The director is a Westerner, but the film has a strong or light Buddhist color everywhere. Later on the wiki, it turned out that although the director grew up in Western society, he turned to Buddhism later. No wonder, in English, Everything happens for a reason. There is a reason behind everything. In fact, this is also a comment on the film.
At the beginning of the film, a pair of sun-shrouded, smoky pastoral landscapes surprised me, so beautiful! So beautiful! The picture unfolds, and a small village in southern Vietnam appears in front of you, with simple residents and peaceful landscapes. Everything is fascinated, but the war makes everything just an appearance of nothingness, and even the appearance of nothingness cannot be maintained. The director didn't tell the audience who was right and who was wrong in America or Vietnam, he just told you about the trauma of the war. As the film progressed, the government army and the United States colluded, relying on foreign countries to plunder the people of their own country, so the villagers hated and feared the government army, but was the Viet Cong the way out? No one can villagers have an answer. Maybe we can believe it, maybe we have to believe it.
Lee's girlhood was destroyed on a rainy night by a lecherous Viet Cong, along with Lee's youthful innocence and faith. Originally, Lee was able to grow up without worry under the protection of his elder brother, father and mother. Then, the war came and all the traditional order was changed. Under the encouragement of my mother, my brother went on an expedition to the north with the Viet Cong. My father's moral teachings and Buddhist beliefs could no longer play a role in educating and comforting people in such an era. Just dormant in the depths of the heart. Lee and her mother came to the city and worked as servants in a wealthy family. There, Lee's residual girlish feelings and real hardships made her naively think that the master was her love. The reality shattered her fantasy again. She was politely kicked out of the house with her big belly and her mother, and her father refused to see her because of her immorality.
In pain, she found a temporary shelter in another city. Every day, she shuttled through the crowd of soldiers and Vietnamese, selling some tobacco and alcohol while quietly selling marijuana. At this time, she has been completely honed by life into a worldly woman, skilled in dealing with blackmail and the lust of the soldiers. Her eyes had long lost the simplicity and clarity of the country girl, but instead were filled with hardness and boredom. Until one day, she met a middle-aged American soldier who gave Lee another possibility and hope for life. The soldier said that he was looking for a kind and loyal oriental woman, and Lee went with him with a new hope. America's home.
At the beginning, facing the excessive sufficiency of material life, Lee decided to settle down. At this time, the director happily shows the wealth of America from the huge refrigerator, the overhead dining table, the playful pet dog and the supermarket full of items.
However, the brief lull was sometimes noisy. Do you think you escaped the war by fleeing Vietnam? With the war at hand, the soldier still needs to carry out the task of killing for the authorities, and is tortured by his conscience for the crimes he has committed. On the other hand, there are not many allowances left for GIs. Desperate for life, GI takes destructive ways, even hurting those he loves. When he pointed his rifle at Lee's skull like a broken jar, Lee knew that he was powerless to resist the strong man, so he closed his eyes as if accepting the arrangement of fate, and the director flashed pictures at this time. , all the torture she suffered back then came to mind, and her father's faith in Buddhism, which was rooted in her heart when she was a child, calmed her down.
After all, Da Bing still couldn't do it, but Lee hugged and cried with her husband with understanding and tolerance. They were trapped in the whirlpool of life, and they wanted to escape but there was no way out.
This kind of life is destined to get narrower and narrower, Lee thought of leaving Da Bing and filed for divorce. The soldier is very painful and cannot accept this fact. However, he has no strength to bring himself and his wife back to a normal life. He has fallen into the life trajectory customized for him by the war and will maintain his inertia, so there is no way for him to have a way out. . The soldier finally destroyed himself, he committed suicide naked in the car. Perhaps he wanted to use this method to come close to washing away his sins, restoring his lost purity and keeping his faith in his heart.
Lee has no reason to stay in the United States anymore. She misses her lost relatives. Thirteen years after the Vietnam War, she returned to her hometown with her savings from a small business. Her mother concealed the huge bed she suffered under the surface calm. Only one of the two brothers survived, and when he saw Lee, he couldn't forgive his sister who ran away with the enemy. The pain of war is not only the accusation of the broken limbs, but also the huge void in the human heart, which is enough to devour all kindness and even tolerance.
Lee is just a thin country girl, she also has the tranquility and happiness of an idyllic life, and also builds her own moral code based on her father's love and teaching. She is like the fresh wheat waves in the rural scenery, the green is vivid and sparkling. However, after the war, whether it was the government army, the Viet Cong, or the US military, they all quickly withered the girl, leaving only a devastated heart and an unsteady belief. Leaving Vietnam to go to the United States seems to be an escape from reality. In fact, she will never escape the shadow of the war. The soldier put the pressure and pain of the war on her. She used tolerance and strength, and although weakened, it never disappeared. In the end, the soldier could not hold on, and announced Lee's release and the deeper pain that followed in the sound of
gunfire .
From time to time, the film exudes a light fragrance of Buddhism. There will always be a time when Lee is vulnerable, his father instructs Lee about moral principles and beliefs in the gods with the elders' charity and the most common words, or the kind-hearted Buddha statue in the temple that is photographed upside down, or in a Christian environment. In the middle, Lee still looks for his spiritual support from the monk.
The use of light and shadow in the film is very good, and the beautiful scenery at the beginning is enough to be amazing. There will be many small shots in the future that will make people feel excited, even including the pain of Lee's suffering, and the small shots of Lee's hesitation are also in the alternation of light and dark. The beauty of light sadness is expressed.
The soundtrack is also very beautiful, the opening is poetic, peaceful and peaceful. Next, the ups and downs unfolded with the plot, rhythmically moving.
The most moving stories and the deepest truths often do not require a macro perspective. The macro surface is the disregard for details and the indifference to human feelings. Little people's stories are often meandering and moving, just like this one. A story written by a person in his life, can such a story make sense? I haven't been moved by a movie in a long time, the last time I cried because of a movie was maybe four years ago. Now, I can't help but delete many videos even halfway through. And today, I was shocked and moved unexpectedly. The story itself is not an ordinary story, and the director is also a very talented director. He has many ideas about war, faith, and tolerance, so we have the colorful feeling and the vibration of thinking when we see the film. All in all, a good classic.
Last but not least, the film is based on a true story.
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