Under the blue sky, there is an endless grassland, a river flowing quietly, and above the grassland, a white yurt, belonging to a family Warm life, this is a poetic traditional life, but the bicycle outside the yurt and the TV inside the yurt have changed the life of the Gangbo family in an intrusive way: the TV channel seems to always have only two programs, One side is the speech of the President of the United States, and the other side is the performance of the fanciers with the most Chinese cultural characteristics. The United States or China, English or Peking Opera, to this Mongolian grassland, which is almost isolated from the world, they are foreign, invading, and The three generations of a family who are separated from each other and sit in front of the TV face this new thing in a side-by-side but uneasy way. Should they avoid and stick to the tradition, or integrate and adapt to modern life?
In such a question, the answer does not seem to be single. When the sound of the TV is turned off, when Gangbo's wife Pagma leaves, it seems to herald some kind of independence, but instead of English and Peking Opera, the old mother pinches the TV The sound of the bubbles outside the packaging bag replaced the pictures of the US President's speech and fans singing Pagma holding a horse - she was outside the yurt, she was on the grassland, but it entered the TV screen and became a reality , and Gang Bo, who followed him, also became a character on TV. He held the long set of horse poles and followed Pagma across the grassland on horseback.
Reality is visualized, it is replacement, it is integration, it is leaving, it is also entering, and the horse pole has completely become the starting point of another plot: Gang Bo inserted the horse pole on the hillside, the husband and wife But they disappeared from the picture, and they continued their story on the other side of the hillside: as a traditional grazing tool for the Mongolian people, the horse pole is actually a symbol of declaring the love between men and women. When they put a horse on the grass rod, and tell others that they have entered the time for men and women to have fun, and people from far away should not disturb them. A loving couple enjoy themselves between heaven and earth. This is their way of blending into nature and returning to the traditional way of life, but why use a horse pole to reject others' spectators? It may disturb their traditional and passionate life again. who is it?
It seems to be a question of who is the bystander and who is the intruder. What changed the lives of Gangbo and Pagma seems to be a kind of Chinese policy. This pair of Mongolians living in the savannah of China, although they are isolated from Chinese cities, are still bound by the policy. Pagma is a A girl from the city, marrying Gangbo seems to have a vague sense of unease in city life, and this unease is not being able to give birth to enough of their children freely, because Pagma knows that Chinese law stipulates that children cannot have more children. , The couple, who already have three children, seems to have encountered a conflict between their biological desires and the policy system, so they have not had the same room for three months after giving birth to their youngest child. Faced with such helplessness, Pagma even escaped Gangbo's pursuit. In the very first shot, Gangbo was riding a horse, holding a horse pole, and chasing Pagma on the grassland. He used a kind of speed, a kind of passion, and even A kind of anger, to resist Pagma's escape, the horse pole in his hand is no longer the symbol of joy, but a weapon, he trapped the horse that Pagma was riding, and then trapped Pug. Ma, Pagma, who fell from the horse, was pressed on the grass, her hair was scattered, blood was flowing from her face, she kept struggling...
A reality, bleeding, pain and struggle, penetration Entering the life of the traditional Mongolians, in their world, it was originally the poetry of blue sky and white clouds, the love of husband and wife and the laughter of children, and the unrestrained warmth, but this kind of life was slowly and inevitably changed. . In addition to the Gangbo family, the Russian Serge seems to have also walked into this grassland with a changed fate. A Russian who builds roads for "the country", a foreigner driving a truck, seems to be in a deeper loneliness than Gangbo, and his entry into this steppe is like a break-in, the one that reads on the body. The "safe driving" truck drove to the river while Selger was tired and drowsy. It was not only a safety accident, but also a spiritual portrayal of this stranger. He hadn't adjusted his routine, and he wasn't familiar with this land. When he veered off the road and headed for the quiet flowing river, it was like a departure from his own destiny. And in this strange place, he was at a loss. When he got out of the car, he saw the beautiful blue sky, white clouds, grasslands and rivers, he sang loudly, and he danced and ran happily, but in the grass he saw a frightened vulture, Frightened corpse, and in this panic, he jumped into the truck, used the brakes as the accelerator, and sank the entire front of the car into the river.
