I really like Director Li Changdong I saw through "Miryang", not because he is sharp enough to criticize, but because he chooses to put this sharp insight into human nature on the back of pain, and always puts good hope within reach. The place. He is well versed in the dark side of human nature, and is undoubtedly a realist, but he always holds hope in his hands, like a firm idealist.
Regarding the common theme, whether the force is accurate or not, and whether the expression is appropriate, often tortures the director's skill, but Li Cangdong has done it naturally. Empathizing with the pain first, the director tells the story of the protagonist Shin Ae struggling to save himself in the pain of her deceased husband and child. From the point of view of a mourning film alone, this film can also be called a masterpiece, but not only that, behind the emotional expression, he also teases out a clear rational dark line, using a domino-style narrative, revealing this good use of self. The inner reason why an escapist woman pushes herself to the brink of death step by step. In the face of the cruelty of reality, the heroine's delusion peels off layer by layer. On a rational level, the director's speech is another story of spiritual survival. In addition, between sensibility and rationality, the director also set a balance point. The setting of Zong Can's role is the most hopeful and warmest place in this movie. Song Kanghao really played the greatness of a small person. He was sincere, calm, and very joyful, shining brightly in the tragedy. The theme of the film is just like the title, and Miryang exposes the reality and brings warmth.
In South Korea, there are a large number of Christians, and the influence of religion on people is huge. Lee Changdong claimed that he has no intention of being anti-religion. He just presented the normal state of many Korean Christians faithfully. If this reality makes Christians feel uncomfortable, then this kind of What does discomfort represent? What do you need to reflect on? This is exactly what needs to be thought about.
In fact, what Li Cangdong really wants to express is always people. People have the desire to explore the meaning of life. How do people deal with this desire, how do people face reality, and what is the meaning of ordinary life to people? These are what he really wants to discuss with the audience.
The director presents the theme based on the experience of the heroine. Shen Ai is a person who is gentle on the surface, fragile and sensitive inside, good at using self-deception to support self-esteem, and accustomed to relying on falsehood to escape reality. She got married just after graduation and was dependent on her husband. Because she lacked the ability to live independently, she was forced to endure her husband's derailment. After her husband died unexpectedly, she escaped from Seoul, which could expose her unfortunate marriage, and came to the unfamiliar town of Miryang. She was satisfied that everything could start anew, opened a piano school, and told the locals that this is the hometown of her deceased husband. He lied about buying land and building a house, always creating an elegant, rich and affectionate image.
Shin Ae, who is concerned with vanity, is eager to prove herself through external things, but ignores the most important duty of being a mother. The kindergarten adopts slogan-beating education. The principal's attitude towards her daughter is rude and bad, and her son cries and refuses to go to the kindergarten. All these should have caught her attention, but she ignored them. She didn't expect her vanity to attract kidnappers, and when her son called for help, she ignored it again. The kidnapper threatened her. She chose not to call the police and forgot to analyze the case. She was overwhelmed by the sudden pain and ran to Zong Can in a panic, but when she got to the door, she arrogantly turned and left. Chan, I don't want to get too involved with him. It's a pity that the footage in several police stations later proved that she missed the last chance to save her son.
First lost her husband and then lost her child. The pain made her question the meaning of life, but her cowardly nature made her not even have the courage to be angry. When she met the arrested murderer at the police station, she subconsciously avoided it. She is too eager to rely on a powerful force, too eager to find the meaning of life, she grasped God like a life-saving straw.
It doesn't matter whether she is religious or not, she needs pain relief, her desire for survival and vanity need to be satisfied, and she needs God. She likened religion to falling in love with God. She was complacent and talked about happiness to the people around her.
Since you can't hate, then use forgiveness to get rid of pain. Shin Ae mistakenly thought that she had the right to judge others, she put herself in the position of God, and rushed to the prison with great fanfare to forgive the murderer. But when Shin Ae arrogantly stood on the moral high ground and tried to forgive the murderer, the other party claimed that he had already been forgiven by God.
Shin Ae saw the absurdity, the other party's absurdity, and his own absurdity in the murderer's radiant face with no guilt and peace of mind. She couldn't accept the God who had forgiven the murderer before her, and she couldn't admit that she, like the murderer, was deceiving herself under the guise of religion.
She turned to hating God and taking revenge on God. She disrupted gatherings, seduced priests, self-destructed, and self-mutilated. She wanted to expose the hypocrisy of everyone, but when death really hit her, the desire to survive conquered all the falsehoods, and she finally called for help , and finally choose to face yourself and face the reality.
What is Faith? Maybe a letter. Faith is faith, don’t deceive yourself, remind yourself repeatedly, don’t brag, don’t show it to others, and don’t stand on the moral high ground and become complacent. In the play, only Zong Can's reason for going to the church is the most interesting. He went because he liked Shen Ai. It can also be said that he entered the church because of pure love. When Shen Ai gave up religion and took revenge on God, Zong Can still went to church to worship. He laughed and said that he was used to it. Going to church made his heart calm and peaceful, so he continued to go. In contrast, Zong Can, who does not deceive himself, appears purer and more pious.
At the beginning of the movie, it is a shot of looking up at the sky through a car window. Just like Shen Ae who only looks up at the sky, refuses to face reality, always refuses to face herself. On the one hand, she was tortured by fate, and on the other hand, she chose a tragic fate herself. What's more tragic than this is that beauty is all around, but she has always turned a blind eye.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy is the disregard for beauty itself due to vainness.
The last shot of the movie is looking down at the earth. This freeze-frame shot expresses the director's view of reality. The reality is by no means as beautiful as the blue sky and white clouds. The reality is muddy, ugly and dilapidated, and even has dark shadows, but where there are such shadows, there must be sunlight.
For atheists, if there is belief, I think I have only one belief, and that is not despair. To enjoy life itself, no matter which side of reality shows people, always have an expectation of human nature, and believe that heaven is not elsewhere, but in people's hearts.
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