Movies like Under the Sky in Berlin are naturally inseparable from literati spectators and Confucian scholars who make irresponsible remarks. In fact, the structure of this film couldn't be clearer: two angels overlooking the city above him in Berlin, one rational, compassionate, firm, one emotional, passionate, sincere; one chooses to stick to it, and the other chooses to become a mortal and taste blood taste, experience the feeling of your own weight.
If Paris, Texas is the all-around triumph of style, the revival of the road movie, then Berlin is undoubtedly the triumph of style and thought. Wenders loves to listen to American country and road music. The protagonists in his films are always on the move, and they are more about experience, city experience, listening, and staring, whether it is the pink on the Texas street. The lustrous advertising lights are still the chatter and emotion of an old man in his twilight years. The difference is that Paris, Texas is more about letting you sit in your father’s seat, watching your son’s smiling face, waiting quietly, recognizing the crowds and traffic passing by; or wearing jeans and a cowboy hat, standing upright. Walking with solemn and mature steps on the shoulders~~ Berlin is completely different. We are more standing by the side of listening and being listened to, listening to endless monologues and voices, and, I have to admit, More metaphysical monologues don't resonate much with the audience due to translation. Of course, when the old man looked at Potsdamer Platz and sighed that this should be XX Chocolate Point and there is XX Shop, the passage of time and the reflection on the war can still cause general reflection and deep thinking.
The black and white color
in front of the color is actually very delicate. In fact, it does not give people a simple and shabby feeling, but more classical and calm. In fact, just like the tone of the film, in the first part, although we can hear everyone's voice, we are angels, and we have the ability that mortals can only dream of for a lifetime, but we are always alone, our world is silent, black and white It is dark and lifeless; although we have beautiful wings and stand at the top of the Berlin tower, our hearts are doomed to be lonely, although we maintain the world with reason, and if we listen carefully, we can find that this is not The traditional pure black and white, but slightly yellowed and resolve people's confusion and grief, but unable to suppress their desire for the world of the mortal world.
Suddenly, there is color for the first time, it is a woman's tender skin, the desire in the heart is mixed with the wonder of the beauty of the woman's body, rose red, human yellow, baby blue, the contrast of the colors gives people a strong visual stimulation , at this time, the feelings of the audience's eyes are enough to describe the inner experience of the protagonist. And the color behind gives us the "angel of reason", the color here is not joy but sorrow, not the natural feeling after breaking free from the shackles of black and white, but a strong sadness and helpless compulsion; the color here The color is forced, which also reflects the mood of the angel. Afterwards, as a suit of armor fell on our body, our eyes finally regained their natural color after enduring more than an hour of black and white baptism. I remember that in Sergei
Eisenstein's "Film as Art" he used black and white as the condition of film as art. He believed that black and white is a kind of distortion and abstraction of reality, and the distance from reality is a prerequisite for formal art, but He ignored the powerful expressive power of color. When we watched the protagonist walk ecstatically through the graffiti wall, we pointed to the exaggerated pattern and asked happily what the color was. At this moment, the truth of the color and the environment is no longer important, the important thing is that the color has been used as a medium to convey a deeper Levels of emotion and content. When we see the colorful world, we can actually feel the pain of the protagonist's armor smashed head, the taste of bright red blood, and the solid feeling of stepping on the road. By contrast, the color scenes in the back have long been more than just adding a simple meaning of color. The director expressed his affirmation of people's natural emotions, natural desires and impulses, and affirmation of various sensory stimuli through color. In other words, color is the director's mind here!
Humanism
I once saw a Peking University professor criticize the humanism of the European Renaissance as animalism. He commented on the seven points of humanism one by one, and finally concluded that humanism is more about the enjoyment of reality, the enjoyment of the senses, and the human beings. He believes that this is actually a praising of the primitive aspects of human nature, while humanism rarely involves human sympathy and compassion. He believes that this is the reason why people are human beings. reason. After watching the movie, I think this view is inappropriate. First of all, the "human" of humanism does not deliberately emphasize the characteristics of human beings or why they are human beings. We say that the Renaissance and the Enlightenment Movement in Europe had a background of the times. After the dark Middle Ages persecuted all kinds of ideas that were not one's own, the extreme criticism and denial of sensory pleasures, and the praise and admiration of abstinence and abstinence (For example, the spiritual principles of the Franciscans), the desires, passions and struggles in human nature are infinitely compressed and blamed, and it is during this period that the need for humanism arises.
Combining with the background of the film, Berlin, the capital of Germany after World War II, had already belonged to two different countries, and the post-war reconstruction had just been completed. The cultural world of Germany was filled with a trend of rational reflection. Some people still believe in the madness and conquest of fascism. It is in this context that the director's 1987 film is actually a re-affirmation and recognition of humanism. He does not deny people's thinking about life and the world when they are empty. On the contrary, it uses a large monologue. (When we were children...) to affirm the doubts and confusions in human nature about the world and personal existence. However, through the comparison before and after the angels became mortals, the director affirmed the world of red dust, and affirmed human emotions and sensory enjoyment (especially love and sex). I saw the title of a comment on this film called "It's better to be a human being". Although it is popular, it still makes some sense.
The completion and release of the film is the director's most positive statement on the German ideological world out of the
shadow .
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