To break into and fall into, for Selger, is a helpless metaphor of his own destiny, and after encountering the Gangbo family, he seems to be even more unable to find himself. Language differences or trivial matters can at least convey information through body language and facial expressions, but for him, the biggest problem is customs and traditions and barriers. The Gangbo family slaughtered sheep to entertain this distant guest, but when a pot of hot mutton was cooked, when the Gangbo family sat there and invited Serge to dine together, he sat alone outside the yurt and ate his own meal. The food I brought, I didn't realize the enthusiasm and hospitality of the host at all, even after embarrassment, Serge politely sat with them to eat mutton and drink mutton soup, even though he held up the wine glass to wish Gangbo's mother a long life and wish the family a hundred years. In good health, he still had a feeling that he couldn't fit in or even rejected. The fly fell into the goat soup, and he even muttered to himself in disgust: Why is it so dirty. For Selger, this is a deviation from the road, this is a fall into fate, which makes him feel lonely, makes him feel the estrangement, and also gives him a sadness away from his homeland.
If the Gangbo family is facing a policy problem, then Selger is facing a national and national predicament. On the Mongolian steppe, the language barrier is different, the customs are different, and there is no sense of self-identity. He is more like a wanderer, and this wandering seems to be the fate of a nation. In the hospitality of the Gangbo family, what triggered Serge's emotions was the comfort of the music when Gangbo's daughter was playing the accordion. When the soothing and sad music came out, Serge found a language. He sat on the grassland. Above, in the sky is the bright moon, and below is the river where his truck is stuck. In the quiet night, he seems to think of the distance.
This kind of thought is a kind of regression, when Serge later and Gangbo went into town, in a Chinese bar, Serge met another Russian, but the same nationality didn't resonate with them, when fellow villagers laughed at him : "Remember your grandfather's name, remember your great-grandfather's name?" He suddenly fell into a sadness, then an anger, "Ridiculous, soul? Where is the soul? Fuck your soul, it's just Like the Lenin badge, it's only worth two dollars!" In his anger, Serge remembered the distant homeland, the distant home, the distant memory, and the distant self, the vast snow-covered land, It is a portrayal of Russia, but in this drunken bar, Serge only has a sense of loss, only a sense of vicissitudes, so he ran on the stage, took off his clothes, and let the band play the Russian song to the score on his back, which It is the music score that he once engraved on his body as a soldier. In the world of songs, there are crosses, heroes, death, and revolutions, but the nostalgia that hurts the body is so fragmented, impassioned but incomparable. Sadness and passion have long since passed away, and when he was finally taken away by the Chinese police, he was also full of alienation and anxiety.
In fact, in Gangbo and Selger, there is a sense of estrangement caused by a certain reality. The deviation of the truck and the deconstruction of tradition have all become the predicament they encountered, and "entering the city" seems to have aggravated their difficulty. This kind of discomfort and embarrassment deepened their estrangement and contradiction. Gangbo entered the city with Serge. In his rare experience of entering the city, this time he had another task, that is, his wife Pagma asked him to buy condoms, because only this device can make them enjoy Men and women love, and avoid embarrassment and policy penalties. But Gangbo of "Ask the Lama to buy a condom" seems to be unable to accept this kind of modern civilization, and he also deviates from the road like Selger when he enters the city. Riding a horse on a lively street, he was attracted by the dazzling array of goods, attracted by the men and women who passed by him, he bought candied haws and ate popsicles, he watched the kisses and hugs of men and women, he took an hour-long spinning plane, of course, He also went to the bar with Serge for drinks.
Different from Selger who fell into a deep nostalgia and could not extricate himself, Gangbo was attracted by such modern life. In fact, facing the reality, they adopted different methods. It is the gradual integration and acceptance of novel feelings. In fact, these two ways of dealing with the impact of reality had a violent conflict in Gangbo's dream when he returned to the grassland. He came back on horseback, but there were two more things right away. One was a bicycle that could be seen everywhere in the city, and the other was a TV that transmitted information. This is a symbol of modern civilization and a tool for communication—Gangbo was attracted The man and woman left on a bicycle. So the two things Gangbo brought back are a kind of identification. But this identification has become a symbol of alienation on the grasslands. When Gangbo ate the canned food and drinks he bought from the city and fell into that dream, what appeared in front of him was a pair of cavalry, a fierce army flag, and a neighing warhorse, leading him to the time of the ancestor Genghis Khan , and the neighbor Bayatu is the Genghis Khan, and his wife Pagma became the wife of Genghis Khan. The question they asked Gangbo was: "Are you a Mongolian? Where are the weapons? Where are the war horses? Why don't you attack? You Why go into the city?" When Gangbo couldn't answer, they tied him up, and it was Serge who showed up, his truck parked on the top of the hill, calling for help. Genghis Khan ordered his men to tie up Serge, and the two were tied up, and the TV, the bicycle, and the truck were all destroyed.
