In "Saving Private Ryan", there are wounds left by the war everywhere, the flesh and blood of the Normandy landings, the hail of bullets and bullets along the way, and the desperate struggle to guard the position. Behind the raging war, the most heart-wrenching scene is the mother who is waiting for her sons to return in triumph every day, watching a car slowly drive into view along the vast field, the camera staring at a distance, time Dragging at a slow pace, as if a century was long. A high-ranking officer knocked on the door, bringing the terrible news of the deaths of her three sons. The news of the death of a loved one swept across this peaceful countryside like a gust of wind and waves, and the scene became devastated in an instant. The thing that every soldier's family is most afraid of is that a few solemn officers stepped down from the roaring car outside the house, repeating those few words of innocuous condolences. Every word they say strikes the listener's heart like a thunderbolt from a sunny day, and their low tones and concerned expressions are more sarcastic in comparison. What they read was just a piece of paper, and what they heard was a fragmented life. And this kind of pain in the face of the death of a loved one is not something that can be clearly expressed in a few scenes, a few lines, and a few lines of tears. The world that was left behind by Liren completely changed its unchanging warm face, and began to roar and collapse.
In 1926, the Russian poetess Tsvetaeva, after learning of Rilke's death, wrote a letter of mourning with grief: "Does the year end with your death? Is it the end? It is the beginning! You are the newest year in yourselves . How is the world? Where did they go? Which is the better world for us? How can we go on living? Don't bullshit that life will go on, it doesn't relieve the pain in the slightest, and it doesn't give any hope for the rest of your life. British writer CS Lewis experienced the most tragic and dark period of his life after losing his beloved wife. He found that all the knowledge and physical training he had learned before could not make him bear this huge pain. This pain is like fear, but it is far longer than fear and penetrates deep into the heart. As a faithful believer, he was not afraid of God's abandonment of him, but what kept him awake at night was the discovery that all these griefs were proofs of God's existence. Death had never been so unbearable for him as it really came. The so-called death is not a long speech in the philosophical sense. For him, it means never seeing his lover's face, hearing her voice, and touching her body temperature. This is the whole meaning of death. It was this death that allowed him to become a crying little boy anytime, anywhere.
After the relatives leave, how to capture the empty world with the camera? In "Happiness Is Gone", Stanley Phillips sits on the sofa after learning that his wife was killed. The close-up emphasizes his frowning brows and sad eyes, as Lewis puts it, "like a light intoxication in the heart, or a slight concussion in the brain." The sound of the outside world gradually faded away, leaving only a few scattered notes in the empty room. Immediately after the close-up of Stanley's face is switched to a panoramic view, the space is enlarged in an instant, showing the huge impact on his mind and the indescribable sense of loneliness. After that, the shot is a medium shot, keeping a distance, watching him move. The phone rang, the answering machine's message was recorded by his wife, and the voice echoed in the room, suddenly piercing Stanley's heart. How absurd, the lover is no longer in this world, and her voice reappears in other ways, he smiled and played with the ring on his ring finger. Take it off, put it back on. As if to say, death can't take her place in his heart. He walked upstairs and lay helpless on the ground. Next came a few empty mirrors, the dining table, the hallway, the living room, the double bed in the bedroom - everything was neat and quiet, as if nothing had happened. The tranquility of the space contrasts with the huge emotional turmoil at the moment, making people feel the faint colic in the stomach. This approach is one of the director’s favorite expressions. In the German movie "Cherry Blossom", when the husband who had buried his dead wife returned home, he sat alone on a stool. The usually crowded room became deserted, and the director also used a few empty mirrors to outline her husband's state of mind. The sense of tranquility and emptiness was maddening.
When a lover goes away, leaving behind the world, the most unbearable thing is that people have to learn to continue to survive in the world without him (her). After all, as Shelley wrote, "Life can be transferred, but not run away; hope can be lost, but not dead." The remaining one must continue to complete the unfinished road of the two.
2. On the road
The images of decadence, decline, failure, and despair often appear in Hollywood movies. The so-called American Dream is built on this foundation, watching how an ordinary person rises from the predicament with his own strength and belief, completes a transformation, a self-redemption, and a life from Nirvana to full bloom. Process. For example, in "Far From Las Vegas", the alcoholic image created by Nicolas Cage, although facing his doomed death, was redeemed by love before; Frank Slade in "Scent of a Woman" Lieutenant Colonel, once tried to use death to find the exit of the dark world, only to find out later that the best way to get rid of the darkness is to move on, drink a lot, laugh loudly at life; "Pretty Moon" even more does not hide that he is the United States Under the influence of love, Vivian has completed her transformation from a prostitute to an independent woman who pursues higher life values. Although the way of expression and emphasis of each film is different, the transformation of people themselves is the core driving force for the development of the story.
