The true story of "Youth School" is quite cruel and dark. Ang Lee did not paint the story with too much warmth, nor did he push the audience into a dark corner with no choice. I feel that this is a story about humanity, animality and divinity-animality does not necessarily mean evil, darkness or cruelty, but with no choice, people have to become animals in order to survive. The question is, how do you ensure that you can transform from a tiger back into a human form? Divinity is the bridge for the juvenile school to accept reality and return to humanity. Maybe it can't be regarded as a belief, it's more like a belief. I very much agree with some netizens: the tiger is the original self, and the juvenile school is the civilized self. When the tiger appears, if it is still smiling, it will not survive. Once it returns to the world, the tiger will have to disappear before it can enter a new life.
Ang Lee told the second story very briefly and vaguely, obviously with its intentions. The whole film uses imagery to dilute the bloody reality, and uses the beauty of the starry sky and the sea to drive the audience's understanding of what people are—regardless of experience. What an inhuman experience, you can still keep your humanity. If the second story were told directly with video, it might be Michael Haneke instead of Ang Lee.
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