In the United States, as in other European developed countries, work cards and green cards are a terrible circle: without a green card, you cannot obtain a work card that allows legal work, and employers are generally reluctant to take the risk of hiring "black workers", without formal work, unable to You can't get a green card that allows you to live for a long time if you get the means of living a normal life. This is one of the most vexing issues for foreign immigrants. Attempts to exploit legal loopholes and obtain green cards through fake marriages are commonplace. Therefore, the Immigration Bureau is also one foot taller and one foot taller, trying its best to block this gap. This is the background of the story of this film. In fact, the tide of immigration from the economically underdeveloped third world to Europe and the United States is a hot topic in today's developed countries. Although the story of the French immigrating to the United States is not fictional, it is rare. They seek housing rights through fake marriages. Examples are even more rare. In this sense, the story told in this film is neither representative nor universal. That seems to be the reason why the Oscar judges didn't accept the film's best screenplay nomination.
The immigration issue was originally a very serious social issue, and a couple of lovers had to temporarily break up under the pressure of the regime, which was also quite painful. But the film mocks the current American system with a light-hearted tone and witty dialogue. When two immigration officers, Gorodsky and Mrs. Sean, were investigating at the Bronty home, they opened their briefcase, took out the notebook, unscrewed the cap of the pen, and put the cap on the pen, like two robots. The same, the movements are in perfect sync, then simultaneously raised their heads and stared blankly at their subjects. The director's intention is very clear. These two people represent the state apparatus. They only know how to act according to the law. Because the law has many loopholes, they are very strict, but they are also stupid. To take advantage of the legal provisions, although a certain amount of effort is required, in the face of true love, the law is just a piece of paper. When George and Bronty got to know each other through "living together" and developed a love that could not be stopped by any force, they finally kissed and hugged each other tightly. Gorodsky, who represented the state apparatus, was going through the formalities of deporting George out of the country. Seeing this scene, he seemed helpless, and hurriedly got into the immigration car parked by the road. The power of love is so powerful that it can overcome any unexpected difficulties, which is the theme of this film.
The actor who plays George is the famous French star Gerard Depardieu who is familiar to our audience. Since this film is an English-language dialogue film directed by Australian director Peter Weir, he is constrained by language, and his acting talent cannot be fully expressed, which is really regrettable, but Depardieu's personal charm and his freewheeling performance He quickly conquered the American audience, and the newspapers commented that his first American filming achievement was "Serve Score". He was filmed opposite the famous movie star Andie MacDowell. She had a great performance in Sex, Lies, and Videotape. The director of the film, Peter Weir, chose these two actors for the lead roles, which can be said to have been half-successful. In fact, "Green Card" was conceived specifically for these two actors. The director, writer, and producer are all directed by Peter Weir himself.
Peter Weir still chooses his preferred theme of cultural collision in this film. George and Bronty's love story is an opportunity for the director to try to express this cultural collision, so he does not try to portray the lingering love of the couple that eventually becomes a couple, but focuses on the obstacles caused by the cultural differences between the two. George is an immigrant from abroad with neither a fixed occupation nor a place of residence, and Bronty is a learned middle-class intellectual. George is a pragmatist honed by life, Blondy is an idealist from school to laboratory, a horticulturalist who loves his profession to the point of fanaticism, and loves green plants far more than he loves. the feelings of those around you. George is more concerned about the food and clothing of street children because he has little education and a poor family, but Bronty fantasizes about creating a green paradise for all children. In short, the film is a process in which the two gradually eliminate the obstacles caused by cultural differences and integrate into each other. The long kiss goodbye scene at the end announces that all obstacles are cleared, and the babbling stream of Bronte has merged into George's roaring river. The story is well-structured, the rhythm is brisk, the atmosphere is sometimes tense and sometimes relaxed, and it is well received by American audiences. But European and American suffragists criticized the film, arguing that the film's bridging of cultural differences is based on the premise of women's total acceptance and echoing of men, which is a typical male-centrism. Some people also commented that Peter Weir fell into the stereotype of "peculiar couple", that is, the poor boy and the rich lady are an unsuitable couple in love, which is a replica of the "Frog Prince" kind of story. A beautiful princess accepts a handsome prince who has been transformed from an ugly frog, and she dines happily with her. The mythological colors cover up the real life.
Although the film has not made a breakthrough in structure, it has sketched a picture of the world of Western society for the audience. The problems of unemployment, housing problems, and the seriousness of marriage are all reflected in the film. The audience will not forget that two immigration officials, Gorodsky and Mrs. Sean, performed their official duties at the Bronty's house, and their series of mechanical movements were completely in sync with robots, and they raised their heads at the same time and stared blankly. the subjects of their investigation. In order to obtain a green card and housing rights, Bronte and George had to bite the bullet and recite the details of each other's life like an exam, even the brands of women's cosmetics. The arrangement of these details and actions not only adds to the comedy color of the film, but also shows the suppression of human personality by the modern western social system. Only the exciting drumbeat of the black boy at the beginning of the film reminds people: in this society where individuality is suppressed, only this kind of strong and passionate drumbeat can vent the inner depression.
