitive and ancient font, so it is obviously not the high-tech style of the male protagonist, which has shown that the first protagonist of the film is still this little girl. She represents the emotional side of human beings, and her core is belief. What does she believe in?

She wrapped the egg in her clothes and looked like a pregnant woman. That is to say, faith is born of people and needs the maintenance of people. And eggs, which cannot be seen inside, are in line with the characteristics of faith, which cannot be thoroughly explored.

She ran out of the place where she lived, like a boat on land, propped up on wood. Remember, this boat is important. This is probably the most famous ship in the world. I didn't mean Titanic, thanks.

The little girl ran past, and something like a feather floated behind her. Here it is implied that she is not a mortal. Of course, you can also say that this is grass, but the director will give this shot separately, it must be meaningful. And the ship was on a mountain, it took her a long time to run down, that is to say, it was on a very high mountain, why put the ship on the mountain?

She ran to the river to fetch water, and feathers appeared in the river again. But it doesn't look like there are any animals in this withered world. The feathers are brightly colored, not the lifeless look of the rest of the environment. And everything else is like ancient remains, the feathers are new.

The little girl was immersed in the river and felt like she was integrated into the river, until something flew like a gust of wind, and she suddenly woke up again. What is flying? There are feathers in the water. It was an angel who brought divine revelation to the little girl. Will see later.

There are broken human relics everywhere. These mechanical fragments indicate that human beings once developed to a certain height here, but declined again. Looking lifeless.

She picked up a bottle on the ground and was fetching water again. You notice that there are lights here. If the city is uninhabited for a long time, there will be no lights. While no one else is seen in the film, the city is not deserted. In the next few shots, the little girl is seen from the window of the house, and these perspectives are of the people living in the house. But the director didn't let them appear.

Tank convoys pass by, and the world isn't as completely in decline as many think there's nothing left. No, and the technology still maintains a certain level.

The male protagonist got off the tank and the two of them met. The little girl was not afraid of him, just hugged the egg tightly. But in the face of the tank convoy and the male protagonist carrying the weapon, the little girl did not appear afraid. It's hard for you to scare her with a person of faith.

She ran to the house to pick up the bottle, took it out and fetched water, and she kept fetching water to drink. She sees the twisted world from the bottle, and if you change it, the world will look different. The world directly seen by the eyes and the world reflected by the bottle are both ways of interpreting the real world, and there is no right or wrong.

When she heard the bell, she ran away to a place where no one was there to hide and eat. After eating, she took out the egg and worshipped. This means that people will start spiritual needs after they have met their basic life needs. And those in town are not statues, as some critics say. Just because they are not important, the director did not focus on portraying them. Those represent the more vulgar and stupid.

After she ate and wandered for a while, she met the male protagonist again. Because the egg was not with her, she was a little uneasy, she was not afraid of the male protagonist. And the male protagonist helped him save the egg and gave it back to her right away. The male protagonist's goal is not the egg, but to see what will happen between her and the egg. The male protagonist's confused and hesitant eyes are looking for an answer. His high-tech weapon is like a cross, pay attention. The male protagonist told her to hide the eggs on her body, which means that the male protagonist had already observed her behavior.

It can be seen clearly here. The cross-like thing has a handle and a brake handle. It should be an operation interface for a vehicle similar to a motorcycle. So this is not a weapon, or at least not just a weapon.

The little girl asked him if he wanted to drink water, but he didn't. The little girl drank water all the way, but the male protagonist did not, which also showed the difference between technology people and native people.

The little girl has seen people chasing shadow fish, but the male protagonist has not. She understands that fish is illusory, but others don't, which is why the male protagonist came to her. It is very likely that she has the correct beliefs, and the lack of technology needs this to be filled. Just now she was unwilling to hide under the male lead's raincoat, but now she is hiding there. Their relationship is more harmonious.

People blindly chased the shadow fish and smashed a lot of things along the way. It means that people's illusory or erroneous beliefs only bring destruction and are wasted effort. And the detailed image of the fish carved on the building is only what they imagined, but they have never seen it. Just a phantom. Everyone acting with the bells represents the blind following of the masses.

