I saw this movie by chance when I was in a panic. Apart from the face of my big cousin, this movie is undoubtedly the best in the cult film about cult. What surprised me was that 2/3 places actually appeared supernatural, that is, the goddess on the island was kidnapped by the three brothers to make this land proliferate, but apart from such curious plots, this is what attracted me. There are various hints of utopia in the movie and the reference of ancient myths. So here I want to sort out the echoes before and after the movie.
Rely on coffee to renew the code word late at night. . . Welcome everyone to communicate with me, crumbs
Who is the apostle and what is "Apostle"
The director seems to have cults and torture to package the core of the plasma film. After further study, we can find that this movie is not lacking in truth. The place to start is the name of this movie, the Apostle, which is "Apostle".
In the movie, the three brothers, such as Malcom, are called Prophet, which is the prophet, and the preacher played by the eldest cousin is Missionary. A series of other insignificant roles do not matter. So who is the apostle of Apostle?
At first glance, the Chinese translation of the name may not be able to directly understand the exquisiteness of this word, while the English apostle is a very religious word (especially in the Christian faith), which refers to those who preach. However, if you have an understanding of Christian religions, you will find that the word apostle is not often used in believers, because of its strict religious significance, even preachers such as priests may not necessarily be called apostle. There are many believers in God, and they can all be referred to by disciples. However, strictly speaking, apostle only refers to the 12 disciples of Jesus in the Old Testament. why? This is because apostle is strictly referred to as those who have personally come into contact with God, have been blessed and gifted by God, and have been given the task of preaching by God. In Christianity, this god is the true god of three gods, namely trinity. What should not be confused is that whether it is the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, they are all Gods of the same nature. Therefore, no matter who is blessed, it is possible to become an apostle. So no matter how piety you are, if you are not chosen by God and given a gift, you cannot be called apostle. Therefore, in simple terms, there are two conditions for becoming an apostle, one is indispensable: 1) personally contacted and gifted by God, 2) according to God's words or instructions to perform some tasks.
After understanding this, watching this movie becomes extremely clear. Who is the apostle? That's right, Thomas, played by the big cousin in the movie. However, it is not the God he has always believed in that makes him an apostle, but the goddess imprisoned on the small Welsh island of Erisden. Throughout the movie, there are three brothers besides him who come into contact with the goddess. Although the three brothers had contact with God, at best they could only call themselves prophets. They were neither blessed by God nor guided by God. The conditions for becoming an apostle are less than half met. Only the big cousin was chosen by the goddess and gifted (let him see the picture of the goddess being imprisoned). At the end, he chose to stay and the life on the island began to coexist with him. This is a kind of gift given to him. Performance can also be understood as the task he was given by God, so from this perspective, only he can be called Apostle, the apostle of God.
At the end of the interpretation, some people will roughly think that the big cousin has become the new god of this small island. In fact, this explanation is abrupt. Has the big cousin become a real god? No, he was just gifted human beings performing the mission of God, so his human attributes have not changed.
In fact, the goddess mentioned by the three brothers may actually be just the apostle before. Because the three brothers who were exiled were not the first people on this island to wait for the island, because long before they came, someone painted in the cave how to worship the gods of Erisden Island, and left a message "Exodus", which is the Bible The second chapter of Exodus. The etymology of Exodus is ancient Greek: ἐξ-(ex,"out")+ὁδός(hodós,"path, road"), "going out" or "path to go out". Regardless of whether the word refers to the Bible’s Exodus or its ancient Greek meaning in the movie, it proves that people lived on this island long before the three brothers and other islands, and found sacrifices or " Take advantage of the way of the gods on the island. However, in the end, the current phenomenon may and inevitably appear on the island, that is, all the land has become a piece of scorched earth and no edible food can be grown. Even the cubs born by livestock are cursed things. People on the island may die. Abandoned or left this land, only the so-called goddess in the mouth of the three brothers remained. And the ultimate sacrificial act is likely to be like the mural saying that after choosing a new vessel, it needs to be reborn from the fire.
In fact, the director gave a hint at the beginning, using the words in the Bible to write "his rebirth power after suffering pain" (probably translated). This sentence comes from Philipians 3:10. It appeared when Jesus was reborn after the crucifixion, and his followers confirmed his power. This also seems to imply that the elder cousin survived the catastrophe of the Boxer Rebellion, and was the prelude for him to be noticed by the island god and selected as the apostle after he landed on the island.