The main reason why "Green Card" was nominated for the Best Original Book Adaptation at the 63rd Academy Awards is that director Peter Weir brought an American girl who was at ease but not lacking in pursuit of career and ideals, with a pragmatic and Some cynical and romantic French people put together, which makes the film have a good comedy effect, which makes the audience feel relieved from time to time, but when people laugh at their shoulders, they also do it from the bottom of their hearts out of sympathy for the protagonist's situation worry. For example, in the scene where Gorodsky and Mrs. Sean had a "home visit", the audience thought that the routine was over, but Mrs. Sean asked about the process of falling in love with the two. the question and bring up the mind again. When George said, "We met by chance...and it was love at first sight. By the way, when we went to the post office to pick up the package, we took each other's packages wrong..." Bronty interjected, "He took my package, I took it took his package." George said: "The reason is that the post office staff made a mistake, it was raining heavily, and we were all staggering down the street..." He said as he stood up and imitated, the audience felt that both Their tales and George's improvisations are hilarious, and they worry about their fate. Because such a lie is hard for even children to believe, let alone these two government officials specializing in investigations? When Gorodsky asked George to take him to the bathroom, the overwhelmed George even asked the visiting guest: "What are you going to do in the bathroom?" Usually, when a visitor asks the host to go to the bathroom, the host should not ask any questions. George's unreasonable question, which makes people feel ridiculous, also lays the groundwork for Gorodsky's investigation into Bronty's cosmetics. The fake couples were embarrassed and created one after another gimmicks, which really made the audience laugh. Through the comical handling of these actions and words, the director has turned a serious immigration legal issue into a comedy with a lot of dark humor, which adds to the viewing effect of the film.
Peter Weir has made many different styles of film, but this is the first attempt of American comedy style. The cliché of this type of film in the United States is: a couple who cannot get along in any way, quarreling all day long, but in the end, neither of them will leave the other. The most typical examples are "New York-Miami" and "The Unbearable Mr. Babe". Putting a pair of very different personalities together can create inexhaustible jokes. George and Bronty are such a pair: he has a cheerful personality, loves to make friends, and when he sees Lauren, he invites her to dinner at home, Lauren invited him to a family dinner, which he gladly went. Blondy, however, is not sociable, and spends her days shutting herself up in a world surrounded by greenery. Eating habits are often a reflection of character: He grabbed a hunk of blood-red beef at the supermarket, while she picked up a packet of oats. The meat-eating George is tall and strong, and the vegetarian Bronti is slender and gentle. The director uses music to set off the differences in the cultural backgrounds of the two: the beautiful Mozart Concerto accompanies the gentle Blondy, the loud drums of African blacks and the rough and bold George are inseparable. The two have completely opposite understandings of space. The director expresses Blondy's fascinated world through door locks, closed doors, the blue sky separated by iron fences in the greenhouse, and the elevator that goes up and down like a submarine. Not only does the desire for isolation fail to protect her, it puts her in a passive position. Because all her doors were closed, George was unable to find a bathroom for investigators, which further deepened the investigation and made George, who she later truly fell in love with, suffer deportation. And George can breathe smoothly when he is in nature. When he arrives at Bronti's house, he prefers to stay on the balcony instead of sitting in the living room with limited space.
This film is not just a character comedy, the director also fully created the comedy effect of the situation, the two improvised the acquaintance process and the unbearable wait before George played the piano; , even the cosmetics are full of flowers, etc., will make people feel funny.
Since George came to the United States for the first time, his English was not good enough, so Peter Weir's lines and dialogues for him were not very exciting, but let him express his infinite passion through his eyes and body movements. And his broken English brought him many misfortunes, first misreading Brondy as Betty, which made investigators suspicious, and then was expelled for misremembering the brand of cosmetics. For a foreign immigrant, who has no freedom of speech until he has mastered the local language, it is as difficult to make him accept the language norms of the country as it is to submit to despotism.
Before leaving the United States, there is an overhead shot of him looking up at a skyscraper, so small that he is almost crushed by the building that symbolizes the United States. Without a green card, Bronte may not have to leave her green house, but when will the two of them step into green heaven together?
The film Green Card also ponders the concept of authenticity. George and Bronty concoct a story about living in Africa to relatives, friends and neighbors. In fact, this is only the place where the two first met in a coffee shop called Africa, but for them, Africa is a symbol of green nature. The long shot through the greenery in the greenhouse stops first on George, who is writing his memoir, and then gradually pulls toward Bronty, who is answering George's questions. The stories they told, the fabricated memoirs, and the real emotions of the two merged together here. The fake couple became a real lover, and the common fabrication of the past turned into the present. People's feelings are different. The angle also changed, and even the fake photos Bronty used to deceive people, George believed them to be true. So, does the truth still exist in the world? It is "true is false when false is true, and false is true when true is false". Peter Weir's thinking about the power of the picture is quite new.
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