By Ai Chen
There is a saying: "There is less loyalty in the rivers and lakes, and more affection for children." The drama "The Children of the Rivers and Lakes", as its name suggests, talks about the love of children based on the affairs of the rivers and lakes. From 2001 to 2018, from Datong to Fengjie, Xinjiang, and then to Datong, in this story spanning more than ten years, what Jia Zhangke wanted to talk about was not the male protagonist Bin Bin’s "Landing Rivers and Lakes Carrying Wine", but the female The protagonist cleverly said "Who pity lives on the rivers and lakes". No matter how deep the love and how long the regrets, these two kinds of rivers and lakes, male and female, were eventually submerged in the wave of the times, leaving nothing but sighs.
What is Jianghu
In 2001, Datong. At that time, Qiaoqiao was a model and Binbin was the eldest brother. The town is not big, but the scenery of Big Brother is not small. Qiaoqiao walks with Bin Bin among the crowd every day, listening to the infatuation of the big businessmen and the crowd of younger brothers, but only thinking about buying a house and having a home. At that time, Binbin watched "Heroes" with enthusiasm in his eyes, but he never expected that he was accidentally injured by the reckless teenager in a blink of an eye. It was at this time that the word "jianghu" appeared for the first time in the movie. On the edge of the volcano, Bin Bin taught Qiao Qiao to hold a gun at the distance and said to her: "Now you are also in the rivers and lakes." Qiao Qiao laughed at Binbin and watched too many movies. If then she could predict what happened later. , Maybe there will be no such sneer.
Later, Qiaoqiao shot in the busy city in order to save Bin Bin who was besieged; and in order to protect Bin Bin, he was arrested and spent five years in jail. In the past five years, Qiaoqiao's father passed away, but Binbin never came to see her. When he was released from prison, Bin Bin didn't come by coincidence. He had already left his hometown and went to Fengjie. So Qiao Qiao followed Bin Bin’s traces, tossing all the way, tossing around, being deceived and learning to deceive, and finally becoming what Bin Bin said at the beginning as "a man in the rivers and lakes". She knew that Binbin already had a new girlfriend, and all she wanted was Binbin's own words to her. But in the small hotel in Fengjie, Binbin said to Qiaoqiao, I am no longer in the arena.
It has been many years since "Jiang Hu" appeared in the movie for the third time. After being heartbroken, Qiaoqiao left Fengjie and went back to Datong, where he became the owner of the mahjong hall. She went to the station to pick up Bin Bin, who had crippled legs. It's still the volcano and the two people, but the scenery remains the same, and the personnel are no longer there. What we heard at this time was coincidentally saying to the Bin Bin who taught her "As long as there are people, there are rivers and lakes." Righteousness, but you are no longer a person in the arena, you don’t understand."
So what is arena? The rivers and lakes in Binbin's heart are the loyalty and courage of the second brother. But coincidence is different. The rivers and lakes in her heart are a kind of sentiment, and recognition is recognition. No matter how many years have passed, how many cities have been traveled, and what kind of identity they have changed, they will not change.
Who is in the arena
It is said that people can't help themselves in the arena. But who is in the arena? Is it a reckless young man who cuts and murders just for the sake of his early days, or is it a downright brother who can't let go of his dignity and wants to make a comeback? Are they the men and women who go north and south and are kidnapped, or the women, women and men who are stubbornly obsessed with it?
Qiaoqiao didn't think she was a member of the world at first, she only cared about Binbin. At that time, Binbin was her arena, coming and going with each other, coming and going as a companion. She likes these rivers and lakes. In these rivers and lakes, she is transported and greeted back and forth. In these rivers and lakes, she says she wants to eat shaomai, and Binbin is willing to drive her for hundreds of miles, and when she says she can’t eat anymore. There is no slightest blame; also in this arena, she can look forward to having a home.
But from the moment the shots were fired in the downtown area, the two started walking towards strangers. Bin Bin went away, but Qiaoqiao stepped into a bigger arena. There are liars, rivals, bosses with a guilty conscience, and passengers who brag in this arena. After a brief period of embarrassment, Qiaoqiao quickly adapted to this arena.
