The appeal and shock of an excellent film hits people's hearts. The most successful part of this film is to restore the existence of soldiers as individual "people" in the war.
The film I watched a few years ago was picked up again by coincidence, and I was lucky enough to read the script.
It can only be said that the appeal and shock that an excellent film exudes directly hits people's hearts. Ichikawa Kun is really great, and he will be able to hand over such works 10 years after the end of World War II.
Of course, we need to think about why a film reflecting on war, shot by an aggressor country, has such an intensity?
The most successful part of this film is to restore the existence of soldiers as individual "people" in the war. When soldiers are only machines of war and tools of jihad, the attributes of "human" are deprived of repeated missions. In the state of "inhuman", they only need to fight indefinitely, win victory at all costs, and contribute to the country at any time. Life is enough, and there is no need to have personal emotions and thinking minds. But once you return to the level of "people", you will inevitably be moved by music, show strong longing for your relatives in your hometown, and feel deeply pained by the passing of life, and you will involuntarily think about why you fell into it. The current situation? As a person, what is the meaning of living or dying?
To make these thoughts, you do not need too advanced knowledge or education. In the contact with the old Burmese monk, after seeing the corpses of countless corpses, and seeing the British nurses singing hymns for the dead Japanese soldiers, it is natural. This idea came up.
The intense pain in Mizushima's heart came from the screen through the film's soundtrack, shots and pictures, and then conveyed and affected the audience as a viewer. Can accept this kind of emotion, precisely because at this time, both as "people", the audience and the host have the same humanity. The pain and sorrow that originate from the depths of the human soul does not distinguish between times and national boundaries.
I have to say that this is the power brought by outstanding literary works. It is precisely what some domestic films lack. After all, the expressiveness and appeal of art are only high and low, there is no right or wrong. A poor anti-Japanese work will not get extra points just because of its correct position.
"The Harp of Burma" was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, indicating that Japanese filmmakers' reflections on war were recognized by the international community at that time. Although it did not achieve what many Chinese demanded-to provide confession of aggression.
But Shichuankun did reflect on the war. He used the innocence, friendship and even sadness and pain of human nature, plus the compassion and brilliance of Buddha, to fight against "inhuman" wars.
Compared with the humanistic conception that often appears in European and American anti-war films (American soldiers sometimes fall into serious spiritual crisis due to fierce conflicts of values, see many Vietnam War films made by Lao Mei), people living in East Asia What is more familiar is the dignity of the Buddha, the respect for the land, and the nostalgia for hometown. These are the innate soft emotions and the most familiar daily life in the soil of East Asian culture. Obviously Ichichuankun has grasped this.
The four seasons of East Asia are used to nurturing submissive and obedient people, and the existence of individuals is often insignificant in the face of grand narratives of family and country. When the emperor’s notion of long live the country is rooted in the hearts of the people, all the efforts of individuals to resist it are like It's a praying man's arm to block the car. This is the dilemma Mizushima faced when trying to persuade the remnants of Sanjiao Mountain to be brought down. On the one hand, as human beings, after knowing that the country has been defeated, the soldiers have a desire to survive in their hearts, but on the other hand, as subjects of the emperor, no one is willing to bear the heavy charge of "being borne by the country".
"I don't want to lose my life meaninglessly." "What about the last person in the fight? To live, to be patient, and to work. From now on for the country..." Mizushima's rebuttal is still endorsed by national interests. Dare to discuss the life and death of individuals. Even so, his persuasion is still very weak in the rhetoric of "dying his life for the country" and "absolutely meticulous and stealing one's life".
This is the origin of Mizushima's pain. He witnessed the death of all members of the squad who refused to surrender. There was no desperate resistance and heroic allegiance, but it was wiped out instantly under the British cannon, and there was no power to parry. The powerful state system crushes individual lives thoroughly and ruthlessly.
