It's a funny but very meaningful movie. It is not just a comedy, interspersed with the impact and collision of two values. I boil them down to the following two modern ideas: one is the primitive tribal spirit represented by Kai, whose tribal core spirit is much like today's minimalism, that is, what does not make sense for me and what I am related to, I firmly do not want. One is egoism based on Doctors of Animals and Plants, that is, everything I do is related to me and beneficial to me, and I am determined not to do anything that is not beneficial to me. This seems to be a reasonable time arrangement rule, but it is also a kind of movie in the modern society of the 80s. It's often not the comedy of the film that's amazing, but the way it's presented.
1. Comparison
In fact, the way the film wants to express the theme is very straightforward. In fact, the director just used a strong contrast to bring together two types of people from different parts of the world into the same time and space, and produce an incredible chemical reaction. This way of shooting and construction is not unusual, I am more impressed by the way the film is narrated. The two groups of people in the film are in different worlds. One is the primitive society represented by Kai. They have neither the laws of modern society nor the language of modern society. From an anthropological point of view, this is a society with pure resources and pure values. It retains a form that human beings have achieved after they first appeared in the world and have undergone a certain development. In modern society, we often have expectations for these beautiful and pure things, and it is almost difficult to keep these inner beauty in the process of economic development. In Hao Xuli's "Brave New World", people are technically able to develop to the genetic level, but from another point of view, people have lost their ethics and achieved the goal. The ambition expressed by the director in this film is very high, and the problem raised is also very obvious, that is, the director wants to explore how to deal with the South African modernity in a new generation under a sociological film dressed in drama. The question of the fusion of civilization and primitive civilization. The new world continues to develop while the primitive civilization is stagnant. On the one hand, we hope that the primitive civilization can keep up with the progress of the modern civilization and improve it, but on the other hand, we hope that the people of the primitive civilization will retain some of the innermost feelings that people had when they were first born. pure stuff. In the same way, the director also let me see how the real primitive civilization accepts modern civilization. From the very beginning, the Coke bottle fell from the sky, and Kai's clansmen began to try to use it later, and it was not until the violent internal conflict that Kai made up his mind to throw the so-called "ominous thing" into a place "outside the world". I thought that the director wanted to show that the primitive society has accepted modern civilization, but it was precisely because of my lack of knowledge that I ran counter to the director's idea. My envisioned ending is that Kay takes the bottle back to the Horde and sets up a set of rules for using the bottle. But it's just that I think too much. The evolution of primitive civilization is a long process, far from being promoted by a glass bottle. The first principle of the evolution of primitive civilization is shown in this film: it does not affect the normal production and life of the tribe. (And the Coke bottle is obviously not such a good opportunity, because its appearance caused conflicts among the tribes of the primitive society, which is precisely what the primitive civilization did not want to change) This also tells me exactly what happened in the 1980s. The gap between the modern South African civilization and the primitive civilization of the present day, on the one hand, hope that it can quickly keep up with the pace of the times and on the other hand refuse to make drastic changes. Was this conflict important at that time? important! Because this directly creates a sense of two divisions in a country, although the number of people is very small, it exists after all. I can't be sure what will happen after the two are merged, but when the two cultures merge with each other, the spark generated must be completely new. The film uses a similar amount of space to describe the various living conditions of people under modern civilization and relatively primitive civilization. There is no obvious emphasis on the two, because it represents two different living and living conditions. The complete conflict between the two has more dramatic tension.
