: 1993 Produced by: Australia/Italy Director: Love De Hill Starring: Nicholas Hope/ Carmore
Johnson
Only because the fool is purer, and the brain of the fool may be rougher and more direct, can the emptiness and guilt of all living beings be brought out. Actors who play fools often win awards and laurels because of their patience and pretend to be foolish. Although limited to the obscure subject matter and boldness of the picture, the R-rated black comedy [Bad Boy Barbie] has not entered the mainstream film market. , its appearance still caused an uproar. As an Australian film [Bad Boy Barbie], it caused a strong shock at the Venice Film Festival in 1993, and won a special award from the jury. At home in Australia, it is well-deserved and won four awards including the AFI Film Award for Best Director. Starring Nicholas Hope was also awarded Best Actor for his outstanding performance in this film by an obscure lover. Among them, how much is the role of the "fool effect", we do not know. Up to now, the miserable "Bad Boy Barbie" seems to have disappeared from the crowd, but many film critics still think that [Bad Boy Barbie] deserves to be remembered in the history of the film. The emergence of this phenomenon, in addition to the film's arrogant and bold incest themes that are not tolerated by the mainstream social perspective, the complexity and depth of the film's own concern for human beings, is also difficult to touch in the spiritual world of ordinary audiences.
1. Born in the Wild
Known as the "black comedy" [Bad Boy Barbie] has no comedy elements at the beginning. The 35-year-old Barbie in the forbidden room has blank and dull eyes. His friends only have cockroaches and an unfortunate cat. His daily entertainment is Imitating mothers, torturing cats and cockroaches. The mother is the one who imprisoned him, insulted him, beat him, and incested him. He pulled out all the cockroaches' legs and watched the helpless cockroaches struggling hard, while his mother could let him sit alone in the empty room with just one word, not daring to move. Bobby is sad. He wants to know the outside world. His mother told him that the outside world is poisonous. He wants to understand the basics of survival, but he can only sit alone in an empty room. But the mother put her strong arm around Bobby's neck from behind, and covered Bobby's face with the other hand. After a moment of silence, Bobby began to struggle because of suffocation, and his mother let go abruptly and said, "This is—breathing."
If mother is the limit of human ugliness, then Bobby's father exceeded the limit. When he appeared on the stage, he was a close-up of a face full of stubble, smell of alcohol, and hypocritical speech. His mouth is full of slickness, full of lies, but he can deceive his mother Florence, and this man has taught Bobby to call him "Dad". Bobby also learned obscene language to molest his mother from him. Ironically, what Bobby got from his father was the Roman collar used by the priest, as well as the vivid ability to flirt with his mother. So finally one day, when he used the same lewd tone to molest his mother, he was kicked out of the room by his angry father and his mother who was afraid of exposing the crime of incest. At this time, he still thought that the outside was full of poisonous gas, wearing Putting on a gas mask, he took a hoarse breath, and made an effort for his "survival" for the first time.
In the literary sense, "the man in the trap" is Belikov who imprisoned himself in the sheath, and the man in the trap in the film is Bobby himself. His double shackles, both mental and physical, are given by his parents. The mother tricked Baby into being full of poisonous gas, and put on a gas mask to imprison his body. The mother preached to Baby that "God is watching, I will execute it" to imprison his spirit, and she also prostituted his body and completely lost his humanity. . This may be the concept that director Love de Hill wants to express. A child born in this world will be imprisoned in the body, imprisoned in the spirit, and dirty in the body. And it was not just Babi who was soiled, but the whole human being, Babi, the son of man. The opening of such a movie will make most moviegoers shy away, shocked by the shocking and dirty picture and plot, and shocked by the repression and ugliness of more human beings alluded to behind the film. It is said that in the early stage of creation, Love de Hill tried a 1.66:1 distortion lens to shoot this story in the room, which made the already depressing plot even more unbearable and almost claustrophobic The phobia, for which Love de Hill had to undo the distortion, still circulated widely about the 30 minutes hailed as black by moviegoers.
The 30-minute demarcation point is the first climax of the film. After the world created by the small prison is finally seen through by Barbie, he angrily smashes this false world. In the hell of giggling and beatings created by drunken parents. He picked up the plastic wrap, wrapped it around his parents' heads, and the world was quiet. From then on, like a bird emerging from its shell, Bobby finally fluttered his heavy wings to the outside world. The son of mankind who killed his father and mother inadvertently finally fell to the ground with the original sin in the true sense.
2. The man in the mirror, the copy cat
child began to imitate his parents from birth, and Bobby, who was imprisoned in a secret room, was undoubtedly the best practitioner. Because of his isolation from the world, he practiced imitation for 35 years, which made him His ability is so perfect that it is like a mirror reflecting the words and deeds of others.
Whether it is intentional or not, the plot setting of this work coincides with the French psychologist Lacan's "mirror stage" theory. The mirror stage, as the name suggests, refers to the infancy of human beings who have no ability to distinguish between themselves and others, and will perform meaningless imitation of the behavior of others. Babies realize their own existence only by misunderstanding themselves as others, and the process of self-recognition is full of expectations and illusions for any human being. Bobby regards imitating the image of others as a way of self-improvement. In prison, he imitated the cat, imitated his mother, imitated his father, and after leaving prison, he imitated everyone he saw.
