When it comes to movies related to prisons, nine out of ten people may think of "Shawshank's Redemption." This legendary film reflecting prison life has become a symbol in the history of world cinema, and has become the source of imagination in many people’s minds about prison life. Perhaps you think that prison life in "Shawshank's Salvation" is already very bad , But in fact, it is already very artistic and beautified. In 2018, the Uruguayan movie "Dungeon Memories" was released. Compared with this movie, you will find that the protagonist Andy De Frein in "Shawshank's Redemption" is simply living in heaven.
Before talking about this movie, I must mention one person first: Jose Mujica . In November 2009, the 74-year-old Jose Mujica won the general election and became the President of Uruguay the following year. After taking office, he refused to live in the government residence but still lived on his own farm. He drove a small car to and from get off work every day. The guard had only two bodyguards and a dog. Most of his salary was donated by him, and he was rated as " The poorest president in the world", the US "Diplomatic Magazine" named him one of the five most influential people in Latin America for two consecutive years.
This seemingly ordinary old man was full of legends during his presidency, and none of this is as legendary as what he experienced when he was young. In 1973, as a member of the "Tupamaros" guerrillas opposed to the military dictatorship, Jose Mujica and two other comrades in arms were given "special treatment" by the prison, but they were no longer treated like ordinary prisoners. They were kept in ordinary prisons, but were kept separately imprisoned. They were forbidden to talk to everyone, and even the most basic human rights of sleeping and eating were deprived. They were not free until after the restoration of democracy in Uruguay in 1985. The film "Dungeon Memories" is about the painful and long prison life of the three.
As a person living in the Internet age, it is difficult for me to imagine what it would be like to lose my freedom for 12 years. What's more, these 13 years are still full of inhuman torture. In the film, we can see that the three protagonists have been transferred again and again in the past twelve years. There are dark dungeons and abandoned warehouses with rats everywhere. They can hardly communicate with any outsiders. Sometimes they can use percussion. The walls communicate with each other, and more often they can only fall into dead silence. Even the most basic human rights such as sleeping, eating, and going to the toilet are sometimes deprived.
I felt that I would go crazy if I couldn't hold on for a few days in this situation. In this situation, death became a gift, and this was the result that the Uruguayan military government wanted at the time. Due to the pressure of the international community, they could not execute these people, so they tried their best to torture them and make them crazy.
But fortunately, despite twelve years of inhuman life, the three of them still survived rationally with strong willpower. Although this is a movie full of pain, there are many bright and joyful scenes in it. When you can't break through the fence physically, you have to find ways to make your mind break through the obstacles. When they find that they can communicate with each other by knocking on the wall, this becomes their weapon against loneliness and madness. In the film, we can see that they even play chess to relieve their boredom by knocking on the wall, just like two people sitting on the street playing chess in reality. Sometimes they face red because they can’t lose, but when the camera is When the hands were given to them, what we saw were their hands that had already worn out all the joints because of knocking on the wall.
There is also a fragment in the film. Because of the need to defecate, the guards handcuffed one of the three Hu Daoblo's hands on the toilet pipe, but the problem is that Hu Daoblo can't squat down. , It will not be able to defecate. He wanted the guards to loosen his handcuffs a bit, but the reply was that he had no authorization. He had no choice but to tell the soldiers not to squat down, so he could only pull them everywhere. So, in order to solve the authorization problem that allowed him to loosen his hand and poop, the guard found the corporal, the corporal found the sergeant, and the sergeant found the lieutenant... In the end, the entire toilet was packed from top to bottom. The officers at all levels below were unable to solve the problem of " opening the prisoner's handcuffs so that he could squat down and defecate. " The final scene made people laugh and felt how absurd.
Just like Marquez’s "A Hundred Years of Solitude", "Dungeon Memories" is also full of the magical feeling unique to the South American continent. You can see the absurdity of the world and feel the seemingly weak The powerful spiritual power that a person bursts out in the face of adversity.
But even in such a dark story, we can still see a glimmer of humanity. Because of his literary talent, the other of the three, Rosenkoff, got a job after his transfer in 1977, writing love letters to the local prison sergeant, so he incorporated his feelings and thoughts for his lover into it. Wrote a passionate and touching love letter. And the sergeant was not a ruthless jailer. He brought Rosenkov to eat, communicated with him about his emotional problems, and even deliberately turned up the volume of the radio while listening to the football broadcast, leaving him in a desperate situation. The three of them got a touch of spiritual comfort. But the good times didn't last long, and it didn't take long for them to be moved away again.
However, fate is full of magic. In 1982, when they were transferred again, Rosenkoff was surprised to find that he had returned to the sergeant's territory again, and the ring on the sergeant's hand also showed how much he had helped in the first place. effect. When the sergeant asked what could help him, Rosenkoff smiled. So, on a sunny day, he was taken to the prison playground, and at the same time he was taken to the playground, and Jose Mujica and Hudaobro.
This time, the three people finally saw each other's faces again ten years later. They neither wailed nor hugged each other, but looked at each other quietly and smiled, and then breathed in the sunshine and breathed in the fresh air. Finally fell quietly drunk in the sun. At this time, the background music reminded me of the "Sound of Silence" by a female voice, so I couldn't control my tears at all.
The birds in the sky don’t know what freedom is, the fish in the sea don’t know what freedom is, and we who can sing freely don’t know what freedom is, but when silence comes and everything is forbidden to speak, you can realize it. What is true freedom? Those whispers in the dark are the flames that support people waiting for the dawn, weak but firm. Rosenkov, Jose Mujica, and Hu Daobro used their strong and strong willpower to survive the darkest period of their lives. They used their own experience to tell the world that as long as they persist, hope is certain. Will come.
After watching this movie, I thought of the poem "Believe in the Future" by Shi Zhi. This poem has supported countless people through those dark years. It also has a lot of content expressed in the movie "Dungeon Memories". The corresponding part, so I want to use this poem as the end of this article.
"believe in future"
Author: Index Finger
When the spider web relentlessly sealed up my stove,
When the smoke of ashes sighs the sorrow of poverty,
I still stubbornly pave the ashes of disappointment,
Write with beautiful snowflakes: Believe in the future.
When my purple grapes turned into the dew of late autumn,
When my flowers are nestled in the feelings of others,
I still stubbornly use the frosty withered vine,
Write on the desolate ground: Believe in the future.
I'm going to use my fingers to row the waves toward the sky,
I want the sea that holds the sun in the palm of my hand,
Flickering the warm and beautiful penholder of the dawn,
Write in your child's pen: Believe in the future.
The reason why I firmly believe in the future,
I believe in the eyes of people in the future
She has eyelashes that pierce the dust of history,
She has pupils that can see through the passage of time.
Regardless of people's rotten flesh and skin,
The melancholy of being lost, the pain of failure,
It is moved tears, deep sympathy,
Still give a contemptuous smile, acrid sarcasm.
I firmly believe that people treat our spine,
That countless explorations, lost paths, failures and successes,
Will definitely give enthusiastic, objective and fair assessments,
Yes, I anxiously await their assessment.
Friends, firmly believe in the future,
Believe in unrelenting efforts,
Believe in the youth who overcomes death,
Believe in the future and love life.
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