Good movies are hard to come by. It is rare to see such a wonderful film describing the evil of human nature in 2021. Although it was shot in 1957, a classic is a classic. Even if half a century has passed, few works can surpass it.
The story is set in the First World War. The German and French sides were in a stalemate on the Ant Hill (anthill)-based position for a year. Under the pressure of the public and politicians, General George, a senior French military officer, decided to win at any cost. Ant Hill, and lured his subordinate General Mireau to accept the mission with promotion. Mireau still ordered the troops to attack even though he knew the estimated death rate was 75%, and threatened his subordinate Colonel Dax with his dismissal to lead the troops to charge up, resulting in heavy casualties. , the troops had to retreat, Mireau became angry, the goal was not achieved, and to punish the soldiers who did not actively attack on the battlefield, so absurdly selected three soldiers, set up a temporary military court for trial, sentenced the three soldiers to death, Colonel Dax tried his best. He tried his best to defend and rescue his own soldiers, but in the end, the soldiers who didn't die on the battlefield died at the hands of their own people.
The whole film reveals the evil of human nature in characters of different classes, which is impressive.
If virtue does not match, there will be disaster
As the old saying goes, "If you don't match morality, you will have disaster." If you put a person who is not good at moral cultivation, and who only seeks his own self-interest in a higher position, he will only harm more people. Such as the film's General Mireau. The sanctimonious general kept saying in front of his superior, "I have eight thousand lives on my shoulders, what is my ambition compared to that?", but turned his head and saw soldiers nesting in trenches on the battlefield. When he attacked, he actually ordered the artillery to bombard his own position, drive the soldiers out of the trenches, and regard the lives of the soldiers as a must. And after the defeat of the battle, he actually proposed to the superior to select 100 soldiers for trial, and the law should be rectified on the spot. There is no humanity at all.
And this General Mireau, treats his subordinate Colonel Dak, who has made great achievements in battle, with no respect at all. He just regards his subordinates as a tool to climb up. When Dak says he doesn't want to sacrifice his soldiers' lives in vain and refuses to attack the stronghold of Ant Hill, Mireau threatens to remove Dak and let him go. Therefore, a person like Mireau will not take into account how much you have done for him in the past. As long as you fail to do any key battle on his promotion road, he will kick you away like a pebble.
Why is it said that the higher the position of such a person, the greater the scourge, because the greater the power, people are forced by his obscenity, and seldom can effectively supervise and resist? Mingzhe protects himself and falls into coordinated evil. In the film, forced by General Mireau's arrogance, prosecutors and judges in military courts, skip the necessary procedures, have no indictment and no court records, distort the facts, and waste lives, so much that Colonel Dak lamented that he did not think of the most sublime human beings. sympathy for others, actually completely died in this court.
In fact, in today's society, human nature has not changed much. In organizations large and small, you may not see extreme examples like General Mireau, but you can definitely find the shadow of the military side of General Mireau. For example, a leader can skip a lot of necessary processes and formalities with a word. Another example is that some people have two completely different faces to the top and the bottom.
In addition to General Mireau, there is also a little lieutenant in the film, because of his cowardice, when he went out to investigate, he killed his own soldiers. In order to protect himself and cover up his crimes, he actually distorted the facts in the investigation report, made up random stories, and took revenge on the subordinate soldiers who discovered the truth. Another example of the use of power for personal gain and the use of power to save lives.
black absurdity
There are also some dark absurdities in the film, which are impressive. For example, when choosing three soldiers to die, two of the soldiers who were finally selected were soldiers who had high morale and fought bravely when the general inspected the trenches. The efforts of these soldiers were so disproportionate to the outcome, I mocked again. The ludicrous and absurdity of this selection mechanism.
There is also a company of soldiers, who was determined by casting lots to finally die. This is really absurd to the extreme. We know that when there are unbalanced interests in the organization and no one is willing to do thankless things, we often use the method of drawing lots to solve it, but to decide who will die by the method of drawing lots is simply... This kind of game, but link it with human life, really life is like a game.
Evil of the public and the media
Many comments denounced the evils of the military's system. But the starting point of General George's decision to attack Ant Hill in the film was under pressure from the public and politicians to give them an explanation. Therefore, the public and the media cannot get rid of this evil result.
The public and the media often carry the banner of justice, but in the absence of sufficient information, this good starting point, you don't know whether it will bear bad results, because you don't know whether there will be any in the whole incident. People like George or Mireau, for a certain account, have killed so many ants that are like a mustard.
In the Ant Hill incident in the film, it is impossible to give the public a satisfactory account of how many people died in the attack, because Ant Hill still did not take down, but handed over the scapegoat of Mireau, saying that it was because of the general's poor command. Shooting at your own army can definitely win the public's attention and give the public a more appropriate explanation. Therefore, no matter where your official is, as long as you are the appropriate account, you will never escape the fate of the scapegoat.
Looking back at the public events over the years, you can always find an account like Mireau, but what the general public doesn't know is how many ordinary ants have been sacrificed in the account besides Mireau.
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