Seriously, this is the first time I've seen a horror movie of this type, and the first time I've ever seen an Ali Astor. I don't know much about religion either, and all the reviews are based on what I've seen and thought in these two and a half hours.
At the beginning of the film, the parents and sister of the heroine Dani died tragically. My sister committed suicide after fuming her parents with carbon monoxide. This part is the best part of the whole film in my opinion, and it also brings the film to its first climax in the first 10 minutes. The heroine's life has undergone major changes, and the sudden death of an important relative has brought her to the brink of collapse. When the male protagonist Christian impatiently received a phone call from the female protagonist for the second time, the female protagonist's painful "No!" suddenly lifted people's hearts. The cry of the female protagonist in the arms of the male protagonist also completely brought people into that sad atmosphere. Here I have to say that the soundtrack of the film is very well used. The soundtrack of the heroine when she lost her family is full of dissonance, like using a saw to saw wood, almost noise. It is this dissonance that makes people feel more disturbed and more heavy.
hero and heroine
The hero and heroine have been in love for nearly four years, but the relationship has come to a turning point, which is a period of exhaustion. The male protagonist had the idea of breaking up with the female protagonist early in the morning, but he kept dragging it on for fear that he would regret it. The heroine is in a bad mental state and often needs the company and comfort of the hero, but she feels that she will be a burden on him and is afraid of being rejected. The male protagonist is indeed a little bit annoying to her.
He also failed to deal with the relationship between his girlfriend and his brothers, and none of them supported his relationship. The scene where the heroine gets along with the hero's friends is embarrassingly suffocating, especially when the hero and friends want to smoke marijuana. The female protagonist wanted to go away at that time, and the male protagonist wanted to accompany her. But Mark wanted the male protagonist to play with them. At this time, the male protagonist was caught between his girlfriend and his brother. So if there's nothing wrong, girls, don't join the party of boyfriends and brothers.
Although it is said that the relationship between the male and female protagonists has been problematic, but watching the two people gradually drifting apart makes people feel a little regretful. Although the male protagonist is indeed not a good person. He was tired of this relationship, he forgot the heroine's birthday, and the remedial measures after the event also made people feel perfunctory. When Pelle's sister flirted with him, he immediately went to dance. Please, your girlfriend is sitting next to you and watching you. In the end, he and Pelle's sister got together. Whether it was Pelle's sister's method really effective, or he did it half-heartedly, his heart was not on the heroine after all.
He is also very rude when it comes to getting along with his brother. First wavering between brothers and girlfriends, suddenly telling the brothers that their girlfriends are involved in their trip, without any prior consultation. Suddenly, he decided to do the thesis on this settlement, leaving Josh, who had decided to write the topic first, at a loss.
The male protagonist likes to do this kind of thing where he decides something by himself and catches everyone by surprise. Like before not telling Dani he was going to Sweden, suddenly letting Dani join him on a trip with his brothers, suddenly deciding to do the same topic with Josh. And when the people in the settlement said that their book had been stolen, the male protagonist immediately distanced himself from it. It can be seen that the male protagonist is actually a very selfish person who makes decisions on his own and doesn't care much about the feelings and interests of others.
After experiencing the family tragedy, the heroine is about to collapse, but she still looks completely fine to the outside world. And when she felt sad in her heart, the male protagonist failed to comfort her. Instead, Pelle was always by her side, telling her that this settlement was like family, constantly persuading and brainwashing the heroine. Brainwashing from pain points while people are weak is an important means for cults to pull people into the water.
The heroine gradually integrated into the settlement. When choosing May Queen to dance, she successfully resonated with the people in the settlement and synchronized with them in thought. After starting the dance competition of May Queen, the background part of the picture has been constantly distorted, and the heroine has entered a psychedelic state at this time. It wasn't until she found out that the male protagonist and sister Pelle were planting seeds that the background stabilized. This moment also represented that she truly officially joined this cult settlement.
The female protagonist finally chose the male protagonist as a sacrifice. This is considered revenge for the male protagonist's derailment. When the sacrifice was burned, the people inside were screaming in pain, and the people outside were also screaming in pain under the resonance. The soundtrack here is full of dissonance again, making the scene extremely absurd. And the heroine is also crying, she may be resonating with the pain of being burned, or she may be suffering from her own choice to let her boyfriend die, or she is the last vent to herself and her friends this time. .
When everything was over, the heroine also accepted her own destiny and accepted her "home".
Harga
In midsummer, days in Sweden are long and nights are short, and even at night, the sky is not completely dark. So most of the film is in daylight. When the protagonists drive to Harga, the camera gradually rotates and the picture is gradually reversed, which means that the protagonists and their lives will be turned upside down. Harga is isolated from the rest of the world. At first glance, it is peaceful and harmonious, with birds singing and flowers fragrant. People are self-sufficient and well-fed. They believe that human life has a cycle, with 18 years as a quarter, and it also goes through spring, summer, autumn and winter. At the age of 72, if you are not dead, jump off the cliff, after all, if you are old, it will become a burden. People slept in Chase before the age of 36, and if they wanted to plant seeds, they needed to be accompanied by a group of relatives and friends. Everyone in the village has the ability to empathize, you are in pain and I am in pain, and you scream and I also scream.
In order to prevent inbreeding and leaving monsters, they will bring new blood from outside to maintain the prosperity of the settlement. But in the end here, individual interests are far inferior to collective interests, or there is no individual interest to mention. Everyone's life is shared and emotions are shared. Children learn to peel from an early age, and they are extremely indifferent to human life. The value of life is recognized on the basis of cults, so there is absolutely no view of life that a normal person should have.
But they did deceive outsiders into their settlements, and let them enter a psychedelic state through food and drink, or become new blood, or become sacrifices. They also know that this kind of behavior is a crime outside, so outsiders who come in will never get out without being brainwashed.
In fact, I didn't finish watching this film in one breath. Halfway through it, I couldn't help but pause to rest. Because the pace of the film is very slow, even though the scenes are very beautiful, I still get tired gradually. But maybe it was the first time I watched this kind of cult film, and I found a lot of content very interesting and meaningful in retrospect.
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