Invisible god
Also in the Bible, solemn theology tells us that God is invisible, and even the archangel is a holy light that one cannot look directly at. Jesus often appears in human form to facilitate the exchange of sermons with others. In fact, there are similar expressions in other religions or legends. For example, the "spirit" of China's quaint "all things have a spirit" has no appearance and shapelessness. The gods or spirits appearing in concrete form are convenient for people to provide and worship, and the offerings of people will promote the power of the gods or spirits. In temples that have not been worshipped for a long time or temples where the incense is not prosperous, the gods in them are either empty or the gods in them are very weak. This also explains why there are religious acts such as dedication and sacrifice. Or it is because the niche gods are weaker and need to be worshipped. Such sacrificial behavior is more popular especially in small religions or beliefs.
The woman trapped by the three brothers in the movie may be just an apostle or a god’s vessel (vessel), but the true god cannot be trapped. Because she appeared in front of her eldest cousin more than once. For example, when the eldest cousin just came here, she appeared at the end of the corridor with a vague figure, such as the woman chasing the eldest cousin in the blood hole, or the last The guards of this cult are all hanging on the tree. This series shows that the real spirit body on this island has a way to show up and walk around at will and use its power. The woman controlled by the three brothers is just the apostle of the spirit body, whose mission is to be the vessel of the spirit body and show up to accept the sacrificial offerings on the island. The three brothers' encounter with the god is also likely to be intentional, because this weak god is in desperate need of a fresh body or a large amount of sacrifices. The evidence is the honey smile that the woman showed when flashing back.
Who is Erisden's island god
After watching this movie, I went for an interview with the director to see if I could find the prototype of the god in the movie. It is a pity that the director did not specify the origin of the gods, but rather portrayed a god who blessed the harvest through a series of Celtic legends. Because the location in the film is probably near Wales, England, there are a series of gods that can be used as prototypes. The most famous one is Epona, who often appears with unicorns to bless the harvest in the legends of the Gallic Romans.
Some children's shoes may wonder why the gods and sacrificial methods portrayed in these movies are so bloody and cruel, because this is the case. Leaving aside small religions or gods, even the Christian system (referring to christian in general) is built on strict sacrificial trust. In the Old Testament, Leviticus was tempted to sacrifice his beloved son Issac to God. The Leviticus (translated as Levi?) in the Old Testament specifically describes Leviticus as a family in charge of sacrifices for God, and is not allowed to have oneself. Fields or livestock, but rely on people's sacrifices to live. It contains detailed descriptions of various sacrificial rituals including tribute. In addition, to the Roman culture with far-reaching influence in Europe, Saturn was also bloodthirsty as the god of agriculture and was worshipped to bless the harvest.
For example, the story of saturn (Cronus in Greece, god of harvest) eating seeds. The interesting thing is that this also seems to be true for the celestial body Saturn. Saturn has a huge and beautiful ring of Saturn, and the formation of Saturn's ring is still inconclusive. The possible reason is that in the early chaotic solar system, Saturn's huge tidal force tore apart its moons or colliding comets, and finally formed a huge Saturn ring. All gaseous planets in the solar system have rings, and Saturn is particularly magnificent.
The animism mentioned above has far-reaching influence not only in China but across the entire European continent. Due to its unique lithology and landforms, there are not many fertile land suitable for farming in Northern Europe. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that the people living in it will have such a variety of harvest gods before they are civilized and pay so much attention to worshiping the gods.
Fraser's witchcraft classic "Golden Branch" has demonstrated in detail the necessity and rationality of the existence of this phenomenon. Sympathetic witchcraft, as the cornerstone of the existence of almost all religions in the future, expounds the simple concept of empathy and sympathy between humans and gods: if you want a good harvest, you need to contribute tributes representing the harvest to the gods in charge of the harvest, like a good harvest in a year. Part of the crop, newly born cattle and sheep, fresh and mature fruits, etc. (multiple seeds). If the local gods are strong, perhaps they don’t need a lot of tributes; but if the local gods are weak or dissatisfied with the sacrifices, people need to offer more and more precious tributes. It’s not difficult to understand why certain religions, especially those in small places, or In witchcraft, blood sacrifices will eventually develop.
