What are you shouting, I can't hear that I
have been reading Zhuangzi's "The Theory of Equality of Things", and I feel that Hou Hsiao-hsien's films have a Taoist style. He likes to speak quietly and in a flat performance. I remember "Love in the Wind and Dust", the whole movie is silent, and the most passionate emotional catharsis is actually the silent choking of the hero. My so-called "silence, but not sinking" can also be given to director Hou Hsiao-hsien.
"Sad City" is the same idea. The deaf-mute, played by Tony Leung, is the narrator of the entire film. He records everything on a note. The audience understands the development of the film in the silently typed subtitles. Even some intense scenes, such as killing, fighting, and shouting, all flow out from Liang Chaowei's quiet pen.
Perhaps, the director hopes to tell the audience through such a narration that all the noise and noise will eventually return to calm. The film went through A Liang's madness, the turmoil of the traitor incident, the death of his eldest brother and the arrest of A Si. At the end, the few remaining members of the family gathered around the table to eat silently. This quiet element is like a big net that catches the turbulent waves in the sea.
What impresses me most in the film is the irrational elder brother yelling at the bewildered Ah Si. "Does it work for him to shout like this?" The person who shouted wildly has forgotten that the other party can't hear it at all, and can't remember it. If you really want to keep Ah Si in your heart, you have to rely on black and white records.
Director Hou Hsiao-hsien used this concept to interpret history for us. There are times when we get used to powerful sound systems. It is true that a loud voice and a loudspeaker can transmit sound waves far, and the volume can be turned up to the highest level. But nature can make even the most powerful sound fleeting. Only by quietly writing the real situation can more people understand and understand.
Liang Chaowei's confused eyes told his elder brother, what are you calling, I can't hear you.
We can't hear what you're shouting. I hope you write it down so that more people can see it with their own eyes, okay?
I heard it, I saw it, I'm still deceived
Taiwan has recovered. But people's life is still difficult. A group of restless people used alcohol to relieve their sorrows, berating Chen Yi for turning the country into a company. Tony Leung, who was unable to speak, played music, and the argument was immediately diluted by the music. What kind of music is this? The narrative in black and white again tells the audience that this is an old legend: The beautiful banshee on the Rhine / Sitting on a rock and singing / Combing her blond hair / Boatmen / Enchanted by her song / And crashing into a rock / The boat is overturned...the
beautiful music actually hides such a bleak fate. This is the Taiwanese after the Restoration. I thought that they had gotten rid of the Japanese curse, and whoever wanted to lead the wolf into the room, the national hero who greeted him had a more greedy heart. What is even more hateful is that he did not show his colonial identity from the beginning like the Japanese, but dressed up as a graceful Rhine banshee, attracting countless sailors to take the bait. In the film, Chen Yi used a Shanghai accent to express his consolation to the Taiwanese people, but the radio waves blocked the murderous intentions behind him.
The crew on the Rhine, the people on Taiwan Island, they didn't hear it, they even saw it, but they were still deceived.
Once upon a time, we too were sailors on the Rhine, listening to beautiful songs, watching the beautiful blonde hair - hitting the rocks, the boat was overwhelmed. Once upon a time, we were also people on the island of Taiwan, listening to the generous statement above and thinking about the great selflessness of the leader --- we could not see the fog behind.
Hou Hsiao-hsien said, I heard it, I saw it, but I was still deceived.
Since they are still lying, they can only open their eyes, prick up their ears, and stop being fooled.
Little People, Big History
Hou Hsiao-hsien's film is a big history told by little people. The characters are small people, only a few of the 30 million Taiwanese. The director is also a small person, who can't wield a gun and can't make a name for himself. It's the little people like this that can move people the most. Hou Hsiao-hsien's "City of Sadness", Niu Chengze's "Monga", Qi Bangyuan's "Giant River", Wang Dingjun's four autobiographical works, and Long Yingtai's "Big River and Sea" are all big histories of small people. Moreover, they are all told by Taiwan, allowing mainlanders to shed their own tears in other people's stories.
The history is much more complicated than the writing of fennel bean. A dynasty, a capital, a battle, a coup, that is the great work of a great man. A river, an alley, a thin pen, a pile of wreckage, the traces of little people. In historical chapters, big figures can occupy the title, text, notes, quotations, every word; small figures may only be punctuation marks, not even a word. But every reader understands that without punctuation, a complete story cannot be made.
Although Taiwan is small, it has a population of 30 million and a history of nearly a hundred years of vicissitudes. Many Taiwanese writers and artists are working hard to complete the string of punctuation marks in the story. Compared with Taiwan, we are very large, with more than one billion people and thousands of years of civilization history. Where are our little ones? A string of statistics, or a shallow narrative?
Face up to history, please start with the little ones.
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