A friend who has been with him for 10 years suddenly claimed that he was born in the Cro-Magnon tribe who created the rock paintings of Les Eyzies in southwestern France 14,000 years ago, and then went all the way east as Sumerians and Hammurabi. The Babylonians under his rule, the Phoenicians who sailed the Mediterranean, went to India to learn from Buddha, sailed with Columbus, received paintings from Van Gogh as a pig farmer, and most of all, he is what we see all over the world The deity of the person on the cross... In reality, we mostly keep away from such characters, and if they are in danger, they will be sent to a mental hospital. The "window paper" of the movie screen instead gives us an opportunity to seriously face this interesting problem.
This is a grand tour of anthropology, sociology, biomedicine, history, geography, and religion. The other characters in the film (they and the protagonist are both university professors) take on the challenge first, such as what is the memory of 14,000 years ago, remember the first language spoken no, did not die of serious illness or 14,000 years ago. Accidents, is it too coincidental that one person has witnessed so much history, etc. The protagonist explained this one by one, such as realizing that his immortality may be some kind of mission given by God, so he actively participates in various changes of human beings. At the same time, he also talked about some special experiences of being immortal, such as when did he realize that he was classified as a "Cro-Magnon" by later generations? How do you feel about death as a primitive man? In the long years of 14,000 years, what is it like to face the constant acquisition of new knowledge and witness the continuous transformation of human society? He said that most of his knowledge was also learned from books, not personal experience, but some specific things that happened will be etched in his mind. This is in line with most of us, to prove that he is just like us in everything except immortality. In order not to be suspicious, he had to leave to join a new group every ten years because he didn't want to be locked up and studied for a thousand years. Some sociological experiences developed from here, such as the ease with which nomads leave and integrate, while it is much more difficult when villages and cities are established—new faces are always suspected. The protagonist has accumulated so many different experiences that he desperately needs to find a way to turn that experience into knowledge. While unlimited time allows for a great deal of knowledge to be learned, by the time the 10th Ph.D. is completed, the knowledge of the 1st degree is over 100 years out of date. Studying history and society from such an angle is not very interesting.
In this encyclopedic round of torture, religion is undoubtedly a center of gravity. The film brings out some implicit topics in a natural and ingenious way. For example, a professor asked the 14,000-year life. Is it a cycle of reincarnation or a long-lasting process? This implies the biggest difference between the two ancient Western cultures: Indo-European cultures (India, Greco-Roman, ancient Northern Europe) pursued polytheism, with the most emphasis on vision (god statues), believing that history is cyclical, and should be predicted through philosophical thinking History, therefore, attaches great importance to introspection and meditation in order to escape from the fate of reincarnation. This is also part of the philosophy of the Buddha that the protagonist once consulted. The Abrahamic religions of the Semitic culture (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) adhere to monotheism and attach the greatest importance to hearing (reciting scriptures). They believe that history is a straight line from creation to judgment day. God decides history, so they attach great importance to prayer and preaching. Study history in anticipation of redemption on Judgment Day. The protagonist claimed to have practiced with the Buddha for decades and went to the Middle East to spread the Buddha's ideas, but he dramatically became Jesus. This extremely bold plot is actually not without basis. Some people have compared Jesus' teachings and Buddhist scriptures in detail, and have put forward the hypothesis that Jesus may have been a Buddhist.
Maybe such a plot would offend some believers, but I guess the movie wasn't meant to be sacrilegious. It just shows how much human beings have been longing for the answer to the ultimate question for a long time: where does everything in the world come from, and where does the original force behind all energy come from. Religion is mankind's attempt to answer this ultimate question, and it has naturally become the spiritual sustenance of countless people. There is no debate here about what is right and what is wrong, we have to see how much each religion has played a role in the sustenance of human spirit and belief over thousands of years. Of course, there are also many conflicts and tragedies. We hope that various beliefs can coexist in harmony and share the beliefs of mankind. I saw a gratifying example when I traveled in Turkey. In a taxi in Istanbul, the driver proudly introduced me to a mosque, an Orthodox church, and an Armenian church that stood side by side on a street. In addition to worship, Orthodox Christians face Jesus and pray every Sunday. Everyone is safe and sound. At the crossroads of the East and the West, we believe in the common virtues of mankind.
In fact, I personally think that the real challenge to believers is not the conflict of doctrines, but the test of faith in reality. A devout Christian who abides by the canon in his life, the position of Jesus in his heart is self-evident. But suddenly faced with the unfalsifiable true body of Jesus, can you still maintain the teachings of Jesus in your heart? Jesus once asked the believers: "Who do you think I am?" The hero also asked the same question. This is a double test of humanity and faith. We see most of the characters in the play gradually appear very disturbed, even resorting to threats of force. In addition to jealousy, it is also because people are always afraid of things that they cannot understand, and fear that what they know will be subverted. Only by eliminating subversive "heretics" can they feel at ease and return to the space they have always been accustomed to. This scene undoubtedly reflects thousands of similar stories in human history.
In addition, the existence or not of the true God of each religion is a question that cannot be proved or falsified. Just as the characters in the film cannot prove or disprove whether the protagonist lived for 14,000 years, neither can the protagonist and another immortal person they met hundreds of years ago. The film takes us back into the realm of agnosticism. If we look at it with the attitude of "accept only what is perceived by the senses, and everything else to be confirmed", we have never experienced miracles, but we have never experienced the law that "miracles must not happen". So we can neither affirm nor deny the possibility of miracles. We can only experience habitual expectations, such as throwing a stone and it will always fall to the ground, but cannot experience the laws of nature, or the divine forces behind phenomena, such as the principle of gravity itself. This is a prudent and rational attitude to be admired, neither blindly obedient nor fearless like an atheist. But unfortunately, in order to create a dramatic conflict, the film arranged a plot of father and son recognition at the end of the film, which broke the top-level agnostic setting that originally shrouded the whole film. If the movie ends, the audience will not be able to prove or falsify whether the protagonist really lived for 14,000 years. This meaningful effect is definitely stronger than a bloody plot. I personally think this is the biggest flaw of the movie.
In short, the simple setting of "a man who lived for 14,000 years" will certainly inspire broader thinking and discussion. While experiencing the fun of rational speculation, can this film also bring us some purely emotional impact? The most direct question: would you like to be like him? My first reaction was yes, so that I had endless time to splurge, endless knowledge to learn, endless creation to witness, and endless life to experience. But I can only have 10 years of friends at most (compared to 14,000 years of life) and I will watch the people I love die. Even after experiencing countless loves, love has long since left me. Even the will to make the people around him believe in himself has long since disappeared. For ordinary people, time is a landscape, and they shuttle in every section; for me, time is the sea, and everyone is like the tides of the sea, and they die without saying a few words. Only another immortal who passed by 200 years ago is a possible friend, and only the various familiar things in the thrift store can evoke a little memory. In the face of human history that keeps repeating the same mistakes, do you feel alienated? Do you feel guilty about the death of a loved one? Are you really absorbing other people's lives unconsciously? Do I want to put an end to this, both because of this 10,000-year-old guilt, and because of our tiredness of human beings repeating stupid mistakes?
Don't think this question is boring, don't think life is boring. In the melody of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, you might as well put aside the rules and regulations in your life, find such a topic, think wildly, and have a heated discussion with your friends. That's what this movie is about, don't be like the furniture movers in the movie, numb yourself and turn a blind eye to such a wonderful game.
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