In recent years, the concept of "Chinese-style Westerns" has quietly emerged, from "Western Wind" to "No Man's Land", in addition to the less successful "Decisive Battle of Shama Town" and vaguely various types of "Let the Bullets" "Flying", although the subject matter is different, whether it is the geographical background of rolling yellow sand and solitary smoke in the desert, or the dramatic contradictions of wicked people and the absence of legal system, the works that play the banner of "western films" have a clear context.
However, I thought that the best in this category of works was "Kekexili", which never added a western label to itself.
Is "Kekexili" a Western? Although it is difficult to define it, it is not difficult to see the classic western elements in this film: the uninhabited wasteland, the helpless hero, the rampant villain and the raw power confrontation. But from another point of view, the weakening of the story in "Kekexili" makes it have the characteristics of anti-type.
In "Kekexili", Lu Chuan gave up the tortuous and exciting Hollywood-style narrative mode-judging from his debut "Looking for a Gun", he clearly possesses this kind of storytelling ability. Not to mention, he himself comes from a family of famous screenwriters.
The weakening of the dramatic conflict and the use of non-professional actors give the film a strong neorealist style, and even the usual methods of documentaries are used in the processing of many shots and the arrangement of narratives. However, this simple and straightforward expression is not boring, on the contrary, it bursts with the power to hit people's hearts in the straightforwardness.
In the blandness of the story, I tried to sort out two main lines that meet each other in the light and the dark. One bright line is the battle between the mountain patrol and poachers, and the other dark line is the confrontation between man and heaven and earth.
In the bright line narrative, the director deliberately downplayed the so-called heroic image of the mountain rangers headed by Captain Ritai. The arbitrary punishment of poachers and the private sale of confiscated antelope skins, these behaviors on the edge of the law, seem to weaken the positive image of the team members, but it is they who are also on the edge of the system are helpless. survival wisdom. They are both idealists who don't care about personal gains and losses for the beautiful wasteland, and realists who know how to adapt to survive.
In order to track down the poachers, they went into the depths of Hoh Xil, always startled, step by step, all of which seemed to be paving the way for the final confrontation. Really wait until the two sides meet, but it is designed to be an understatement. With a gunshot, everything fell silent, as if nothing had happened.
In the dark line, all human beings seem so small and powerless. Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are dogs. Blizzards and quicksands ignore whether the nature of the Topless is good or evil, and only follow the simplest physical principles, devouring all intruders who dare to challenge the authority of nature. Death can happen at any time, and in this environment, life is more precious.
From the intertwining of the two threads, we can glimpse the theme of the whole book, that is, the power of life and death. The life and death of people, the life and death of Tibetan antelope. In the struggle between survival instinct and shouldering responsibility and the huge force between the vast world, the tension of the drama arises spontaneously, which attracts and moves the audience,
starting from a celestial burial and ending with a celestial burial. Lu Chuan designed a circular structure with a sense of reincarnation for the film, indicating that this is a film that focuses on death and witnessing death. But whether it is the documentary language of the camera lens or the extremely restrained background music, the director shows a calm and forbearing side. There are too many places that can be sensationalized. Lu Chuan chose to calmly narrate as a bystander. Those that should be criticized, satirized and praised, he deliberately distanced them all and left them to the audience to judge for themselves.
Because of this, this film has the power to make people's heart shake.
2.
"In Hoh Xil, every footprint you step on may be the first footprint left by human beings since the birth of the earth."
In Tibetan, Hoh Xil means "beautiful girl". As the name suggests, this is almost the last piece of virgin land in China that has not been polluted by humans. But just like a weak girl, Hoh Xil is also tormented by others. The claws of poachers have never stopped wreaking havoc on this land. In the vast world, they are bustling with each other, leaving bloody sins.
Whether it is the Tibetan antelope with corpses lying all over the field, or the Japanese and Thai who fell under the gun, or Liu Dong who is suffocated in the quicksand, Hoh Xil has witnessed the fall of these lives with equal respect. More like floating clouds and flowing water, not worth a sigh.
