Girl in Huangshan is an old domestic film released by 1984. The first scene is a rural girl carrying a piece of meat and rushing down the old-fashioned stairs to the meat counter, earnestly saying that one or two pieces of meat are missing. As soon as the camera turns, she is a shrewd hostess and must weigh the food with her hands.

Quite a dramatic beginning, shaping a confrontation between rural areas and cities, employers and nannies, a bit stereotyped. I thought it would be a story of "class oppression" with the imprint of the times, but the whole movie was very surprising. Lingling, who worked as a nanny from Huangshan to Beijing, represented the attempt and integration of rural areas into cities in the early 1980s, and witnessed the rapid development of cities and the awakening and rise of rural economy.

From beginning to end, there is no real part of the countryside. The director's design is very clever. Through the letter from nanny Lingling and the conversation with fellow villagers, a series of changes in the countryside are expressed layer by layer. As the theme of the film, "Huangshan" is finally fixed on the prospect of Lingling going home with Xing Xing, a city girl: "By then, the countryside and the city will be the same, with tall buildings, lights and telephones everywhere ..."

There is a scene in the movie in which a "fashionable" young man with jeans and curly hair is carrying his girlfriend and kissing each other on a motorcycle. The background is a red and white trolley bus and a bicycle. Lingling stopped to watch strangely, her eyes shining with surprise, freshness, funny and unacceptable light.

This complex emotional expression is very detailed and true. When I walked from a conservative rural area to a prosperous city, I felt embarrassed and had a self-knowledge of "my duty". With the changes of the times, there is still a gap between urban and rural areas that is difficult to integrate. Today, a rural girl standing under a skyscraper will have this kind of disorientation that she has never seen the world.

But the film is not creating this kind of opposition, but through Lingling's helper life, she walks into the most authentic fireworks atmosphere of the city, showing complex and rich human nature, including selfish philistines and enthusiastic neighbors; There are serious self-discipline of intellectuals and equality and mutual love of the families of veteran cadres. In the three-dimensional city image, Lingling's self-esteem and self-love and the warmth of human mobility are displayed.

Lingling has served three families, which are also a microcosm of the Beijing citizen class in the 1980s. First, the family members are Qi's mother, Qi's father who is on a business trip abroad, his brother Dali and his sister. This family works in a state-owned enterprise and lives in a high-rise building with an elevator.

The second Liu family, the family members are pregnant women, babies and husbands who never show up. This is a typical worker's family, living in a busy and cramped hutong courtyard; In the third Zhou family, the old man is a retired veteran cadre, the old lady is a well-known calligrapher, and there is also a granddaughter who graduated from high school and fell in love with the song and dance troupe. He lives in a spacious quadrangle.

Three families are very representative and a cut of the times. At the same time, Lingling's situation in three families is also a process of slowly integrating and feeling love.

First, the first employer came together, which deepened Lingling's estrangement from the city.

Qi Mu and Xiao Juan are arrogant towards Lingling. Qi's mother has always suspected that Lingling's hands and feet are not clean, let alone respect her personality. At noon, I gave Lingling an egg. Qi Mu quickly cut it off and sent it to her daughter Xiao Juan's bowl, saying, "Lingling doesn't like eggs. She is tired of eating in the country. " Beneath the decent appearance, there is a contempt for workers. Ironically, people like Qi Mu still exist.

Xiao Juan bossed Lingling around, sprayed perfume on the bed where Lingling put her clothes, and asked Lingling to help her massage. At the same time, she also accused the previous nannies of their "misdeeds". Lingling tried on her vest, and Xiao Juan asked Lingling to wash it at once. She said angrily: "rural girls should look like rural girls, don't dress up."

Although the employer made things difficult for Lingling, in order to make money, she still digested her grievances. Until one time Xiao Juan's sweater was "lost", Qi Mu insisted that Lingling stole it and turned her luggage upside down. It turned out that it was left at work. Qi's mother told not to tell Lingling.

Simple and stubborn Lingling spent almost a month's salary to buy a new sweater for Xiao Juan, saying that she was responsible for losing her washing, but she resolutely decided to resign. Just as she was about to go out, she heard Xiao Juan groaning in bed with unbearable abdominal pain. The kind girl quickly picked up Xiao Juan and rushed to the hospital. Thanks to timely treatment, Xiao Juan was out of danger.