A dream, escaping from reality, has become a destructive way to solve real problems. Neighbor Bayatu used to be a person who got drunk all day long, and his drunkenness was similar to that of Selger in the bar when he was far away from his homeland. His drunken state is different. It is not so much escapism as it is a kind of integration. He rides a horse all day and does nothing, but he always carries a small red umbrella and a red box, and he keeps bringing gifts and a toy to the Gangbo family. A loudspeaker, a banana, an apple, an egg, or a poster claiming to be his younger brother in the United States - clearly Stallone's film and television poster, has become an identification with foreign cultures. And when he became Genghis Khan in Gangbo's dream, it was also a kind of destruction to modern life. Bicycles, TV sets, and trucks could not exist on the Mongolian grasslands. Atavism was to find a kind of root, but it was destruction. sexual. One is a drunken addiction, and the other is a dream of returning. The dream of Gangbo is actually the same as the Russian song sung by Serge, calling for the rescue of the hero. When Serge sang in the bar, he missed the era of heroes, the flag and war horse of Genghis Khan, of course, he missed the arrogance of the historical generation.
After waking up from the dream, Gangbo danced a traditional Mongolian bokeh dance under the rainbow, and Selge was also on the grassland, singing the song again in the sound of Gangbo's daughter's accordion. A return to tradition, the awakening of the nation's roots, in a modern society that is constantly being impacted, in a life where traditions are gradually lost, does the Mongolian spirit and the Russian spirit need such persistence? And this problem is not only a film narrative focusing on the fate of individuals, but also the reality of the fate of the entire nation. The Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov shot this film in the Hulunbuir grassland of Inner Mongolia, China in 1991, and 1991 The CV of 2010 not only wrote about the creative process of his team, but also the disintegration of the country called the Soviet Union - Nikita Mikhalkov seemed to be looking for the fate of the country and nation in escaping, while Selger was like Just like those wandering Russians, they are looking for a home on the deviated road, looking for the hometown of their hearts. And Mongolia, the nation that once created the great cause of the empire, has also fallen into confusion in a kind of historical reversal.
"A long time ago, I wanted to make a film about China's Inner Mongolia. As for why, I don't know why. Maybe it was a subconscious, maybe it was to continue the footsteps of our ancestors. The Mongols once ruled Russia for two hundred years. For more than 70 years, our blood has long been mixed with Mongolian blood." Tradition and modernity, backwardness and advancedness, native and foreign, human and nature, have all become what Nikita Mikhalkov is looking for. theme, but Nikita Mikhalkov is clearly not trying to restore that splendor, not hoping to rely on heroes for redemption, heroism is just a dream, when Gangbo appears on the streets of the city on horseback, Looking more like an embarrassed hero, Bayatu on horseback even walked through the hallway where Serge was dating, through the door where the little girl was reading those articles on the October Revolution, and through A street full of bicycles also looks like a surreal image of decline.
Sinking and redemption, drunkenness and heroism, are actually a kind of contradiction, even an escape, and when the last set of horse poles was erected on the hill, Gangbo and Pagma continued the story of the joy of men and women, This contradiction of perseverance and compromise shows its sadness and embarrassment more and more, "I was born like this, I am Gangbo's fourth child, named Temujin." Is the fourth child an inheritance or a A rebellion, Temujin heralding the arrival of a new Mongol era, or a subversion of history? When the prairie has turned into rough sand, when the huge chimney stands where the horse pole stands, when the voice of "I" is rudely interrupted by the ringing of the telephone, reality or a more confused existence, "I'm married, but I don't have any children. Last year, I went to Lake Baikal with my wife to see the Russians, and next year I'll go to Los Angeles." Marriage is a kind of destination, but without children, if you are close to Russia, you must also be close to European and American culture. It is the most essential fusion and collision.
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