The whole incident is completely taken from real people, and it is based on the personal experience of a reporter from the New York Times and his translator. The names of Zhang San and Li Si are clear. That reporter also won a Pulitzer Prize, the crowning honor of the American journalistic profession. Having said that, it can't help but feel strange. How can such real material be so rare in our films. There are 1.3 billion people in such a big country, and they don't know how many things will happen every day, but now some people are tinkering with blockbusters all day long, and they don't know which generation or generation of people are flying around in fancy clothes and saying some inexplicable things. In recent years, when talking about filmmakers with a little sense of responsibility, Lu Chuan is one, Li Yang is one, and Jia Zhangke is one.
Going back to this movie, it was about the end of the Vietnam War, and the guy from the New York Times insisted on collecting information on the front line to send back first-hand reports. He has a local translator who is also his good friend. The translator is not the fat translator in our anti-Japanese films. He is a thin Cambodian with a kind and simple expression, but he looks like our fellow countryman. At that time, the Americans and Cambodians (with the help of the US military, of course) were all evacuating urgently. The whole Saigon was full of gunshots and cannons. When the translator's family was evacuated by helicopter, the translator did not leave, but stayed on the ground with him at the request of his American friend, in order to help the friend continue to send back the latest reports. In the end, under the protection of the U.S. government, which loves its people like children, the last group of Americans evacuated Saigon, and the comrade translator missed his last chance. This is the first half of the movie.
Writing this, I can't help but think of the deer hunter. The most similar thing between them is that they are clearly divided into two sections. The deer hunter is comparing: the first half is beautiful, the second half is hell on earth. The first half of the war has already made you feel like you are in hell, but you didn't expect a good show to come, because the second half is literally eighteen layers of hell. The simple translator was unfortunately caught by the Khmer Rouge and sent back to Cambodia for re-education in a concentration camp. It's more like playing Russian roulette in a deer hunter than re-education. Walking through patches of farmland and camps, piles of bones can be seen everywhere. It is said that during the Khmer Rouge movement launched by Pol Pot alone, 3 million civilians were killed. This film is to use a documentary method to reflect the history of the time. In stark contrast, at the same time, dedicated journalists received Pulitzer Prize honors in the splendid halls, with a taste of "one-shot success". Of course, everyone knows that a reporter still has some conscience. I think the figure of his translation friend has been lingering in his mind. Perhaps by this time, the guilt had reached its peak, and he vowed to do everything in his power to rescue him. At the same time, translation comrades launched a self-rescue action based on the golden and stone ancient adage of "seeking others is better than seeking yourself". He found an opportunity, escaped from the concentration camp, and found hope for his own escape in the boundless mountains and rivers and bones.
The ending is of course good, otherwise, logically, there would not be a movie that was completely taken from real events, and technically there would not be such a perfect restoration of reality. In the end, whether it was by himself or by international friends, I have forgotten. Maybe it's better to rely on yourself a little bit, most of the things in the world are like this.
I'm not interested in the political views of this film. I keep referring to the truth, but I understand that the so-called truth is also the truth in someone's eyes, it is difficult to say absolute truth. Besides, I only know a little about the relationship between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam and the Vietnam War. But I don't think any of this affects me watching this movie and liking it. Importantly, the movie made me feel a real shock. If I was really fooled by it, I would admit it.
Mention two people who are closely related to the film.
The first one is called Roland Joffe, the director of this film. This film is his debut. Can be described as a blockbuster. I've been following him since this movie. Also saw another of his films called The Mission, about a few missionaries in South America, Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson starring. Also won the Palme d'Or. Friends who like De Niro may wish to take a look. But it feels more than one grade worse than the slaughter of war. After this, it seems that he has not made any good movies. Looking around the film industry, such anticlimactic directors are not uncommon. But then again, he hasn't quit yet, so we can't draw a conclusion.
The second is Wu Han, who plays the translator of the film. I don't know if he is Chinese or not, the name looks a bit similar, but he looks more like Vietnamese or Cambodian. He didn't have any acting experience before making this movie. His performance in the film belongs to the category of true colors, and the translator in Thousand Miles Walking Alone is a bit like him. His performance is the highlight of the film, which is natural and convincing, probably because of his personal experience. He won an Oscar that year. If you have no acting experience at all, you will win an award for your first appearance. I'm afraid this will be unprecedented in the history of the Oscars, and no one will come later (children are not counted, because there is no comparison). Perhaps only Xia Yu could compare with him in the world, even though it seemed that Xia Yu was not yet an adult. But interestingly, as the protagonist, he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. This fully reflects the two sides of the academy, or more precisely, the judges of the academy.
Another note: watching the film is a long time ago, and there is no review material. Access is unavoidable, and all slabs are collected according to the bill.
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