Movie "Paradise in the Army"

The film "Paradise in the Army" is said to be difficult to release, but since director Niu Chengze took photographer Cao Yu to the Kaohsiung Military Base to shoot the news of being arrested by the military, it has attracted the curiosity of many friends. When the trailer came out, the history after the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, the "grand plan" of counterattacking the mainland, and the deformity of the military officials running brothels, zero and zero will always attract more reverie.

The director moved the story to Kinmen Island, which is across the water from Xiamen, which was the "border line" that the Taiwan army trembled and defended every day under the background of the shelling of Kinmen at that time, and it was also an island and a "world" where the 100,000 national troops were stationed. It is no wonder that at the premiere on Taiwan, those Taiwanese children who grew up watching variety shows complained to each other in their teens and twenties with a taunting accent: I really don't understand this history, and the people who can understand it are probably the veterans of the village who are dying of old age but still carry the sound of the mainland township, and those taiwanese old abers who now shake their heads and make fun of young people who do not understand hardship when they mention being soldiers: On that year, when the Kuomintang came to Taiwan, it took three years to be a soldier...

The world in the movie is small, with only one island, Kinmen. All the people are trapped on the island, whether they are soldiers or the prostitutes who are "paradise in the army". After the Kuomintang occupied Taiwan, it also took away the style of grabbing Zhuang Ding on the mainland, and not only did the troops it bring with it have to be strictly trained, but the nightmare of all the young men in Taiwan also began. According to records, the military service law of the Kuomintang government at that time stipulated that the service period of the army was 2 years, and the service period of the navy and air force was 3 years. Luo Baotai, played by the male protagonist Ruan Jingtian, is a Sven young man from a family of teachers, and after becoming a soldier, he "unfortunately" won the army in Kinmen.

Why is it a draw? This is because the arrangement of military service in Taiwan was decided by the new recruits themselves, and this system is still preserved. In the deleted clips of the movie, there is a "lottery", the nightmarish memories of all the young men who have been soldiers in Taiwan, Taiwanese people know that the outer islands in the Kinmen and Mazu areas are hard, burning incense to pray to the Buddha not to leave the island, the male protagonist Xiao Bao has bad luck, and he is hit by a draw.

On the first day of entering the camp, a group of young men were pushed out of the car, wearing only a pair of red pants and carrying an armed belt, the black-skinned non-commissioned officer elder Zhang (played by Chen Jianbin) came to pick people, and those with tall bodies and strong enough chests were left as "sea dragons", which was the army special unit formed by Chiang Kai-shek at that time. Later, the sportswear worn by Xiao Bao in the movie was printed with the words "frog man", and the old photos of these sea dragon veterans found on the Internet were the real appearance of the training of the frogman troops in that year, and the character Lao Zhang played by Chen Jianbin in the movie was almost exactly the same.

According to the veteran in the photo, as a unit that fled to Taiwan with the Kuomintang, he heard that participating in the Sea Dragon could reward his homecoming, so he and his comrades enthusiastically signed up. This point is not mentioned in the movie, and reality adds a layer of sadness to the movie.

The whole of Taiwan is the last fortress of the defeated division and the cage that cannot be extricated, the military camp is also a cage, and the sea dragon who is enclosed in the barbed wire fence in the military camp and trained alone is a cage in the cage. Xiao Bao trained under the commander Lao Zhang to live or die, and finally was completely removed from the swimming training - the frogman troops of course want to be good at water, Xiao Bao could not even distinguish the direction of swimming in the water, and swam in the direction of the mainland in a stunned manner. The male protagonist is honest, and he is a teacher whose family is considered to be a scholar, and there are girlfriends waiting at home, so he is bent on guarding the boy's body, so he successfully passed the examination and was transferred to the "Military Paradise 831" to serve. This move of the commander naturally has great significance, because the military paradise is the land of the wind and the moon, and it is easy to choose an honest person who is not good at color.

What is Military Paradise 831?

These two words are not only unfamiliar to mainlanders, but even the new generation of young people who have served as soldiers in Taiwan do not know much, and after checking some information, they know that 831 is the code name of the brothel in the Taiwan military, which was also called "military tea room" at that time, and prostitutes were called "waiters".

Kinmen's military teahouse was set up by the Kuomintang government around the fortieth century of the Republic of China in order to "stabilize the military's morale and solve the physiological needs of soldiers" and appease a large number of soldiers from other provinces who were coerced by them to come to Taiwan. Most of the brothel owners are able people with connections in the military, recruiting young girls from the island who voluntarily come to Serve in Kinmen, who need to be young, innocent and even have a wealth investigation, and it is said that a small number of prostitutes are to pay off debts or commit crimes to pay off their sentences. The tea room's consumption code clearly stipulates in a serious tone that the tea room should be accompanied by condoms and require disinfectant ointment to be applied before doing work, and each person should not delay the work time for a few minutes, etc. Even the cultural and propaganda departments have put forward many propaganda slogans such as "everyone has joy, the military and the people are one family", "wipe the medicine beforehand, urinate afterwards" (as shown below), which is not absurd.

The movie truthfully restores these so-called "military and civilian fun" absurd scenes, after the male protagonist Xiaobao entered the tea room, the senior veteran told him about the work content, the consuming soldiers picked people according to the photo number on the wall, and then bought tickets into the room, the red light was lit to do things, more than fifteen minutes even if overtime, must be renewed.

