Taking the time to watch this Golden Bear Award film, the most impressive thing is the change in the way of photography. When the protagonist walks alone in a foreign land, or runs, or recites words, or buys things, the camera lens is always shaking or sharp, expressing his Helpless and lonely. When he's with the French who help him, or with friends, the shots tend to be stationary, steady and slow. The rest of the ideas are listed in sections.
the gazed other
The nudity of men in films often symbolizes threats to power, and the film twice shows the nudity of Israeli immigrant Yoyaf. The first time was when he first arrived in France and froze in the bathtub after his luggage was stolen. In the morning, he was rescued by Caroline and Emily. Ka and Ai are high-class people in Paris. Ai writes without talent or inspiration. Ka plays the oboe, but is boring and slutty. The first gaze is the collective gaze of the hypocritical French bourgeoisie on the immigrant group: pity, playfulness, and even desire. The second stare was Yoav's perverted photographer, who had him strip naked and masturbate in his native language to satisfy his hard taste. The gaze here is carried out through a flat-panel camera. Photography is a display, and flat-panel photography has the meaning of mass media. This time, the gaze is more naked. As the person being gazed at, Yoyaf uses language barriers to protect his bottom line of values. Other than that, there is no other way.
France symbolizes European countries, while Israel is the Middle East region where the refugee problem is prominent. The gaze of the French on Yoyaf actually symbolizes the collective gaze of the Western society on the East, which is also the examination of one civilization against another. It is a pity that the eyes of the French are not pure. They live on the pavilion of peace and have no understanding of the life experience of Joyav and others. They only treat it as a story and material for writing, and only regard Joyav's body as a Strong roosters (poultry) to consume. Ameler's relief to Joyaf and Caroline's commitment to Joyaf were not motivated by the universal humanitarian values that Westerners thought they upheld, but only to satisfy their own desires and fill their own emptiness. The imaginary East is full of mysterious stories and beautiful faces, and beyond that, they are limited to the narrowness of their field of vision and gain nothing more in their gaze.
Language and Identity
Yoav was a well-educated Israeli who could enjoy symphony music, tell Greek myths, and beat the beat with bullets, but because he hated his country, he lacked identification with his native language. When he came to France, he lived in a mean street and was hungry. He had been memorizing French words by memorizing synonyms. He was determined to become a real French and refused to speak his native language. But his accent was easily read by the security guards, and his story was completely taken away and thrown away. When he faces a photographer who challenges his bottom line, he has only one weapon to defend against. Which language a person chooses is closely related to his identity. Yoyav tried to integrate into France by learning French, but this France, where everyone has freedom of speech, excludes him as an Israeli. Isn't this hypocritical freedom? Yoav did not establish a new identity, and even if he chose French and chose to answer every right and wrong question correctly, he would never be able to truly integrate into French society. It can also be seen in the second half of the film that Yoyav's efforts have changed from a positive behavior to hysteria, a compromise that cannot be established with the help of language, and can only be collided with brute force in the end.
some metaphors
Caroline is a metaphor for a hypocritical and debauched France (it is almost traditional to use a woman as a metaphor for the country), Ameler is a metaphor for the empty bourgeoisie, and Joav is a metaphor for Moses. He opened the gate in the rain and let people in by shouting "no borders", but unfortunately he did not split the Red Sea in half like Moses did, but was knocked down by the crowd and taken away by the security guards. At the end of the film, he shouts that he is here to save this worsening country, and he is also a messianic complex, so he is a "Bible Boy (Hebrew is the original writing language of the Bible)". After Moses, who came from a religious country, arrived in France, he could only be trapped by a series of seemingly free questions of right and wrong. Here is the paradox of French or European values: if everyone has freedom of speech, how can there be a right and a wrong in this question? Limiting the "correct and only answer" is inherently unfree. Yoav saw this, and he gradually realized that even if he could establish a strong identity, the Western society would not identify with him, so he gradually became disappointed, but in the end he still longed to break through that invisible "border" .
View more about Synonyms reviews
