? After the release of "Don't Ask West Ask East", the circle of friends was almost screened by this sentence. Compared with Fanghua, which received rave reviews before, the evaluation of this film seems to be somewhat polarized. People who like it praise the acting skills and stories of idols, while those who don't like it criticize the plot and emotional dispersion.
I am not a person who loves chicken soup. The whole movie does feel too hard in some places, but what makes me think deeply is secularity, or ugliness and beauty of human nature. The film tells four stories. On four different time lines, from the initial dazzling development to the final mutual acceptance, every life has inevitable painful struggle, but also has the warmth and beauty brought by innocence and kindness.
Thinking of a topic in Weibo, "Never ask the West to govern the country and mourn", I suddenly want to share a piece that moved me, which may bring you a little warmth in this cold winter.
(The following is a spoiler, I don't like to leave ~)
The original story happened in Tsinghua School in 1923. Wu Linglan, a serious student with a partial subject, was persuaded by Uncle Singularity, oh no, President Mei to abandon reason and follow literature. I don't know why I want to study. I think it is useful as long as I study. Suddenly, I lost myself and was full of unacknowledged inferiority and confusion. He isolated himself, hid in his own small world, looked on coldly at his classmates' lives and thought about his own life.
It never occurred to me that Tsinghua University was so colorful. In the last class, the old man in the blue cloth gown explained the ancient prose, and in the next class, a blonde foreign teacher took an English test. On one side, students wear robes and study hard, while on the other side, they put on costumes to rehearse Shakespeare.
One of the photos that moved me the most was a group of students in long gowns practicing violin by a small pond in snowy Chu Qing. The warm sun in winter sprinkled on the snow, and inadvertently painted everything in the world with gold. It is an indisputable truth that the long river of time flows endlessly, but every moment is a fresh present. Wu Linglan in the movie had an epiphany at the moment she heard Tagore's speech, but I always felt that he should have understood his heart when he saw these truths.
The time of the second story is the second year of the full-scale outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which took place in the magical national The National SouthWest Associated University in Kunming. The protagonist of the story is Shen Guangyao. Although his story is in the most thrilling era among the four stories, it makes me feel more peaceful than other stories.
What impressed me most was that in the classroom during the rainy season, the old gentleman was hoarse and could not preach, so he wrote four big characters on the blackboard-sit still and listen to the rain. The students who had been whispering gradually quieted down, and Shen Guangyao, who was sitting by the window, opened the window. The pouring rain pounded on the tin roof. In a stream not far away, someone is fishing for coir, which is regarded as a muddy path on the playground. The students soaked to the skin continued to run under the teacher's slogan. The sound of life is so beautiful.
The magic of The National SouthWest Associated University is that even if the alarm of Japanese air strikes comes one after another, there will be a beautiful girl Chen Jiao wearing a white slim cheongsam who says she will go to other places to attend classes; There will also be teachers and students Qi Xin working together to evacuate calmly with teaching AIDS; There will also be serious and responsible teachers who will continue to teach conscientiously between the deep and the deep. The soft background music in the movie masks the frightening roar of the aircraft engines and highlights their composure.
It's a pity that the artillery didn't make a detour because they were calm, and the humble school buildings in The National SouthWest Associated University failed to resist the Japanese air strikes. With the blood of his classmates, Shen Guangyao watched the child who had been pestering him fall in a pool of blood, and finally decided to break his oath to his mother and resolutely went to the battlefield.
The instructor who came to the school to recruit pilots said that what is lacking in this era is not perfect people, but sincerity, justice, fearlessness and sympathy from the heart. Shen Guangyao heard it and did it. After joining the army, he often distributed materials to orphans in the village and even led his comrades. The melody of "amazing grace" flows slowly, accompanied by children's cheerful shouts and heavenly songs, as if to erase the gunfire not far away. Although the goodness and beauty of human nature cannot be turned into armor against gunfire, it can light up a small world in the dark moment and leave a little warmth and hope for the world.
When Shen Guangyao drove his fighter plane to the enemy ship, his last words to the world were: Mom, I'm sorry. I think, at that moment, his heart must be unprecedented calm.
The third story, though no longer filled with smoke, took place in the most chaotic and darkest era of New China. This may not be accurate, because the story is always accompanied by bright sunshine. Unfortunately, where there is sunshine, there is shadow. The stronger the sunshine, the thicker the shadow. The ugliness of human nature spreads out in the sun, which is the most terrible darkness.
In the story, three young people with different ideals, in the face of powerful reality, some people chose to compromise, some people were pushed to the abyss, and some people saved their loved ones in their own way. In that chaotic era, there is no right or wrong choice, everything is just the most instinctive human nature.
At the end of the story, Li wanted to go to the frontier as he wished, and finally died to save a couple. Wang, who returned home in triumph but was affected by nuclear radiation, and Wang, who was hiding in a small village but still not spared the times, are still looking for each other. At the end of this story, there is an open ending. The friend asked, what will happen to them in the end? I said, they are still alive and trying to find each other, so there must be a happy ending.
The last story happened on 20 12. Zhang was framed by his former boss, lost his client and had to resign. He contacted a family of quadruplets. Originally, it was to attract customers' advertising sponsorship, but it accidentally became his own burden. Zhang, who began to suspect that human nature was evil, finally understood the meaning of kindness when he visited his parents' graves. He treated the quadruplets well and gained the goodwill of their families; He forgave his former boss who had hurt him in good faith. The story didn't explain the result, but I think at least he got inner peace.
Four stories, four lives. Every paragraph has its own pain that cannot be resolved, and there are also joys that outsiders can't see enough. At the end of the film, Zhang said to the quadruplets in the cradle: If you know the life you will face in advance, I wonder if you will have the courage to come?
If it were me, I would still choose to come here.
Although what we see and hear is often frustrating; Although the secular power is very strong, when we run out of short-term youth, we may eventually be unable to resist. However, in this world, there are always people who will be happy because of the appearance of green shoots, who will cheer for the rising sun, give others kindness and warmth, and praise other lives. Even if this person is no longer you, when you see them, please remember that there are more precious things in life than busy life.
The world may be terrible, and human nature may be ugly, but in a certain corner, there is always a kind of kindness and love that can warm you and stop you from despair. I hope you can find that warmth, and I hope you can be the one who gives.