After the operation, Xiao Juan was full of guilt, admitted that her sweater was not lost, and told Lingling not to go. Lingling felt the sincerity of the city people and the need of her work for the first time, but the previous false accusation touched her bottom line, and she promised to wait until Xiao Juan recovered.

As a nanny who went to work in cities from rural areas in the 1980s, she was the first adventurer to come out to make a living under the background that the population flow had not been thawed at that time. In fact, both urban people and rural people are labeling each other in the barrier of mutual imagination.

A person like Lingling is the existence of two disjoint opposites. Qijia's mother and daughter confirmed the inhumanity of urban people in Lingling's imagination, and they also labeled Lingling as uneducated. The running-in between Lingling and her first family is actually the running-in between rural areas and cities, and the reconciliation between Lingling and Xiao Juan has penetrated the first hard shell of cities: prejudice.

Second, the second employer, Liu Jia, is Lingling's understanding of many aspects of the city.

Hong Rong is not rich. She lives in a small room in the hutong compound, and her husband hasn't come back from work yet. She gritted her teeth and invited Lingling to take care of Yuezi. Hong Rong and her husband are both workers. They like literature at ordinary times, and they are bound together because of their similar interests. Her husband's articles were favored by a magazine and he was hired to work. From a workshop worker to a magazine editor, Hong Rong is very proud of her husband. When she told Lingling about "Brother Liu", her face was full of happiness.

In order to save money, Hong Rong ate a chicken for a whole month. She couldn't bear to say, "Let's eat together when Brother Liu comes back.". Lingling couldn't stand it anymore, so she stewed the chicken and let her drink soup.

In a blink of an eye, the child is full moon, the husband hasn't come back, and the living expenses are broken. Hong Rong, who was short of money, couldn't afford Lingling's nanny fee, and went to find her husband with a heavy heart. Returning late at night, I watched Lingling and Yi fall asleep, took off her shoes and covered her with a quilt. She burned her carefully collected engagement handkerchief and lay on the table sobbing.

Lingling understood Hong Rong's situation and introduced her hometown aunt to find another family for her. Just as Lingling's family urged for money, the money at home was nearly twice as high as that in Hong Rong, but the kind Lingling didn't want to leave Hong Rong, which was in financial difficulties, and would rather take another job on the rest day to make money.

Knowing that Lingling's family was short of money, Hong Rong asked Lingling to find another job. She gave her sweater to Lingling and thanked her for taking care of it during this time. Two women who love each other embrace each other and cry. In the prosperous and modern Beijing, there are many lower classes who are as hard to survive as Hong Rong. Cities are not out of reach and arrogant. It has landed fireworks, joys and sorrows, and hardships of life.

The most touching thing is that after Hong Rong went to work with her children on her back, Lingling, who was short of money, bought a chicken, stewed it on the stove and left. After work, Hong Rong looked at the pot of chicken soup, so warm that she burst into tears. Hong Rong's gentleness and forbearance, Lingling's deep affection, have the unique "stupidity" of people in that era, and the mutual help and love among the neighbors in the hutong also let people see the "Chinese warmth" precipitated in the street life under the cold city appearance.

Thirdly, Zhou Jia, the third employer, brought Lingling spiritual sublimation.

Grandpa Zhou is a retired veteran cadre, a generation who fought bloody battles for the motherland. Both he and grandma Zhou have the gentleness and introversion accumulated by intellectuals over the years. I love Lingling as much as the younger generation. Granddaughter Xing Xing is a typical urban youth who pursues her dreams. She has her own clear plans and pursuits for love and career, which is in sharp contrast with Xiao Juan, a materialistic family.

In Zhou's home, Lingling feels equal and caring like family. Grandma Zhou teaches Lingling to write Chinese calligraphy every day and is very strict with her. Grandpa Zhou came back from a trip to Huangshan Mountain and specially brought snacks to Lingling from his hometown. Before the star art exam, she always asked her grandfather to help her get through with her contacts. Maybe a phone call can change the granddaughter's fate, but this principled old man opposes all backdoor behavior and teaches Star to win the future through his own ability.

But because others left the relationship, the star finally failed to do so. Influenced by family education, Xing Xing has developed a positive attitude. She quickly adjusted her mood and agreed to be hired by the neighborhood Committee to become the manager of the state-owned hotel, and her business was booming. Stars have the unique vigor and enthusiasm of young people in the 1980 s, ideals, feelings and efforts.

