After watching the movie, the author firstly thought of Agatha Christie, the famous mystery novelist, her "Murder on the Orient Express" has always been one of the models of many suspense mystery novels in modern times. Some people position "The Wind" as a spy war film. The author really disagrees, because in the spy war films represented by Dafan 007, the protagonists are well-identified, and this film is more of a guessing process, as "Who is the old ghost" said in the promotional video shown in the Beijing subway? So this is an intellectual game, but it was grafted in that extraordinary period, so he put on the pajamas of the spy war, which added another imagination to those who had not seen the film. Of course, the question of which type to be classified is not a concern. As long as the film is good, it doesn't matter what type it is?
To write here, I must first clarify one thing. In order to make the audience go to the theater, this micro-review will try not to involve the final puzzle, but it is inevitable to give a certain narration to the process of the film. In other words, this micro-review contains a lot of spoilers, so readers can still make a choice after reading this, whether to stop or continue, has nothing to do with the author!
The film begins with an assassination event, which is the background of the whole play, reflects the turmoil and chaos of that era, and also sets the tone for the whole play, dark and decisive. The assassination scene is quite worthy of consideration, and the reason for that is the pacing of the film. Generally, a very commercial drama begins with a preview of the whole drama, so it can be seen from this assassination scene that "The Wind" is an extremely standard commercial film.
Wang pseudo-spy was advising a certain democratic person to vote in the sun, and at this time, the waiter brought a plate of dishes. The utensils for the dishes appeared to be very heavy, and the camera moved with the utensils recklessly. I believe that anyone with some experience in watching movies will Thinking of it, the utensils are not just a plate of delicious food, there may also be a kind of deadly guy. Sure enough, although someone did an inspection, the gun in the vessel still played its role.
To tell the truth, this scene is very ordinary, far less classic and courageous than the assassination of the godfather, but the director still uses the rhythm and atmosphere to render the plot into a heartwarming feeling. Seeing this, the author began to have some expectations for the whole drama. Although there is no innovation, the style is what the author likes, at least it is not sloppy or messy.
Next is an explanation of the background of the plot, and the characters begin to appear. Two important figures, Takeda and Director Wang, appeared first. I have to say that the character Takeda is the soul of the whole play. Although he is a Japanese soldier, the audience can see a kind of entanglement in him. From the perspective of the play, Takeda was originally a mystery. He was going to be deported back to Japan, so a question was raised, what did he do and why was he deported? This question constitutes a sub-line hidden in the film, and this sub-line turns the whole incident into a farce and a disaster.
Director Wang is a spy in the Wang puppet government. He is the biggest protagonist in the film and the most vicious and insidious guy. He is very smart, and quickly found clues to the assassination group, and I believe that the audience's deepest impression of him is not his cleverness, but his ruthlessness. With his assistance, Takeda finally came up with a method, and began to set a trap, preparing to draw out the old ghost and the old gun lurking in the Wang puppet government.
When the signal was transmitted, after a very industrial (Hollywood-style) shot, five suspects surfaced immediately. According to the bridge section, the introduction of these five people is also worth mentioning. The person who received the telegram was Gu Xiaomeng, an ordinary dispatcher, and handed it over to Li Ningyu, the leader of the decoding team, followed by Jin Shenghuo, the director of the military aircraft department, Wu Zhiguo, the leader of the bandit suppression team, and Bai Xiaonian, the commander's attendant. The way the camera moves is based on the telegraph. With the movement of the telegraph, each character begins to fall into the camera, then appears, and finally ends with the telegraph. The entire paragraph is very dry, there is no redundant description at all, but it contains many elements, each person's character and some details that are worth scrutinizing later in the investigation. Among them, there are three most important points, one of which is Li Ningyu's. The second is Wu Zhiguo's inadvertent peeping, and the third is Bai Xiaonian's ambiguous state.
After the five suspects were established, the film entered the time of Agatha Christie. Whether it is "Murder on the Orient Express" or "Murder on the Nile", there is a closed space. The Orient Express or the oil tanker, the characters cannot communicate with the outside world, and this closed space in this film is inside a manor. The film borrows the plot of five people entering the estate to set up the atmosphere of the manor. From the picture, we can see that this is not only a closed space, but also a spooky place with some Gothic style. , here is not only to find out the main question of who is the old ghost, but also some things related to life and death will happen, think of Director Wang's behavior when interrogating prisoners, this kind of worry or expectation is for the audience. It goes without saying.
