(Text/Yang Shiyang)
Eastwood brought this "Mule", which is highly praised in the movie fan circle, but it is said to be quite harsh in the American film critics. The harsh content is about the old director's attitude towards race. Yes, this story looks like a strange social news. The original real event is more like an urban strange story. It has a natural drama. It is bloody and bloody. An elderly man transports drugs for drug dealers. In the end, lawyers. He served only three years in prison for Alzheimer's disease. But after being turned into this movie, Eastwood's presentation was weakened, but the issue of "race" became a real dark line. It was ubiquitous and did not grab the show, but it flashed from time to time. ,impressive.
"Mule" is a black word, used in drug cartels to refer to those drivers who help them deliver drugs. The old director personally played this role. He hunched his waist and moved slowly throughout the story, but he still looked stubborn when he was young. . This old man was originally a gardener, selfish, and unhappy with the whole family. He was in his twilight years, and his business was in a mess. The house was about to be auctioned. Only an old pickup truck that might be the same age as his was left. After taking a job to help people transport a travel bag, this old white man who had never received a ticket easily went on the road and received a generous payment. Since then, he has become a "Mule".
Seen from the outside, this is a road movie. An old man drives a dilapidated truck to complete a business, and then buys a brand new car by changing shotguns, wandering on the highway again and again, letting the wind blow his sparse white hair. , Humming the song of his youth, of course, it also has some suspenseful settings and scenes of the confrontation between police and criminals, but under these, the story involves more secret themes, such as race, family affection, such as Thinking about time, old age, death and company. To some extent, "Mule" is like the other side of "Green Book". It also drives a car on the road, and also encounters some problems about race, but the expression of race consciousness is straightforward and clear, and the other is cryptic and twists. . The old man was selected by drug dealers, on the surface, because of his age, because he has never had the driving skills and caution with a ticket, but in fact, the underlying reason is that he is a white man. This point is never clearly explained in the story, but through the continuous mention of one detail after another, among a group of Mexican drug dealers, an old white man is quite conspicuous, but when placed on the road, everything is different. The important indicator for the police to intercept suspicious vehicles is the drivers of ethnic minorities. They saw this old white man driving a valuable pickup, and no one would say anything. Even if the drug detection dog barked, the police's first reaction was unexpected. He said sorry to the old man and tried to drag the dog away. The old man actually has no ethnic prejudice. Most of the time, he is just instinctively immersed in the old days. He subconsciously calls negro to blacks and lads to a group of "lesbians". If you say, these are all historical. The relics of racial/gender prejudice, then a resolution of the crisis can better reflect the current racial problems. The police stopped the two Mexican drug dealers for intimidation and interrogation, and the old man easily escaped and showed generous gestures under his nose. I opened the trunk, and the drugs were there. The police didn't even look at it. In this way, this movie buried all ethnic stalks in the details and covered them up in detail.
"Mule" is actually a movie that is difficult to categorize. Someone can see the desire for freedom from it. The old man has never been caught in his life. Couples, children, money or other things are unruly and unruly. Someone saw the warmth, the end of a prodigal son’s turning back, the companionship in front of the hospital bed, and finally no testimony that he missed again. He went around his whole life, drew a huge circle, and returned to his family; while others saw social criticism, yet Someone saw a certain trivial philosophy of life, the narration at the breakfast table, perhaps the most sincere words of the old man, about his regrets and hopes.
The director Eastwood is nearly 90 years old. There is undeniable aging in this film, the gentle sighs and final reconciliation brought by the closer twilight years, but in many cases, there is still a calmness. The abrupt thorns are sharp, humorous, ridiculous, and without fanfare, hiding in the corner of life, waiting to be picked up slowly by people watching.
View more about The Mule reviews
