In the process of watching Captain Phillips, my mind was repeatedly entangled with two films, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.
Argo mastered the rhythm just right, and tried his best to tell a tense and pleasant story (except for the final airport chase, which was a bit broken), but at the same time, it gave up further discussion on the role of the United States. It just mentioned it lightly at the beginning, and then completely Hide under the banner of humanitarianism and avoid other sensitive topics.
In addition to continuing the bomb disposal theme of the devouring of human nature by war, Zero Dark Thirty also has a more distinctive and ambiguous attitude towards the entire "just war". The hunting process in the last half hour was horrific and almost a kind of sadness. But its pursuit is obviously far from telling a "good-looking" story, and it may not have much affinity for the audience who sit in the cinema at will.
This film is close to a beautiful neutralization of the two films. It does not give up reflection and thinking, and it does not appear so alienated and dazzling to the public who expect the "main theme". There are stories of fighting wits and courage, there are big scenes, and there are hidden points that can be recalled. It can be simply regarded as a tense drama of wits and courage, but it can also read more complex information.
It's good to pull away from the simple and rude "right and wrong" team, and return the theme to the subtle and complex emotions when people are directly facing each other.
What to think of what to write below, and a lot of spoilers, be careful.
***
1 A brief explanation about the Captain family at the beginning of the story, I personally think that it may be a little cut in the later period. For example, there is a scene from home looking at the car before and after driving away, which makes people a little mindful. However, the couple's unclear conversation about the "world" and the "children of the next generation" echoes the life of pirates later. The friends who went with said that the beginning of this paragraph was actually a helpless response to the "American Dream" of the last pirate captain, and they were deeply convinced.
2 Although it is expected that the pirates will play a very good role, I was surprised by the almost two-line progress starting from the process of selecting players in Somalia.
3 From the beginning to the end of the pirates going to sea, the whole story maintains a good degree of tension.
4 In fact, this film should be called "Captains". Somalia’s captain can be said to be courageous and courageous, whether it is the vigor before boarding or the actions after boarding. Then there was the captain of Navy and the captain of SEAL, which contrasted sharply with each other.
5 The shaping of the Somali people was unexpectedly attentive, and a special robbing of the motor was added to shape the pirate captain. Needless to say, the characters of the foreigners and children immediately stood up through recruitment and several games on the ship.
In contrast, in the United States, which calmly followed the standard process, except for the captain, the other roles were not specially shaped. Whether it was the slackness of the crew to the tension and fear, the "union leaders" did not give further play to the question of whether they were responsible for fighting the pirates. The part after being actually boarded returns to the simplest main theme line of courage and intent to unite for the drama and clarity of the story line. More stuff).
6 I initially thought that boarding would be one of the highlight and one of the big climaxes. After watching it, I thought about it and compared it to later. It was actually just a clip to increase the audience's interest, more similar to the routine pediatric tricks of genre movies. When the battle of wits comes to a stage and the story is transferred to a confined space, the subtle game of the human heart is the most exciting part.
7 The performances of Uncle Hanks and the pirates are really remarkable and very beautiful. Every heart is not pure evil, but it is not selfless good.
Uncle Han did not want this group of "just ordinary fishermen" pirates—especially the kid—to die like this. He clearly knew what the appearance of Navy and the subsequent appearance of SEAL could only mean. But at the same time, he absolutely put his own survival in the first place. Until the final collapse, he tried his best to stay awake and cooperated with the navy by all means to stabilize the pirates and improve his survival rate as much as possible.
On the one hand, the pirates do not hate or even like the Irishman-especially the captain and children, but on the other hand, they basically know that protecting their own interests and lives is the first priority. In many cases, they do not kill or hurt. The hostages are more out of self-protection.
Both parties have a strong desire to survive. They tempted each other, tried to communicate and understand each other, but they remained distrustful of each other, and never gave up any opportunity to control each other. This delicately balanced hostile relationship did not gradually collapse until after a few days of siege and drifting exhausted the five of them. After the "goodwill" and hope in the heart were slowly exhausted, they threatened each other's "death" More serious than ever, in the end everyone gave up their sanity in a certain sense.
8 Navy’s gorgeous appearance, the big scenes of various standard blockbusters, are inexplicably not at all reassuring. On the contrary, there is a way to add more variables that may get out of control at any time, making the situation more unstable and things becoming more and more unsettling. tidy.
And the White House's opening order was "Never let the lifeboat return to Somalia", which is beautiful and self-defeating.
9 So as a spectator, the balance of emotions in the heart during the confrontation at sea is also very delicate. On the one hand, it is natural not to accept the rescue failure and even the ending of Phillips’ death. On the other hand, he has a subtle sympathy for the pirates. Although not like D9, everyone will desperately want to fight humans with aliens, but there is also a kind of I don't want them to die. I even have the illusion that they can get through the storm and return to Somalia safely with a sum of money, happy ending with each other.
10 So after the ultimatum, although SEAL’s appearance showed various handsome muscles, professional precision, high IQ, high combat effectiveness, and high-tech, it mechanically and recklessly used and even trampled the sincere parts of the emotions of both parties, unabashedly showing rational rudeness and inexplicability. The ground is unpleasant. This also makes these rescue heroes, who are almost non-human, inexplicably more recent in the film than the "bad guys."
11 Regarding the part where everyone wrote a suicide note at the end of the dispute, and then fought with outsiders, my personal understanding is this: Uncle Han had reached the limit at that time. He understood the US military’s position and possible measures, and didn’t want to see anything. People die, but at the same time they are afraid that they might be sunk along with them. So after writing his suicide note, he desperately hoped to let go before the navy took any action. If he could suppress the outsiders and let them surrender out of the cabin, it would be the best hope for the four of them to finally get out of the lifeboat alive.
It's a pity that the kindness in this will cannot be conveyed to the other party anyway.
12 The ending of the film is very beautiful. In the end, it was not the happy family reunion, the president's honor, and the speech under the spotlight. The crew thanked for their life-saving grace, nor was it the pirate being tried, but the three warships and lifeboats on the vast sea. It was great.
13 As the only survivor in the rescue capsule, Uncle Tang expressed the joy of surviving, the weight of death, the physical and mental torture of a few days of struggle, and the depression of the paramedic nurses who have nowhere to vent. Very vivid. This paragraph alone is worthy of a nomination next year.
14 I have to sigh, it is really difficult to win by relying on scattered experience and good on-the-spot command and response ability against a perfect system, and at the same time a certain kind of heart. The slightly more civilized gameplay of this game obviously has an advantage over the American people who are rich, powerful, resourceful and time. No wonder the xx elements are forced to use extreme simplicity and brutality to resist.
15 There are many interesting and intriguing points in the whole film. For example, the goods on board the robbed ship have food for the relief of Somalia; for example, when the Navy negotiators confronted the pirates, the negotiators used native dialects, and the pirates used English instead; such as the American dream of the pirate captain ; For example, the status of a fisherman and the responsibility of the captain responsible for the life of a boat; for example, everything that is repeatedly emphasized by both parties will be fine; for example, the helpless sentence we all have a boss.
16 Finally, countless American dramas and movies tell us time and time again that we must not trust any promises made by negotiators.
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