"L'Ours": The Compassion of the Hunter
(Text: Vulcan Ji)
Kill; or not kill. live; or die.
When we are in pursuit; perhaps, we should also think about the sadness of running away. Whether or not we stop in pursuit; if we are fleeing, we may wish to do so. - Vulcan Ji. Inscription.
Mencius said in Gao Zi Shang: “Everyone has a heart of compassion. This movie made a big joke with us; the movie raised the compassion that everyone has to a level that all things have, Xiong first has compassion, and then people have compassion . Bill the old hunter, played by Jack Wallace, says towards the end of the movie - look who brought the dawn of civilization. When he said this, he was actually referring to Youk the bear running towards the people who symbolize the civilized world, but it can also be understood as-because Tom the hunter played by Tchéky Karyo (Tchéky Karyo) (Tom) abandons his original bear-hunting plan, and brings the new civilization, Dawn, back to the old world, even though that world was once known as civilization.
This movie suddenly became very interesting: for example, Zhuang Zhou dreaming of butterflies is generally full of speculative philosophies-is it Zhuang Zhou dreaming of butterflies, or butterflies dreaming of Zhuang Zhou; is civilization influenced the barbarian; or the barbarian influenced civilization. If it is said that Tom let go of the big bear and released the little bear into the nature because of his compassion that "everyone has", but his compassion is because the big bear can easily kill him. He moved a heart of sympathy, and what he did was more like repaying the magnanimous bear for its grace of not killing.
Tom is a hunter when he is holding a shotgun in a buckshot of his own making; when Tom is curled up in front of a roaring bear without a weapon, the bear is a hunter. The reversal of the two positions gives the film a deeper meaning - just as Shi Naian said in "The Water Margin": every cherished heart, there is always a thought of kindness. The bear as the hunter had a benevolent thought, and then Tom as the hunter had the same emotion; to kill or not to kill, there was really no point in arguing.
Language is actually the most powerless form of expression, at least in this movie. Two and a half men, the rest are almost all animal actors, we can hope that Jean Jacques Annaud (hereafter referred to as Jacques) will arrange for them how much language dialogue; Moreover, this itself is not artificial The protagonist's film, which can be seen from the many scenes in the film from the perspective of Little Bear York and York's dream depiction.
Body language is also a form of powerlessness, and it can be seen in this film as well. A lot of the film is about animals. We can't imagine that the grizzly bears, deer, leopards and hounds who participated in the film have all received training in acting classes, and only after enough physical training can participate in this film. Movies; all they have is the expression of instinct and simple discipline. Yet they still live up to their reputation as animal actors, at least they all do well what their characters are supposed to say.
There are some things in common - before watching this film, I thought it was the good and the evil, the good and the ugly in human nature, they have a kind of difference that can cross language barriers and cultural backgrounds to move everyone; but in this film After the movie, I discovered that there is another kind that can not only cross language and culture, but even cross species - that is, the instinctive desire to survive and the same compassion that all species share.
The movie begins with the happy life of little bear York: living with his mother, learning all the survival skills taught by the mother bear; even, York has not yet reached the age of learning, just enjoy the fruitful results brought to him by the mother bear . Playing, eating, drinking, sleeping; crawling out of its hibernation cave, all it has to master is to grow itself healthy and happy first.
No matter what, it's a disaster. When York was only four months old, its happy life came to an end - the mother bear was accidentally killed by a falling boulder while digging for honey, and York was orphaned. A bear cub in the wild, we can't imagine how it will survive; after all, the bear's survival skills do not depend only on survival instinct, for the first two years of its life, it must follow the mother bear It is possible to survive in this world by learning the skills passed down from generation to generation.
Fortunately, York got his own way. It stayed beside the mother bear's carcass for two whole days and two nights, until the mother bear's carcass was completely rigid, until it understood that it was no longer possible for the mother bear to wake up and bring it food, and finally left the mother by the instinct of hunger. The carcass of the bear went out on its own in search of food. But it has no way to prey at all, and even a tiny frog can bring it nightmares all night—the loss of a loved one, the lack of food, the fear of falling into the water, the loss of security, and the confusion that makes it overwhelmed Ahead, little York's nightmares were full of panic.
Perhaps instinct also makes it depend on everything it can depend on. Like the injured grizzly bear, like the hunter who brought it back to the camp, and so on. As long as it doesn't feel threatened, and as long as you give it something to eat, it will wholeheartedly follow any creature in front of its eyes.
In my opinion, what this film expresses is a kind of forgiveness and coexistence under the main theme of grand harmony. Whether it's between York the Bear and the Unfamiliar Bear, or Tom the Hunter trying to kill the Bear, or the Bear letting him go when he could kill him, or Tom getting bored after the Bear let him go The shotgun shot empty into the sky to drive the giant bear away from danger, or Tom released the bear into nature and Ming Jin withdrew his troops to hunt and kill... Director Jacques expressed in all these shots, all under the theme of harmony Peaceful coexistence, sharing the earth's theme song; and because he puts the main point of view on animals, he minimizes the factors that might offend us.
This is not preaching, it is a natural and instinctive resonance that transcends specific boundaries, language barriers and cultural background differences; and only through animals can such resonance be so thorough and clear. Of course, we can think of ourselves as higher creatures, so we can have such resonance; but it is precisely because we think of ourselves as superior to other creatures that I am reminded of the "Spider-Man" (Spider-Man) The classic line - with great power comes great responsibility. If we do not have such a mind and heart, all we can do is destroy; it is because we have restrained our instinctive desires that we are able to get rid of the original sin we were born with and take on the high First-class responsibility, which brings us back to the level of equality with them.
