In some cities in India, such a peculiar service-lunchbox delivery system (dabbawalla) is popular. To put it simply, there is a special person who delivers the lunch that has just been baked from the kitchen to the desk of the person at work every day, so that the person at work does not have to work early in the morning, but can also eat steaming meals.
So what makes the lunch box in this movie so special? By chance, the Mumbai food delivery system (more efficient than the local train and rickshaw system), which has always been known for its efficiency, accuracy, and zero errors, went wrong-sent a young and beautiful housewife Yila’s lunch box to a retirement soon In front of the accountant Fernandez, not her husband, this is how the story begins.
There is no love in Yila's marriage, and her husband is busy with official duties every day, and has no time to care about the family or her feelings. Her life seemed to be shaped, tedious, boring, and stagnant. After hurriedly sending away her husband to work and her daughter to school every day, the only human who communicated with her was the aunt of the neighbor upstairs who only heard her voice but never met. The two of them often shouted in the air. The topic they talked about was nothing more than the parents' shortcomings. At most, they exchanged cooking secrets. The aunt also often hung down a basket from the window to deliver some vegetables or spices to Yila, and also took away the vegetables and groceries bought by Yila.
At the other end of the story, Mr. Fernandez, who was originally surly, has been living a step-by-step life. The difference is that his rigorous and upright character allows him to take every step carefully. However, every day in the evening, he would lonely leaning on his balcony, lighting a cigarette, and looking at the lively dinner table of the opposite people, yearning for the picture of the family, men and women, young and old.
Perhaps the aunt’s advice to Illati is to “grab a man’s stomach and he can save his heart”, so Illah began to try new recipes and spices to make lunch, hoping to get her husband’s attention and praise for this. It explains why Yila is so angry when she realizes that the delicacy she has cooked with meticulously altered method has been eaten by a stranger. The next day, she stuffed a note into the lunch box to "condemn" the other party, and Mr. Fernandez responded. In this way, the two of them began to communicate. At first, the letter was just introductory and trivial words, and then later. You start to talk about their lives and dreams one by one, sharing those fleeting good times and some life insights, and of course there is no lack of complaints and grievances about real life-these are all that they can’t communicate with people around them. The content of, whether it is exchanging secrets or daily affairs, has become a happy channel in a boring life, subtly changing the lives of the two of them and the way they interact with the world. For Mr. Fernandez, in the last few days before his retirement, life began to change because of the wrong lunch box. He started to look forward to it every day. He hurriedly opened the lunch box and eagerly searched for the paper.
The spaces where there is no intersection are drawn closer, and the film easily puts the lives of the two protagonists in front of the audience at the same time, and simply switches between the two naturally.
The content became more and more profound, the atmosphere became tense and more ambiguous, and the meeting request was also raised. The audience was also driven, as the letters experienced an indescribable sense of intimacy between the two that gradually formed between them, but perhaps it could not be called love.
There are not many main characters in "Lunch Box", they are all ordinary people, without complicated background or past, including Mr. Fernandez’s new successor. Aslam was unpleasant at first, but he has always used unique drive and enthusiasm. Infecting Mr. Fernandez, let the audience see that ordinary people are working hard for ordinary happiness. In just a few strokes, a city and a society can be seen from them, making the current situation of the real people of Mumbai clear and tangible.
At the end of the story, Yila finally made up his mind to leave the house and marriage that fettered her, and Mr. Fernandez changed the city. "Sometimes, the wrong train can take you to the right destination." This sentence repeated in the film can not only help you to experience the open ending of the film, but also see the life of the characters in the film from a more macro perspective. Changes in trajectory. In a humorous and touching tone, the story stretches between the lines of a note enclosed in a lunch box. Because of the lunch box, Mr. Fernandez's heart wall was pushed down, and Ira gained the courage to fly high.
Postscript:
Not long ago, after the list of best foreign language films selected for the 2014 Oscars was announced, the unexpected loss of [Lunch Box] caused quite a stir. After the film won the Critics and Audience Choice Awards at this year's Cannes Film Festival, I thought I had a chance to win, but lost upset to another little-known film [Road Story]. I believe that the Indian selection organization must be justified, but it is unavoidable that such an excellent work misses the opportunity to compete with other countries' masterpieces on a larger international stage.
(Published in "Watching Movies")
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