We can't be at ease

Hollie 2022-03-27 09:01:13

I remember a little thing like this happened around me.

There is a shopping mall near my house, which is very dilapidated. There are many tourists at the door: those who sell fruits, those who sell pancakes, those who sell local specialties, which occupy roads and affect traffic. The chengguan often came to enforce the law, and sometimes they would have a little conflict with the hawkers, so some people in the shopping mall said: "Look, the chengguan is bullying people! Is it easy for people to set up a stall? ."

Then, I heard that there were thieves among the people buying things downstairs, stealing mobile phones and wallets, and the people in the mall said, "There are so many people selling things, and the city management doesn't care. What do you eat?"

The problem is, the two sentences were said by the same group of people.

Today, a movie reminds me of this little story and the narrowness of human nature in it.

"Square".

I don’t remember when was the last time I saw a movie that felt like a pin-up (holding back my urine doesn’t count), this film won the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s really impressive. It's uncomfortable, very tired, and I don't want to admit that the characters in the film have their own shadows.

From the very beginning of the film, we see the contradictions of the protagonist Christian. I followed the bad ideas of my subordinates: when I used a threatening letter to get my mobile phone and wallet back, I had a completely different expression when I went and when I came back:

On the way there, the two were in high spirits, listening to the rock music called "Justice", like a general who went on an expedition; when they came back, they were embarrassed and disheartened. Think about what excites them so much, and what makes them reluctant to enter that building.

That building is obviously a different world to Christian. The people in it are in different classes. Being able to take a look from a distance and play tricks on the people inside with his own cleverness obviously makes Christian, who is usually boring and boring, excited, but Hearing that his subordinates were unwilling to send threatening letters for him, that he needed to enter the building by himself, and that he might even contact the people inside, he felt fear again. This fear stems from his imagination of the people in the building, or rather, from his imagination of the lower classes.

It is related to the next episode: Christian went to buy breakfast and met a woman who was begging. He said apologetically that he had no cash, but he could buy food for her. Unexpectedly, the woman ordered a hamburger arrogantly, and specifically emphasized, "Don't." Onion", just like "I'm poor, I'm justified, you deserve the money". How did Christian do it? He threw the burger on the woman's table and asked her to pick out the onion herself. The subtext was obviously: It's good to buy it for you. What qualifications do you have to be picky?

Although this is not the main plot, it deeply reflects the source of distrust between different classes: the upper class represented by Christian is willing to help the lower class, but they need to be satisfied, to be appreciated, and to know how to stop. However, when the lower-level people receive help, they think that the upper-level people should help them if they have the ability. They are not only ungrateful, but also demand too much. In one or two such exchanges, both sides will have deep hostility towards each other. For example, when Christian sends a threatening letter, his Tesla is parked downstairs, and people around will come to find faults and then carry out violence.

The film is full of uncomfortable scenes like this. For example, the reporter Anne, who had a one-night stand with Christian, came to the museum to find Christian and asked about the two of them having sex, and wanted Christian to admit that the two had an intimate relationship, but Christian's response was that he was afraid of being entangled and blackmailed and didn't want to take responsibility. The typical reaction of a man, both of them judge each other with an inherent attitude: "Look, you are such a person".

And the principle of "human rights and equality" in the modern state system makes modern people dare not speak up in the face of dissatisfaction, and take patience, lest they be politically incorrect.

For example, in a public art seminar in the film, the artist on the stage was speaking, and an audience member suffering from Tourette's disease kept swearing swear words, and the speech was interrupted many times, but everyone obviously dared not to speak out. , and some people advocate patience, because Tourette's patients also have the right to be an audience.

However, if this kind of forbearance is too much, people will have distrust of different classes, and then retreat into their own class. Class differentiation is probably the same thing, and the conservatism that is becoming more and more popular in the West may also be related to this situation. .

There are many plots in the film that stimulate the audience to think with an uncomfortable look and feel, and the seemingly slow plot has subtext everywhere. The performance of the beast at the end is the splendid chapter of the film, which greatly satirizes the self-righteous principles of life.

The only flaw in the film is Christian's reflection, and at the end he goes to the building to find the child he slandered. The emergence of this reflection, the film's educational significance is very strong. In my opinion, this kind of contradiction and misunderstanding cannot be changed, or even difficult to detect. The protagonist's reflection is still a bit deliberate, which also reflects the irrepressible preaching of the film.

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Extended Reading
  • Zelma 2022-03-21 09:02:31

    I like this kind of cold and humorous tone, there are some good sentences, but they seem to be scattered together. There is a feeling of completing the topic composition, but the points are not so extra.

  • Pattie 2022-01-04 08:02:37

    I didn't see anything other than joking. . . There is no way out in Cannes like this. . .

The Square quotes

  • Christian: The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it we all share equal rights and obligations.

  • Christian: If you place an object in a museum does that make this object a piece of art?