Bobby's transformation process is full of pains. The film gives a close-up of Bobby who escaped from prison. Behind him, there are thousands of lights in the night. A peculiar smile appeared from the corner of his innocent and straight mouth. He passed through the garbage dump created by the twisting machine of the city, and his lonely and small figure shrank under the huge lamp. For the first time in his life, he came into contact with a woman other than his mother during the singing of the hymn. He was kicked out of the store, he was dazed by the world of the day, he was shocked by the destructive power of the chainsaw by the brutish man, he was infected by the child's innocence but was thrown out of the store by the clerk, he was scolded and scolded, and he repeated the dirty words of the gangster to the police, He was beaten to the ground, and he beat the supermarket clerk unsurprisingly. And in the old dilapidated room, the mirror that shackled him in one corner gradually shattered.
In the film, Bobby repeats the absurd misunderstanding caused by the "mirror phase" imitation behavior, imitating his mother to tape the cat, the cat dies, and then the parents, and then the parents die. The world gave him abuse and violence, and he returned it to the world with abuse and violence. He was both an unreserved bearer and an unreasonable avenger; he copied the absurdity of mankind and returned the absurdity to mankind. He took the cat with him until it stinks of corpses. The word copy cat is also synonymous with imitators in criminology, and the unfortunate kittens that appear frequently are probably the reflection in the mirror of Barbie. On the surface, he seems to repeat the words and deeds of others without any change. After experiencing a life full of joys and sorrows, he gradually began to selectively use these "tools" given by the world, and he gradually learned through these experiences that he You don't need to live by imitation. Because he initially formed a self-concept by recognizing the existence of "difference". When the child can understand the self-image from the mirror and the difference from others, the mirror stage will come to an end.
3. Religion, music, women, the trinity of redemption
mother and father should be a pair of beautiful words. In the social attributes of the family, mother represents love and understanding, while father represents reason and strength. In order to shape a complete social personality, transform a weak and ignorant newborn baby from a biological entity into a social entity. This process should be complete and sound, but the film strips away the existence of parents, and uses religion, music, and women to open up Bobby's intellect.
The cross of Jesus became the sword of Damocles that his mother hung over Baby's head, and the priest's Roman collar was the deceitful prop of his father. Religion played a crucial role in the growth of Baby's tragedy. He always repeats his mother's words, "God sees everything! If he tells me you move, I'll punch you out of your head!" But he doesn't know how many absurd things have been done to him in the name of religion. So the film's most drastic dissection comes from a scientist:
"...it is the duty of all human beings to believe that God does not exist, so that we will have a future, because only then will we be able to take our own responsibility, And that's what you have to do! Barbie: Believe that God doesn't exist, take your own responsibility!"
Such words will undoubtedly cause discomfort for religious people, and also cause the polarization of the film's evaluation, Barbie's The star, Nicholas Hope, happens to be a Catholic himself, and despite the kindness of Love de Hill, he still finds it difficult to accept the film's attitude toward religion. Audiences have also accused the film of misogyny for its repeated nudity scenes, and even animal protection groups have joined in protesting the kitten that died during filming.
Here, Love de Hill may not want to push religion to the altar, but he severely refuted some human beings who commit crimes in the name of religion. There is an intriguing dialogue in the film that takes place in Babi. With the band friends, the friends used the canvas to draw a picture to Bobby and even to the viewers: people of the same faith but killing each other; people who believe that suicide can reach the other side; people who believe in fusion and non-violence, but Killing by violence, killing and being killed means nothing. The director once again expressed his point of view through this dialogue: do not commit sins in the name of God, and human beings should shoulder their responsibilities.
If religion played a negative role in Babi's growth, music is undoubtedly a positive and vital aspect. Bobby's world travels with music, he follows the chants to meet women, he listens to rock music and makes friends, he is inspired by the organ to enter the church, and he takes the stage with the sound of the guitar. The role of music in bringing people to goodness is shown in two very freehand plots in the film: one is that Bobby, who is robbing a supermarket by his evil deeds, passes through a warehouse, but sees a girl who looks like an angel. Playing the violin, the song ended, and the echoes echoed around the beams. She raised her hand gently, as if the villain Babi was redeeming; the second was Babi who was in prison, eager to escape with the wild and free bagpipes resounding through the sky. Born to heaven, he was dragged into a deeper prison. In these two scenes, music becomes a symbol of beauty and truth, music is noble, pure and divine. And Bobby, who has become attached to music, is also thought-provoking while making people laugh. When he was desperate, a rock band took him in and wrote lyrics and sings for him. After the calamity was over, Bobby followed the music to find them. After being greeted by his friends, Bobby stood on the stage and picked up the microphone. , and began to roar at the world with the singing, he repeated abuse, teasing, obscene words, but the audience was infected by his sincerity, Bobby on stage had a kind of "the world laughs at me so crazy, I laugh at the world can't see it. Wearing" spiritual appeal, his irritability may be laughter and curses or poisonous needles and drugs, he faithfully reflects the morbidity and madness of modern society.
