Persian Lessons, an Unconventional Multi-Element Nazi Film
Lots of white snow, scattered fir forests, military coats, and a dignified background of cold green. I thought it was another ordinary film submerged in the sea of Nazi movies. Although the history is really painful, the Germans have been shooting movies and TV about World War II for decades. For non-Germans, it is still a little bit. Aesthetic fatigue.
But "Persian Language Lessons" tells a multi-layered and multi-angle story in a very clever way. Throughout the film, the pain of history is not only not covered up, but is instead impacted by black humor with absurd coincidences, giving the audience a special feeling.
The protagonists are, of course, old-fashioned Jews and Nazi officers. A Jew who shouted "I'm Persian" at gunpoint happened to be taken back to the barracks because a Nazi captain wanted to learn Persian. The captain, named koch, was in charge of the kitchen (koch in German means cooking), in addition to simply transcribing lists of Jewish criminals, the Jews on these lists would be disposed of at intervals. And this Jew who was in a hurry at the gate of hell was only given a piece of bread and a book in Persian by his companions in advance. In this way, the very clever fake Persians began to make up a language for two years and taught it to the captain little by little. Wouldn't the rest of the barracks be suspicious, as each of us thought? Rarely won't it be revealed? of course. However, the focus of the narrative is not that the male protagonist has the halo of the protagonist and can continue to make it up, nor is it how the director made it more rational through details such as the special environment (kitchen handyman), but moved the perspective of the narrative to the Nazi captain. little secret. As a military officer loyal to Hitler, a representative of the Nazi Party, and a typical extreme populist who even insults the law for a picnic (get something delicious, don't get something from the French, get something from your hometown), why does this Captain Cook want to What about learning Persian? Senior officers also interrogated Captain Cook for this reason, and the captain who mastered false Persian more than a year later explained in this new language that he, as a cook from a poor family, was drawn into the party by the torrent of history just standing on the street. . There is no why. He wanted to learn Persian, he wanted to go to Tehran to reunite with his anti-Nazi brothers. He has been waiting for this day. He was never a peace lover, nor belonged to any faction, nor had any profound party ideas. He was just an ordinary petty citizen. He didn't care about the outcome of the war. Thousands of Persian words so you can go to Tehran. He has been working hard for this. It is precisely because of his ordinaryness and even vulgarity that he established an undercurrent and sympathetic relationship with the fake Persians in the day-to-day study. If it is understood as a vague ambiguity, it is understandable. The director still expresses the doubts in the audience's heart through the jokes of other officers and the inquiries of the superior officers. Captain Cook protects the fake Persian, feeds him, chats with him, makes him call himself by his first name, and the fake Persian can even respond to the captain's words.
The turning point of the story is the arrival of two Italian Jewish brothers in the camp. Brother saw the tricks of the fake Persians at a glance, and the psychology of the fake Persians who faced a large number of Jewish compatriots who were soon to be executed every night was catalyzed - even if the movie did not show this at all, because Jewish life is inferior to grass and fear , tired, cautious, calculating, etc., who can accuse the fake Persians of not expressing guilt or other emotions clearly in the face of their dying compatriots? However, even though he knew he wouldn't live for a few days, the Italian's older brother still did everything in his power to protect his younger brother. So even though the Italian brother didn't like the fake Persian, he was very grateful when he brought good food for the injured brother. This leads to the climax of the story: the fake Persians are revealed.
A new real British Persian arrived in the camp, and the subordinate officers were very excited and wanted to expose the lies of the fake Persians for the past two years. He rushed into the kitchen and wanted to drag the fake Persian away, but because of the military regulations in the kitchen, he had to wash his hands before leaving, so he had to delay for a few minutes. But in the few minutes in front of the Hall of Kings of Hell, when the subordinate officers dragged the fake Persian back to the dormitory, the real Persian had already had his throat cut to death. The subordinate officers were furious and beat up the fake Persians to ask him what he had done. Even though he knew that the fake Persians had been working in the kitchen and had other officers supervising the work, it was impossible for God to move back to the dormitory to kill. Yes, the Italian brother took out a bloody knife from his pocket and admitted the murder, but was naturally shot by a subordinate officer on the spot.
We can imagine that at this moment, the heart of the fake Persian was "ripened" because he accompanied the deaf-mute younger brother and a large number of Jews preparing to die. They staggered on the icy road, surrounded by biting cold wind and hard ice and snow. Captain Cook chased after him. He chased after him desperately like a madman, threatening to escort the officer with a gun in violation of the military regulations, and to save the fake Persian - even if the fake Persian accused him on the spot as a "murderer", " He who cooks for a murderer is also a murderer." But he doesn't care. As I said before, Captain Cook does not have any noble ideals, but instead highlights the cruel sweetness here.
Soon, the American reinforcements attacked, and the Nazis were defeated. The senior officers hurriedly burned the list of Jewish criminals and packed their luggage. No one would care about that, so they hid their passports and notebooks and fled, preparing to fly to him via Istanbul. Tehran's Cook Captain. However, he still did not forget to bring the fake Persians. He fulfilled his promise to keep the fake Persians alive and have the opportunity to eat 20 cans of meat in the future. He took off the Nazi uniform, revealing the brown coats of civilians. parted ways.
Unsurprisingly, Captain Cook used a fake name, a fake passport, and spoke in what he thought was a fake Persian language. When he passed through customs at the airport, he finally revealed his secrets. In the panic, only the panicked silhouette of him being detained by customs officers was left. And the "Persian" that no third person in the world can understand despite being fluent: "My Persian is very good" echoes; on the other side, the safe fake Persian sits in the US military camp in Persian, with tears in his eyes—no, correctly, reciting the names of over 2,800 people when he copied the list of Jewish criminals.
Yes, how can you create a language without spending time, a language you will never forget? Fake Persians took advantage of their jobs—asked for their names when they were feeding the Jews, or copied them, and made fake Persian. Just like a coin, the obverse is the record of history, and the reverse is the disappointment of true feelings. The two contradictory ones coexist. But there is no right or wrong, no black and white. This is how things are.
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