The parents in the film hope that their daughters will live in a “regulated society” with rules and principles—for example, the British Empire they aspire to. In order to lead to this beautiful new world, the father did not hesitate to destroy the "correct concept" he had established for his daughter over the years, hoping to knock on the door of the new world in a "curve to save the country". Ironically, this beautiful new world is not beautiful in the British film "I Am Blake" that won the Cannes award at the same time as "Graduation Exam" (Palmosa) this year. Therefore, even if the father sends his daughter to the UK as he wishes, it is likely that she will just jump from one fire pit to another. The cruelty in the world, the daughter will have to face it sooner or later, this is also the price of growth.
As returnees, the Romanian middle class, the parents may not be ignorant of this fact, but the more than 20 years of deep quagmire has allowed them to pin their hopes for improvement or change on the next generation. The other world may not be beautiful and may be equally cruel, but compared to the difficult Romanian quagmire, Britain is at best a stagnant pool.
The most gratifying thing about the film is the daughter's choice. She may be just a girl with a broken pattern in Tucson, but her parents have successfully cultivated her (although this success has also deviated from her parents' setting to some extent), a series of ruined encounters She may have hesitated and wavered in the middle, but she did not give up her self-directed spirit. Moreover, at the end of the film, she learned to understand and compromise.
Romania used to be a GCD country. I don't know whether the interpersonal cruelty in a certain historical period caused the aftereffects of today's extremely anti-human society. In any case, the current situation in Romania is indeed similar to the current social situation in our country.
Some people call Mengji the head of Romania (Jia Zhangke). This has to do with the way they reflect their country’s current situation and their international reputation. "Graduation Exam" does have similarities with Jia Zhangke's works in some respects. In addition to realism, Jia Zhangke likes to leave blank or add a bit of imaginary extension, the omission and magic in "The Good Man in Three Gorges", the "out of context" in "The Destiny of Heaven" and the contemporary "Chivalrous of Jianghu", the changes and changes in "The Old Man of Mountains and Rivers" It will be the same in the future. In "Graduation Exam", Mengji left some puzzles and enough room for imagination. Look at Mengji's previous works, such as "April Three Weeks and Two Days", "Beyond the Mountain", and so on. Although there is "room" left, the "Graduation Exam" weaves Romania's "social network" very delicately. This refinement may even make people suspect that Mengji has labelled Romania’s contemporary society, but even so, Mengji will still be our best window to see Romania, just as Jia Zhangke is the best window for the Western world to see Chinese society.
In my opinion, "Graduation Exam" shows more than just critical realism, it has anatomy, reflection, ambiguity, and even tolerance and compassion. In other words, the human society is a gray area, but it is also human nature. And as a father, I cannot guarantee that I will not do the same thing.
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