I believe that the shock that this film brings to most audiences is self-evident. This is a slightly terrifying and depressing look, which is different from the horror brought by the terrifying atmosphere that most thrillers try to create. The repressed and fearful feeling of this film comes from its truth. Director Imamura Shohei once said, "I will write about maggots until I die." Imamura's almost ruthless, calm line-drawing depiction of "maggot-like characters" can bring us a kind of primitive and rough all the time. Shock. The main plot of the film is Alingpo's offering to the gods on Mt. Nara, interspersed with group portraits of the rest of the villagers. First, I will share some of the most impressive scenes: the second son, Lisuke, had sex with animals, but was found out, and finally accepted the advice of the old woman and the old woman in order to satisfy his sexual desire; It was removed in the extermination operation to ease the food crisis at home; the eldest son Zhenping witnessed the villagers pushing the old father who refused to go up the mountain forcibly down the valley at the Qili Valley. (This scene is a real shadow, I can't forget it for several days) I want to share my views on the film from three perspectives: survival, belief and desire. Survival is an innate and necessary instinct of human beings, and behaviors such as hunting, group living, and self-defense are all born from this. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory, physiological needs are the lowest level of human needs, but also the most fundamental needs. The rest of the higher-level needs are based on the basic satisfaction of physiological needs. The ultimate goal of physical needs to be met. The most astonishing theme of the film is "abandoning the old". Due to the extreme backwardness of productivity in the tribe, the old people who have no ability to work must be abandoned and left to fend for themselves, so that the entire family can continue. If you look at it from a rational perspective, it has to be said that this is a compromise method for survival under the backward productivity level, sacrificing a few to preserve the overall situation, whether it is seen in humans or the entire animal kingdom, it is extremely common, compared to In the situation of killing each other and drinking blood, it is a historical progress that human beings gather together for warmth and resist the threat of nature by living in groups. If we impose contemporary ethics on this situation from the perspective of modern people, it can only be said that this is an idealized view that opens up the perspective of God. Obviously, the director Imamura Shohei did not shoot with a critical attitude. But I have to say that the conflict between the ruthlessness of the cruel survival law and the emotions of human beings is really too dramatic. Especially at the end of the film, the tearful farewell of Lingpo and the eldest son is really too tearful. No matter how much disgust and disgust it brought to the audience more than an hour ago, at this moment, you can be moved by this unique human emotion. Tao is ruthless but also affectionate. The comparison of the two also makes the whole film theme. A qualitative sublimation. Then there is faith. From the current point of view, faith stems from ignorance and ignorance, but to a certain extent, it also gives people in distress a sense of comfort and makes the originally dark and ruthless world more caring. In the film, the villagers chose to dump the old man's body directly on the top of the mountain at first, and later it turned into the tradition of offering sacrifices to the god of Nara, which gave the whole film a "sacred feeling". It is not difficult to see that she is an extremely devout patriarch compared to her escaped father. She has always been firm in her attitude towards going up the mountain, even at the cost of knocking out two front teeth and going up the mountain as soon as possible. As grandfather Marx said, the superstructure must be adapted to the economic foundation to promote social development. Even if religious belief seems ignorant to people today, we must admit that it is an inevitable product under specific circumstances. Finally, there is desire. The representative character I chose to analyze is the second son Risuke, who is the most obscene in the whole film. This character has to be said to be the most hated and disgusting character in the whole film. , the eldest son Zhenping is capable, but this character is more typical of the ignorant people in the primitive tribe, and this character basically contracted several climaxes of the whole film, that is, the display of sexuality. The sex mentioned here is different from what people call sex today. It is a purely physiological demand. According to the demand theoretical model mentioned above, it is still classified as a physiological demand at the lowest level. A woman is "enjoyed" by multiple men (forgive my poor wording), intergenerational intercourse, etc., which have actually happened in human history (recommended to read Engels' "Family, State, Origin of Private Property"), the purpose is to satisfy Basic human sexual needs. Quoting Freud's "Libido" theory here, people are born with a life instinct and a death instinct, the latter is related to the destructiveness of human beings, and the former, also known as the sexual instinct, is "libido". , is a kind of sexual drive necessary for human existence. This drive is related to sex but not completely equivalent to sex. Some of the people we see today who are quite successful in certain fields, in Freud It seems that it is all the effect of sexual drive, that is, human beings have the ability to convert this powerful "libido" energy into a huge life force, so as to realize the value of life. In this sense, "sex" is not only not It is taboo and necessary, which can explain why A Lingpo has to find an old woman in the village who is over seventy years old to satisfy her second son's sexual desire, so as to restore his motivation to work and maintain his life. Thus, when sex is not associated with love, it exists as a human survival instinct alongside basic physiological needs such as eating and drinking. Real life is always more real and scary than movies. In fact, this movie just shows the tip of the iceberg of primitive tribal life. However, survival, belief and desire are always irreplaceable themes in the history of human civilization, even at today's heights. In a civilized society, many activities stem from traditional customs that we used to call ignorance. As for why Imamura Shohei is obsessed with this "maggot-like story", I personally think that it is more to provide a revelation for today's people. The history of human beings is an unbroken and continuous linear development process. The essence of life can be found in some of what we call backward, disgusting fragments. Compared with Yasujiro Ozu's delicate depiction of civilian life and Akira Kurosawa's heroic display, Imamura's choice of this theme is undoubtedly a kind of courage (at least contrary to the aesthetics of the film market), from this angle In a sense, he is great. (I'm also a fan of Ozu and Kurosawa, not to fight)
Even if I have basic thoughts on the film above, I am only ignorant of knowledge, and my understanding of human history is not profound. It is just some simple ideas. I hope it will be helpful to you.
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