It's a movie about snoring.
This is another portrayal of real rural life. When urbanization is advancing by leaps and bounds, the mountains and forests far away from the hustle and bustle are not immune to the damage brought about by the so-called modern industry. But this is gradual and not instantaneous. When the decadence of the city contrasts with the quietness of the countryside, some people still choose the countryside. Juan is such a brave man. He has been living in a big city, and on the premise of abundant material, he brought his wife Natalia and two young children to a small village deep in the mountains.
It's just that his single-family home is located at the end of the small village, front and rear, left and right, extremely open. This naturally forms a strong and sharp contrast with the dilapidated village houses. Although Juan managed to integrate into the villagers' lives, he could not dispel their strange gazes. This is a mixture of envy, doubt, and puzzlement that gradually permeates their surroundings.
The only ones who brought us ease were Juan's four-year-old son Iriel and two-year-old daughter Rudy. As soon as Iriel fell asleep, he often dreamed of red-lighting mythical beasts carrying boxes, entering their homes, and visiting them from room to room. This was a magical barrier, or a hidden reality. Does the dream originating from young children also herald the sudden change of life in Juan's countryside?
The villagers gathered to talk about their bad habits, such as eating, drinking, prostitution, gambling, drugs, etc. that they once had or could not get rid of in their entire lives. Among them, Saiwen brought Juan to listen. Seven lives here alone, his wife and a pair of children are far from him because of his bad habits, and he is determined to repent in order to ask his wife's forgiveness. It seems that this is not easy. People who are infected with bad habits, swear that they will become commonplace, but the energy of bad habits is extremely strong, like ten thousand ants gnawing on bones, so it is really impossible to quit.
It is precisely because of Juan's closeness with Saiwen that Saiwen's theft happened directly, so that Juan ate a gun and most of his lungs were cut off. After that, Juan could only rest in bed. There seems to be only one good guy named Garo in this village.
The wife, who was usually upset, could only stand silently by the window now, but this boring time had to go on with Juan. Depressed, she sat in front of the piano, playing and singing Lennon's "Fantasy", and Juan joined it. His wife was already choked with tears. A bullet hit Juan in the chest, but also in the hearts of the couple. The wife asked Juan if you didn't want to report it to the police. He said no.
That's how Sevin escaped. When Seven finds his wife and children, he again vows to be reconciled forever. He decided to come to Juan. Only Juan's two children were playing outdoors at this time, and Iriel hoped that Seven would play with them. And Seven asked what about your dad. Iriel said he was dead. Stunned, Saiwen ran back to his wife's house, but it was empty. The wife has taken her children away again as if she were avoiding the god of plague.
Seven stood in the open grassland, facing the dense forest, and suddenly collapsed. The torrential rain followed, and thunder and lightning flashed white as usual in the sky. The mountains and forests after the thunderstorm are unusually quiet and still, and the vitality after the breeze blows is intoxicating.
At this time, I heard the sound of a big tree falling down after logging. This is the beginning of a new round of killing, or it is really dark and bright. In response to this, Iriel and his sister Rudy, who have become teenagers, have already left the mountains and returned to the metropolis with their mother. Iriel is ambitiously participating in an American football game, and the burst of mud and water makes people feel alive again. This is what the Mexican film "The Willows", which won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012, is about to express. The Peach Blossom Land carefully created by director Carlos Legadas turned out to be just a dream for people who are tired of urban life. Because the real Peach Blossom Spring does not exist at all.
No matter where you come from, once you enter country life, everything around you invades every inch of your skin. The fresh air, the quiet forest and the leisurely leisure of cattle, sheep, donkeys and dogs are just the appearance of your reality. Deep into your eyes, there must be another scenery. Disagreement between people and things around you will not evaporate, but will condense, improve, and converge. This intertwining of contradictions will erupt from point to point like a germ. Although it is a gradual change, it must not be the peace and purity in Juan's eyes. That's why his wife, Natalia, has the usual hidden worries.
The successive deaths of Juan and Saiwen are like a metaphor, a symbol and a symbol of the urban and rural polarities. Lick dreamers always have to pay a price. The modern countryside is always accompanied by primitive tension and modern impact, and ignorance and barbarism go hand in hand. If you simply define the modern countryside with simple ideas, it is tantamount to asking for trouble and embarking on a road of no return. There is no absolute pure land in this world. Peaceful places belong only to our dreams.
When Rudy swayed on the grass, all she could see in front of her were "the cow, the bad dog, the donkey, the moon, the home (with lightning flashing in the sky), mom, dad..." It seemed that only the child Rudy's babble could be broken. The reality of our trance. But this is just the opening scene of the film, followed by endless dullness, silence and gloom. The movie is nothing more than trying to tell us: what kind of reality do we need to live in? Which is the right world for us to live in? Where is our real home?
The answer here is also imprecise. Reality doesn't blind us or kill our lives, because it's what happens right now, for better or worse, just heartbreak, fatigue, and acceptance. Perhaps only the quiet mountains can tell us where the future direction of mankind is. But the premise is that there cannot be only a single big tree left in the forest. Otherwise, mankind will be doomed.
2013, 9, 5
Published in "Shenzhen Special Zone Daily" 2014, 8, 5
From Haitian Publishing House "Invisible Movies"
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