The first time I watched it, this movie reminded me of McCullers' "Heart is a Lonely Hunter" that I forgot to read in junior high or high school. At first I thought it was just an illusion, after all, the two stories have no superficial similarities except that they both take place in the American South; however, looking at it today, I again clearly feel the similarities at the core of the two stories.
Many people believe that the reason why Billy Lynn did not agree to his sister to stay at home at the end of the film, but chose to return to the battlefield, was because it was difficult to break up the friendship. But I feel that he chose to return to his comrades because he has heard and seen too much nonsense, too much self-talk, and just wants to return to those who can truly understand him. Billy Lynn is like McCullers' Dumb Singer: everyone in the town talks to Dumb, thinking they are his best friends, and Dumb can only listen in silence; until one day people find Dumb Left them to find his friend, another mute.
Why Billy wants to go back to Iraq and why Singer wants to find another mute is the same reason. The scholar died for the confidant, not for the country as people thought.
There is a scene later in the movie - the businessman asks Billy: For a young man like you, it should be very unaccustomed to be a hero all at once; Billy replies "Yeah, sometimes I don't feel like I can speak for myself."
In the film Everyone was telling the soldiers what they thought of the war—while telling them, they were intoxicated by their own accounts, unable to extricate themselves. A successful businessman fantasizes about being a patriotic businessman despite "missing the Vietnam War"; a beautiful cheerleader girl revels in being a movie heroine, destined to be loved by a war hero; a shale gas tycoon revels in how his business can "Let the lads in Iraq go home early"; fans frivolously gushing about being smart; people clapping their hands to celebrate the saddest day in a soldier's life, and the soldiers aptly serve as backdrops at Destiny's In Child's naked sexual fantasy soldier-themed lyrics, in the name of orgies...
All of them felt that they loved war heroes very much, and they all felt that they were moved by the greatness of war heroes. But in the end, what they love is themselves, and only themselves are moved. They think they are talking about war, but they are always talking about themselves.
Just like in McCullers' book, the reason why all the people in the town regard the dumb as a friend and like the dumb is that the dumb can listen and understand everything about them, and it is a very convenient existence for them. That's it. Do they really want to understand dumb? No, never has been. Not a moment. Can dumb people really understand them? Actually it didn't. The gap in communication between people, those floating in the air, at a loss, and appearing absurdly lonely because of this bottomless gap, McCullers understands it, so does Ang Lee.
Perhaps the pessimist will think that the gap of understanding between people is eternal, even Billy's comrades have their own considerations and can't really understand each other. Even if loneliness and incomprehension are destined to have no real antidote, I think we should at least seriously try to listen, try to forget ourselves, and try to think about things from someone else’s shoes—even if it’s only for a few minutes. Although the preceding words may seem like those tiresome clichés from elementary school thinking classes, I find that few people actually do it with sincerity. Most of the time, noisy humans just shut their ears selfishly while trying to talk desperately and pretend to understand each other.
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