Even in the face of such powerful forces of prejudice, there are still people running for justice and truth, and one of them is Ishmael Chambers, an island newspaper heir. However, he himself is also suffering from an indelible pain - Umeda's anxious wife, Umeda, sitting in the defendant's family and friends table, is his first love, and they once had an unforgettable relationship together. The case continues to deepen, and along with the recollections of the past, the poignant and beautiful exotic love between Ishmael and Chuede's childhood gradually emerges in front of us. The film unfolds the narrative of the story through the parallel and intersection of these two main lines.
Snow Falling On Cedars, adapted from the well-known American writer David Guterson's best-selling novel of the same name, was filmed in 1999 by the famous American director Scott Hicks, who was nominated for the Oscar for best director with "Shine". The film is nearly 130 minutes long. The innocent childhood of two children from different races and different cultural backgrounds; outspoken and sad love; the cold and cruel reality of the adult world; the estrangement between race and family; the bloody and cruelty of war; the humility and displacement of the weak ; the contests of justice and injustice, reason and prejudice in peacetime are all fully brought together without being tedious and dull.
I'm quite impressed by Scott Hicks's beautiful and visually striking cinematography, where he sets this "murder" in a fictional Pacific island, with snow and ice in the background and clouds and fog. , Rain and snow, with a different kind of haze and heaviness. In the film, a large number of overlapping shots that are only a few seconds in length are used many times in the protagonist's recollection of the past. The alternation and contrast between the reality and the past creates a dream-like trance from the romantic and beautiful but hopeless childhood love, which makes this film largely different from the Hollywood drama in the general sense. film, and let people see the taste of some European films. The foggy mountains; the azure lake; the silhouette-like beauty of Japanese kendo; the blue, mysterious and melancholy night; How much love and memories, sweet and melancholy.
It is worth mentioning an important image in the film, the bright red strawberry that recurs with the heroine. Many directors use fruit for symbolic sexual innuendo, and in Snow Falling On Cedars, Scott Hicks uses strawberries. Yes, the strawberry used to be so bright red, just like her when she was young, the pain and struggle of love and sex were all highlighted under that bright color. It's just that when the strawberries are ripe in the next season, the girl has become a woman; and she, after all, has become someone else's wife. As a result, the distant memory and the yellowed photo of her being selected as the strawberry princess are undoubtedly the most disappointing nostalgia for him. Many times, the emotion is not at the moment of weeping.
Eventually, with the help of Ishmael, the truth is revealed, and Hatsue is reunited with her husband. He turned to leave, and Hatsue chased after him and stopped him, asking if he could hug him, he nodded. After so many years of reunion, the two embraced for the first time. There was no love, only gratitude and blessings. Ishmael looked at the happy backs of Hatsoe's family and staggered away amid the falling snow...
The film ends, but the shock, regret and hope it brought me are not over yet. After the "murder case" that took place on that fictional island was stripped away, it no longer mattered when, where, what kind of story happened, and the most important thing was the image itself. Ishmael finally decided to tell his defense lawyer the evidence he found to prove Umeda's innocence. The conversation was over, and the golden fire light swayed gently in the room, shining warmly on Ishmael. The camera flashed back to the past again, and the holy, light and slightly sad music sounded quietly. The sky and the earth are vast, the snow and ice are flying, and the two children are laughing and scrambling in the white snow, chasing and running, happy and innocent smiles on their once immature faces. Destiny rules everything in the world, but it can never control people's hearts. Sometimes, you need an opportunity to free yourself from the shackles of the past, whether it's prejudice, hatred, or even love. Ishmael laughed, relieved and relieved; and I almost burst into tears. Yes, the relationship that has been buried deep in my heart for so many years can finally be let go; the hatred, pain, and all the bitterness and fatigue during the journey have all vanished. I am convinced that beyond time and distance, the love that once surged in the blood, the most powerful force in human nature, has forever been fixed in the snow and ice. That one after another, the endless heavy snow, never ends, never melts away...
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