①
"The Great Phantom" is recognized as the originator of prison break films, but "prison break" is not its theme, not even the "anti-war" or "patriotism" often mentioned by later generations.
"You see, in this wild and primitive slaughterhouse once called 'human nature', there are still a few gleams of civilization." Long before Mr. Gustave's sigh, Jean Renoir keenly captured the When it comes to those "dying lights", those shimmering lights, rendered by his poetic realism, are like an ambiguous and tender dream, and this dream about to wake up eventually became Renoir's play for the entire European civilization. 's Requiem.
Shortly after the opening of the film, three French pilots were captured by the German army on a mission. In the prisoner of war camp, they were not tortured, but a sumptuous lunch. The two sides greeted each other in a reserved and friendly manner, and then sat down to eat together. Halfway through the meal, they heard that a soldier on the crashed plane had died of serious injuries, and both sides stood up in silence.
One of the French officers, Podio, was born in a nobleman. He and the German warden Rofenstein, who was also a nobleman, knew each other. Although they were both masters, the two had similar political inclinations. There is also a near-unanimous view of demise.
Rofenstein said: "I don't know who will win this war, but no matter the outcome, the end of the war may mean the demise of each other's family." Podio is calm about this, "You and I can't stop the times. process, we are no longer needed by the civilians.” So the two who should have been arguing with each other sympathized with each other and returned to the prison cell of the prisoner of war camp, but Podio had little contact with those civilians, and was even less interested in their carefully planned escape. lack.
②
"The Great Phantom" spends a lot of space to show the daily life in the prisoner of war camp. People from all walks of life gather here to make jokes and immerse themselves in these life-like bridges. Instead, the war separated by a wall has become a phantom "phantom" .
The depth of field lens provides richness, the director's moral tendencies are well hidden, there is no obvious likes and dislikes, there is no good and evil, they speak different languages, have different viewpoints, but they are all objectively displayed without discrimination.
There was even a New Year's theatrical performance in the prisoner of war camp. When the French soldiers disguised as women heard the news of the victory on the front line, they excitedly rushed to the stage and sang the "Marseille" loudly. The strength of the two sides reversed instantly. They cheered and enjoyed the upside-down camera. On the contrary, the German jailers turned blue with anger. The camera looked around contemptuously for a week and then shot down. They had no choice but to turn around and leave.
At that time, human beings seemed to still retain their last dignity and decency. Fighting against each other on the battlefield was, in the final analysis, just the difference between the objects of allegiance. Even if they were not of our race, they were definitely not pigs and dogs that could be slaughtered at will. In the second half of the film, both her husband and brother were killed in battle. The German widow who raised her young daughter alone took in the French soldiers who had successfully escaped from prison. In the middle of the night, German soldiers passed by, and the young soldiers who asked for directions were polite. If you only watched this film, You can't imagine it was the same people who committed the genocide twenty years later and committed the greatest murder in human history.
③
On the day of the escape, Podio, who had not been involved in the plan until now, offered to lure the jailers away for his fellow civilians. Under the gazes of everyone, he played the piccolo elegantly and contentedly, and then climbed all the way up until he was shot by Rofenstein. knock down. Before his death, faced with Rofenstein's grief and apology, he comforted him: "For ordinary people, dying in war is tragic, but for us, I'm afraid this is the best destination."
It was a moving and noble moment when Rofenstein cut a blooming geranium and placed it on Podio's chest, which he once boasted was "the only flower" in the prison, and now, something more precious may be gone forever .
Zweig once sighed, saying that the last glimmer of civilization in Europe finally disappeared in World War II, and in the war, some things were irreversibly changed after all. Therefore, Podio, who came from a noble family, wanted to die, so Zweig, who was nostalgic for the "stars of the old days", chose to commit suicide on the eve of the victory of World War II. They were the night watchmen of yesterday's world, and they were waiting for the dawn that will never reappear.
So in fact, "The Great Phantom" also has an equally widely accepted translation, "The Great Disillusionment".
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