And the director Lu Chuan, like this timeless Hoh Xil, weaves the story under the camera, and is stingy in giving any expressions and attitudes. Good people die, and bad people retreat? How can there be such a simple dichotomy in the world. What's more, this is closer to the truth of the facts of the year.
Among the few characters in "Kekexili", two people caught my attention, that is Liu Dong and Ma Zhanlin. They belong to different camps on both sides, but they have more complex human side than other facialized characters.
When the mountain patrol team assembled, Liu Dong had not arrived yet. The brothers were gearing up to prepare supplies, but he was alone in the wine country and the gentle cave. He is clearly opposed to the maddening part of Hoh Xil, but this is the path he chose, and it is a responsibility and burden that cannot be relieved. So he went, and, like all his comrades, no matter the hardships and hardships.
When his comrade-in-arms was seriously ill, he galloped thousands of miles and sent him back to the market town, and then went to see his woman, not only because he was greedy for the warmth of that body, but also to ask for some money. He had no way of knowing that the woman was leaving, but even if he knew, he probably wouldn't stop him. He is not a prodigal son, but he is not a man who can bring stability to women.
He is the only Han in the team, and celestial burial does not belong to his belief, so he has a more primitive and natural living burial. The sudden quicksand devoured his body little by little. From struggle, fear, relief, and even smile, Liu Dong sought eternal liberation. And his body, like other lives that have disappeared in Hoh Xil over hundreds of millions of years, disappeared without a trace.
Ma Zhanlin, on the other hand, is more of an allegory for the indifferent and ignorant people. He and his sons were not wicked men, but just for the five yuan a piece of skinning fee, they followed the poachers. Under the guns of the mountain patrol team, they shivered and knelt down for a cold steamed bun. When they were driven to fend for themselves in the strong wind and snow, they used their humble and tenacious life force to survive.
It is shameful to kill people indiscriminately for petty profits, but when the patrol team was injured, he did not hesitate to let his son take first aid measures. And after Taishen died that day, he was the only one standing beside the corpse for a long time, unable to say whether it was sympathy, pity or something else in his eyes.
They are like most people in this country. They are kind and compassionate, but also have a philosophy of life that annihilates the bottom line of morality. They can stubbornly overcome the violent nature and live without dignity in the face of power and robbers. .
In contrast, there are mountain rangers who really have clear values and are willing to sacrifice their lives for them. In them, we can not only feel the simplicity of Tibetan compatriots, but more importantly, the power of faith.
Compared with the Han people who have long regarded all their beliefs as bulls, ghosts and snakes and entered the eighteen layers of hell, the Tibetan people's beliefs are firm. In the barren land on the roof of the world, there are still good men and women who kowtow, and there are Tibetans who are devout and faithful. In many cases, belief is the support of a person's morality, the last and highest fear and admiration for the world. Therefore, people who have lost their beliefs, or whose beliefs have become secularized and politicized, are sad and terrifying. They are not afraid of karma, regardless of cause and effect, and they can do anything.
Although Tibetan celestial burial may seem cruel, it shows the true meaning of life - come naked, go naked, born from "nothingness", and return to the state of "nothingness". There is no need to prepare tombstones and cemeteries, but to actively participate in the metabolic cycle of nature. Except for the memories of lovers and old friends, they will never exist anywhere in this world. Elephants are invisible and have no worries.
As a member of the sixth generation of directors, Lu Chuan's style tends to be realistic, but he is also very romantic and artistic. The characteristics of this style are concentrated in "Kekexili", which is the realism in narrative and the romantic style in expression and theme. He not only distinguished himself from the biographical films whose main theme sings praises, but also gave the film a vast and ambitious temperament, making the film full of romantic visual effects.
After the hugely controversial "Nanjing Nanjing" and the mediocre "The King's Feast", Lu Chuan seems to have kept a low profile. Next year, his first commercial blockbuster "Legend of the Blowing Lamp" will be released soon. In this movie destined to become a topic, I don't know what kind of movie viewing experience he can bring us, who has always had his own ideas. Let us Wait and see.
View more about Mountain Patrol reviews
