"A Man Without a Past" is the second in a trilogy of "Contemporary Finland" directed by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. As an award-winning professional at major European film festivals, Akey won the jury prize at the 55th Cannes Film Festival with this film, and sent his queen actress Katie Otincin to the Cannes actress. throne.
Continuing Aki Kaurismaki's thematic stance on the underprivileged and marginalized, the film tells a heartwarming story about the homeless:
The protagonist, M, travels from northern Finland to southern Finland in the opening sequence, but loses his memory after being attacked in the head in the park. After being misdiagnosed by the hospital and pronounced dead, he regained consciousness by himself, left the hospital bed and wandered outside the city, fainted and was rescued by the river. After that, he lived among the poor and the homeless, encountered a series of warm and small things, and finally got involved in a bank robbery by accident and found his identity. But in the end, he did not choose to go back to the past, but said goodbye to the past and returned to the South to become a real member of that community.
The film continues Aki Kaurismaki's usual style: slow shots, rich and intense cool tones, minimalist composition, stage-like refined dialogue, finishing touches of music, and most importantly - minimal 's performance. The film as a whole presents a simple and stable aesthetic. Although the scene is set in a slum, the environment under the lens is poor but not dirty, deficient but not messy, and every frame reflects the dignity of being born as a human being.
The film is not long, a classic one and a half hours long, but let us experience an extraordinary life with the hero in this short period of time. Although this life is based on a fictional plot, it is quite enlightening about our current life.
1) Everything outside of life is just luggage in travel
At the beginning of the film, the male protagonist M sits on a train to a city he is not familiar with. When he was in the car, he still had his own name, identity, clothing, and residence, but after getting off the car, he flew into an accident. He had nothing but one life left .
Having lost all material ownership of so-called social identity and markers of success, is he worthless, unable to survive? not at all.
During the period when he was unable to speak and had limited mobility, a destitute family rescued him. Although they were no longer able to eat and drink well, they still bought some eggs and milk to help him recover, and kept him until they could. Act autonomously.
In this completely unfamiliar neighborhood, M has nothing, no money, and no idea where he can come from and what he can do. It's like a newborn baby who can only be fed by someone else's milk. But he survived with the kind help of others, and gradually became stronger physically and mentally.
Sometimes, we cry bitterly because of our loss, but in fact our social status and high-end mansions are just a shell we borrowed when we live in this world. You think you have it, but you don't, you only borrowed it briefly on the journey of life, and you can't take anything with you when you leave.
When we are walking on the road of life, all the fame, status and wealth are just our carry-on luggage, sometimes too heavy luggage will hinder us from embarking on the journey easily and happily. We can leave everything on our journey, but we cannot leave our own life behind.
In the film, it is mentioned that after M was attacked, he was sent to the hospital for rescue. The doctor looked at M's unrecognizable face and gradually weakened pulse and said, "It is better to die than to live, maybe this is better", so he directly announced his death. "Time of Death". But when the doctor left, M sat up stiffly and staggered back to the street.
Although he lost his memory, he knew instinctively that he wanted to live, because as long as he lived, he still had "life".
2) We have to help each other in the world
In the film, the female protagonist said a sentence when she rescued the male protagonist M: "God will gift those who go to heaven, but in the world we have to help each other". As a member of the Boy Scouts charity, her day-to-day job is to help the poor survive in this world. If you can, let them live better, eat better, and dress neatly.
But her life is not rich. She lived in a dormitory next to the railway, a room so small that it could only fit a bed. The only decoration in her room other than a statue of the Virgin was a radio. She went back to her room at night after work, and the only thing she could do was lie in bed and listen to the music on the radio. The most important thing, she has never tasted love.
But the emergence of M broke the established routine of the year after year. After get off work, M was waiting for her at the door and offered to take her home. When parting, M used the guise of blowing the sand out of her eyes and gently snatched her first kiss. M offered credit to the mercenary watchman, asked him to lend him a bike, he could take Emma out to play, and even when he had no cooking skills, he invited Emma to dinner at home, and sat together on the sofa listening to the jukebox music.
On the surface, it seems that the heroine is providing material for M's life, but in fact, we can see that M continues to water the heroine Emma with the love in his heart, and finally let her life bloom with the flowers of love. The two support each other, give each other, and turn this unbearable world into a paradise on earth.
