About "Wildfire"
Zhao Song's
war made the simplest normal life very precious. In the shadow of the suffering and death of war, a stable meal, a cigarette of poor quality, a bird flying leisurely, or a ray of morning sunshine or a shower may become the most beautiful memory. . Of course this is just the surface. Through it, what needs to be seen is that the violent force of war ruthlessly pushes human beings to inhumanity, and when human beings are struggling in an inhuman state and trying to return to a human state, the so-called human nature, it is possible With a shocking appearance, it presents its mottled and ambiguous complex face. Understanding human nature is a difficult process. Presenting human nature is a cruel process. Because of its difficulty and cruelty, it is truly profound and shocking.
In "The Burmese Harp", Ichichuankun tried to discuss the settlement of the dead. In this film "Wildfire", which is also a war theme, all he has to do is to deeply examine the fragmentation of human nature in extreme predicaments, as well as the weak and tenacious efforts to preserve the bottom line of human nature. What is here is not a story, but a fact, and some is not caring and comforting for the soul, but breaking its shell, making its fragile pulp fully present and immersed in the quagmire. Is this an absurd event? It seems to me that such words are precisely to be avoided here. Because the facts presented by this film are so specific, its purpose is obviously not to explore the so-called philosophy of existence, but to directly point to the fragility, brittleness, sadness and confusion of human nature in existence itself. In the face of such facts, we have to say that what is more cruel than the absurd is the so-called last struggle of human nature in extreme predicaments.
The Japanese soldier on the Philippine battlefield was pushed by his squad leader to the field hospital because of his illness, and then pushed back by the hospital. Finally, he had to devote himself to the wilderness. This process is obviously absurd. But since this time, he has also been pushed away from the absurd situation. From a participant in the absurd, he became a thorough experiencer and observer of the ultimate dilemma. He is no longer a man at war in the general sense, and in his footsteps, the war has become an abstract background, the overall predicament itself. Like others, he could not participate in the war process, but could only face the despair brought by the war and the extreme environment where he could not even obtain the minimum survival conditions. His wish has become very simple, that is, to survive and live a normal, ordinary life. In his body, the first thing to fall off is the element of the Japanese soldier. He rushed into the town with the church, and what happened was not a religious event, but the final killing, stabbing a dog with a bayonet and killing a local girl with a bullet. He didn't want to, but the unexpected scream made him pull the trigger out of a soldier's instinct. Then he dropped the gun. He knew he was meaningless as a soldier. He had to take off this shell before it was possible to find the way again and return to the human world.
During his long and monotonous trek, he discarded everything that could be thrown away, except for the salt and food for basic survival, and that bit of humanity. Death followed him all the way, but it wasn't scary, what was really scary was the danger of losing that last bit of humanity. He is also willing to let others share his salt. He would also like to be able to go with other people. He was also willing to follow orders from officers. But he is not willing to eat human flesh for survival like others. This is his bottom line. Perhaps this is the reason why he kept walking. This made him different from the others present. Because what he wants is not only to survive, but also to survive like a normal person, not in an inhuman way. Obviously, the inhuman way in his mind can't really return to a normal life even if he can survive, and he can't be a normal person anymore. This is the last thread tethered between his body and soul.
In the process of survival, people's greed, hypocrisy, cruelty, deceit, and ruthlessness are undoubtedly vividly reflected. But there are also subtle emotions that ebb and flow in it, giving him a little light and hope. For example, the Japanese soldier who hunted the same kind of jerky and called it "monkey hunting", although he did not shoot him as a "monkey" because he had lung disease and couldn't eat it, but in the end he "saved" his life. , and the little sustenance of this "emotion" has to face a serious problem: the relationship between human and non-human. He was "saved" by this ruthless hunter, but he could not accept the man's inhuman state. In the end, he was the one who broke off this person's inhuman struggle for life. Among his few remaining beliefs, there seems to be only one real one, that people, not inhumans, must survive. But the price of this behavior is also huge, that is, he has to face the ultimate dilemma alone, survival, human, anyway, he killed people, killed the people who saved him, his comrades, companions, even though he still He is guarding the bottom line of human nature that does not eat human flesh, but on the other hand, he has entered an inhuman situation, in another way. Therefore, he must end this state no matter what, and return to the state of human beings. Regardless of whether there is a normal human life or not, he must return to the state of normal human beings. Even if it's just a dead normal person.
Finally, facing the wildfire that ignited not far away, where the bullets are hidden, he knew that the time had come, and he had a chance to return to a normal state. All he had to do was open his mind and throw it there, no matter what What was given to him there, the result was the same, that he became a normal person again. The purpose itself is liberation and the end. he made it. In this sense, he still dominates his own destiny after all, and achieves his goal in his own way.
Monday, October 20, 2008
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