When my friend Daqi Te recommended "Buried Alive" to me, Godard said that a film only needs a girl and a gun, but Cortez told us that a man and a coffin can also make a good movie. Film.
This is more than a good film. Shooting such a thrilling one-man show in a claustrophobic space releases a vast social landscape and human metaphors from the tense space far beyond imagination, so that the oppressive and hopeless emotional impact it brings, after watching it for a few hours Still staying for a long time.
The story of "Buried Alive" is very simple: the American contractor Paul was unconscious after being kidnapped in Iraq, but when he woke up he found himself buried in a coffin in the desert. He only has a cell phone, a lighter, a flashlight, an oil pen, and a knife at his hand. In this suffocating space, he must complete an amazing escape action. This kind of plot is like a huge black hole, making your emotions unable to help but follow the ups and downs of the protagonist's fate. And your hope is also like the gradual exhaustion of oxygen in the coffin, and the indeterminate firelight. Finally, when you are completely gloomy but glimpses the last ray of light, you are coldly told that the light is just a white horse passing through the gap, waiting for you , There will still be eternal darkness.
Life is a buried alive. Everyone is lingering and struggling to survive in the dark, claustrophobic, and suffocating dilemma. The rigid system and selfish and indifferent interpersonal relationship are more chilling executioners than terrorists. More icy despair. This theme is extremely exaggerated in the film:
in the process of paul's self-help, he called 911, the FBI, the company he served, family, friends, etc., all of which suffered varying degrees of indifference, sarcasm, and "kick the ball" from the relevant departments. ". The director of the personnel department of CRT said softly "sorry" after the recording, and the hostage rescue team members also said "I'm sorry" at the end. This kind of "sorry" not only fills the entire film, but also our real life: Do you see those who are unable to take responsibility, with these three easy words, shirk all the possibilities of taking on obligations and fulfilling responsibilities.
"Who fucking cares if you are dead or alive" repeated many times in the film. In this society with overwhelming interests, no one really cares about Paul, even the mother who is a bit demented. When a living life meets the so-called national dignity and group interests, the individual is as small as nothing. . What is really decisive is the limitations of people in their lives, their selfishness and weakness. Just like the surreal scene near the end of the film-the camera is suddenly pulled to infinite height, and Paul's body lying in the coffin resembles a rotten skeleton. The four walls of the coffin stretched indefinitely in the darkness, as if it had no end.
It doesn't matter how many bugs there are in the film, or whether the coffin really exists or not. What is important is that it tells the fate of modern people: everyone lives in a dangerous abyss, isolated and helpless. Everything seems to be hopeless. There is no hope from the world around him, no hope from the people around him, and no hope from myself. And the ridiculous life always gives you hope like a prank, and then goes out.
On such a lonely planet, no one is whose savior. We can only keep our own persistence and dignity, even if the bottom line is repeatedly trampled, even if there is no light to speak of, holding on, may be the only salvation.
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