The film tells the story of a small border town in southern Russia, a plumbing repairman Jima accidentally found a residential building that had been in disrepair and had signs of "dangerous buildings" while on duty. He tossed and turned after returning home in the middle of the night. Thinking that there were more than 800 people living in the building, he immediately got up and used the architectural knowledge he was learning by himself to repeatedly calculate on the manuscript paper, and finally calculated that the building would collapse in the early morning of the next day. He was about to go out and ask the city government for help, but his mother and wife strongly opposed him to protect the whole family. After much consideration, Jima decided to go to the female mayor Nina first.
At this time, the female mayor was drinking and singing wildly, celebrating her 50th birthday with her subordinates like a dream. Ji Ma's reckless arrival ruined the atmosphere of the whole party. After verifying the situation, Nina found that this was a big hole left by years of corruption, and no one could fill it. Under the guidance of the secretary, she decided not to do anything, but kept going, including Jima, Chief Jima, and the police chief. The three included were the victims of a political game.
After being pushed out of the whirlpool of political struggle at the cost of his life by his boss who was madly complaining about, Jima rushed home like a madman, packed his luggage, brought his wife and children to prepare to escape. When passing through a residential building, he did not see the fire trucks and police officers that the government had promised to send to evacuate the people. Ji Ma was heartbroken and decided to bid farewell to his wife and children and come forward. Under the darkness of night, he ran into the dark and filthy building with cracked walls, knocking every inhabitant from house to house, floor by floor. The people living in the building are the people at the bottom of the small town, including drunkards who often beat their wives and children, gamblers who play cards all night, and drug addicts who have powerless cats in the corridors... They are just as indifferent, philistine and insensitive as Lu Xun's petty citizens. Little did he realize that he was on the brink of desperation. After being evacuated downstairs, the restless crowd beat up Ji Ma under the instigation of others... The last frame of the movie was frozen on the back of Ji Ma, who was lying alone in front of the building after being knocked out.
Kind and brave "fools" like Jima seem to be particularly admired in Russian culture (Holy Fool), and they are indispensable in Russian classic literature. Kazan saint Korisha, who is revered by the people, is restless and wealthy, and regards the future of his motherland and solving the suffering of peasants as his ultimate goal in life; a warm-hearted "idiot" - Duke Meshkin; friendly and upright but regarded as a mental patient Locked up Dr. Latin... Berdyaev called these fools "the wanderers of the Russian land." They were modest in their hearts and refused to compromise with the mighty world for some noble, pure, mysterious longing in their hearts. Even at the expense of confrontation with reason, and then roaming alone in the ideal and the other side of the city. Their compassion and sympathy for those who lost their social status, fell into darkness, were insulted and persecuted were unmatched by any other nation.
Different from the carefree and free-spirited "everyone is drunk and I wake up alone" in the context of traditional Chinese culture, the image of the Russian "Holy Fool" is melancholy, lonely, and contains a strong Dionysian irrational atmosphere. , he originated in the 16th century, and its behavior and spiritual connotations draw on the essence of Byzantine Christianity, folk polytheism and shamanic culture. "Holy Fool" is not only a character image, but also as a moral code has already entered the consciousness of Russians following the laws of culture, and profoundly affects the formation of Russians' character.
Ji Ma in the movie does not have the madness and madness of the traditional "Holy Fool" image, but he did not hesitate to quarrel with his family for the lives of more than 800 people in the residential building. The sense of loneliness and holiness in the streets is so similar to the "holy fools" who roamed the gloomy, vast wasteland in Russian history. The mystery of their behavior in the disorderly transition between good and evil, redemption and sin, the other side and the other side (Wang Zhigeng), cannot appeal to rational and logical cognition, and can only be attributed to its thousands of years traditional Orthodox culture.
Director Yuri Bykov said in an interview that people were very angry that he put characters in the film in a position where it was difficult to have a moral solution, because those characters either ruined their lives or went against their conscience. He explained: “All my films are basically about the choice between your conscience and your survival… Of course, if forced to choose between your conscience and your survival, everyone chooses to survive. But then the value of our conscience Where? Human ability to choose is what interests me the most. Can we change? I hope we can, or we're screwed. Because if we can't, then what do you believe? Of course, we have to believe in something. Especially in this country."
The most fundamental and deepest aspect of the Russian national character is its religiousness, and its associated pursuit of absolute goodness, which can only be achieved in the kingdom of heaven. The messianic spirit of salvation of the "idiots" is so unreasonable in the world. They yearn for the lofty and pure truth and the transcendental world, but at the same time they are faced with the emptiness, decay and worthlessness of the world. roaming through the chasm, resulting in a misty despair and "autumn-like sadness" (Xu Baogeng), lonely and melancholy, as Victor Choi sings in the film's theme song: ""
The roof trembled under the weight of the day
Flying shepherd boy chasing clouds
The city shoots a shuttle of light into the night
The night is so dark
The power is boundless
those who lay down to sleep
good night
the night is so silent
those who lay down to sleep
good night
…”
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