Kindness is our greatest weakness and the best salvation.
The film "Little Girl Fish" is based on Yan Geling's novel of the same name, telling the story of twenty-two-year-old Xiaoyu who faked marriage to Mario, an Old Italian man over sixty years old, in order to settle down with her boyfriend Jiang Weineng, who was studying in New York. This is the screen Virgo of actress Rene Liu, who won awards such as Best Actress and Best Picture at the 40th Asia-Pacific Film Festival after its release.
After the 1970s, the number of Chinese mainland residents studying in the United States and visiting relatives increased, forming a climax of mainlanders going to the United States in the 1990s. The original author Yan Geling is one of the immigrants, she is good at excavating the story of the immigrant era from the perspective of women, and the director Zhang Aijia's delicate and profound guidance style and the screenwriter Ang Lee's ingenious plot design are all mixed in this movie, like a quiet stream of water in the sparkling to tell us the story of this girl's growth.
The biggest feature of the film is "opposition", in the confrontation between Eastern and Western cultures, the confrontation between male power and women, and the confrontation of self-consciousness, everyone is forced to change themselves to conform to the development of the times. Xiaoyu seems to be the most powerless character, but all disputes and confrontations revolve around her silent growth, invisibly indicting the oppression of reality.
Xiaoyu waited quietly outside the market, half of her face hidden in the darkness, her expression was particularly idyllic, her eyes were like a deer, bright and timidly looking at the bright street lamps on the shore. People say that Xiaoyu laughs very well, just because he laughs without thinking. On the other hand, the man she loves deeply, Jiang Wei, is discussing with others how to get a green card in the United States by "marrying" her.
Xiaoyu was originally adopted by Jiang Wei's mother, and later smuggled her to the United States in order to take better care of her son. The boyfriend is Xiaoyu's day, and this "day" loves to dream of the United States, so this has also become her dream. They and many of their compatriots nestled in houses separated by several rooms, their boyfriends had to go to school during the day and work at the fish stalls in the wet market at night, while Xiaoyu hid from the immigration bureau and worked as a dressmaker in the black market.
During the break, Xiaoyu looked at the clear weather outside the window and happily described to Jiang Wei the scene he saw: "The sun is shining outside", "You see, the family next door is having a picnic." The tired Jiang Wei only had to sleep and sleep in his mind, and when Xiaoyu came up, he always smelled suspiciously, and felt that his body was full of fishy smells.
The sunlight outside the window he didn't have time to go to, even if he tried harder, he felt that there was a smell that could not be washed away, but he had to endure this, because he wanted to survive. In the 1980s, waves of immigration brought them to the brink of the metropolis, where there was no imaginary "utopia", and in harsh environments most people could only do the lowest level of work, maintaining a lonely and repressed state of existence while carefully protecting their fragile dignity.
For his dignity, the docile xiaoyu obeyed the arrangement to marry Mario, an old Italian man of American origin, and wanted to get a green card and then divorce him—the quickest way to empty all their savings.
At Christmas Chinese eat hot pot together, there is no need to avoid the immigration bureau, there is no need to repeat the hard work, push the cup to change the cup, the atmosphere seems to become warm. But in addition to the simple smiles on Xiaoyu and the children's faces, everyone's eyes had endless bitterness and bitterness, and they dissipated into the air with the green smoke.
Cao Guilin said in "Beijingers in New York" that if you love him, send him to New York, because it is heaven; If you hate him, send him to New York, because that's hell.
The culture here is very different from the idea of "distant relatives and neighbors" in China, everyone pursues contractual exchanges, the division of responsibilities and obligations is exceptionally clear, and the strong commercial atmosphere is that everyone is interested first. Americans have always maintained their pride toward those who have immigrated, putting their compatriots who want to show their fists into an even more embarrassing situation...
The maiden, like a delicate green bud that has just broken through the ground, is full of life.
Xiaoyu, like all young girls, has a natural confusion on her face, has no plan for the future, listens to her adoptive mother when she is young, and listens to her boyfriend when she grows up, so that she can have a piece of soil to nourish and remove her at will.
After obediently marrying Mario, standing at the half-circle desk of the witness, holding hands with the old man, Xiaoyu felt less terrible. The words rehearsed in advance, she didn't understand anyway. What they don't understand is not heartfelt, they have only been on their lips and tongues, and their conscience lies far away, and they are not alarmed at all. Coming out of the church they took pictures with the current. Timid Xiaoyu held the flower and looked at the camera, and Jiang Wei behind him tightly crossed his hands, all over his body and body were defensive, but helpless. At that moment, his machismo helplessly bowed his head to reality, his body was full of defense, and his face was full of indignation.