Forgiveness; the giant bear forgave Tom who had hurt it, and the helpless York; Tom forgave the giant bear who broke his leg and killed his dog, and also forgave the helpless York ; York, in this movie almost incarnate as an angel, even though it is the weakest one, but it is without exception, but it influences the giant bear and Tom surrounded by it.
The mighty bear and Tom with a musket, it and him are always hurting each other; if the bear is a symbol of primitive savage power, Tom is a symbol of modern civilization, no matter how powerful they are, no matter how they fight , the weak York is a symbol that influences these two forces and neutralizes them. When I watched this movie, I always thought - what kind of power is strong; whether it is the giant claws of the giant bear or Tom's musket, they can easily kill York in seconds, but in the end they both Not hurting York in the slightest - not York's strength, but York's weakness, made it all happen.
The strong are weak, and the weak are strong; those who kill do not kill, and those who do not kill kill. From the beginning of this article, I said that this is a literary film full of philosophical speculation; isn't it?
The compassion of animals; the compassion of human beings; after a confrontation full of gunpowder flavors, the two have a metaphysical collision, and then there is the grand harmony scene at the end of the film.
The hunter, who is the hunter; Tom with the gun, the roaring bear. The hunted, who is the hunted; Tom who has nowhere to run, or the giant bear who is running around with gunshot wounds. The most primitive power of this film is that it subverts the position of the hunter and the hunted, there is no absolute superiority, and there is no absolute disadvantage. We all live in this world, so we all have to tolerate each other, we all have to forgive each other, and then we can pursue the kind of happiness that belongs to us.
Mencius said: Compassion is found in all people.
Shi Nai'an said: Every heart of compassion, there is always a thought of kindness.
However, Zhuangzi was still thinking - he didn't know that Zhou's dream was Butterfly You; Butterfly's Dream was Zhou You.
All these should be philosophical thinking of traditional Chinese culture, but they can be seen in this film. I'm thinking that a really good work should be like this movie - able to transcend the constraints of time and still be remembered and talked about many years later; able to penetrate cultural differences, in the same It gives us the same thinking on things, and it is difficult to resonate without cultural differences.
Shakespeare said the same - a thousand readers make a thousand Hamlets, but Hamlet will not become King Lear. A thousand Hamlets are good, but the most important thing is that those thousand Hamlets are Hamlets, never King Lear; the essence is still there, and the differences in details don't matter. I think everyone will have the same feeling when watching this movie. Although the points they understand are different, the thousand different points they get will not be too different. This is the power of art.
The sympathy of the hunters - this gives the possible space for this movie to exist; the idea of kindness - gives each other a chance to survive; the replacement of Zhuang Zhou and Die - this movie has a deeper meaning Thinking and philosophical taste.
I like this movie so much, maybe, no matter what kind of cultural background and language background this movie is placed in, we don't need subtitles or translations of the movie at all, we can all be moved by this movie. I'm reminded of Ki-duk Kim's late films "3-Iron" and "Breath," almost all in a state of aphasia; actually, it's not those that make us feel The gorgeous language spoken in the mouth is the warmth conveyed behind the camera. As far as this movie is concerned, Jacques is stronger than Kim Ki-de, because he not only crossed the language and culture, but also completely walked out of the limitation of language and culture, and even broke through the limitation of species.
In my opinion, this is a rare classic film; we have to admire the persistence and understanding of the French in terms of art - without deep thinking, Jacques could not have made such a film without a This kind of quiet movie-watching mentality, the audience is unlikely to like this movie. "L'Ours"; in this story, it is a didactic story full of philosophy and warmth. Although this is a movie from 20 years ago, but today, we will still be moved by it, and think a lot because of it. What we can criticize is its immature special effects in handling York Bear's dream, but this is the limitation brought by the times; in addition, Jacques's handling of the camera is very old and beautiful.
Civilization cannot influence savagery, and savagery cannot influence civilization; what really influences the two is the feeling of weakness that they both have in common. Powerful, in this movie we can't tell whether Tom who is grabbing is more powerful, or the powerful minions of the giant bear are more powerful; the two are the power of the civilized world and the power of the wild world. However, both have their weaknesses - that is York.
Childhood, helplessness, longing and survival - whether it is Tom or the giant bear, what they have in common - is actually a common memory; it has nothing to do with civilization and wilderness, but left them in the same era when they were equally helpless. Some kind of tender emotion deep in memory. This tenderness induces a deeper sense of compassion, and the success of the film is that it expresses the seemingly inexplicable so naturally and beautifully.
Everyone has a heart of compassion; every heart of compassion, there is always a thought of kindness. This is actually a very beautiful emotion. Because of this kind of emotion, even if we kill and cut down, we still have a voice that reprimands, accuses, and tries to restore-perhaps, this is the hope and the way forward that we will have.
2009-05-01; Ji Chou Year of the Ox, Wu Chen, April Bing, the seventh day of the afternoon; 11:37 p.m. International Labour Day.
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Note: Movie information extension link.
■Title: "L'Ours"
■Translation: "The Bear Story", "The Bear"
■Director: Jean Jacques Annaud
■Screenwriter: James Oliver Curwood, Gérard Brach
■Starring: Cheki ·Tchéky Karyo, Jack Wallace
■Genre: Family, Drama, Adventure
■Duration: 94 min
■Origin: USA, France
■Language: English, French
■Color: Color
■Format: 35mm Anamorphic
■ Mixing: 70 mm 6-Track, Dolby SR
Format: 35 mm
Format: 35 mm
Production: Price, Renn Productions
Distribution: Cannes Home Vídeo
■ Premiere date: October 19, 1988 [France]
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