"Cid" is a masterpiece of famous Hollywood director Anthony Mann in the 1960s. Anthony Mann was born in San Diego on June 30, 1907, and died on April 29, 1967. Like Howard Hawks, he belongs to the outstanding traditional American director. He is good at narration, and can tell a story like "Cid" with many characters, complex plot, and large time span clearly and fascinatingly. Since 1950, he has shot dozens of classic westerns, such as "Decoy", "Westerner", "Blood in the Desert", "Plain Hero", "Run to the West" and so on. His superb directing skills and excellent organizational skills make him one of the few directors who can harness the sheer power of filming, taking advantage of vast spaces and natural scenery, and super-large super-sized like "Cid" The production will make many directors discouraged, but Anthony Mann can mobilize thousands of troops with ease. In this huge mural-like scene, there are 35 warships, a 100-meter-long set and more than 7,000 extras participating in the performance. The stunning composition has become a dazzling chapter in the Seventh Art and a recurring example in film aesthetics textbooks.
The film is based on the famous tragedy "Cid" by Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), a famous French classicist writer in the 17th century. In Europe at that time, the state of feudal separatism had not yet ended, and the central autocratic monarchy was increasingly consolidated. The Prime Minister of King Louis XIII of France, Richelieu, actively encouraged the development of classical literature and used it to serve the consolidation of the central monarchy. In this era, drama represents the highest achievement of classical literature. It is based on the literary model of ancient Greece and Rome, based on Descartes' rationalism, advocates reason, advocates the victory of reason and will over personal feelings, and promotes personal interests. Obey the general interests of the feudal state. It is with this rationality that Corneille paints the "noble" idealized figure of Don Roderick. Because the basic dramatic conflict in "Cid" is extremely tragic, it has always been recognized as the first excellent classic tragedy in France. The author threw the play's main characters, Don Roderick and Shimana into a strong tragic conflict of duty and love: Roderick was in love with Shimana, but because Shimana's father insulted his father in public, in order to protect The honor of the feudal family, he would rather sacrifice love. He knew that if he swallowed the insults, Shimana would see him as a coward and would not love him anymore. Reason and will drive him to find Shimana's house resolutely and ask her father to apologize in public. The honor of the family has been preserved, and the duty of the dutiful son has been fulfilled, but love has been lost. This makes him want to die, but also makes Shimana into despair. The Moorish invasion gave him an opportunity to serve his country with allegiance. He suppressed his personal grief, rushed to the battlefield, won a great victory, and returned triumphantly. This noble virtue, praised by the classicist master Corneille, is also reflected in Shimana. She believes that avenging her father is a more important responsibility than love. Roderick's heroic performance on the battlefield deepened her love, but could not eliminate her hatred for the man who killed her father, which intensified her inner conflict. In the fierce battle where the enemy country demanded a duel with the king's first fighter to resolve the territorial dispute, Shimana's performance in front of everyone was so contrasted with her deep-seated worries that she dared not face the desperate fight. King Ferdinand's persuasion made her realize that Roderick shoulders the important responsibility of defending the country and must overcome personal grievances with the interests of the nation, so that she forgets her previous grievances and agrees to marry Roderick. However, Shimana, who was still angry, faced the blue lamp alone in the monastery. This plot is not in the original series, and Anthony Mann's change seems more reasonable. original drama In order to create an ideal king who ruled the country with benevolence, Ko Naiyi made Ferdinand as the mediator of the opposing sides, and Shimana fell into the arms of Roderick. The whole drama ended with a happy wedding of the two. Turning the tragedy into a comedy. At the end of the film, Roderick was killed by an arrow, and the enemy was killed with a corpse, which is even more touching. Anthony Mann's adaptation is closer to the principle of classic tragedy, and the image of Roderick, the legendary figure, is even taller. This adaptation of a literary work can be called a successful re-creation.
Although the tragic figures of classicism are tall and tall, they lack the concrete expression of daily life, lack a clear personality, and their words are too big and empty. In terms of art form, it abides by a series of rigid rules such as the "Three Uniforms" that unify time, place and movement. Modern audiences are unacceptable if it is "faithfully" brought to the screen unaltered. In this film, the director has carried out great artistic processing on the legend of Xide, changing the beautiful and eloquent verses of the original play into oral dialogues; making the original tense and moving plot even more exciting due to the accelerated rhythm of the film's time-space switching. In fact, after Roderick was exiled, he obeyed the Sahagoths, and then the plot of the self-proclaimed king was changed to the fact that the exiled Cid remained loyal to the dynasty and dedicated the crown obtained by capturing the city of Valencia to the wronged him of King Alphonse. Xide is no longer dead, but blood-stained in the battlefield, and his name is written down in history. These changes keep the storyline clean and crisp without any drag. In the film, Cid's life can be divided into three stages of love, exile and war, and his love entanglement with Shimana runs through. The rich imagination of the director of the film enriches the image of his magnificent life, and the unforgettable details make him more flesh and blood: such as his care for the poor, the murder of the assassin who murdered King Sanche, and the siege of the city with bread to attack the heart For the best strategy, they all set up a perfect knight image for the audience who is loyal to the king, unswerving in love, open-minded, disregarding personal grievances and hatred, and saving the people from water and fire. The tragic scene of retreating the enemy with a corpse reminds people of the famous epic "The Song of Roland".
Most film critics believe that the aesthetic value of the film "Cid" has clearly surpassed that of similar epic blockbusters, such as "Ben-Hur", "The Holy Robe" and "Spartacus", because its majestic momentum has not been lost in the slightest. The distinct personality of the protagonist, of course, is inseparable from the outstanding acting skills of the two protagonists. Charlton Heston, who plays Roderick, is an evergreen in American cinema, having played roles in more than 70 films since his debut in 1945, with critics saying "he sculpts with ease. The characters are created to convince the audience that the fictional world created by the film is real and believable.” Heston, who is more than two meters tall, "is undoubtedly a brave and tender knight" in this film. Sophia Loren, who plays the heroine Shimana, was born in 1934. The Italian actress participated in a beauty pageant in Naples at the age of 16, and began filming in Rome in the same year. In 1954, he became famous after participating in the film "The Gold of Naples". In 1955, she starred in the film "Woman from the River" and became a success. In Hollywood films, she has become one of the most well-known international movie stars in the world because she played several exotic beauties. She starred in the film "Black Orchid", which won the Venice Film Festival Award in 1958. In Italy, she worked mainly with director De Sica. De Sica put her talents to good use, and in 1961 she starred in "Boccaccio 1970", which created an unprecedented box office value. She participated in the film "The Woman of Jochararia" (1961) won the Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar, "Italian Marriage" (1964) won the Moscow Film Festival Award. Her excellent performance in "Cassandra Bridge" is familiar to Chinese audiences. In the first half of the film, she brings to life a woman tortured by love and honor.
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