To Jack, Yonoi is always gentle. He tentatively asked about him from Lawrence's mouth, asking the best doctor to visit him in the middle of the night, and even the later heavy sentence and light sentence, as well as the Persian blanket. These are all attention to details, and cutting off a bunch of his hair before his death is the ultimate tenderness and affection after the contradiction has been sharpened. However, that is not a cowardice. In the face of his militaristic beliefs, in the face of the lust and admiration that he has always rejected but cannot resist, all he can do is quietly take away a bunch of his hair, and then face his withered hair. Lovers salute.
For others, Yonoi has been violent and struggling. He tried to treat his prisoners in a more civilized way, but in fact he had a deeper dependence and belief in his education than Ohara. And his civilization, the Japanese civilization, was destined to only open a deeper chasm between them. Just like that death sentence. This probably also proves his affection from another side, because he actually betrayed his identity for this.
I don't know how much of his admiration for Jack stems from this difference, but at least the embarrassment he shows when berating him for putting on his clothes is proof of his physical desire for each other. When everything involved sex, he probably couldn't deceive himself that it was just pure appreciation between men. How funny, but sex is indeed a test of love in a way. And his feelings for Jack are double taboo, to his enemies - British prisoners of war, and more importantly, they are all male. It's a shame. He must have used various high-sounding reasons to convince himself that he was hesitant, contradictory, escaped, and even angered, and returned to his Japanese civilization deeper. He was by no means a benevolent man, but he was certainly not a pure man.
Suddenly I didn't want to use such pale and sane language to describe Yonoi's feelings, but there was nothing else I could do. what is love? "The love that exists in the world is nothing but the collision of impulsive emotions and the contact of the cortex." From this point of view, reason can tear the so-called love into pieces. People in the world yearn for love. They first know the existence of love and yearn for it, and then look for a suitable object to complete the experience of love. They need love out of their loneliness and social pressure.
But Yonoi doesn't need love, let alone a blond enemy, a man to love.
He sees him first, and then thinks of love.
In "Millennium Actress", the heroine used all her youth to chase a back figure wearing a red scarf. In the end, she said that what she loved was the process of chasing. Maybe in the end her chasing became a habit, and her love gradually evolved into a guardian of her innocence, into narcissism, into a fantasy, but there has never been a loyal love, most love, not evolved into Fantasy is transformed into family affection and familiarity. Love that begins with a sense of mystery, when the veil is lifted, there are probably only two endings left or left. Yonoi's feelings for Jack are the same.
Like Chiyoko, fortunately and unfortunately, he never had the chance to lift that veil. He has been chasing, in hesitation, hesitation, self-denial and rejection. And if death is sacred and eternal in Japanese civilization, as the movie has always laid out before, then Jack really becomes his eternity.
In fact, the film depicts Yonoi's feelings in a vague tone and introverted and struggling expression, leaving a lot of blank space for viewers to imagine. Feelings cannot be simplified, but at least I already know his persistence and affection.
Then I went back and revisited that veneer kiss. Yonoi's expression is complex and shocked, while Jack's expression is more determined, cold and even sacrificial. I don't think he has the same feelings for Yonoi, it is at most a deep understanding and pity for him, and the connection to him and his younger brother's past is more like compensation for his indifference to obeying social rules. So this time he broke the rules.
Jack's image of being a breaker of unruly social rules has always been, and I once thought that was largely what drew Yonoi to him. However, in fact, he also bears many responsibilities and rules, and in the war he tried to be brave, whether it was in the face of death at the beginning or in the prisoner of war camp, he really became brave, to pay for what he had been of cowardice. So in a way he and Yonoi are similar, and on the other hand, he may be what Yonoi wants to be.
Let's go back to the topic of friendship. Jack's feelings for Yonoi are at best friendship, at least in my understanding. Then we have to mention another pair of main characters, the friendship between Lawrence and Ohara.
As the narrator throughout this film, Lawrence has a deeper understanding and identification with Japanese culture, but he is only a bystander and an outsider after all. His relationship with Ohara has a stronger uncertainty, but it is more pure, which is determined by Ohara's identity. He is a simple militaristic soldier, his life "has been dedicated to the emperor", so Lawrence is the enemy first, he can beat him mercilessly at any time, and their friendship is ranked last. He couldn't give him any credit.
But on the other hand, he is a simple man. I don't think he's changed, the drunkenness was more like revealing a deeper version of himself, or an excuse for his brief betrayal. An ordinary person, with kindness in his heart, occasionally jokes. Near the end of the movie he is sent away, and Lawrence watches him helplessly as he walks away, in a casual, childish manner that I believe is what he is.
So after the war, they met again, he was no longer bound by the war and his people, and they all thought of that night of freedom and goodwill. It was almost the only warmth in that war, but it was so precious. No matter how cold it was, after all, there was once such warmth.
"Merry Christmas". Merry Christmas, it's snowing, new year.
Let's keep getting drunk like this.
2012.10.29
PS movies involve many cultural differences. A movie that highlights Japanese culture can use the title of a Western festival like "Merry Christmas" as a title, especially for death and faith. As mentioned above, this is also a side It reflects the impact of Jack's death on Yonoi.
Regarding reflections on war and Japanese culture, I tend to be more a critique of human nature. Responsibility and shackles are not sins exclusively for the Japanese, even if they are deeply imprinted on them. As for the anti-war theme, it is already very obvious. Although war is a killing tool to quantify and deprive people of their individual value, any human warmth, struggle or loss in it is particularly fascinating.
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