Lingling was deeply impressed by Zhou Jia. She not only made progress in cultural literacy, but also improved her cooking skills and broadened her thinking and horizons. As her brother quit gambling and ran a farm for profit, Lingling began to think about her life plan when her job in Beijing no longer became the main supply of the family economy. ...

Anhui is a famous hometown of nannies in 1980s and 1990s, especially Wuwei is rich in nannies, which is also inseparable from historical reasons. At that time, many rural girls like Lingling were integrated into the city, and many people were taken care of by their employers, regained the opportunity of education and completely rewritten their lives. But the purpose of the film is to express Lingling's return, not the negative binary opposition between urban and rural areas, but to reshape her independent personality through the baptism of the new era and make contributions to rural economic construction. With ideals and hard work, cities and villages are equal.

Compared with the narrative context of the film, I personally think that what is more precious is the image with the characteristics of the times, which freezes the time and lets us see the unique urban and cultural features of Beijing more than 30 years ago. The flowing street view of old Beijing, the architectural features of different classes living, the life breath with the imprint of the times, the Forbidden City, Beihai, the Great Wall, subway stations, bus interchange stations, bell tower compound ... The audience who have not experienced the 1980s can also feel the heat and vitality through time and space.

My personal understanding of the 1980s comes from literary works, and I feel that it was a beautiful and ideal era. In the ascendant, a hundred schools of thought contend, which is a key turning point in the process of China's modernization. Most of the more influential writers in modern times rose in the 1980s, and poetry and literature even belonged to the masses, instead of being aloof and widowed now. For example, in the play, Hong Rong's husband is a worker, and he is discovered by a magazine because he loves literature. He lamented that although the material was not rich in the 1980 s, the ideal had a lively place and response.

The rhythm of the film is pure and soothing, and the lens is unremarkable. There is no dazzling shooting technique, but it has the power to impress people. As a nanny, Lingling is not ashamed of her professional nature, but treats her work with self-respect and self-love. My aunt helped take care of Lingling, a fellow villager. Lingling's brother is short of money to start a business, but her little sister, who is also a nanny, is generous.

Ambitious young people like Dali and Xing Xing have a firm spiritual pursuit and restrain themselves and others. A positive attitude is that they have fire in their hearts and light in their eyes. People in the Hutong Courtyard enjoyed a pot of chrysanthemums, and Hong Rong's enthusiastic neighbors took the initiative to help her take care of the children. Grandpa Zhou, a veteran cadre, is honest and honest, while Grandma Zhou, an old artist, is modest and peaceful. Knowledge is respected, human feelings are higher than interests, and spirit is richer than material. No wonder this 1980s will be collectively missed by people who have experienced several generations.

At the end of the film, there are some deliberate idealizations. Lingling's brother's transformation from indulging in gambling to starting a firm business is also a reflection of the process of rural youth from chaos to spiritual awakening since the reform and opening up, and it is also the evolution of traditional rural social structure and economic structure. With the development of rural economy, rural people like Lingling came back and opened the first restaurant in the town. Lingling, who has seen the world, was invited back to be a chef. The star accompanied Lingling home by train. She set her eyes on cheaper and greener vegetables and poultry in rural areas, and prepared to cooperate with Lingling to supply them.

Xingxing and Lingling, two girls from urban and rural areas respectively, represent young female groups. They also benefit from the dividend of the times, stand on their own feet, and have their own life pursuit and value realization. Measuring the civilization and progress of a society is the complete independence of women from economy to spirit. From this perspective, "Huangshan Girl" is a sincere eulogy of the times.

It is worth mentioning that the film's vision and imagination of the future have basically come true now. Star mentioned that when rural people get rich, they will travel to cities and even go abroad. The earliest outbound tour in China was 1983, but in just over 30 years, the ideal has long been realized. Only 1984 has a dedicated telephone installed, and the first high-speed "Hu Jia Expressway" was completed and opened to traffic on 1988. ...

Everything we have now is too grand and thrilling, and the times have experienced far more than we imagined.

It suddenly occurred to me that Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities: "This is the best time and this is the worst time". When we suddenly begin to miss the lost time, it means that we are already losing some precious things, such as the simplicity and innocence brought to me by a little babysitter in Huangshan Girl.

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