Among the 2006 Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, there was one movie that caught a lot of attention. Although it is a war-themed movie, it is romantic; although it is a comedy, it makes people cry; it has suffocating unreal scenes and real horrors screen. It is a Korean movie - "Welcome to Dongmo Village".
The film sets the point of view of the story in September 1950, when the Korean Civil War was in full swing. The US-led "United Nations Army" of 75,000 people landed at the Incheon Port on the west coast of North Korea. Since then, the Korean People's Army has suffered heavy losses from the enemy, from prosperity to decline, and entered the stage of strategic retreat. Captain Li Xiuhua, veteran Zhang Rongxi and recruit Xu Zeji in the film are from the Korean People's Army. They took the wounded soldiers and carefully looked for a way out. Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by the enemy, and the team was almost wiped out. The surviving three were led by the crazy girl Yuyi to a place called Dongmo Village. At the same time, Second Lieutenant Piao of the Korean National Army and Wen Sang-sang, a health officer, also came to Dongmo Village. The people in this paradise don't know that the outside world is already at war, they don't know what guns and bombs are, and they don't know how powerful these things are. For them, hives, potatoes, granaries... only things that can fill their stomachs are the most important things.
When the enemy met, they were extremely jealous, and the five started a long confrontation. In the same picture, their tension and the villagers' relaxation form a strong contrast, even a little ridiculous. Some people say that everyone should have something to be afraid of. If a person has nothing to fear, then this person is "invincible". The simple villagers made Li Xiuhua, who was used to seeing war scenes, very helpless. Even in such a scene of real guns and live ammunition, the villagers only thought that they had a big temper, which made people feel that they were ignorant and a little ridiculous. Then, the food that was blown up became the best reason for the five people to stay. It was also because of the food that they gradually reconciled. became close comrades.
Some of the detail settings and the scheduling of shots in the film are very romantic, such as a lot of shots about butterflies in this film. In classical Chinese poetry, there is an intention such as butterflies in love with flowers, which are used to express the infinite pursuit and nostalgia for beautiful things, and the butterflies in this film are a foil to the paradise and promote the development of the plot. The first time a butterfly appeared was when Smith's plane crashed. In the fast rhythm, he suddenly used slow motion to show a white butterfly flying in the air, showing that he had entered the paradise of Dongmo Village; in the middle of the film, Smith was in A dead white butterfly was found in the wreckage of the plane, symbolizing the disaster that is about to come to this small mountain village; when the parachute of the United States "United Nations" descended, we saw thousands of butterflies circled and surrounded the air force. , Even Butterfly doesn't want these "bad guys" to disturb this peaceful mountain village. At the end of the film, another butterfly appeared, slowly flying from the snow-covered ruins, flying into the past, and flying into the dreams of 6 deceased people. The white butterfly in the film is beyond the living habits of natural butterflies. It appears both at night and in snowy winter. It is as pure and flawless as Dongmo Village, and it is also as fragile. In addition to butterflies, the film's handling of shell explosions is also unique. The first explosion scene was during the confrontation between the two sides. Lieutenant Biao accidentally threw the bomb into the granary. The corn in the granary was blown into popcorn, which scattered in the sky and fell like snow. Romantic To the point of holding your breath. At the end of the film, the U.S. artillery shells fell like raindrops. The artillery shells here are no longer artillery shells, but more brilliant and beautiful like fireworks. Several soldiers looked at each other and smiled, extremely aloof, not afraid of life and death; but the villagers of Dongmo Village in the distance didn't know it, and looked at the flames in the sky, they were so surprised that they were speechless, and the children were as happy as a festival. cheers. On the other side, Smith heard the sound of the bombing coming from afar, and had already burst into tears. He was an American, but he also loved Dongmo Village deeply and could not bear the destruction of this peaceful village. Here, the sound of the shell explosion was deliberately attenuated, and the background music created by Hisaishi was added, which made the whole explosion scene look extremely tragic and memorable for a long time. To add, Hisaishi is really my god, I love it! !
In addition to the lens settings, the rhythm and paragraph settings of the film are also very romantic. After Yuyi died, there was a scene where she opened her mouth to drink the rainwater and smiled to help Zeji wipe the rainwater off her face... Just a few pictures made a strong contrast between reality and fantasy. And Zeki's cry made all the audience feel sad and heartbroken. At the end of the film, there is a suspense for everyone. We only see the wreckage of the war covered with snow, as if nothing had happened, as if everything was just a dream. The camera followed the butterfly and flew back to the past, flying back to a warm morning, and we were like entering a dream.
Snow can cover the wreckage, but not the trauma of this history. South Korea and North Korea, the brothers of this mother's compatriots, are killing each other and confronting each other day after day at the 38th parallel. But why does it become like this? I'm afraid they don't know it themselves. They were originally kind, but because of their different political stances, they killed each other, making them evil demons in each other's eyes. Where the butterfly flies is a dream. Perhaps, we all need a "Dongmo Village" to put down those unnecessary backpacks and return to our truest selves.
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