In "Happiness Is Gone", the emotional journey of the hero Stanley is also the soul of the film. John Cusack alone supported the main performance and emotional expression of the whole film, and performed an original plain script to the fullest. He played Stanley, the executive of a home store. Since his wife went to the Iraqi battlefield, he has become frustrated and lonely, self-isolating, suppressing his inner feelings, and refusing to communicate with the outside world. When he speaks, it seems to complete the task mechanically, without any emotion. His negative, skeptical attitude toward life can be seen in the way he walks: with each step he puts most of his body weight on the forward leg, and swings his ankle, Drag over, as if the shoes are too heavy, causing the feet to not obey. It should be said that he is not walking, he is dragging his body forward, and this invisible weight comes from the shame and fear in his heart. He is always worried about his wife on the front line, fearing that he will lose her one day. And he was ashamed because he was supposed to go to the battlefield, like most families. When a group of women gathered to think of their husband in Iraq, Stanley was the only one who remained silent, responding with shame, chagrin, impatience, and rudeness to every question asked. Even his attitude toward his daughter was extremely blunt. The family is not allowed to read any reports about the war in Iraq. He is reluctant to face his own feelings and chooses to escape most of the time. For example, when he saw the officer standing at the door telling him the bad news, he was overwhelmed and refused to let him into the room; in the face of overwhelming sadness, he chose to bow his head and bury the pain in his heart; he didn't know how to put his wife's The news of the death told the child that he had to drive on the road, trying to find answers along the way.
Much of the film was shot on the road. Kerouac once wrote in "On the Road" that when life became unbearable, he picked up his backpack, got up and went, looking for life. Only on the way can he look up from the dark vortex of his mind and see his various dreams. Rather than saying that the Stanley family's destination was the "Magic Garden", it was better to say that they were looking for hope, the hope that was gone but not dead. It's like driving on a highway in the dark, you can't see the end of the road, you can only see the limited space illuminated by the headlights, but as long as you keep walking, the sun will always rise and you will always reach the end. Love alone is not enough, but also faith. This belief is what Stanley has been trying to find, before, he always felt that if he went to the battlefield, their lives would be better. However, life has no ifs, you have to face this boring life first, in order to find a way out and no longer get lost. As sung in the lyrics: "How to face tomorrow? I'm still going on. I think I learned, you live in my heart. The world you leave behind is not death."
3. Aftermath of the war Story background of the
film It's the Iraq war, and that's doomed to make it irrelevant to politics. However, it can be said that as a rookie director, he still can't control too many elements, or it can be explained that he does not have too much ambition. In the film, where the war is mentioned, some words are mentioned, and the arguments are unclear. After all, people are too close to this war, and many things take time to see clearly. In how to look at the war, the director just borrowed Stanley's words and said a few vaguely: his wife is a hero, everyone enjoys freedom of speech, and the so-called freedom is what people like his wife go to the battlefield every day to win. As for credibility, even Stanley himself put a question mark, but in the end there was no result. From this point alone, it is not a work of the same magnitude as "The Battle of the Valley of Elah" in the same year. It is true that the latter only hangs the American flag upside down on the flagpole at the end of the film, but in terms of critical strength and emotional depth, it can deeply capture and move the audience. It's like if you want to express a point of view, you have to find an attractive way so that more people are willing to listen and see. And "Happiness Has Died" focuses more on personal emotions, and is destined to be accepted only within a niche.
The title page of All Quiet on the Western Front reads: "This book is neither a condemnation nor a confession. It is simply an attempt to describe a generation that, despite dodging the shells, was ruined by war. ." Although, the point of view seen in "Happiness Is Gone" is not clear. At least, we saw in the film how the war destroyed a family - Heidi, who was insomniac and precocious, Tang who hid in a dollhouse and missed her mother, and Stanley who could only relieve her pain by listening to his wife's voice on the answering machine. . Like most people, in this society full of lies and don't know what to believe, they don't know the meaning of the sacrifice of their loved ones? Does their dedication really make the world a better place? The family members who were left behind were full of pain and didn't even know who to blame or blame. Finally, when Stanley was finally able to face his wife's death, he stood at the grave with his two daughters, waiting for the clock that Tang and his mother set at the same time to ring. That kind of missing through the barriers of life makes them reunite again. Once again, the concept of "family" transcends other things. What is meant is no longer important. What matters is that they have each other, and even death will not separate them.
Please indicate the author for reprinting: Nine-tailed black cat
The original text was published in "Watching Movies Midnight"
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