Obsessed with his mother and killed his father, Bobby's behavior has long been explained by the Oedipus plot. In the film, the mother is not the last stop for him to chase women. Since he has no sense of shame, every time he encounters a woman with a fat body like his mother, he will come forward to talk, flirt, and touch. This instinct-driven behavior is not concealed. It is interesting that different women have different reactions. He has met girls in the choir, met rich and rich girls, he was redeemed by the music of violin girls, seduced by rock flesh and blood... Too many women appeared in his life. And women either cleanse his face, shave and bathe him, or give him meals, or "frankly meet each other", or add fists and feet together. There is not only the greatness of motherhood, but also the interweaving of sexual desire and sensuality, and there is also resistance to sexual harassment. Women make men grow, and Bobby turns from an instinctive beast to a man who doesn't do anything, and all this is because of the appearance of Bobby's real woman, the interesting thing is that her name happens to be called Angel (ANGEL). ).
The best part of the film is at the end. Bobby stood on the stage and sang a song that flirted with her mother. The singing reached a climax. He combined with the inflatable doll, the pure mother in the symbol, and the "angel" in reality. The rock music faded, the chants rang, religion, music, and women finally became a trinity. From then on, Baby, the child who carried the original sin of mankind was finally saved by the female "angel".
Lonely Walker, the intertwined life of the director and the actor.
It's hard to find two similar Love de Hill movies, he seems to be able to master any subject, and his film style is also hard to find. In [Super Perfect Revenge], he left us It's the wife's ruthless revenge on her husband. In [Stalker], he talks about the fierce struggle between races. In [Ten Canoes], he explores kinship with indigenous families as a unit, [Dr. ] simply played the trick of paying homage to sci-fi silent films. Judging from the film, he seems to be quite critical of religion, race, and marriage. If you look more closely, you can feel the language of his filming and the way he tells the story. When filming an interview with [Stalker], he once described that he wanted to create a kind of isolated society and a small environment, and most of his films do exactly that, in Barbie's room, In the workshop of the scientist, on the stage of the tavern, he shrinks the space limited by the view of the audience, and by "shrinking" he also enlarges something, and this is his quality, he was born in the Netherlands in 1951. He spent his childhood in Indonesia, and his family moved to Australia when he was eight years old. The wandering life did not give him a concept of life as a white Australian. He was not limited to the concept of land, religion, race, etc. Life gave him a detached scrutiny, which created a lonely world for himself when he could not quickly integrate into an environment.
Love de Hill's detached vision also uncovered a great acting talent, Nicholas Hope. The director discovered his outstanding acting ability in a 19-minute self-reported short play [Confessor Caressor], in which he played a murderous rapist who confessed in front of the camera, although the film has fakes such as [Man Biting a Dog]. The documentary tribute is included, but this short play has undoubtedly revealed his outstanding talent and ability to grasp the atmosphere of the performance. Nicholas Hope's performance in [Barbie] is particularly outstanding. Hope's performance is good at grasping the details of the characters' psychological activities and expressions. And emotional catharsis is more rigid and weak. And as Bobby came to the outside world, Hope perfectly showed the gradual display of this emotion. With the growth of experience and the enrichment of emotions, Bobby's expressions and eyes have become more abundant and complete. It can be said that Nicholas not only gave life to the character, but also gave the character a life cycle. Since the film that launched his acting career, Nicholas Hope has been active in the Australian and American television and film industry. As if to prove himself right, the director also included an interview with Nicholas Hope and a short film she once performed in the DVD tidbits. Also worth noting are some of the details of the filming.
The film cost only $750,000, but it used a record 32 cinematographers. It is amazing that Love was able to combine the film footage taken by these different cameramen, choose and delete them. The final work is a complete, organic whole with few flaws, and many materials give people the feeling that they are viewed from the perspective of human eyes. In addition, he also used more advanced sound recording technology. The low-frequency humming that was suppressed at the beginning of the film, and the trembling of Bobby's throat when he made his voice were all recorded by the recording equipment. These inexplicable noises also have a different sense of reality. The music he loves is not only reflected in the film, but also adds to the performance and film as icing on the cake. What is even more rare is that the script of this movie was completed almost ten years ago. After ten years of tempering, it finally made [Barbie] a blockbuster.
The Rolling Stones once sang the famous phrase "I can't get no satisfaction" in 1965. Until now, human beings living in urban jungles and steel monsters seem to be more and more inclined to endless material desires, just like the singing voice. sung. Once upon a time, human beings were also like Babies on the stage, demanding like crazy, or like angel's parents, cursing without sleep. For the sake of religion and doctrine, people persecuted dissidents, killed each other, and killed themselves.
Why are people still unsatisfied?
Love de Hill gave us the answer as early as 1993--at the end of the film, in a green corner of the urban jungle, Angel had a husband and a son, and Bobby chased and played with the children. Facing the sea of people, spring is blooming.
Originally featured in Watching the Movies
BY jabberwock
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