Speaking of the movie "I'm Not the God of Medicine", I have a lot of fate with it. As early as last year at the Shanghai International Film Festival, I attended its film conference. At that time, its name was still "Indian God of Medicine", and the plot introduction was not very clear. , always makes me a little worried.
At the press conference, everyone's polite sense of routine deepened this impression. The assembly line generally introduced several leading actors, released a so-called concept poster, talked about some bittersweet anecdotes during the filming process, boasted about the ratio of film material to the final film, and the so-called new director Wen Muye when he made the film. Obsessive-compulsive disorder. In short, like all movie propaganda, it is full of self-promotion and boasting, and of course the reporters in the audience are also sitting on pins and needles.
But what I never expected was that these later became the places where this film deserves to be praised, especially the 15:1 editing ratio mentioned at the press conference, which may be the film that was released a year later. s reason.
In addition, the process of changing its name several times once again aggravated the sense of bad film. According to Xu Zheng himself, the original name of the movie was indeed "Indian God of Medicine", but it became "Indian God of Medicine" after being passed down among friends, and soon became "Indian God Oil", so that For a long time, friends have been asking Xu Zheng: "Old Xu, have you finished your oil?"
This led to the film being renamed "Chinese God of Medicine", and then changed to "I am not the God of Medicine" for some reasons. Before that, the film even used the names of "The Road of Life" and "Indian Drug Dealer", which are more literary films. Although it is common to change names in the process of film creation, such frequent and multiple name changes undoubtedly convey some hesitation and uncertainty in creation, which adds a bit of worry.
In this way, this film has always been in my vague impression: "Oh, it's probably the kind of domestic comedy movie that makes money, it's better to be "Thailand"." However, when I first After watching the movie once, all doubts disappeared, and there was only one thought in my heart: "It's done, it's going to fire!" Especially after such a long time of defaulting to a bad movie, the surprise brought by suddenly discovering its goodness is immeasurable.
The first time I watched "I'm Not the God of Medicine" was at the Shanghai Film Festival, Hall 1 of Shanghai Cinema. Because there is no ticket sales, the Thousand People Hall is full of people from various film media, film critics, film creators and other film creators. It is polite to say that this may be the most critical group of Chinese film audiences. But even so, there was still a lot of people crying at the end of the screening, and the applause after the screening lasted for a long time.
The emotion and surprise this film finally brought to me was like the first time I saw "Su Yuan" and "The Defender" many years ago, and it couldn't be calmed down for a long time. Especially when I think that everyone will be able to see such an excellent domestic realism work on the big screen of domestic cinemas, on the big screen that is either a Hollywood blockbuster or a domestic small bad film, I wish I could announce it. The world, let everyone come and watch together.
Soon, "I'm Not the God of Medicine" opened for screenings, and without fear, it opened large-scale screenings across the country. Amid the film's surging word of mouth and the emotion on social media, I watched it again in silence. The second time I watched the movie, the laughter in the first half was still the same, and the emotion in the second half was still the same. It did not diminish in the slightest because of the familiarity with the development of the plot. Instead, I paid attention to more details.
For example, in the comparison of high-priced genuine drugs and low-priced smuggled drugs, the film does not clearly explain why the drug prices are so high, nor does it try to really clarify the reasons behind the high drug prices, even though we all know in reality that the high drug prices have The inevitable reasons behind it, such as research and development costs. It can be said that the film abandoned reality to a certain extent here, but just kept exaggerating and repeating another fact, paving the way for the character played by Xu Zheng to become a solitary hero in a sense, and winning sympathy, which is really clever.
Another example is the businessman who sells counterfeit medicines played by Wang Yanhui, who is also the only villain in the true sense of the film, but he finally resisted all the charges in the face of the torture of the police, which is quite chivalrous. And the sentence he said "there is only one disease in this world, and it is the disease of poverty" has undoubtedly become the most deafening line in the whole film.
Although in the context of the film's story, this sentence is inevitably cruel. But if you think about it carefully, this sentence is the real truth. In other words, that's the crux of the whole story - all the problems in the world are money problems.
