If it is regarded as Le Carré's third creation of "The Tinker", it can be said to be the most complete one.
This movie can be said to be very tragic, even cruel. In the preface of the Chinese version of the novel published by Century Wenjing, the introduction said that it represented the sunset of the British Empire (roughly meaning), which is completely correct, but it is too objective and too calm.
Le Carré described in his autobiography "This Life Is Like a Pigeon" that when he visited the German intelligence agency, he saw the famous German spy photos hanging in the venue, and he felt very sad for Germany. He knew that those spies actually had blemishes (such as not being so loyal), and if they were placed in the UK, it would be a shame to take these people as role models for intelligence officers and to be proud of. He went on to write: "Forget about our weakness during the Cold War, when the KGB was superior almost every second, and ubiquitous in almost every place, to bring back World War II, where we believed we could use radio An era when the newspapers gave the nation the highest guarantee of self-confidence."
It can be seen that Le Carré has an undisputed respect for the British in the 1940s. Although he was still young during World War II, it was him who wrote "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and became his masterpiece. If you calculate the age carefully, every character in "Tinker" will be his elder (except Pansy Alleline, who may be his age).
Smiley graduated from college in 1928 and was called to the rounder; Bill and Jim were college classmates who went straight from college to the rounder in 1939; the boss died in retirement, he was older than Smiley; Pansy Arlean A student of the boss, almost old enough to join the war but the war just ended.
Le Carré was born in 1931 and was 14 at the end of the war in 1945. Was he about the same as Pansy?
The above are the details explained in the original work. Let's go back to the movies. The following is just my personal interpretation.
The reason the movie is complete is that it adds a lot of the right details that weren't in the original. Not just that delicate Christmas feast, but the whole film's scenes and plot arrangements are clever and meticulous, and can only be conveyed through images. If it is expressed in words, it seems deliberate and contrived.
The following screenshots are used for analysis.
-Division 1-
After Smiley's retirement, there is a scene where he is watching TV at home.
If you were to retire, what show would you choose to watch? Often people will choose what they are interested in to pass the time.
So, Smiley looked first at what he was interested in .
What show is he watching? From the dialogue can hear "Churchill", "kitchen", etc... Can be judged to be related to Churchill's chef. In 1972, British journalist Joan Bakewell interviewed Churchill chef Georgina Landemare, which was part of the background sound in the film. And the story setting of "The Tinker" happened to be around 1972.
Station B: British journalist Joan Bakewell interviews Georgina Landemare, the chef of British Prime Minister Churchill during World War II
Around 5 minutes and 52 seconds, the dialogue and the movie overlap.
From this, we can conclude that Smiley was interested in Churchill, the wartime prime minister.
-split 2-
Mendel pretends to call Peter Gillum at the garage while he returns to the roundabout to steal information, and a cheerful song follows.
This song is a distraction. Successfully made the listening girl take it lightly.
Although we can tell from the feet and shoes that she is a young girl, I have to say that she should be familiar with this song . 1. She is following the beat; 2. If it is an unfamiliar piece, it will make people more focused.
Scientists have studied what music is good to listen to while studying. The conclusion is that it's better to listen to familiar music, preferably a language you don't understand or music that no one sings at all. First of all, language will distract people's attention, and secondly, unfamiliar songs, if there are lyrics in them, it is easy for people to concentrate on listening to what they are going to sing next, but it will interfere with learning.
In the same way, if the song is unfamiliar at this time, as a professional listener of the intelligence agency, she will not take it lightly, because she will be worried that information is being transmitted inside, so the dialogue designed by Mendel and Peter will be easier to see through.
Later, Peter was called into the conference room for a meeting. After the meeting, in the hallway he heard Roy Brand humming the song Mendel was playing on the phone. He knew he was being monitored.
Roy was humming. Once again, Roy was familiar with the song. If it is an unfamiliar song, who will remember the lyrics clearly after a meeting?
At the same time, it seems to prove that Peter is also familiar with the song . If he is very unfamiliar with this song, he may not be able to recognize where he heard it the last time he heard it the second time.
The background music is called "Mr. Wu's a Window Cleaner Now", an episode of the 1940 movie "Let George Do It", and the theme of fighting fascism.
-split 3-
The boss waits for the night in Prague, we can see his filing cabinet, two bulldogs.
Those who love to watch the 007 series should not be unfamiliar with it. The last two issues of Skyfall and Spectre have featured similar bulldog ornaments, albeit in slightly different colors.
This ornament was first produced in 1941. It is the logo ornament of the British porcelain brand Royal Doulton, which means patriotism. Once a very fashionable table decoration.
We can understand that the boss is very patriotic ; or, this is an old object left by the boss from the war .
-The division is complete-
The above three examples can clearly tell the audience that whether it is the boss or Smiley on the front, or Roy and others on the negative, they all have distinct wartime marks on them. These are not reflected in the novel, nor can they be revealed naturally.
There are only a few that can be expressed in language. Like when Smiley greeted Connie when she pulled out old pictures.
- What a beautiful time, George.
- But it was war years, Connie.
The beauty here may not refer to the high spirits caused by each other's youth at the time. What really lifted their spirits was Britain's tenacity in wartime and its glory as a victorious nation.
The reason why this movie is very sad is not just for the traitor Bill, nor for the lovers Bill and Jim. The real sad part is between Smiley and Bill. Two people who are also out of love, one chooses loyalty and the other chooses betrayal.
In the novel, Bill confessed:
Bill, too, was satisfied with England, and the time when he was most honored was in wartime. This is no different from Smiley who still admires Churchill 30 years later. But he eventually became clear because of the loss of the right to operate the Suez Canal, and the glory of the British Empire was gone forever. The empire, once the largest in the world, is losing ground as the colonies disappear.
In the film, he said that more and more he felt that the West was ugly, and he wanted to leave a different mark. This is very cryptic. It's not as good as in the novel, he loved but disappointed. Disappointed enough to say goodbye to his motherland, he threw himself into another embrace that did not seem to let him down. Because he, as a man who has experienced Britain's highest glory, can't stand the motherland that has fallen again and again.
Perhaps it would be more fitting to sum up Bill Haydn with Le Carré's famous quote from his other work, The Innocent Lover: Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.
Betrayal only happens when you truly love.
Conversely, Smiley was also the most revered of wartime Britain, but he remained loyal. Even though his wife repeatedly betrayed him, Circus had abandoned him at this time, but in order not to be completely infiltrated by the British intelligence agency, even if he was expelled, he had to find the gophers.
The real sadness of this movie is that neither of them is actually wrong. There are just different options. Seeing that a group of people who used to be side by side eventually went their separate ways and parted ways, it was actually not a good feeling. As a country develops, it allows its own people to make such an opposite choice. What could be more cruel and tragic than this?
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