It is necessary to say a few words about the concept of closed space. In Agatha's work, what Inspector Polo has to do is to try to reproduce the process of the case, and the case itself also happened in this closed space. So the whole reasoning process is very realistic. This film is different. Among the five people who have been in contact with the telegram, the old ghost does not care about the case itself, but hopes that the old ghost can really stand up, so there is unreality. In this case, the psychological Obviously taken to a new level. I believe those who have watched Gu Long's "The Prodigal Son of a Border Town" will know that the tragedy of how many years ago is not important. The closed manor in this film is obviously not to reproduce the whole process of passing the message, but to solve the resentment in the hearts of the five people.
The four words "psychological suspense" were mentioned in the promotion of the film, which the author agrees with. When the five people entered the manor and were isolated from the outside world, and Takeda's trap was also accused, so the "old ghost" among the five people faced two problems. One was to try his best to protect himself, and the other was to pass the trap to the manor. Go outside, and the goal of Takeda and Director Wang is very simple, that is, to find out who is the old ghost. Therefore, there are three forces in the manor, one is the judging party, the second is the resister, and the third is the bystander, and to a certain extent, the bystander and the resister are allied, and they are also the party being tried. Although the audience cannot know who is the old ghost among the people being tried, the opposition between the trial and the trial is quite obvious. The contradiction is immediately put in front of you, and the whole process is from a simple investigation to a battle of wits and courage.
According to the theory of all movies and dramas, the biggest attraction in this film is the change in the relationship between the seven people and the resolution of each person's grievances. As the trial parties, the five suspects naturally formed an alliance to resist the interrogation from Director Wang and Takeda. But this kind of alliance relationship could not stand the test at all, so at the first interrogation, the alliance broke down, and there was a confrontation between them. There is very little pen and ink on the issue of alliance in the film. The main reason is that the identity of these five people determines that it is impossible for them to reach an alliance. Therefore, the so-called alliance is nothing more than a bluff. is quite correct. But at the time of the alliance, the film concealed a clue, that is, the connection between the old gun and the old ghost. This connection is the basis of the subsequent resistance.
The interrogation is a part of establishing a relationship in the film. After the interrogation, the alliance relationship was completely broken. Not only that, but there were two groups of opposition among the five people. Bai Xiaonian and Jin Shenghuo looked down on each other, Gu Xiaomeng exposed Wu Zhiguo, and Li Ningyu had nothing to do with the world. fight. Regarding the establishment of these relationships, although the author recognizes the possibility of their establishment, I think that such relationships are too obvious and have traces of axe.
Bai Xiaonian sells meat, and Jin Shenghuo spends money to buy officials. In fact, the two have similar backgrounds, but it is precisely because of this similarity that they look down on each other, even jealous. It is very possible to accuse each other. Because of the handwriting, Bai Xiaonian died first. Because of the bad background, Jin Shenghuo felt that he had the same fate, so he fell into a kind of despair. After mistaking what Takeda and Director Wang meant, the man blew his head. In the whole plot, the changes in the motivation choices of the two people are quite smooth and reasonable. But the biggest problem here is that the suspense has not been carried to the end. Also according to the theory of all movies and dramas, this kind of character who dies first will never be the final answer, otherwise there will be no curse to recite. Moreover, the death of the two people did not have the necessary connection with other subjects, so it was somewhat random, and randomness had nothing to do with reasoning suspense. Moreover, the role of Bai Xiaonian can never be an old gun or an old ghost. Although he does play a role in buffering the rhythm, I believe that the screenwriter does not have the guts to write an underground party. Thinking about Xishi in "White Jade Tiger", that kind of sadness and shock can only be found in martial arts novels.
Li Ningyu is a character who walks alone. The reason why she is indistinguishable from the world is because she has an artist in her heart. Because she was full of worries about her lover, she put her own life and death aside. Among the five people on trial, she was the most maverick. Takeda used his unique way to verify Li Ningyu's identity. In this way, the film is not fully expressed, but the ambiguous but inhuman tone is still conveyed. In Li Ningyu, the director endowed the traditional female image of intelligence, kindness, forbearance, indifference and loyalty, so when Takeda faced her alone, the other side of a Japanese soldier was revealed.
In this closed space, the most dramatic conflict is naturally the pair of Wu Zhiguo and Gu Xiaomeng. After the two recognized their fellow villagers, they immediately became opposites due to the questioning. Generally speaking, people are in a desperate situation, and the concept similar to the fellow is quite cordial, so the confrontation between them seems a bit abrupt, and there are two separate confrontations between two people who only have voice and no picture, which is even more suspicious. Health, I believe that many viewers have guessed the answer. When the truth is revealed, all actions have rational explanations. (Is it really necessary for the truth to be revealed?) This is a kind of resistance, and the so-called battle of wits and courage is all in the scenes of two people.
