After watching "Landscape in the Fog", I haven't closed my eyes for nearly 72 hours, almost every year at a certain time. For some seemingly insignificant reason, there will be a brief crisis of belief, followed by several days of neurotic sleepless nights.
I stared at the cream-yellow ceiling, its texture twisting and changing shape in the midnight flashing headlights, I questioned, complied, marveled, and disappointed on the road of faith.
I think about my brother and sister, holding hands and walking along the foggy highway, or tired, curled up in a rickety carriage, reciting a letter to my father in half-sleep and half-awake, and the past and present me So similar, tired, scarred, and numb, but still vaguely believe that somewhere in the high ground, there is a lush tree, and we, after all, will meet our Father there.
An Zhe told a story about finding his father but not getting it. This father is a capitalized Father, the father who has never met in the kingdom of heaven.
For the first time, Ulla and little Alexander summoned the courage to leave their mother's arms and the protection of their home, and cast themselves into this vast and cruel world, unknown to them, which will give them despair, heavy damage, and comfort with a little kindness. Disproportionate of indifference.
Taking the train for the first time, Ulam read the first letter to his father silently,
""We've never seen you, so we miss you so much, we've been talking about you... Sometimes when I come home from school, I hear footsteps behind me, and when I turn around, there's no one there. It's lonely, we don't want to be a burden to you, we just want a chance to get to know you, and then we'll leave silently. If you want to reply to us, just follow the sound of the train, ta ta, ta ta..."
During the trip, the siblings saw a dying horse, and little Alexander held it, just like the young Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment" holding the horse that was beaten to death. The shadow of death is huge, like a haze that never goes away.
In an interview with Southern Weekend, An Zhe mentioned his younger sister's death when he was young, "She was two years younger than me and died when she was 11 years old; that was my first exposure to death."
With death comes a crisis of life . An Zhe's mother was a devout believer. Before the age of eighteen, An Zhe relied on God to survive the first crisis in his life.
On the second train ride, little Alexander read the second letter silently,
"Dear Father: Why did we wait so long? We blow like a leaf in the wind, what a strange world! Countless suitcases, cold railway stations, words and gestures we cannot understand, and this Frightening long night. But we're happy, at least we're moving forward."
The second letter is doubtful, many doubts, but still firm, like tears and prayers in the middle of the night, the selfishness and ruthlessness of people in industrial and commercial society, knocking down all inner innocence and tenderness, but we are Still uphold that little childish faith.
Little Ulla was raped by the truck driver on the way. The scene that slowly moved closer for half a minute was the longest scene in the movie so far. She moved one leg slowly, driving the other, with the blood of a virgin on her hand. On the wall of the truck, the outline of a tree is faintly reflected. I am reminded of Bergman's "The Virgin Fountain" in which Karin, the most ignorant, purest, and most beautiful, is tainted, torn up, and destroyed by the ugliest and meanest shepherd.
I remembered, the father who lost his daughter, Taur, asked painfully: "God, where are you? If you exist, why do you allow so much misfortune in the world?" The anger after the rape and murder, the tree he shook with all his might, was unable to vent the slightest bit of despair and resentment.
I remembered that Ang Lee, who was in a Christian family, mentioned his astonishment when he first encountered "The Virgin Spring" at the age of 18. "That experience was like being robbed of virginity", such a quiet, yet so violent The film, which peels away reality, is like the tip of a needle, until it touches the most essential issues, the complexity and ugliness of people, and beliefs.
I remembered that in the Gospel of John, after her brother Lazarus died of illness, Mary of Bethany crouched in front of Jesus' horn and asked in pain, ""Lord, if you had been here earlier, my brother would not have died. "
At this moment, I am like Ang Lee and Maria in those days. I am deeply saddened by why there is so much pain and ugliness in the world, and redemption is always delayed.
In the same interview, An Zhe mentioned the second crisis in his life. He lost his faith at the University of Athens when he lost his faith. If little Alexander said it, he was like a leaf in the wind. This time, he might be redeemed. on top of the movie.
On the third train ride, Ulla said to her father,
"Dear father, how far are you from us! Alexander said that in his dreams, you were so close, so close that he could touch you if he stretched out his hand. We are still traveling, and everything around us is Speeding by, everything, everyone. But sometimes we're so tired that we don't even know where we are, and sometimes we even forget our father and get lost.
Alexander has grown up a lot, he has become serious, he can dress himself, and he starts to say some surprising things. I've been very ill these days and I'm exhausted. But Germany is really far, far away! I even thought yesterday that if we never reach our destination, or we should just give up, what's the use of continuing like this? , and then Alexander was angry, like an adult, he said I betrayed him, and I was ashamed... looking at the same world outside, light, dark, and you. "
At the end of the movie, the two brothers and sisters crossed the river, experienced the underworld-like mist and gunshots, and finally reached the big tree in the dream. An Zhe gave a seemingly gentle ending, but it seemed to cover the deep wound with a veil.
"In the beginning it was pitch black, then there was a ray of light, and that light came from the darkness, and then the earth emerged from the sea, and then there were rivers, lakes, and then high mountains, flowers and trees, animals and The birds also appeared..."
This word-of-mouth story about the origin of the world ends abruptly at many points in the movie,
In the beginning there was light, but where is this first light now?
Should we, go on, look for it?
View more about Landscape in the Mist reviews
