Watching the movie "Cold Mountain" many years ago, I only saw the difficult love in the war, because I was attracted by the beauty of Ada (played by Nicole Kidman) and the handsomeness of Inman (played by Jude Law). An actor in full bloom. Especially when I was blinded by the halo of Ada's heroine.
I revisited this film a few days ago, and then turned out the original book to read it, only to find out that in this film, the love between Ada and Inman will never end and bring hope to Lengshan. It was actually Ruby — the goofy-looking country girl with the chubby face, the unkempt hair, and the filthy body — Ruby.
Renee Zellweger won many Best Supporting Actress awards including Oscar and Golden Globe for the role of Ruby. It can be seen that both from the perspective of performance and the work itself, Lu This character is quite successful.
Like Ada, Ruby was born without ever seeing her mother. But Ada was regarded by her father as the jewel in her palm, and she did her best to give Ada love and the best material life.
And Ruby has a nasty father. Ruby grew up living in a pigsty-like shack with her idle gangster father. According to Ruby, her father hoped that she should be able to walk, so she should support herself. Ruby's father was often away from home, so Ruby had to pick wild fruits to eat in the forest, or go to the town to ask the villagers for something to eat.
In Ruby's memory, one day in her childhood, she asked the villagers for a bowl of bean soup to drink. On the way home, her pajamas were caught by the thorns of the sloe tree by the river. No one passed by on the road all afternoon. , That cold night, Ruby, who was only four years old, stayed by the tree until she was found and rescued the next day. When he got home, his father didn't even ask Ruby why he didn't come home all night.
A little older, Ruby often went into the mountains in search of food. Ruby is very familiar with the forests of Cold Mountain and often spends the night alone in the mountains. Where there is a cave to shelter from the wind and snow, and where there is a wooden house for temporary residence, Ruby knows very well.
Ruby learned to farm at a young age, and she can handle all farm work easily, like a man. The father and daughter often rely on Ruby to farm the land and barely wrap their belly, and the father is always invisible for three days or two.
Although childhood is so tragic and life is so hard, Ruby is like a weed with tenacious vitality, fighting against the cruel life fearlessly, and always trying to grow upwards.
In fact, it was Ruby who supported Ada to stay in Lengshan and wait for her love.
Inman went to the front as soon as the war broke out, and Ada's father died shortly after. Ada has no relatives, neither farming nor cooking. Neighbors once persuaded Ada to return to her hometown to seek refuge with relatives. At that time, Ada was helpless. She even took a mirror and looked into the well, hoping See your future. When she decides to stay, well-meaning neighbors approach Ruby.
Ruby is a hardworking, kind, brave, and independent girl.
In the original novel, Ruby's appearance is described in great detail, with a thin upper body, wide hip bones, a body as strong as a horse pulling a sledge, and dark skin. The author also wrote about Ruby's feet: "She had no shoes, but her feet were clean and her toenails were like gray scales."
As soon as Ruby came out, the noisy cock was screwed off in an instant. This scene in the movie shocked many viewers.
Ruby was as capable as she said she was, experienced in farming, and quick to work. She knows every inch of the land under her feet, and she tells Ada, grow radishes, onions here, cabbage, lettuce, and greens over there... The barn needs to be repaired, a few chickens, a few pigs, and we have to make our own apples liquor……
Ruby got up early every day, had a very regular life, and kept all the work on the farm in good order. She bartered Ada's piano and coffee for winter food and livestock. Ruby taught Ida to farm, repair the barn, hunt, make cider, and they read together in the evening after a day's work.
Under Ruby's management, the farm is rejuvenated and brings hope to Ada.
Ruby ties Ada closely to the farm and to Cold Mountain. So, what is the relationship between Ruby and Ada?
From the very beginning, Ruby and Ida made three chapters, emphasizing that he is not an employee, not a servant, and the two are equal. So, when Inman returned from the battlefield four years later, Ada told Inman that she had to ask Ruby's permission to keep Inman on the farm because Ruby was her friend. Ruby will always live on the farm unless Ruby doesn't want to live anymore.
In fact, it was Ruby who supported Ada to stay in Lengshan and wait for love. The pampered Ada could not have survived in Cold Mountain without Ruby. Everyone knows this, including Ada herself. So it was written in the novel that Ada knew that everyone else would leave the farm when bored and let themselves fend for themselves, but Ruby would not leave her alone.
In the movie "Cold Mountain", many plots of the original novel have been greatly adapted, but the plot about Ruby has hardly changed. From any angle, Ruby is a pivotal figure in this work, and without her, this work would have no soul.
When watching movies, we can easily see the difficult love in war. But in fact, under the love, this work has been conveying a kind of hope through the character of Ruby, the hope for life, the hope for life.
It is precisely because of hope that Ada can endure the torment of missing; Inman will abandon the war and embark on the road home; because of hope, the love between Ada and Inman will be eternal.
Why do you say that? Let's first look at the background of the era in which the story takes place: the period of the American Civil War.
The whole story happens to take place in the four years from the outbreak to the end of the Civil War. Cold Mountain is a remote town in the South. If you are familiar with the history of the American Civil War, you will know that the battlefield was mainly in the South at that time, and the black slave system was gradually being abolished. The people in the South live in war and turmoil and face danger at any time.
At that time, there were no black slaves in Ada's family, and her father hired a white landless couple to farm for them. At the beginning of the war, the white couple ran away. Ada's once prosperous life was completely shattered with the outbreak of the war and the death of her father.
Reading, painting, and playing the piano cannot be wrapped around the belly. Ada has no skills to make a living, and life suddenly fell from heaven to hell.
When Ada is desperate, Ruby appears. Ruby has all the virtues of a country girl: kindness, optimism, hard work, tenacity. She is the embodiment of hope.
Between Ida, Ruby and the farm, the relationship between man and the land is reflected. Ada stays in this land because of love, and Ruby belongs to this land; Ada is a stranger to Cold Mountain at first, and her lonely state puts her in danger, and it is Ruby who rescues her .
The whole atmosphere of the film is rather gloomy and sad, even in summer, in the lively scenes of the farm, the shadow of war is everywhere. Ruby, on the other hand, is a brighter shade of gloom. No matter how hard and dangerous life is, Ruby is not afraid, full of confidence in the future, conforms to nature, and lives strong and optimistic on this land.
Whenever, in the face of war, ordinary people have no choice, they can only use all their strength to pursue the present life. Even with the flames of war and the smoke of gunpowder, they still look forward to a better future. So it can be said that Ruby is the epitome of the millions of ordinary people who yearn for peace in the war.
Fortunately, the future is always bright, and the beauty of life will surely come. At the end of the film, ten years after the end of the war, the summer is shady, the sun is just right, the big table under the pear tree on the farm is filled with hearty food, and in the laughter, we see a new big family.
Ai He and Ruby have both become mothers and new life is thriving.
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