Every country has its own history, and it also has its own thinking about history. The reason why Chinese films are lackluster today is that these films have neither a sense of history nor the joy of thinking at all. The image shell and sensual decoration are not enough to support the art of thinking in film.
Perhaps a director will blame his inaction on the unsatisfactory environment. However, the 33-year-old Donas Mark warned the world with his film-no matter what the circumstances, everyone can still choose to be the master of their own destiny . There is no grand scene in
Other People's Life
"Eavesdropping Storm". This Chinese translation is not as good as the original meaning of "Other People's Life" to show us the connotation of the film.
In the film, the Minister of Literature and Art uses his power to intimidate the writer, and intimidates the writer's wife to keep a weekly date with him, which is a crude intrusion into the lives of the writer and his wife. This intrusion is also manifested in the 24-hour monitoring of the writer's family life by Weissler. In such an era when human rights are not protected, people’s homes are just substitute prisons for the state, and they will be converted at any time because of such intrusions.
It is worth noting that the intrusions of the two are slightly different. The Minister of Arts and Arts invaded the lives of others for selfish desires, while Wesley was more like a "public heart." As an "old bachelor" who is loyal to the party-state, Wesley spends most of his time on surveillance and interrogation-to be precise, to interfere with other people's lives. As for his own private life, it is blank. Perhaps we can say that it is precisely because there are countless people like Weslok who are willing to contribute their lives, that makes big people like Uno do whatever they want and enjoy infinite beauty.
Today, no one doubts that every citizen should have a life of his own, independent of the goals of the state, and public power should tighten its reins before the threshold of residents. However, in the era of "violence triumphed over thoughts and people conquered mankind" (Zweig), in the "1984" year when politics was overwhelming, many people like Wessler used surveillance and interrogation to "danger "Character" is also proud of his profession. At one time they believed that anyone could betray their country, and any words or deeds that did not trust the government could be a reason for a person's arrest.
The film's narration from 1984 is obviously not a simple coincidence. 60 years ago, the genius writer George? In his famous anti-totalitarian novel "Nineteen Eighty Four", Orwell once virtualized or predicted a horrible world of "Big Brother is watching you". It was a country ruled by "bilingual thinking" and new words. Like the Stasi served by Wesley, the protagonist Winston in "Nineteen Eighty Four"? Smith worked hard for the "Ministry of Truth". There, "war is peace", "freedom is slavery", "ignorance is power", everyone is monitored, and everyone's rights are confiscated.
Obviously, this kind of "bilingualism" was even more manifested in East Germany in the 1980s: on the one hand, the government spared no effort to promote to the people that GDR is the most beautiful country in the world; on the other hand, it regarded East Germans as the best in the world. Terrible citizens-everyone is a potential "national enemy". Those citizens who live outside prisons are just "parole prisoners" and should be monitored by the state.
To this end, East Germany established the "Stasi", the world's most powerful intelligence agency, and established secret files for more than 6 million of the East German population of 18 million. One of the three must be monitored. In the 1980s when "informant politics" became popular, whistleblowing became the daily life of East German residents. At this time, not only "Big Brother is watching you" from the government, but also "Big Mother is watching you" from the society. The disintegration of society is also reflected in the family, the so-called "wife (male) is watching you". On this point, Wesley’s actor Mukh can be described as empathizing. His wife Jane? Gromann used to work for the German National Security Agency and was responsible for monitoring him and other actors. The relevant decrypted documents have 254 pages.
Today, when history turns a closed and gloomy page, it is not difficult for us to understand why politics and life on the east side of the Berlin Wall were unsustainable. If the government focuses on social control rather than increasing the well-being of the people, then the "improvement of life" that taxpayers are pursuing is nothing more than a few good quality handcuffs.