The Japanese like to use a Chinese vocabulary: "Jade Fragment". On the way to Mudong, facing the indefinite riverside bones that had been turned into skeletons time and time again, Mizushima had to start thinking: The jade-like life has been broken all over the place, but what's the point? What killed them, was it the concretely visible British guns, or the abstract and invisible "patriotic" call? The eulogy about samurai, holy wars, medals, and devotion provided by nationalism is not enough to balance Mizushima's inner pain in the face of cruel death, nor can he comfort his tortured soul.
This dilemma was broken after he witnessed the British nurses in the field hospital sing hymns for the unknown Japanese soldiers. If Mizushima pretended to be a monk and cheated to eat and drink to worship, now he has completed his conversion to the Buddha spiritually and found a new direction in his life in the religious divinity.
It is the anti-war weapon that Shichuankun has found with the brilliance of religion that transcends national boundaries and nationalities, and is more ambitious. The Inoue team and Mizushima sang the scene of "The Moon in the Deserted City" inside and outside the Reclining Buddha, which made people feel that this homesickness and friendship of comrades-in-arms was a call from the Buddha's heart, instantly allowing the nation and the emperor to build up The altar became small and then collapsed.
"The Harp of Burma" is adapted from the children's literature of the same name created by writer Michio Takeyama in the second year after the war. The original author himself has never been to Myanmar. The location of the story was originally supposed to be in a rural village in the mainland of China. Unfortunately, it was changed to Burma in the hinterland of Indochina because it could not find a song common to both China and Japan. Therefore, we cannot expect to find historical facts that correspond to the story in the film. The film’s depiction of the Burmese people also stays in the imagination of a backward but simple, kind and uncivilized colony.
It is undeniable that this overhead story is full of beautification and whitewashing. The Burmese in the film are basically indifferent to the war that befalls them inexplicably, as if the Japanese soldiers are just here for a visit. On the other hand, the Inoue squad was also very defiant to the British army. It did not fight or hate it at all. It was grateful for its treatment in the prison camp, and it also had a new sense of death because of the infinite philanthropic spirit of the British. People can't help but suspect that this kind of harmonious and beautiful relationship is actually wishful thinking out of reality.
However, the film wins in the truth of emotions. An ordinary soldier's exploration and entanglement of the meaning of life, individual responsibility, and self-salvation, the awakening of a human soul, and the resulting struggles and pains that result from it, are moving through the two channels of music and religion. The power of the audience arouses great emotional resonance among the audience.
This is a triumph of art.
Another typical example that can be compared with it is Takahata Hoon's "The Tomb of Fireflies."
Now back to the original question, why can the film and television works brought by the initiator of the war and the unjust party achieve such an expressive effect? The answer is probably that Japanese filmmakers like Ichikawa and Takahata have found the existence of individuals as "people" in art. This also reminds us again: literary works are not political slogans. It is far from enough to provide hoarse accusations and knowing right and wrong at a glance. If there is no adequate respect and portrayal of people, only the offender and the victim With such a superficial and abstract concept, all expressions will flow into flat, pale, hollow and even ridiculous.
In fact, there is no shortage of high-quality anti-Japanese films in Chinese-language films, and Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum", which has just been rescreened, is one of them. The vigorous vitality provided by Mo Yan's text is so brilliant and dazzling that the film exudes dazzling brilliance and becomes a jewel in Chinese-language movies. Unfortunately, this power has never been reproduced in Lao Mouzi's subsequent works.
The disasters brought about by war can destroy all human beings, including the body and soul, and this is the same for both sides of the war, civilians, or soldiers. Although history is written by the winners, in fact, there can be no real winners in wars. But usually, victory brings enthusiasm so that it is not easy for the winning party to feel its cruelty. Therefore, whether the defeat in the war forced or prompted the Japanese (including filmmakers) to fully recognize this fact is still worth discussing. But at least, returning to "people" and then writing and providing painful memories of war, no matter which side it comes from, has its meaning.
On 2018.10.23
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