The drug dealer played by Xu Zheng is facing his father who is dying, his son who is about to be deprived of custody, and who cannot pay the rent. He is desperate to sell smuggled drugs for money;
The chronic myeloid leukemia patient played by Wang Chuanjun has no money and can't afford high-priced drugs, and has nowhere to sue.
The mother of a child with chronic myeloid leukemia played by Tan Zhuo, it was precisely because she had no money that she reluctantly went to a nightclub to be a stripper, and even later, it was because she had no money and no medicine that she committed herself to Xu Zheng, who had money and medicine at the time, although her conscience found out Xu Zheng did not accept it.
Also, one of the hardest things to ignore in the movie is that all the sick people live in the same mess. The rubbish piles, the crowds live, the corridors are dark, and even the stench is stinking, which is extremely real, and it is also rare in domestic movies to face the filth of the urban living environment.
There is no doubt that all of this is ultimately a question of money. Of course, high-priced genuine medicine can save people, but it can only save people who are rich, spend money to buy medicine, and the medicine will cure the disease. This is the cruel modern society, the modern apocalypse of "natural selection, survival of the fittest".
The very clever thing about the movie "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is that it let the villain say this sentence, and at the end, Xu Zheng, who was discovered by his conscience, led the story to the moving side, instead of digging deeper here, otherwise the whole story will only be more cruel and desperate. Because all of us know, this problem cannot be solved.
But after watching this film twice, I am more and more sure that this is the kind of film that audiences who hate Chinese movies are looking forward to. The light of domestic films that can be created under the shackles of shackles, this is the so-called film that can change reality.
Although from the perspective of film art, these commercial films may not be very qualified, and may even be spurned by some deep film fans, thinking that they are just consuming "reality". Indeed, they are extremely lacking in the exploration of film art, far less than those masterpieces that have been passed down in film history, not to mention Bergman, Antonioni, Tarkovsky, and even Bi Gan An attempt at film art.
However, this type of film is bound to have a place in the history of film, and it is an extremely important position. Just like "Sowon" in South Korea, "Wrestle, Dad" in India, "The Undertaker" in Japan, and "Schindler's List" in the United States, these commercial films are based on the most popular and convenient art of film. It introduces the discussion of a series of complex social issues to the widest audience, attracts a lot of attention, triggers benign discussions, and even has a huge impact.
For example, "Su Yuan" corresponds to the sexual assault of underage girls in South Korea, "Wrestle, Dad" corresponds to the issue of sexism in India, "The Undertaker" corresponds to the problem of aging in Japan, and "Schindler's" corresponds to the issue of sexism in India. The List corresponds, of course, to a reflection on World War II.
The thinking caused by each film is huge, and the people it can affect are unimaginable. It is easier than reading a book and more convenient than obtaining information. Maybe it has inadvertently affected a young man who was just entering the world. Just like me who saw "Schindler's List" for the first time many years ago, I still can't forget the scene where the dust fell in the sky after burning the corpse, and I can't forget the black and white. The little red-clothed girl in the shade will never forget the disaster the war has brought to mankind.
And "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is one such movie. It lifts the weight lightly, touches the legal issue of the "medical system" lightly, and deeply touches you in terms of human feelings; it is neat and beautiful, the first half makes you laugh, and the second half makes you laugh I can't stop crying; it has superb acting skills, every role and every actor is just right; it also has a heavy humanistic care, on the one hand, there is an unshakable legal system, on the other hand, there are individuals who are at fault, and there are countless people caught between the two. The living chronic myeloid leukemia patients who are struggling on the front line of life and death, this kind of cherishing and respecting life is touching.
I remembered that my mother suddenly asked me before: "What's so good about movies, isn't it the same as TV?" I wanted to tell her that movies are the seventh art, but when she thought about the movies she could get access to, most of them were the same as TV. When there is no difference, I feel speechless. Now I can get her to watch "I Am Not a Medicine God" and tell her that this is the real movie, the movie I'm watching, the movie I'm working on.
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