The vines of the empire
"all roads lead to Rome" have exhausted the prosperity of Rome in the past. It is said that wherever the Romans fought, they built roads wherever they went. From a more abstract level, ambitious rulers try to control society through the possession of various "road" resources. All the purpose is not to block or cut off the horizontal social communication, so as to forge the unconditional surrender of the "below" to the "above". The so-called totalitarianism is to completely gather public power and social rights in the hands of the government. The government controls every dimension of politics, economy, culture, and life, reducing society to a state of extreme poverty and bankruptcy.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, by chance, Deleiman learned from Uno that he had been under surveillance. Back at home, following the wallpaper and the corner of the room, Dreman pulled out many wires that had been hidden for many years, and he was awake from dreaming. An old era is over, and the destruction of eavesdropping devices is more like a funeral for a dead totalitarian rule.
Dreyman grabbed the wires in his hand, the vines of the empire had dried up and lost their previous lives. Once upon a time, they flourished for a while, spreading to every corner of private life with their secret but ubiquitous violence, harvesting for the empire. From the toilet to the living room, from the bedroom to the study, as long as the Stasi deems it necessary, they can occupy every inch of social life in the name of national security.
The vines of power reaching into the bedrooms of residents are inevitably reminiscent of ugly octopuses. In the West, people usually use octopuses to compare the irresistible force of terror. The protagonist in Hugo's "Labor at Sea" is entangled by an octopus and dragged into the depths of the sea; in science fiction, the octopus is also regarded as a potential enemy of mankind, and even the ruler of the future world.
Obviously, this "vampire in the sea" has a totalitarian character. Its body extends in all directions. It possesses, grasps, and swallows, and seems to have the power to destroy everything. With 8 arms and legs growing directly from the head, the shape of the octopus is more like a metaphor, showing us the star-like structure of the totalitarian era—the central control of all directions. As Hugo said, the octopus is a mass of rotten meat, the ugly embodiment of disease, its entanglement is strangulation, and its contact is paralysis.
When the Stasiites followed Sealand's confession to find a typewriter, Sealand, who was almost mentally broken, ran into the street desperately and was smashed to the head by a rushing car. However, we have no reason to blame Sealand's death on an ordinary car accident. Sealand's inner entanglement is undoubtedly telling the audience that her real cause of death was the strangulation of octopuses, the "vines entangled with trees" of the vines of the empire. The death of Sealand has thus become the epitome of the tragedy of an era.
Sealand once said: God never looks down. However, people's tears flow down. Weslok witnessed all this. He knelt in front of Sealand...At this moment, I believe everyone is like Weslok, seeing his past and future situations in the fate of Sealand, and realizing himself. Being among human beings.
The "Glorious Betrayal"
country is a creation of man and cannot be superior to man's value. However, what the totalitarian system preaches is that everyone must live and die for totalitarianism. Weissler’s betrayal revealed that even in the dark ages, people living "inside and outside the system" have the possibility of reconciliation. The system is not a real and lasting community. The value and permanence of the human community are far above any system.
Friends who died by suicide, prostitutes who were called, Brecht's poems, and "The Good Man Sonata", etc., are essential spiritual props for Wesley's "Glorious Betrayal".
Before committing suicide, Escar said to Deleman almost desperately: "I can no longer stand this country where there is no human rights and let people talk. This system makes people crazy, but it can write real life..." When Wesley was fascinated by the sound of Deleman’s piano, the audience saw a paradox: Although the eavesdropping was pointed out by thousands of people, the eavesdropper also obtained the first-hand information of contemporary people’s silent resistance to totalitarianism. In this sense, this also makes the eavesdropper a witness to the suffering and spirit of the times.
Sex is important. Totalitarianism makes people forget their own existence, while sexual desire instinctively tells every citizen that the desire of the flesh is real, and the experience of happiness and orgasm is also not replaceable by other people and things. Winston in "Nineteen Eighty Four" also looks for his fading humanity in prostitutes. In Oceanic countries, “sexual desire is regarded as a disgusting minor operation, just like an enema.” Sexual desire is a sin of thought, and satisfactory sexual intercourse itself is rebellion. Because of this, an era from closed to open is always accompanied by the breaking of suppressed sexual desire, and the awakening of sexual desire has become a primula of conscience awakening.
