After all, when it comes to movies about the destruction of human civilization, Hollywood-style disaster blockbusters may be the most appealing to audiences.
Huge waves, the earth shakes, the city collapses in an instant...
These rare natural disasters and man-made disasters, through the interpretation of these movies, show the various fantasies of human beings for the apocalyptic world to the greatest extent, but The Mosquito Coast is another disaster-themed movie.
Strictly speaking, it's more of a thriller + adventure movie. It does not have awesome special effects to show the tragic situation of shaking the earth, changing the color of the wind and clouds, and instantly destroying thousands of cities, but it successfully shows how fragile human civilization is. Even if we think we have the most advanced technology and the most abundant knowledge, human civilization is still a false proposition in the face of nature and human nature.
The story takes place in America. The inventor Fox has a genius-like creativity, but he is constantly looked down upon by the residents of the town, because he is not doing his job and tinkering with some bizarre and useless inventions all day long. Fox was extremely disappointed with the depraved and stubborn society around him. He brought his family to the Mosquito Coast and bought a village there with his savings, intending to build the perfect society in his heart step by step from scratch.
The ambitious Fox family began to cooperate with the villagers to build their homes. They used local materials, chopped down trees, sawed logs, built houses, brought in electricity, switched on electric lights, established irrigation systems, and planted a variety of vegetable crops.
He even built an ice machine, allowing the villagers in this deep tropical village to see ice for the first time
According to his vision, this is a perfect society built with knowledge and technology.
Modern technology makes this backward primitive village glow with a different brilliance. It not only has all the conveniences of a modern civilized society, but also the simple and natural warmth between people in the primitive society. Everything is as he wished.
However, the ideal is always too full, and the arrival of the three gunmen is the beginning of all destruction. Fox believes in the principles of peace, so in building this utopia, there was never any thought of introducing violence. So he was powerless to deal with the three villains,
In the end, he had to destroy the entire village to drive out the three gangsters, after which he tried several times to rebuild his home, all of which were unsuccessful.
His wife and children couldn't bear his stubbornness and prepared to escape secretly, and now Fox's life was gradually coming to an end because of an accident.
Fox is a tragic allegorical figure, he represents the knowledge and technology mastered by human beings. When transforming the wild land, he was almost a god to the local villagers. Here, we can see the director's strong hints, such as the villagers abandoning the gods they believed in before and rejecting the preaching of priests.
When human beings have knowledge, they think they are equal to God. Can do anything, control everything. As everyone knows, this is the beginning of the tragedy
Nature is only temporarily tamed, not forever. What’s more, the evil of human nature is the biggest crisis. It has always been lurking in the dark, ready to move. Even if there is no natural disaster, the cunning, cruelty, and killing in human nature will also bring civilization. easily destroyed.
The countless wars in human history in reality are the best examples. Ancient Egyptian civilization and Babylonian civilization were destroyed by war and aggression
Human civilization is far more fragile than we can imagine, and the knowledge and technology in our hands that we think we can live and live are simply vulnerable compared to the powerful natural forces and uncontrollable human hearts.
At the end of the film, Fox sighed before his death that 'the human body is a poor design, that is, there is no solid skin and thick fur, no claws and fangs, and walking upright leaves our heart and genitals completely exposed'
Humans have evolved hundreds of millions to be what they are today, becoming the king of nature, the top of the food chain, and in the eyes of Fox at this time, we do not have a weapon that can resist danger, which is sad and ridiculous. In fact, if you think about it carefully, the progress of human beings lies in the ability to think and learn. Technology and civilization also continue to advance with the accumulation of ideas and knowledge again and again, which also allows us to change from awe of nature to random aggression. When nature is not enough for us to fear, then what makes human beings afraid?
Maybe only humans themselves.
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