Those human beings (including Faust) who were tortured by the plague in the movie are actually very reasonable if they are regarded as just gambling money between God and the devil. Of course, you can also say that when the devil brought the plague to mankind, At this moment, the power of God is less than that of the devil, but this seems to enter into a religious paradox. Shouldn't God's power be the greatest? (I suddenly remembered [The Seventh Seal] by Ingmar Bergman).
I really like this scene in the movie, a devout missionary preaching to the desperate people, telling everyone that only good people can be saved, only faith can transcend death, while the other part of the people, laughing at the missionary From their point of view, they revel in revelry, welcoming the coming of death in indulgent sensuality.
In fact, Faust is really a very tragic character. He has read poetry and books all his life, but finally realized that his rich knowledge cannot allow him to save those dying people. In desperation, he sold his soul to the devil , "I save you in the name of the devil!" Compared with God, the devil gives mankind more temptations and real benefits, he is like a very clever salesman: "Try it? It's just one day. ?" How much of a temptation do you think it would be for an aging Faust to bring the old guy back to his youth? Then, the devil continued to persevere, and finally induced Faust to sign a lifelong covenant with him!
The devil's only mistake in Faust (and a fatal mistake) was to kill the girl who fell in love with Faust and was pregnant with Faust's flesh and blood. She was as cunning as the devil, how could she have committed such a crime? What about stupid mistakes that shouldn't be made? The answer from the angel (it should be Gabriel) in the film is: "Because the devil doesn't know "love". But I think the truth is far more complicated than this explanation.
I think for the devil, let an innocent girl, The fall of a devout believer of God (the girl had premarital sex with Faust) is really an irresistible temptation, and it should also be his demonic (relative to human) weakness. And what the devil does To do this kind of breach of contract (because he betrayed Faust at the same time), in the eyes of Westerners, is actually an unforgivable sin (violation of the spirit of the contract).
Secondly, as I said just now, this girl She had premarital sex with Faust, which is obviously against Christian teachings, so the torture she suffered in the world after that was obviously God's punishment for her, but please note that director Murnau's own psychological contradictions about this, This is where it becomes apparent that the audience can clearly see that Murnau is clearly praising, not condemning, the love between the maiden and Faust. Of course, this praise is more for the maiden than for the Faust, because of Faust, finally abandoned the girl.
But when we look back, the image of the girl suffering in the film is obviously the Virgin Mary who suffered in the world! Murnau has become a A devout believer of God!
A group of cultural people in the West really have too many entanglements in their hearts about God and belief. Ingmar Bergman is like this, and so is Murnau.
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