Regarding the heroine Emma, I have to say that her character, Katie Otincin, is to Aki Kaurismaki, what Zhao Tao is to Jia Zhangke, or Zhou Yun to Jiang Wen. If Aki's film needs a heroine, then the heroine must be her, but if the film needs a hero as the center, it must also find a suitable supporting actress for her.
The actor's appearance is not really handsome, and even reminds me of the thin, unsmiling American peasant woman in the famous American Gothic painting. But in this film, we see through M's eyes that Emma is the most beautiful creature in the world compared to everything around her. The biggest charity she gave to M was not vegetable soup or a suit, but her beauty as a woman.
This reminds me of an anecdote from World War II. In the wounded barracks at the back of the battlefield, there was a soldier who was seriously injured. A nurse came over and asked him what he needed. The soldier asked, can you put lipstick on me? A woman's beauty can heal the heart more than a pain pill. And it is precisely because of knowing Emma that M has the motivation to take care of his appearance, regain his love for music, and regain the spark of life.
Yes, when we are on earth, we help and give to each other, and the greatest gift we can give is our love and beauty.
3) Let go completely, surrender completely
M was forced to give up his past in the most violent way, and when he rediscovered his past, his heart was full of melancholy. He loves his current life, and he can't bear the new love in his heart. When he returned to his old life, he found that he had not been happy.
He used to be a gambler and lost all his records in various gambles. He quarreled with his wife all day, and when he parted from her, the two had just filed for divorce. The wife's new boyfriend is going to duel with M for this woman, but M readily surrenders his past to others and takes the train back to the south to embrace his new life.
It seems so plausible and easy, but it's not easy in our lives. Facing the painful past, we are reluctant to let go, or we like the feeling of being stabbed by pain, and seek satisfaction from Gu Ying's self-pity; or we want to use tears to win people's sympathy and let others see how miserable we are.
The world is full of misery, but we should not dwell on it and move forward. The film shows all kinds of poor people and homeless people. They are not cynical or compassionate in the midst of adversity and poverty. Even if you live in a shipping container, you can get up early to play the worn accordion under the blue sky and white clouds and enjoy the joy of life. Even if he is poor, he never underestimates himself. Every Friday when he goes to the city to receive relief meals, he must be neatly dressed in suits and leather shoes.
There was one episode that moved me immensely. M went to the city to look for a job, but was bombarded because he didn't have a name and social security number. He walked into a cafe and asked the waitress, is the water free? After getting a definite answer, he took a pot of water, took out a matchbox from his pocket, looked at the waiter's face, and took out a brewed tea bag and put it into the cup. The waitress walked into the back kitchen and called an old lady who was taller than herself. The old lady glanced at her, went in and brought out a plate of food and said: This is the leftovers from lunch, you can eat it. The waitress brought him clean knives and forks.
People live in the moment, no matter if your family is rich or poor, all you need is a meal and a sip of tea. When we see the essence of life clearly, what is there to let go? You think that house is yours, you think you should sit in a five-star restaurant and spend your money, that's just what you think you think.
The film also tells a heart-wrenching story. The male protagonist, M, rediscovers his identity due to a robbery, but after he is released from prison, he sits and drinks with the robbers. The robber was a factory owner. After investing in equipment, his assets were frozen due to poor bank operations. He had to fire all the workers. For this, he felt ashamed. After robbing the bank to get his money back, he entrusted M to return the wages he owed to everyone, and he chose to end his life in the hut.
Isn't this the reversal we often see in social news? You thought he was a bad guy, but after understanding the reason behind him, you felt that he was excusable. All this self-righteousness is just what we think it is.
We are too easy to judge others and judge right and wrong, but the real justice is not in man but in heaven. Therefore, when we experience tribulations and pains, why should we not let go of our burdens and give them all up? The past you hold tightly may only be the second best, and the righteous God will give you the best life possible.
Epilogue
I don't know much about Nordic movies, the last one was "A Man Called Owen Decided to Die". Although the two films are not the work of the same director, they left me with a unified impression: calm rhythm, expressionless performance, and a warm current surging secretly under the calm plot. At the beginning, they all describe that life is not a pity, but they often leave a smile and a back at the end of the film, making people sigh that life is precious.
Yes, in the atmosphere of competition in contemporary society, it seems that we should really see the essence of life, it has nothing to do with the past, name, money, status, it only has to do with every breath, every melody, every trace of love, every moment. A touch of beauty.
View more about The Man Without a Past reviews