The sex in "Eavesdropping Storm" is not only an ordinary scene in life, but also a profound metaphor. For Wesley, the pleasure of monitoring and interrogation obviously exceeds sexual desire. Only when he witnessed the misfortune that happened to the Dremans and their sexual life, did the human side of Wesley gradually begin to recover. Wesle found a prostitute, where sexual morality is irrelevant. What is important is that Wesle has his own private life, he can control his body autonomously, and he has begun to rise from the physical to the spiritual.
"Anyone who saves one person is to save the world!" The movie "Schindler's List" made this inscription widely known. People praise loyalty, but the progress and self-help of a society have to be accompanied by betrayal and departure from the old system. In order to protect Dleman, Wesle began to tamper with or even conceal related records that were not conducive to Dleman, and tried every means to withdraw his surveillance partner. The eavesdropper betrayed his loyalty to the principles and beliefs of the party-state, but life is not no choice-Wesley listened to his own inner voice.
Ironically, in "Nineteen Eighty Four", the job of Winston, a member of the Records Division of the Ministry of Truth, was to modify all kinds of original materials, from archives to old newspapers, all according to instructions. In The Storm, Wesler, who was discovered by conscience, has also changed the private lives of the writers he witnessed beyond recognition. Weissler completed a counter-attack against the old system, and the secret police loyal to the party-state became an undercover undercover hiding in the system overnight.
What is art?
Donas Mark, a young screenwriter and director. As early as 9 years ago, Donas Mark was thinking about a question-how a secret police monitored the private life of a famous writer. To this end, he visited some former East German informants and secret police. Donas Mark found that the secret police are a group of people who have locked their hearts and emotions. They only pay attention to principles, and emotional factors have been completely eliminated and sealed. They are afraid that their relationship will break their pursuit of principles.
In the face of daily suffering and institutional constraints, what is poetry? What is music? Why do those who create love and beauty become the thorns of autocrats? Donas Mark gave his answer more or less in "Eavesdropping Storm." In extreme times, those in power promoted the truth through "new words" and used lengthy truths to persuade the people to live in happiness. However, poems and music that evoke the soul will arouse people's memories and yearning for love and beauty. Once they reach the heart, the edifice of truth woven by lies suddenly becomes weak.
People who wish for freedom will not forget the touching scene of the movie "The Shawshank's Redemption" when Andy sits in the warden's office and plays "The Wedding of Figaro". In an instant, this hideous prison seemed to become a church that redeemed people's hearts and let hopes fly. Everything is as Andy said, "There is a kind of bird that can't be closed, because every feather of it is shining with the light of freedom." Human music can penetrate the copper and iron walls of prisons and open the shackles of people's hearts; it does not need to be a long story. Instead, it uses the beauty that people can feel with intuition to rescue people from the "tens of thousands of reasons for happiness" in the totalitarian era.
The true value of literature and art lies not in providing solutions for social progress, but in firm support for humanity and aesthetics. When a society is thawing, the reason why music that conforms to human nature is regarded as "supplemented music" by those in power and be reprimanded is precisely because of the spiritual quality of literature and art. Therefore, in the extreme age, arts such as music, poetry, and painting are all brought into the category of ideology and controlled. Just like the "new word" created in "Nineteen Eighty Four", it not only provides a suitable means for the supporters of the "English Society" to express their worldview and thinking habits, but also makes it impossible for all other ways of thinking to exist. Once they lose the ability to make sentences and fail to recognize the meanings contained in history, people will no longer have heretical thoughts.
Obviously, "Eavesdropping Storm" is a movie about salvation. The writer found himself in resistance, and the eavesdropper saved himself in betrayal. Of course, this movie is also convincing us that learning is a lifetime thing. Today, the development of the Internet makes distance education possible. The return of the soul of Weissler also shows the audience another kind of distance education in the "Berlin Wall era"-if the eavesdropper is not satisfied with the existing knowledge, there is learning If you want to, then it is possible to turn yourself into the "disciple of the room" of the eavesdropped, and turn the monitoring records into class notes. When eavesdropping becomes "steal art", it is not hopeless.
View more about The Lives of Others reviews