On the other hand, Binbin, after firing the gun, escaped from the rivers and lakes he was attached to, and became a ruthless and unrighteous man. He avoided Qiaoqiao, not only because he was ashamed, but also because he didn't want Qiaoqiao to see himself so embarrassed in the arena. The old mahjong hall is still there, and the excitement is gone; the street where the shots were fired for him is still there, and the love is gone. Even if he returned to Datong later, he finally left a sentence of "gone" and disappeared.
I still remember when Qiaoqiao and Binbin went to the volcano for the first time, Qiaoqiao asked: "You said volcanic ash is the cleanest?" Binbin said: "It's possible." Qiaoqiao asked: "After high temperature, Burning, soot is the cleanest." Bin Bin said: "This ghost place has become cannon fodder and no one knows." Qiaoqiao was puzzled: "You have a gun, and you are afraid that others will kill you?" Brother Bin Say: "Those who have guns die fast." After watching the movie, you will find that this dialogue actually hints at the ending early. Volcanoes are rivers and lakes. In these rivers and lakes, Binbin eventually became cannon fodder, but Qiaoqiao became the cleanest volcanic ash after high temperature and combustion.
What is most important in the arena
In "Children of the Rivers and Lakes", Binbin likes to watch "Heroes and Heroes". For him, in the rivers and lakes of fighting and killing, it is full of the pride of righteousness and Yuntian. This is what he thinks is the most important. At that time, he hadn't realized that the arrogance he understood was actually very absurd. This absurdity was reflected in the fact that he was a brother yesterday, and today he can owe money without admitting it; yesterday he was still pushing a cup and handing it over, and he was thought of today. The young man who was in his early life stabbed to death on the street, and ended up with a national standard. Yesterday, he clamored and hugged, but today he was released from prison but was deserted and no one claimed it. Yesterday, he respectfully called you Brother Bin, but today he ridiculed in every possible way, the slightest. No mercy.
The difference between yesterday and today is a "potential." This "potential" is the most important and the most fragile. Binbin's fantasies are all in exchange for it. Once he loses power, everything in this arena will be far away from him. So we can understand why Binbin went to Fengjie to build a power plant after losing his power. What he said was "30 years in Hedong and 30 years in Hexi", and he thought that one day he would return home again. This is also reminiscent of Xiao Ma’s words in "The True Colors of Heroes", "I have waited for three years, just want to wait for an opportunity, I want to fight for a breath not to prove how great I am, but to tell others that I What you lose must be taken back." Bin Bin is too nostalgic for everything in the rivers and lakes, but he did not wait for that opportunity, and some are still embarrassed and unbearable.
But Qiaoqiao is different. Binbin’s arena is a pomp, but Qiaoqiao’s arena is heart and affection. For her, it was this sentiment that allowed her to condemn Binbin without hesitation in the first place, and it was also this sentiment that supported her all the way. There is a line in "Blood Two Heroes": "We are not used to this arena, we are too old." But in "The Children of the Rivers and Lakes", the old-fashioned ingenuity becomes the person who is most adapted to the rivers and lakes. Because of her nostalgia, she went to Fengjie to find Binbin. She knew that Binbin was ashamed of her. She didn't want to embarrass him, but wanted an end to comfort herself; also because of her nostalgia, she followed the stranger who had only a small shop at home. She went to Xinjiang, wanting to have a new start; or because of her old age, she returned to Datong, accepted the hemiplegic Bin Bin, and finally forgave him.
See you in the arena; When Qiaoqiao sang "How much love can come again" in the audience, she may still be weaving a mirage, but when Qianfan has read it all, after experiencing countless people and things, she already knows that, whether it is She is still Bin Bin, everyone is trapped in their own rivers and lakes, and she is drunk for a lifetime.
postscript:
Jia Zhangke came to the scene after Daguangming on the 18th. He said that he used six types of shooting equipment including DV and film camera to record the story in "Children of the Rivers and Lakes". Different media means different time changes. In and out of the play, it was more than ten years in the blink of an eye. The people in the play were pushed across the country, and the people outside the play were also pushed through the spring to the winter. From this point of view, "The Children of the Rivers and Lakes" is not only Jia Zhangke's personal past, but also "the image memory of the entire era."
September 21, 2018
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