Many people say that this movie is about the salvation of people and that people should value their families. I didn't see it at all. On the contrary, I think this movie feels very cold-blooded and very cold-blooded. Eastwood wrapped a knife that stings everyone with a seemingly gentle appearance. That is the main theme of this movie-family, in my eyes it is nothing.
In order to illustrate this point, let us first take a look at what kind of person the old man Dongmu plays.
This person is a veteran of World War II. After retiring, he concentrated on his career, indulged in growing flowers, and took his own flowers to participate in various competitions regardless of his family. The wedding can be missed.
Later, with the rise of the Internet, the traditional flower growing market declined (Eastwood complained about the Internet whenever he had the opportunity in the movie). The old man was introduced to the site of Mexican drug lord, so he drove his old pickup truck on the road. Those who do drug trafficking are called mules.
The old man is smart, with a big heart, listening to music and singing songs on the drug trafficking road, tasting food from all over the place, and playing with countless chicks. Because of this unusual path, he has not been caught for so many years. The best of the mules were even met by the top of the drug lords and chatted and laughed at the party with the drug boss, how comfortable.
At the end of the story, the old man learned that his wife was critically ill during a drug trafficking, and despite the threats of the drug lords, he gave up the task and rushed home to see his wife. Unexpectedly, the wife who hated him all his life revealed that he was in love with him from beginning to end and could not forget. He, and he also accompanied his wife through the last moments of his life, attended her funeral, and even the daughter who never talked to him forgave him.
However, the old man was finally caught by the police and went to jail.
With such a touching ending, isn't this movie calling us to return to the family, don't wait until we are old to feel regretful? It's not at all. Please see the following details:
At the wedding of his granddaughter, the old man and his ex-wife had the following conversation:
Ex-wife: "I have never been able to understand why you spend so much time and money on planting flowers"
Old man: "I love flowers, each is unique. They bloom one day, and then they reach the end of life. They are worth my time and energy."
Ex-wife: "The same goes for your family."
A very sharp and poking sentence, like a torture. Looking at the micro-reaction of the old man's expression, it is very interesting and worth watching repeatedly.
He didn't say anything. First he put his smile away, his eyes left the subject of the conversation nervously, his face was embarrassed, his eyes rolled around twice, and finally he fell back to the talker, a few seconds without lines. It's so long:
"Unfortunately, you are not worth it."
Looking at the old man’s motive for being a mule, it is also the most puzzled by the audience: what is he for? If it was to raise money for the granddaughter’s wedding at the beginning, what about afterwards? With his identity and ability, he does not have to do it at all. These illegal things. The answer is very simple. He did this with nothing to do with his family. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do, earn money, exchange for a luxury car, exchange money for respect in the comrades’ club, and eat the best shredded pork in the world. sandwich.
Looking at the ending of the story, the old man went to court. The lawyer was very good. He defended him from the perspectives of "World War II veteran" and "his age." He did not expect the old man to directly say: "Guilty, I am guilty."
Accepted all charges and was sentenced to jail by the judge on the spot.
Please note that at this time he has reconciled with his family, and his daughter who has been severed even invited him to a family gathering on Thanksgiving Day. If he really changes his mind and returns to the family, will he reject the lawyer's efforts to reduce his sentence? He is already very old, why choose to spend his old age in prison? Don't tell me that he is carrying out moral self-punishment. Because next, the most critical scene appeared.
This is also the most telling scene. It is the last shot of the film. This shot shows all the "bad" thoughts of the director-the old man who has been in prison has planted flowers in the prison again.
What a lucky bastard, I even envy him a bit.
Flower is his belief, and he is still free in prison.
From the beginning of abandoning the family, treating the hobby as a career, and becoming a celebrity in the flower growing industry, to later on drug trafficking, to be extremely happy and enjoy the freedom to walk outside the social rules, and then to later rejected the lawyer's defense in the court. Judge yourself for yourself. What he has been doing is to exclude others and dominate his own destiny from beginning to end. A total liberal, to be honest, I didn’t see a taste of redemption, I only saw his family during the whole process—just like Their share in this movie is the same, small and insignificant.
Flowers can be regarded as the ideals of liberals and a sign of their realization of freedom, just like the film is to the director himself. Libertarians spend their entire lives chasing ideals, but the price is to cut off the emotions that are unnecessary with others. People here can be close relatives.
Real, cruel, cold-blooded. It makes us begin to reflect on the relationship between freedom and family, the relationship between relatives, the relationship between freedom and morality, is it really the kind of harmony in front of us?
To be a free man all his life is the ultimate dream that everyone can't realize. However, Eastwood allowed the man in the film to succeed. He was free until he died. The family must make way for liberals who chase ideals. When the old man planted flowers in prison, I thought of Mr. Eastwood, who was in his eighties, sitting behind the monitor, fighting for the film industry.
Isn't he himself who spends his entire life planting flowers?
Many people say that the old man Dongmu is old and his level is not good enough. I think he is still very good this time, and even feels like he is willing to go out and play. He has cut a hole in human emotions with his old manners of performance and excellent acting skills. And deceived the eyes of the audience with the seemingly warm ending, and I have to say that this cunning old man has completed the most chic curtain call in his film career.
Tribute to Eastwood, the florist.
View more about The Mule reviews