2. Comedy and Comedy Shots
What I appreciate more is the way of narration and interpretation of this film, because the director presents a grand topic in a comedy way, which is similar to the classic film "Escape from the Tiger's Mouth", which is a contemporary expression of World War II. It is the grander themes that express the results in a more serious way, which is often counterproductive. And this film uses comedy techniques and joking jokes, which not only improves the popularity of the film, but also shows the director's helplessness over the current situation, and uses a relaxed atmosphere to show the film's sense of conflict. This is the film maximum tension. And the comedy expression adopted by the director made it even more surprising that I saw this film for the first time after a lapse of 41 years. In my stereotype, 80s comedies tended to be full of bodily hilarity and pompous acting skills, which made the whole movie feel very uncomfortable. But the comedy shots taken in this film do not have this common problem. Throughout the film, all the comedy shots are very O'Henry-style. It is not artificial but very natural, which is not unexpected but Also very humorous. Using a natural feeling to create a natural sense of justice is the excellence of this film. But it's not like a Chaplin comedy. If the Chaplin-style comedy reflects the changes of the times from the little people, then its comedy effect has certain limitations. Although there are parts that transcend the times, some things that belong to that era are eternal. It discusses more about the relationship between people and society, but this relationship is always in dynamic balance, and what we see from it is often a microcosm of the times. Because it's not very clear, so comedy. The comedy element in the movie "Part One" can be said to be eternal, because it shows that this sense of comedy is very primitive, and the connection between human and natural civilization will not be broken, which is also the reason why it cannot create a sense of separation . Judging from the comedy shots of the film, the comedy shots in the film are more like an old-fashioned romance, which makes people feel less hypocritical and more warm.
3. Reality
In the first ten minutes, I thought this movie was a documentary, because it described the life scenes of the Xilai people in too much detail, and it couldn't get to the point at once, and I inevitably felt that the beginning of the movie was a bit long. As the film progresses, I also understand slightly the meaning of introducing the life of the primitive tribes in this film in such detail. The more detailed it is, the more realistic it is. There is conflict in reality. This is the key point that the film wants to express, including the choice of actors and actresses from the most realistic perspective. Li Su himself is an out-and-out peasant. From his point of view, whether it is the plot design of the film, it may have actually happened around him. This kind of realism is more touching.
The call of Coke
When I saw Coke bottles falling from the sky, the first thing I thought of was Kubrick's Black Rock in 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the significance of this film falls far short of the philosophical heights of Blackstone Theory. The Coke bottle is the beginning of changing Kai's life in the film, and the Coke bottle can be seen as a tool in a sense (the Coke bottle is the hardest thing Kai's tribe has ever seen). In "2001 Space Travel", we can clearly see that instrumental rationality and value rationality have the ability to change human nature in a specific environment. Although this expression is representative of Kubrick, there are also elements of reality in it. The value of the so-called "tool" in history to human beings is that it has changed people's original way of life and work habits, and it is also the beginning of civilization. In "2001 Space Travel", the director used the appearance of the black stone to indicate the beginning of killing and desire. The ape-man began to be enlightened because he learned to borrow the power of the black stone. The killing and competition began to be performed. From the beginning, the film cast a layer of gray color . In the film "God is Crazy", it is completely different. The appearance of Coke is even a comedy-like existence, which is also a manifestation of different degrees of civilization. The appearance of the Coke bottle allowed Kai to see the most common things in modern society, which is also the beginning of his integration with modern society. What moved me the most in the film was that Kai was in contact with modern society and felt life, but he didn't indulge in it. Perhaps he felt the intrigues in modern society with his most primitive feeling. Under the blue sky, by the sea of clouds, he stood on the edge of the cliff, and threw the "source of all evil" under the clouds. A farewell to the modern society that has been briefly touched. He chose to go home, because the spirit of modern civilization may be the best, meeting all their material needs, but after all, this is not where his native family is. If he lives here, his soul will only be wandering. So he chose to go home, to the place where his soul belonged.
4. The way of fusion of primitive civilization and modern civilization
What I can see in this film is the step-by-step process of the primitive civilization being accepted by modern civilization. Because it is not exclusion but acceptance. Although this acceptance is slow, it is in the process of advancing. In the process of evolution with primitive civilization, I can also see the fusion of two civilizations and spirits. Why the heroine ended up choosing the goofy zoo and botanist over the witty cop. In addition to being in a relatively closed environment, people are easily affected by their own emotions, and more importantly, in this specific environment, the tactile feeling of the zoo and botanists is real and not false, and people can trust. This also shows that the pursuit of a natural feeling in the depths of people's heart has always existed, but it has been consumed by the high pressure of the city. But once the environment is shaped, this temporarily fixed emotion is re-released. This is a kind of fusion of two civilizations that have been suppressed for a long time in a vague area. Although only fleeting and marginal, it is an excellent sign that this convergence has begun. Although this road is long, the evolutionary process is always complicated and tedious. We do not expect this process to be accomplished overnight. I prefer that it can withstand the changes of time and move around in a long stream.
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