The little girl got wet and went to a place like a church to dry. There are many seats in this church, it used to be a place for a lot of people, but now there are no people, people are chasing shadow fish in the street. That is to say, the beliefs of this world have collapsed before, and people are now chasing illusory things. Although many people are holding harpoons on the street, the male protagonist is not afraid of how they will stab himself. It is very likely that he is not in the same world as these people. He has not seen these people at all. people have had any reaction. When the fish appeared, he also said that he could not see the fish. He is purely technological and rational, completely isolated from religious beliefs and the like. This is also the reason why he needs the guidance of the little girl. Along the way, little girls walked in front, and as an adult, he just followed. The little girl knew that fish existed, but she said that fish did not exist. Her beliefs are different from others, but she can understand other people's beliefs, she didn't tell everyone that fish is illusory.

The little girl took him up the mountain and back to the boat. She asked the male protagonist to promise not to touch his eggs, but the male protagonist did not answer.

Inside the boat, there are animal remains everywhere. The little girl is used to it, but the male protagonist is still a little surprised. He saw a carved tree of branches of life. Some people say that there is the same tree in Oshii Mori's "Ghost in the Shell". No, this is a tree that records all life. You notice that there are plants and animals on it, and the one in "Ghost in the Shell" is a tree that records the evolutionary history of animals, especially humans. You notice that the male protagonist has a strap on his hand, and it is in an odd position. This tree is not a mural or a stone sculpture. You notice that it is a piece of equipment. It should be used to record all kinds of life. Norway now has a doomsday ark, which holds samples of various animals. The ship here is also similar. effect. The male protagonist said that he had seen this, but it was too long ago to forget. When he mentioned birds, the heroine immediately became interested.

There are huge animal remains and water bottles everywhere.

The male protagonist does not remember the past, nor does he know the future. And the hostess couldn't provide the answer. Although human beings survive and develop, they have no direction. Maybe they have turned around countless times, so that human beings do not know the past or the future now.

Here is the longest line in the film. The male protagonist tells the story of the great flood in the Bible, and now they are in the ark! Legend has it that the ark has many compartments for animals to live in. You see this place is like this. But the animals in the ark died. This is different from the Bible. Why did he die? Because the birds that were sent out to find the land did not come back, and people waited so long that they forgot about the birds and that they should find the land after the flood, thinking that the world was originally such a vast ocean. And because no land could be found, the animals in the ark also died. The inability to record history so far back makes it impossible to determine if anything actually happened. Humans record history for thousands of years, and life has been born for billions of years. What happened at other times is impossible to know. The male protagonist said that he could not remember where he came from before, nor what he was going to do. Humans are like that right now.

And the little girl firmly told him that birds really exist. In fact, the male protagonist also wants to see birds, so he has been following the little girl, but he cannot get this result from rational and scientific calculations. See Gödel's treatise on the incompleteness of formal systems. There are always some facts that cannot be proved by algorithms, but the existence of these facts can be perceived by the human heart.

The little girl immediately took him to the cabin to see the fossil of the big bird. It also shows that science is not only unable to know those unprovable things, but also a little older and cannot know. This is one step closer to Gödel's incompleteness and sees the limitations of science. Even what can be calculated and proven, there are still many unknowns. You notice that the skeleton of this big bird is actually human-like except for the wings. Then this animal should have the appearance of an angel before it was alive. That is to say, the things in the fairy tales may actually exist, but it is too long ago that modern people cannot be sure and think they do not exist.

The little girl was holding the egg. She said that she could hear the sound of the bird inside, but the male protagonist said it was just the wind and her own voice. How could he actually know? Science habitually denies the existence of God. The little girl firmly believed that the bird was in the egg.