Some people may ask, why don't these people who believe in such a bloodthirsty and cruel god leave or believe in a new god? This is because in almost all witchcraft and religions, once the choice is started, it is like establishing a bond with the gods* (bond). Regardless of whether the connection is verbal (such as prayer) or physical (such as attending a ceremony), it is like signing a contract: I choose to believe in enshrining you, and you need to give me feedback in return. Something to pray for. People say that the stronger the connection is, the stronger the role of the gods will be. Therefore, in some beliefs (ten thousand words are not named here), there will be detailed and complicated initiation rituals, and even more bloody alliances will appear (for example, in the movie, the Prophet Malcom once scratched his hand with The blood came to promise the big cousin), because as the Bible says, the spirit of all things is in the blood. Therefore, sacrifices or alliances that use blood have a more unique position. But no matter what method is used, their purpose is to establish contact with the gods.
Utopia to dystopia cycle
The theme of the movie is actually to use religion to tell the cycle from utopia to dystopia. The background of the movie is the turbulent early 20th century. As a devout Christian, the big cousin traveled across oceans to preach in Beijing. The Boxer Rebllion (Boxer Rebllion) that broke out in the late Qing Dynasty at the end of the 19th century began to gradually reach its climax in the new century. Its landmark event was the mass murder of Christian missionaries in Beijing. The missionary played by Big Cousin, as one of the persecuted missionaries at the time, chose to abandon the existence of God he once believed in.
The behavior of the three exiled brothers on the desert islands wearing religious cloaks to stand on their own kingdoms abounds for nearly a century. Take, for example, the notorious People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ led by Jim Jones in the last century. Its doctrines were patched together from communist socialism and the Bible to attract a series of marginalized people at the time ( Such as black people, released criminals) or people who are dissatisfied with the social system, etc. It is true that the occurrence of such things is related to the unfair social environment at the time, but Jim Jones has attracted tens of thousands of people with his outstanding eloquence. And in the 1970s, Jonestown was established in Guyana. Those who followed him to Jonestown were his devout believers. The reason people go is because it is a paradise he described and promised. Everyone is equal, there is no tax, no discrimination. However, after I went there, I discovered that Jonestown was like hell under Jones' high-pressure rule. So after being tempted by the U.S. government several times, Jones fed poison to his followers and nearly 1,000 people committed suicide collectively.
The establishment of cults is very different. Another example is the Aum Shinrikyo which was established by Shoko Asahara in Japan and developed from the Aum Shinrikyo. Haruki Murakami borrowed his population in 1Q84, used different names, and neutrally explained its development process: radical young people or marginalized people who were dissatisfied with the social system first established a commune-like "Takashima Junior College", and as the organization gradually grew, they ended up in the mountains and forests. Shi developed into a utopian organization "pioneer" and then split into "Dawn". After the official religiousization, because religion is protected by law, the outside world will be completely unable to understand the affairs of this commune. It is even harder to get out, almost impossible.
The dream of pursuing eternal utopias has never disappeared in modern society, but most of them ended up degrading one utopia into a hell on earth because of the ruler's omnipotent means of ruling and the extreme self-expansion desire. The irony is that people who are dissatisfied with the rules finally establish more brutal rules, and what is hypocritical is that they still use deceptive words and false promises to attract people who cannot integrate into the society to endorse their existence.
Just like the three brothers in the movie, they were obviously prisoners exiled by the British, who fled on a small island to build a rule-based and independent kingdom. Quinn, one of the alliances of the Prophet Malcom, once precisely pointed out Malcom's hypocrisy: He just put a god to rule his people between himself and his believers, and spoke his own words through the mouth of God. Compared to the hypocritical Malcom, Quinn sees it more thoroughly. His purpose is to rule the people on the island, and the so-called gods are nothing but the machinery that governs him. And Frank is cowardly. Although he sees the facts clearly, he can't escape from here. Just like those who join the cult but cannot escape.
If the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit represent the trinity of justice, kindness and integrity, then these three people are the trinity of hypocrisy, cruelty and cowardice.
But then again, isn't this movie the biggest irony of Australia's rationality (manual dog head)?
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If you are interested in this type of movie, you can go to see another movie, Midsummer Nightmare. There are also film reviews written by me. Hey-hey.
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