This scene reminds me of an old Albanian film from the 1970s: "Better to Die". In that special era, there were many heroes on the screen. In "Better to Die than Yield", the female student Mila, who went to the execution ground with the female guerrillas singing the song of the guerrillas, is one of the most dazzling movie images. There is a fake shooting scene in the film, in which the Gestapo deliberately brings Mira to the balcony, allowing her to look at the free sky and the beautiful city, in order to arouse her love for life and hate for death. The seemingly virtuous enemy also used a poetic line to tempt Mila. I forgot the original words. The main point of this line is: the sun is shining outside the window, people are living a good life, but, girl, you are in prison here, Eventually you will die! This line was matched by Qiu Yuefeng. It made a Nazi executioner who was gentle but murderous on the surface, and a heroine who devoted himself to the revolutionary cause.
Today, heroes and dedication are less mentioned, but in the face of similar sacrifices, we are still somewhat moved: who does not know that it is good to live? Why do some people die for the cause they consider themselves, for the sake of a certain group that may or may not be saved in their own philosophy? Taishi Gong owns Yunhongmao Mount Tai, is their death lighter than Hongmao or heavier than Mount Tai? I know there is a limit, I am afraid that these questions are really not very good answers.
Today, devotion and heroes are not lightly spoken of. Fortunately, humanitarianism can still be talked about. Sophie in this film probably died for it. I have a habit of watching movies, that is, I prefer to pay attention to the villains rather than the positive characters. Strictly speaking, Moore, the policeman who really fought against Sophie the most-his interrogation of Sophie was ruthless at the beginning to the iron plate loosening the next day, until he finally went to the execution ground to give Sophie the last ride ——Not a qualified villain. Instead of beating Sophie brutally and mercilessly, as in many films, he treats her with cold but thoughtful courtesy, pouring hand-ground coffee for her. Moore's lips twitched when Sophie told him that Jewish children were being sent to concentration camps in batches and that the nurses had tricked them into going to heaven. Moore's lips twitched. He said it was a necessary measure for the country. But everyone could see that he was already trying to save Sophie from the death penalty by admitting that she was just being coerced into a foolish act of distributing leaflets. Although Moore's efforts were ineffective, and it wasn't even true that he necessarily understood Sophie's ideas, Sophie had opened a hole in his seemingly cold heart. Before the execution, Moore went to see Sophie in prison. Sophie told him that her parents would understand what she was doing, and Moore nodded—no words, but a thousand words.
Moore and Sophie remind me of another pair of well-known interrogators and prisoners: Li Zhongyue and Qiu Jin. Li Zhongyue, styled Shenfu, was the magistrate of Shanyin in the late Qing Dynasty. As a Manchu official, he has always admired Qiu Jin's talent. He often used Qiu Jin's verses to teach his son: "A woman who can compose poetry is better than your generation!" When the Qiu Jin incident happened, "Yu Si tried her best to protect her. "After Qiu Jin was arrested, Li Zhongyue couldn't bear to punish Qiu Jin, so he actually set up a seat for Qiu Jin in the court. Qiu Jin even wrote a fatal poem for Li Zhongyue with a Zhu pen, "The autumn wind and autumn rain are saddening people". Shangguan was very dissatisfied with Li Zhongyue's treatment of Qiu Jin, and ordered Li Jiang Qiu Jin to "rectify the law on the spot". Li grieved and said, "Without both evidence, An Neng murdered?" He was reprimanded and executed as a last resort. Before the execution, Li said to Qiu Jin: "The rest of the people are humble and humble, and I feel ashamed that I can't do it. However, it is not my intention to die, and I am fortunate to forgive me." , did not strip, although he was dismissed, he did not regret it, but "it was a pity that he failed to preserve the overall situation." After leaving office and returning home, Li Zhongyue’s spirit also collapsed. He often alone “watches and recites” Qiu Jin’s leftover ink “Autumn Rain and Autumn Wind”, crying while chanting, even to the point of three or five times a day, even seven or eight times a day. This grief could not be solved by himself, and Li Zhongyue finally chose to hang himself to thank Qiujin. The time of his death was just over a hundred days from the day when Qiu Jin went to justice. Li Zhongyue's sacrifice to Qiu Jin, "Zhe people remembered him, and after the autumn case was Zhaoxue, he built a shrine on the West Lake and worshipped him when he was old." Li's shrine finally entered the Qiu Jin Temple. Qiu and Li also became close friends.
It would be wrong to say that Moore and Li Zhongyue were both men of lofty ideals: they were just ordinary people who chose to defend the system itself under the existing system at the time. Moore finally arrested Sophie, and Li Zhongyue chose to interrogate rather than rescue Qiu Jin, all of which proved that they were not in the same camp with each other, let alone understanding what Sophie and Qiu Jin did. But for some reason, they also showed more or less kindness to their interrogators. I would like to attribute them to "humanitarian spirit", or, in Sophie's words, to "conscience" "one type. They don't know what to do is right, but they understand how to do it wrong - or at least vaguely feel that "it may not be right to do this", which is why Moore sees off Sophie and Li Zhongyue commits suicide for Qiu Jin .
Qiu Jin's martyrdom, we may only be embarrassed, but not afraid, because Qiu Jin's death is completely legal without legal procedures, you can say that the Qing court is corrupt, but that's all, what can it be? But Sophie's death is terrifying. The trial process she went through was almost completely (but not all) legal, with no torture, little mental abuse, and the legal process that should be there, but the content of the law itself is Evil -- you see, sometimes the legal is better at killing than the illegal. These are two different kinds of tight seams, each of which is cruel... But Sophie and Qiu Jin still dare to shout with their lives in this iron room, I think maybe to some extent , it is precisely because of the existence of Moore and Li Zhongyue - if you can see the hope of successful rebellion in the defenders of the system, then there is no reason to doubt your own beliefs and choices. At the end of the film "Hope and Resistance", the female prisoner gave Sophie a cigarette out of sympathy and knowing she violated the rules, so she could meet her comrade... Sophie's eyes overflowed with smiles, and hope.
Speaking of jailers, I am reminded of a book I read more than ten years ago. The title and the main plot are not that impressive, but the name of one of the jailers in it - Hangardel - is impressive. The reason is very simple. As a prison guard reactionary, he is simply incompetent. He actually provided the revolutionaries in prison with good meals, accommodation conditions and even books, and even led them to make plant specimens. Under management, prisons really don't look like prisons, and torture and punishment really don't look like torture and punishment, but this image makes people want to believe it's real.
In real life, we are all just ordinary people, unable to do the feats Sophie and Qiu Jin can do, but within the scope of upholding our personal conscience to the greatest extent, it does not prevent us from being a policeman Moore, or a police officer who does not Li Zhongyue, who committed suicide, and Hangadel who lives in reality. We can say that the heroes exchanged their sacrifices for the peace we enjoy today; can we also say that it is those ordinary people with conscience, those Hangardels, who protect the hope in the hearts of heroes?
Perhaps part of Sophie's hope came from them.
Therefore, Sophie's resistance was so remorseless and resolute.
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