"Watching TV" is the most common and low-cost way of entertainment before the advent of the Internet era, just like there are people who are addicted to the Internet world now, the TV era also has a group that is addicted to TV programs and cannot extricate themselves, Xiaobian was one of them when he was a child, until the Internet was popularized and then put into the embrace of the Internet world...
Today I want to introduce you to the movie about a person who "can't live without television", that is, the last legacy of a generation of laughers Peter Cyrus, "Rich and Powerful".
The British actor Peter Cyrus, who played the lead actor, was one of the finest comedians of the 1970s, and he became famous for his role as a triangle in the classic film "Dr. Strange Love", winning his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and later performing well in the "Pink Panther" series and "Lolita".
At the age of eighty-five, Oscar actress Shirley McLean starred as the heroine of the film, when she was forty-five years old, which is the age when the charm still exists.
He was awarded the order by the French Minister of Culture
McLean has won numerous awards as a veteran Hollywood actress, which is also a major quality guarantee for this film.
Shans (Peter Cyrus) is an old gardener who takes care of the garden in a manor house, and has never left the house since he can remember, and has never been to school, nor can he read or write. In addition to his daily work, Shans's only hobby is watching TV and imitating the behavior of characters on TV, so that he carries a remote control with him everywhere he goes, which is a down-to-earth low-intelligence old otaku in the eyes of normal people.
Whether it's an animated film, a musical, a news show, a Western or an advertisement, Shans can enjoy watching it.
Shans is always staring at the TV with a sluggish gaze, and the mood fluctuates with the plot on the TV show, completely immersed in it, just like the young people who are addicted to the Internet now, in a variety of online games, short videos, garbage information can not extricate themselves, constantly "changing stations" or refreshing, the time in the virtual world is empty and ignore real life.
So much so that the death of his master, who was older than him, did not cause his mood swings, and his eyes were staring straight at the TV. In the eyes of the kitchen lady Louise, Shans is a stupid person who watches TV.
After the death of the old master, the cook Louise also left, and the two lawyers told Shansi that the manor was about to be closed, and asked Shansi to move out of the place as soon as possible. The dull Shansi couldn't understand why he couldn't live here anymore, he never refused anyone else, so he had to pack his bags and leave the place where he had stayed for most of his life.
The first time Shans took to the streets of Washington, he was amazed at what he saw, knowing that his only way to understand the world before was to watch television, and reality was of course different from television.
He entered the world with a childlike innocence, asked passers-by for something to eat when he was hungry, and as a result, he scared away his passing aunt and asked the black on the street about his work, and was ridiculed and threatened.
In the face of danger, Shans's first thought was to take out the remote control and change the situation by "changing stations", but he found that reality was not controlled by him like TV.
Out of nowhere, Shans wanders the streets until night, and when he changes the stage against a "screen", he accidentally gets hit by a reclining car and injures his leg, thus meeting Eve (Shirley McRain), a lady from the upper class.
His sluggish reaction after being hit was seen by Eve as a gentleman's calm way to deal with difficulties, and he did not ask Eve for any compensation, which made the other party moved and admired, so Eve proposed that Shans go to her home to treat her injuries, because her husband Mr. Rand was bedridden for many years, and there was a professional doctor in the family.
Shans gladly agreed that at Eve's house, he would meet Eve's powerful husband, Mr. Rand, who was bedridden with leukemia.
During the conversation, he mentioned that the house where he used to live had been seized by a lawyer, and that Mr. Rand saw him as a down-and-out businessman whose company had collapsed.
Shans asks to work in the Rand family's garden, and Eve thinks that he wants to forget his troubles in the flowers, and he is actually a recluse who has experienced vicissitudes and a sense of humor.
Mr. Rand consulted Shans on his recent business plans, and Shans answered based on "knowledge" learned from television, and his direct and peaceful style of speech seemed to Mr. Rand to be a manifestation of wisdom and humor.
When it came to death and disease, Mr. Rand was touched by Shans's unabashed attitude and the "natural" philosophy he had learned from the garden, so he invited him to stay longer.
When President Bobby came to visit his home, Mr. Rand invited Shans to accompany him as a friend and advisor.
The president asked Shansi about "whether there is a need to temporarily stimulate economic growth", Shansi was stunned for a moment, remembering his experience in cooking the garden, and slowly said: "As long as the root has not been cut, it is fine, in the garden, growth is seasonal, after spring and summer, late autumn and severe winter will come, and then it will be spring." ”
The president was dazed after listening, and Mr. Rand "explained" Shans's words: "The economy is also seasonal and cannot be reversed, and so is your plan." ”
The president was surprised to hear this insightful and revelatory remark, and when he returned, he asked people to investigate Shans's background and quoted Shans's views in a national public speech.