Having said that, the question to continue to talk about is what I think is the biggest flaw of the film, and that is the interpretation of the truth.
When Bai Bai died, Li Ningyu was still locked in the manor, and Gu Xiaomeng had confessed that he was tortured, only one person was sent out of the manor. I believe everyone already knew the identities of Lao Gun and Lao Gui. . Under this circumstance, the film still reveals the answer to the mystery at the end, which makes the author feel extremely confused. As I said before, Inspector Polo's case is to reproduce the process of committing the crime, and this film is by no means like this, so Reproducing the strategy between the old gun and the old ghost is obviously a misunderstanding of the viewers, as if the viewers' IQ is not enough to deduce the answer to the film's mystery.
On the contrary, the film has used a variety of methods to corroborate the answer, including the way Wang Xiaoya removed the answer, including the rape and fighting scenes that only heard her voice, and Gu Xiaomeng's final confession, etc. So, the end of the film is completely redundant, and it can end at the dock where Takeda fell in the rain.
For a film in which the audience has fully understood the mystery under the guidance of the director, it is difficult to call it a suspense film, and it is far from Christie's reasoning process, so it is somewhat wishful thinking to classify this film as a suspense and reasoning film. . When the film ended, Li Ningyu held the last words left by Gu Xiaomeng through Morse code in his hand, and this last words reflected the real protagonist of the film, that is Gu Xiaomeng, her revolutionary self-sacrifice spirit! Given this spirit, the film naturally becomes a tribute film.
Having said that, we can see the overall conception of the film. Agatha Christie's reasoning is used as the overall structure of the film. Although the plot is dressed in suspense, it is actually a tit-for-tat fight between the enemy and the enemy. The final film The juncture lies in celebrating the self-sacrificing spirit of Communist Party members in dangerous circumstances. The image point can be likened to this: suspense is a coat, and struggle is a skin and bones, and the interpretation of the film is the process of slowly stripping off the clothes, deboning, and finally revealing the red heart.
Gu Xiaomeng is the real protagonist of the film. She carries the gift theme of the film. Because of her brilliance, Wu Zhiguo, an old gun, has a very pale character, and even looks like a vase. All behaviors are not only conventional, but also contrived. Takeda is very charismatic. As mentioned earlier, Takeda's repatriation to China is a major suspense in the film. As the film progresses, the suspense itself is revealed, and the establishment of this trap is entirely at his own request, in order to prove him. courage and ability. Due to this personal awareness, the whole incident is somewhat shrouded in a black feeling, which is quite absurd. But we can see that Takeda can be said to reflect some of the director's interpretation of the Japanese army's aggression against China.
The first is Takeda's parents, who gave up some beliefs rather than fleeing, but Takeda was dubbed a coward by the internal military for this reason. To prove himself, Takeda decided to do certain things himself. From the plot point of view, Takeda is actually a very thoughtful person, and his failure can only be said to be compared to Gu Xiaomeng's helplessness. But in the entire interrogation process, Takeda embodied a pursuit to achieve self-improvement. But this kind of self-improvement itself is wrong, deceived, and manipulated by militarism, so Takeda became a victim of militarism, and his actions did not represent himself, but all the manipulated man, including his courage. Did Takeda really have the courage? The answer was no. Although he was trying to prove himself and trying to accomplish something, when failure came, his courage was completely lost, so he asked Director Wang to take the blame. It can be said that Takeda actually represents more of the image of the Japanese invaders. But there is one thing that needs to be pointed out. This is the judgment of the directors and the information conveyed in the film. Whether it is true or not, the author does not speculate.
Director Wang is Takeda's scapegoat. The setting of this character can be said to be a hardware character in the whole plot. His existence solves many problems, promotes the development of the plot and style positioning, deepens contradictions and so on. Wang Zhiwen is indeed an amazing actor. He is full of drama when he stands there. As a character in the script, Director Wang's character is single and unchanged, but due to the plot, this unchanging single character But what impressed the audience the most was his cruelty, his insidious cunning, and his indifference and cruelty. This character seems to be a prop. He sharpened all the contradictions, challenged the audience's bearing capacity recklessly, and unreservedly conveyed the most despicable things in human nature.
On the whole, the production of "The Wind" is quite well-made, with outstanding style, moderate rhythm, and prominent characters. Except that the ending is a bit redundant and the scenes in the closed space are not convoluted enough, it can be regarded as a standard. A commercial movie with a good viewing experience, at least much better than my preconceived judgment!
Han Xi
2009-9-14 in Tongzhou
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