At first glance, the title of the movie seems to be another popular action movie. I realized that I was wrong when I saw it.
"Folding Knife" is the nickname of the protagonist Max in the play. He once participated in the Vietnam War and became brotherly friends with David and Buckman in the army. In a battle, David injured his ankle, Buckman and Max helped him to hide into the trench, and Max was shot. When Buckman was about to return to rescue Max, David shouted to him: "Don't go, Buckman, Max is dead, he is dead!" At this time, the bullet hit the body and jumped up. Buckman. After the war, everything returned to calm. Both David and Max have their own lives and jobs. Max also fell in love with David's sister Martha. They drank and fished together, and joined the veterans club. Participate in the prom at Martha's School. Their lives seem to be no different from ordinary people. In fact, the psychological trauma caused by the war is far from healed.
Max felt guilty for Buckman's death to save himself, but David couldn't let it go because of the phrase "Max is dead." Therefore, Max accumulated a hostile spirit, continued to drink and hurt people, and went to jail several times; while David kept trying to avoid Max, even not admitting that Max was his friend. He also opposed the relationship between his sister and Max. When the two got together, they carefully avoided this topic. But avoidance is not a long-term solution, it will only make the gap between the two people deeper and deeper. It finally broke out one day, forcing the two of them to face the tragic war.
War is not only a catastrophe that destroys lives, but also a disaster that destroys human nature. No laws, systems, and rights exist, and all normal human emotions, consciences, and thinking are all distorted. All that is left is obedience, murder, and death. Therefore, we cannot use peacetime concepts to judge the right and wrong of each individual's behavior in war. In the film, there was a rain of bullets everywhere, and the comrades around him fell one by one. At this dangerous moment, none of them had time to have a clear thinking and accurate judgment. David's cry was because he felt that Max was dead, and he didn't need to take another Buckman's life. Max had indeed been shot at the time, and he thought he was bound to die. But Buckman saw that his two best friends around him had been injured. Rescue Max in danger is what he should do. Besides, can they have a better choice? They are even less likely to think that what they do will have much impact on their future lives. After the war, Max felt that Buckman was dying for himself, while David felt that Max thought he was dead. Therefore, David always wanted to hide away when he saw Max.
Seeing this, I remembered a past event. I was also in the army at the beginning. One night after I went abroad, I heard a gunshot close by. Later, I learned that a company cadre had fired a pistol and wounded himself. If in peacetime, this is not a big deal, but it happened on the eve of the battle. At that time, some discussions arose, and these discussions continued until after the war. I don't know how to deal with it in the end. I thought that maybe it was because he didn't load pistols and he was unfamiliar with the use of guns, which led to a misfire; maybe in that very stressful environment, the timid thoughts really flashed through his mind. At that time, "fear of death" was the most humiliating behavior. The outrage of the crowd almost swallowed him. It’s been 41 years now. Just think about it calmly. People have seven emotions and six desires, and have the instinct to survive. Most people use faith to defeat instinct. Let’s assume that he is cowardly. He is there. In an instant, perhaps the survival instinct prevailed and caused him to do stupid things. Now that you calm down and think about it, you will be able to forgive his actions. He is not a bad guy, just cowardly, not suitable for being a soldier.
War is a continuous river in human history, and even constitutes history itself for most of the time. War really has justice and injustice. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, young Americans lined up to sign up for the army. In the beaches of Normandy, on the cliffs of Iwo Jima, how many people gave their lives. The Americans regarded them as heroes, and they too. It is indeed worthy of the title of hero. But what about the Vietnam War? Not only are the swords and shadows on the battlefield torturing these people, many people have suffered from war sequelae after the war, and those soldiers who are lucky enough to survive cannot return to their original lives at all. The shadow of war will accompany them throughout their lives. No matter what Max and David are doing in the film, they are always in love with the scene, and scenes of war continue to flash in their minds. They can't talk about beliefs, let alone encouragement and spurring, just regret and sadness. They don’t understand, why go thousands of miles away to defend the United States? I don’t understand, why go to Iraq to buy washing powder? They didn't feel a little proud of participating in the war, they just had a hell-like experience.
At the end of the film, David cried and said: "If Buckman stayed with me, he would not die." Max said: "David, I thought about it for a long time. His death has a deeper impact on me than you. Even if we go back to the past, what will we do?" In this way, they tried to reinvigorate, trying hard to forget the unjust war, and trying to return to a normal life. But, can they really go back?
Compared with "Deer Hunter", this movie is worse in terms of technology and plot, but De Niro's performance is still heart-stringing, the makeup is also in place, and the big beard at the beginning shows Max staunch. His personality, and his beard that was deliberately modified later showed his gentle side. very good!
My score: 6.8.
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