Later, Jiang Wei was always inexplicably angry with her, and even the lipstick on his mouth was not wiped clean, which was the origin of the quarrel, but Xiaoyu did not dare to say a word every time, and she could feel Jiang Wei's resignation. Originally, she should have been the most wronged, but she also gave Jiang Wei such a little right.
Xiaoyu is an adopted child, and this childhood experience makes her constantly try to please others, afraid of abandonment, and once she gets the love of others, she will do her best to repay this love.
American clinical psychologist Lindsay proposed a kind of [pseudo-orphan] theory, which means to put a child who grows up full of emotional deficits. Childhood lack of love is a very serious psychological problem, they are full of "lack of feeling", do not dare to make mistakes, because they have not been gently forgiven; do not dare to disagree with others, because they are hurt after rebellion; and even dare not love themselves, because they have never been "loved".
Xiaoyu did not believe that Jiang Wei would love herself and be good to herself because this person was herself, she was soft and kind, but she was also stupid and pitiful.
In order to cope with the occasional inspection by the immigration office, Xiaoyu had to live with Mario. But Xiaoyu remembered Jiang Wei very much, and every day he bought vegetables to go to him, and saved money to buy hairy crabs for him to eat. Xiaoyu naturally ate the crab legs, and Jiang Wei deservedly enjoyed the crab body, and even expressed his envy to her friends who could bubble girls.
Once, when Xiaoyu was waiting for Jiang Wei, he found that he had not returned overnight. Jiang Wei, who was weak-hearted, raised his voice in the face of Xiaoyu's questioning, saying that he had just gone to a friend's house and pulled her to confront her. The kinder the person, the more he cannot perceive the ill intentions of others. At this time, Xiaoyu has begun to reflect on his position in this love, to be precise, the position in Jiang Wei's heart.
Mario and Xiaoyu, one is a stubborn old man depressed writer, with a strange temper and many rules, and the other is a little girl who only says sorry and thank you, and at first it is as disharmonious as the notes of two languages.
But slowly, in getting along with each other, Mario is infected by Xiaoyu's unique kindness and love of life, and begins to reflect on his decadence. Under the influence of Mario, Xiaoyu slowly faces the meaning of his existence.
Once Xiaoyu went to find his lover Lida because of Mario's health, and Lida said to her: We just got used to it for a long time, and we took the needs as love, and mistakenly thought that we were still in love with each other, but in fact it was not at all. Xiaoyu reflected on himself for the first time, going abroad for Jiang Wei, saving money for Jiang Wei, and getting a green card for Jiang Wei's future by fake marriage, is this a habit or love?
On the day of the interview, Xiaoyu was a little remorseful, she did not want her life to be for others, nor did she want her life to have only One option, Jiang Wei. At this time, Mario told her: "I respect your decision, not Jiang Wei's." If you don't want to go, we don't go. You should also learn at this time, respect yourself more, this is your life. But this stupid girl finally lost to the love in her heart.
The day he got his green card was the day Xiaoyu was leaving Mario, and on that day his health was so bad that he could only lie in bed. Xiaoyu didn't want to just leave like this, she hoped that anything that passed through her hands would become better, and there was nothing in the world that deserved to be wasted, including this old man who had wasted most of his life.
Jiang Wei honked his horn downstairs to urge him, but Xiaoyu was particularly upset and entangled, and she begged Jiang Wei to give her a little more time. An angry Jiang Wei went away, and Xiaoyu looked at the old man sleeping peacefully on the bed, and slowly closed the curtains to isolate the dazzling light source. In the darkness, she looked shyly at the wall, her face was entangled, confused, and more of a relief--she was finally no longer an appendage of Jiang Wei, but had become her own little fisherman.
Self-love is a tool we must treasure. It seems to be the eternal provision that mankind needs, it is very necessary, it is very precious, it brings us joy. Therefore, we must cherish it. - Voltaire
Because he is too kind, Xiaoyu is always criticized for being like "Our Lady". But in the movie "Little Girl Fishing", this is a more layered character, constantly recalling her past to explain her growth past, working in the United States and constantly evading inspection without dignity failed to defeat this delicate girl. A compassionate person is bound to experience the suffering of the less fortunate who is sympathetic. Xiaoyu knows the hardships of survival and the difficulty of being loved, so he embraces everything like the sea.
Cruelty and beauty coexist, although the end of the movie ends abruptly, but yearning to be respected xiaoyu, no longer willing to compromise under the oppression of male power for no reason.
I prefer to believe that the little fisherman is the "mother of the earth" than the Virgin. Chen Sihe said: "Mother Earth is a weak person, who bears any external force, like a lowly land, but because of her compassion and generosity, she has become the real strong person between heaven and earth."