Imprisoning Existentialism's Desire Prison

Isabell 2022-03-13 08:01:01

At the beginning of the film, the suspenseful soundtrack placed by Eiji Okada when he was walking in the desert instantly made people feel a strong urge to explore the follow-up of the film, and achieved it with the complementary panorama composition and scene switching. A weird sound and picture dislocation. The character state is more eye-catching and attractive. Eiji Okada's ever-spreading personal emotions reminded me of the mental state of Rudiger Fogler at the beginning of "Alice in the City". We don't know where they are going and why, but However, he was deeply attracted by his nihilistic temperament that he had something to say and was not clear about. Both of them have memories of past events wrapped in confusion, and they both try to self-solve their doubts in a laissez-faire attitude. One uses a car as a tool of action to roam freely in the city, and the other uses his legs to appreciate the flexibility and oppression of the sand. It can be seen that both works have the creative intention of capturing the movement characteristics of the characters to emphasize the influence of the environment on the individual. The difference is that the latter shows more specific details of the environment, and is more willing to highlight the real texture hidden in the illusion. In "The Girl of Sand", the visual image of sand is an indispensable part of the core of the text. It represents the helplessness and hardship of blurring the concept of time of the heroine, and it also has the intention of social discipline to limit the freedom of the hero. The ingenious utility is the spiritual externalization of those who were helpless and helpless in the process of Japan's post-war economic development. The male protagonist's inner monologue on the sand shortly after the opening voice-over says: "All those documents... contracts, licenses, ID cards, deeds of assignment, registrations, checks, IOUs, diplomas, temporary residence permits, membership cards, custody certificates, even It's a family tree... what's the use? Maybe I forgot to prove something... Men and women, because of some strange factor, are forced to prove their innocence with some new evidence. No one knows where the last one is, there seems to be no end. You and I fight, there's always something to fight about. "This splendid monologue, which is poured out in the audio-visual language of the static composition and the overlapping of female faces and sand, is full of existential philosophical implications. However, although we are deeply attracted by the unique tone of its images, it is difficult for us to Knowing what kind of situation this sudden image quality will put into the subsequent plot, and I am full of doubts about whether the middle and back stages will fall into the same genre. But after seeing it, we gradually discovered that from the male protagonist to the female protagonist's house Afterwards, the plot trend is not driven by dramatic events, but is full of more elusive characters and detailed actions. For example, the male protagonist's subconscious disapproval when talking with the female protagonist during dinner, and holding a watch at night The sad face in the close-up of the time, the psychedelic images of the female protagonist's body and the sand, and even the uneasy capture of the male protagonist's head hitting the umbrella and the window frame twice are different from the popular narrative of genre films. It is the normal operation under the framework. It is these "idle brushes" that make the slightly strange drama core turn to the deep intention of depicting the inner changes of the characters under the nuanced motion capture. "After each other's narrative strategy, all the ambiguity seems quite interesting. Whether it is the collective consciousness of the villagers working together to shovel sand at night, the conflict of the male protagonist's water source control, and the imprisoning incident where the spirit and body are tempted by double intrusion. , are inseparable from existential dialectical thinking, and they all undoubtedly continue the discussion of social issues that cannot be fully summarized in the monologue. In Camus' book "The Outsider", we clearly see the series of trials that the protagonist Meursault suffered for his murder. He confessed to the crime, subconsciously asking others to try to understand the motives of why he was in this situation. However, the political and legal system and social public opinion are always bypassing the psychological analysis that should be carried out on him, and instead try to destroy a lonely soul who has good intentions but rarely achieves good results by demonizing his previous good image. The negative effects of his family, friends, past resumes, and childhood memories, which have been "purified" after being packaged and distorted, have become human flaws worthy of a "big book", making him the only one in the world. "Outsiders" who have nothing to do with the case but have to be tried. The modern consciousness of Camus enabled him to focus on the spiritual confusion beyond the physical pain, and to pay close attention to every individual victimized by the political and legal system, spiritual violence, and social public opinion with hope. This also opens up a free humanitarian road that is different from Marxism. On the other hand, the male protagonist of this film is a modern man who is consciously aware that his individual will is gradually being marginalized by the tide of economic development, so to a certain extent he is willing to step into a wild land and experience being a self-imposed exile. the repelled individual. Both focus on alienation, so it seems that the two have similarities. But what makes this film different from "The Outsider" is that it pays more attention to the pathology of the times hidden behind the absurd, that is, the context of the process of environmental alienation of individuals, rather than the real pain point of a scalpel-style analysis of why the individual itself alienates itself. Therefore, from the perspective of the basic setting of the film text, its conception has not reached the height of Camus' speculation. But it is indeed more in line with the context of the era of the mental outlook of the post-war generation in Japan at that time. When we look back and smooth out the plot of the film, we will find that the apparent story of this film is actually not complicated. It is nothing more than an entomologist who has to settle in a village in the desert due to missing a bus on a field trip, but is imprisoned by a woman who does not have much malicious intent, and confronts a group of people who want him to dig wells here for the rest of his life. Weird villagers. Therefore, what really makes us feel clear and difficult to distinguish is actually the huge amount of information hidden behind these seemingly unrelated plots. After figuring out the plot, we can make it clear that the next development of the story will not revolve around the discussion of men and women's private affairs, but will focus on subtle changes that are difficult to detect at the psychological level of the male protagonist. Will he do everything he can to escape the village and return to the "reality" world where he lacks a sense of identity, or will he resign himself to the iron-clad miniature "Utopia" model after the failure of his resistance The irrational pleasure of the second reshaping has naturally become the most interesting part of the film. The unresolved place that people look forward to and are fascinated by. In the end, this cowardly and humiliated entomologist finally ushered in an excellent opportunity to escape due to the turning point of the female protagonist's pregnancy, but he replaced the desire of his heart with the self-paralysis mechanism created by the alienation of space. , thereby giving up the chance to regain his freedom. The unexpected and reasonable choice of the male protagonist can't help but make people sigh, but what makes me even more emotional is what the female protagonist said to the male protagonist when she was forced to leave the sandpit after being pregnant: I don't want this, no, no . The expression on her face when she said this may contain a sense of guilt after awakening, or a warning to the male protagonist not to let Zi Liu be willing to be assimilated, but no matter what kind of meaning, it points to her "break away" The existential brilliance of that moment in the giant bunker.

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Extended Reading
  • Gail 2022-04-23 07:05:20

    The human body is wonderfully likened to a sand dune. Another variant of Sisyphus: found that falling rocks can generate electricity, and electricity can push rocks up with less effort.

  • Stanford 2022-04-23 07:05:20

    A perfect breath-taking film, impeccable on every level, from the writing, to the cinematography, to the philosophy, to the score, to the metaphors, to the acting and editing. There are so many metaphors in the bunker that it covers almost everything in human society. The close-up of parts of the human body and gravel, the expression of eroticism, the process of the male protagonist from struggling to falling, two and a half hours and not a minute is boring.

Woman in the Dunes quotes

  • Entomologist Niki Jumpei: The certificates we use to make certain of one another: contracts, licenses, ID cards, permits, deeds, certifications, registrations, carry permits, union cards, testimonials, bills, IOUs, temporary permits, letters of consent, income statements, certificates of custody, even proof of pedigree. Is that all of them? Have I forgotten any? Men and women are slaves to their fear of being cheated. In turn they dream up new certificates to prove their innocence. No one can say where it will end. They seem endless.

  • Entomologist Niki Jumpei: Shall I - brush off the sand?

    Woman: But, aren't all the city girls prettier than me?

    Entomologist Niki Jumpei: Nonsense! Give me the cloth.