"Flying Wild Goose" is my current favorite Soviet drama/war/romance movie. It may be an exaggeration to say this, because as a romance drama lover who doesn’t watch serious movies very much, I don’t watch enough movies. But that doesn't stop me from liking this story, which may not be hearty enough for now, but is sincere and moving. Karnatotsov's restrained and avant-garde camera language has endless aftertastes. For more than an hour and a half, the story line is clear and clear, without a nesting doll narrative, it is profound and to the point. Thanks to the director for not committing big drags, splattering dog blood, endless foreshadowing, and failure to stop the brakes after a war like some of his peers.
"Yan Nanfei" is an art film rather than an official documentary, so we can find thousands of faces in the war in various details. In peacetime, Boris and Veronica were ordinary young people, doing ordinary jobs, talking about ordinary love, and having ordinary dreams. The advent of war made ordinary life an unattainable luxury, and countless people lost their shelter overnight. Both the front and the rear have become a large-scale testing ground for human nature. Dedication, hesitation, greed, selfishness... No one can escape. Apart from Boris and Veronica, the two characters that impressed me the most in the movie were Boris' father, the hospital director, and Marc, an artistic young man who was forced to marry. The dean holds valuable medical resources and personal connections, but he did not refuse to hand over his precious son for the motherland. Mark, who did not go to the front line, took possession of Boris's life, and Veronica's slap in the thunder and lightning was the most powerful whip against him.
The war caused Veronica to suffer the most unknown pain. Victory Day finally came, and the photo of her lover on her chest made Veronica accept the fact she had never been able to confirm amid the cheers of the crowd in the square. The light in Boris's eyes remained in the birch forest forever. The geese lined up and flew around. Veronica distributed the bouquet in her hand to the people around her. She also completed the transformation of a girl from self to self-knowledge.
I read a lot of controversy about the ending of the film, but I don't think it's a scramble and kitsch of a collectivist discourse, and the Palme d'Or can't decide whether "Flying Wild Goose" is for propaganda or for art. I want to see Veronica cheer up and hope she stays strong. I still believe that there is nothing "unspeakable" about the most common and beautiful human emotions.
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