After waiting for a long time, the flame of technology has been extinguished, and the male protagonist can't wait any longer. He broke the egg while the little girl was asleep. The cross destroys people's faith. Jesus was nailed to the cross, and his palms seemed to be wounded. People use wrong methods to prove their beliefs are wrong after searching for an answer for a long time. There is no bird in the egg, but it does not mean that the little girl's belief is wrong, because she has already said that the egg cannot be broken, and it has to wait for it to hatch by itself. Humans use the wrong method to find faith, and they will not get the answer.

The city began to flood again. God sees that his creation is not worth it at all and will destroy it. God is not a phantom, a fact that we cannot prove, or at least have not yet proved. We cannot jump to conclusions about whether it exists or not. If you deny it hastily, disaster will come.

The little girl woke up and was sad to see that the egg was broken. Because she always thought there was a bird in the egg, but it didn't. At this time, the male protagonist has left because he has not found the answer. This scene is a human tragedy. The little girl originally had faith, but the male protagonist broke her faith in the wrong way, and she couldn't find the answer herself.

She ran out of the ark. In fact, in this shot, you can see that the egg is high up. The story of Big Bird and Egg is true, neither of them can be found. And this strange egg growing on a vine is shown at the very beginning of the film. That is to say, God has always existed, but people cannot correctly understand it. These two people, or the two factions of human beings, are messing around.

The little girl fell into the water during the chase and turned into an adult woman. After the shattering of her beliefs, she has grown.

The bubbles she exhaled turned into a lot of eggs. People's beliefs have produced more varieties and branches.

At this time, there are more eggs in the world, and they are real, with birds in them, and birds can be seen.

The male protagonist found feathers everywhere. Where there are feathers, there are birds, and these eggs should be brought by birds. The bird should be the same kind of angel seen in the cabin. An animal resembling a human. They are sent by God to work.

The big aircraft in the sky appeared again. This should be the aircraft of God. The little girl has become a statue above, eternal. Although she did not find a bird, she has always believed, so her belief is correct, but the fire is not enough. God still recognizes her. And all the other statues are adults, maybe they represent someone else's higher knowledge of God. The human beings of our age have a very shallow understanding of God, and there are many errors. But it is still good to have faith, and you will get the mercy of God.

The male protagonist looks so small in the red circle I drew below. So lonely. If he failed to find God, he could not escape from that flooded world, and God took the little girl out of that sea of ​​misery.

The camera flew so high that we could see that the shore they were standing on was actually an ancient ark that was partially sunk. Human beings are too small to see the big picture. At a high enough level, the truth is obvious. Those huge stones are the nails of the ark. Because of the huge difference in size, human beings cannot understand the creation of God. Some film critics here say that the ark is turned upside down, I don't think so, look at the shadow. The ark had a canopy, and they stood on the canopy. This ark is very old. As the male protagonist said, people have forgotten what happened too long ago, although they live on it every day. A long time ago, the big bird was released to find the land, but it was not found. After a long time, the little girl finally let the bird egg come to this world through faith, so she was also sanctified. Here the movie ends.

in conclusion. Both the little girl and the male protagonist represent different human understandings of the world, not specific individuals. Eggs are the religious beliefs of human beings. Although it is absurd, the little girl was desperate when she saw that there was nothing in the eggs. In fact, it was because people did not have enough knowledge to correctly understand these facts. As for the male protagonist who represents science, he is destined to be unable to find the truth, because he wants to use a very mechanical way to explore and break eggs, but he can't find anything. For some reason in our country, the people don't know much about religion, and they are more like male protagonists. The so-called god, that is, the aircraft in the film, is a higher-level civilization, not nothing. It's a combination of science and other things we don't understand and grasp. God's presence is so far above our level that it is impossible to understand. Only a few who hold fast to their faith can gain God's recognition and be saved from suffering. Although the belief of the little girl may not be correct, God finally took her away from the world of this great flood. The title of the film is "Angel's Egg", the angel refers to the little girl, and she is the protagonist.

This film is the most esoteric and atmospheric film I've ever seen. I can't guarantee that you will like it, but it will definitely give you something to think about.