In the days that followed with the Rand family, Shans's words were always over-interpreted, which further deepened Shans's position in the hearts of the Rands.
The editor-in-chief of the financial edition of the Washington Times also called Shansi, hoping to express some thoughts on the president's speech, and Shans hung up the phone because he was distracted by watching TV. In the eyes of the editor-in-chief, Shansi is a tall person who does not want to be involved with the world.
Shans was also invited to be a guest on a well-known TELEVISION program, and at the scene he talked about his "garden philosophy", which was applauded, and he quickly became famous in China.
Margaery, the cook of the manor, was shocked to see Shans's speech on television, only she knew that Shans had never been to school and had a certain intellectual disability, and she was incredulous about Shans's fame.
The lawyer who threw Shans out of the manor also recognized him on television, and he wanted to reveal Shans to the world, while suspecting that Shans's hypocrisy in the manor was deliberately pretending to be stupid, in order to fool him.
The staff sent to investigate the background of Shansi did not return, which made the president very annoyed, how can there be information that the FBI can't find, is the information secretly destroyed?
They didn't know that Shansi had never left the manor in his life, nor did they have any registration information.
In the end, the FBI only found that Shans's coat was hand-sewn by a tailor in 1928, and in the following years the tailor committed suicide, shans's underwear was all standard, and the manufacturer was burned in 1948.
All of these investigations have deepened Shans's mystery, and the president has become more and more aware that he is a remarkable figure.
The media that wanted to make big news could not find any information about Shansi, and they speculated that Shansi might be a candidate for an important position in the "First Economic Union of the United States".
Mr. Rand, who is suffering from leukemia, knows that his life is imminent, and is afraid that his wife will be lonely after his death, so he wants to entrust Eve to Shans, a wise countryman. Eve is also satisfied with this and offers to make overtures to Shans, which makes Shans happy, but the sexual innuendo for Eve is too dull to make a joke.
At a gathering attended by celebrities from all walks of life, a big man from the Soviet Union said to Shansi with deep meaning: I don't think the distance between us is very large. Shans smiled and replied, "Of course, our stools are about to bump into each other."
The witty words that Shans learned on television were seen by the big man as a very intelligent response.
When the big guy asked Shansi in Russian, Shansi only smiled and nodded, so the guests thought that Shansi was erudite and fluent in many foreign languages.
Mr. Rand's doctor had long been curious about Shans, so he also secretly investigated Shansi's background, and he found the lawyer that Shans had inadvertently mentioned, learned the truth that Shans was actually a gardener, and warned the lawyer to keep it a permanent secret.
The president was very troubled by the birth of Shansi, he was worried that this mysterious figure was a foreign spy, and he was more worried that Shansi's influence exceeded his own and affected his re-election, so he called the directors of the FBI and the CIA to ask who destroyed Shansi's information, and the two began to habitually prevaricate, and finally did not ask a question.
Before his death, Mr. Rand entrusted his wife to Shansi, hoping that Shans would stay and take care of Eve, and Shans tearfully promised.
In the face of the doctor's inquiry, Shans also admitted frankly that he was a real gardener.
At Mr. Rand's funeral, several dignitaries discussed Shans's influence, and they made telephone calls through Shans's guest show, which received the highest praise ever, and they agreed that Shans would become the future president, so they decided to move closer to Shans.
Shans quietly left the funeral scene, picked up a small bent sapling in the woods, and walked toward the river.
(The ending in the script is different, with Shans picking up the sapling and going back with Eve, who was looking for him.) ）
Interestingly, we can guess from the branches of the trees immersed in the river that this is a very deep river, and Shansi also measured it with an umbrella, and he couldn't explore it at all, but he didn't sink down, like walking on the flat ground, is Shansi really a godman? There is also a legend in religion of Jesus walking on the surface of the sea.
What kind of message does the director want to convey to us through this metaphor?
The film is a very classic satirical comedy, an old gardener who can't even read or write, through the knowledge he learned on television and in the garden, has become the wisest political figure in the United States, and this story undoubtedly mocks American politics fiercely.
Shansi, a simple-minded "mentally retarded" in the eyes of the kitchen lady, has not left the manor for most of his life, and when he stepped into the society with childlike innocence and treated others with an honest and honest attitude, he had good luck all the way, bringing happiness and happiness to others, and he also got the best reward. Coupled with the religious metaphor at the end of the film, this character undoubtedly has signs of "deification", and Shans is like the son of God, walking in the human world with an open heart, which undoubtedly deepens the depth of the film.
Mauven Douglas, who played Mr. Rand, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role, and peter Cyrus lost to the right year's Dustin Hoffman in the competition for best actor, which is a pity as Cyrus's last work.