Girls can not pick guests, or actively or passively follow the guests, lucky business initiatives such as Chen Yihan played by Ajiao, caught Lao Zhang, a solid-eyed benefactor, would rather smash the pot and sell iron to buy jewelry for her to please;

There are also bad luck such as the girl named Sasha, and Xiaobao's fellow countryman Huaxing is good, but Huaxing is only a recruit, Sasha is still bullied by other guests on weekdays, and some guests want to leave the backyard and are rejected by Sasha to beat her violently; and Xiaobao is so amazed at a glance that she does not dare to look at Nini, who would rather renew the ticket out of her own pocket than pick up more guests...

There is also Xu Niang's half-old charm of Sister Xia, and the fat big sister who knitts sweaters while running errands... Women in brothels are like these soldiers in the barracks are in a cage, but with their own minds paralyzed by their own lives. Soldiers vented the pain of being bullied by their superiors and not being able to go home on the bodies of weak women, who reluctantly endured either for money or for the sake of wearing a sinful body to sell their lives and reduce their sentences.

Despite this, the director did not shoot it dull and gray, but a creaky wooden bed was unexpectedly filled with colors, the prostitutes' colorful and fragrant underwear and bright bedding, the mirrors at the head of the bed, books, star photos, and different gadgets reflected each other's inner dreams of the future, the two people on the bed knew that they would not be here for a lifetime, after retiring from the army or after leaving the brothel is the beginning of a new life, the sun outside the window swaying, The most primitive behavior of this most real human being seems as unreal as a dream.

There are three main characters in the film, and three lines are intertwined to describe the story of three pairs of men and women. Non-commissioned officer Elder Zhang and Ajiao, who loves money, Xiao bao, the male protagonist, and Nini, who renewed the ticket out of his own pocket, as well as the little soldier HuaXing and the beaten and deceived Sasha.

homesickness

The non-commissioned officer chief played by Chen Jianbin is the most brilliant and touching character in the film, and the opening scene is the image of a strong army man and abusing a violent jun, red pants and a naked upper body, a black flesh, a rough face and pleats, a mandarin with a strong rural accent, a kick to fly a recruit, picking a new soldier like picking an animal to see the teeth and pinching the chest, the sea training handle is tossing and turning white foam, life is better than death, others are miserable as soldiers, this one looks quite smooth, hard like a piece of black iron, it is difficult to fall anywhere.

This kind of person is the kind of tough guy in the army who has experienced hundreds of battles, has long been numb to life and death and pain, and is also the epitome of many provincial soldiers in that era, he can't read one, even go to the pawnshop to buy a bracelet for Ajiao, he has to carry a small treasure, because he doesn't know the pawnshop's pawn ticket, he can't understand the local dialect of the Taiwanese, so he is incompatible with the local personality, because there is no family, so the only friend is the only comrade-in-arms on the island who speaks the same local tone as him, Lao Zhang spent all the money on the Ajiao in the military paradise. I thought that the aunt was also sincere to her. Since giving the Gillian Ring, Gillian said provocatively: Do you dare to marry me, Lao Zhang rudely hugged Gillian, at that moment should have made up her mind, but Gillian looked at the new ring absent-mindedly. Lao Zhang was rude and violent at first, and Xiao Bao respected and feared him, but since the two sat in the evening breeze by the sea and listened to Lao Zhang talk about his hometown, the two became real friends.

Who would have thought that one day when he came home from work in the field, he had already watched the chimney on the roof of his home smoke from afar, and thought that he did not know what delicious things his mother had made today, whether he had wrapped dumplings or not, he would have been arrested by the Kuomintang passing by and never returned home. The new shoes made by the mother are still reluctant to wear, just after the end of the want to wash the feet and then wear, who knows the new shoes have not yet stained the feet, this life has embarked on a road that can never go home again. Xiao Bao offered to help Lao Zhang write a family letter, and when it was time to send it back to the mainland through his Japanese relatives, Lao Zhang hesitated and did not know what to say, Xiao Bao made up a lie for him to add officials to the knighthood like a yellow sorghum dream, Lao Zhang also nodded with satisfaction, although these letters can never be sent back, and it is only afraid that no one will check it, but it is not bad to have a dream.

When Lao Zhang saw that his colleagues were marrying his daughter-in-law in Kinmen, he also had the idea of getting married, and he also borrowed money to buy a bride price, and the object was naturally Ajiao. Marrying Ah Jiao is an opportunity for Lao Zhang to decide to take root in Taiwan, like Lao Zhang's confession to himself - maybe he will never go back, and he will live in his hometown as his hometown, as long as there is such a sincere person around him, unfortunately, this is Lao Zhang's wishful thinking, and Ah Jiao does not like him at all.

Many military prostitutes are sold by their families to human traffickers or sold to pay off debts before falling into the dust, Ajiao also said that she was spoiled by her brother and father, she now cleverly makes a lot of jewelry and money from many benefactors, looking forward to one day being able to take the money to a new life, and all the tips of the past, including this island, everyone on this island, and this past as a prostitute, Lao Zhang is naturally among them, and it is only Lao Zhang's wishful thinking to get married and leave the army to open a dumpling restaurant for a small life.

This is not the tragedy of Lao Zhang alone, but the tragedy of countless veterans from other provinces in those years. Involuntarily came to a foreign land, after retiring from the army, he did not have a skill, he lived all his life in a village outside the great society of isolated Taiwan, spoke the language of the village that did not change his hometown, lived a poor life, some people spent a lot of money to buy a daughter-in-law and were deceived by intermediaries, and after several decades, the two sides of the strait finally opened up, and when they returned to their hometowns, they also saw the dilemma of children not knowing each other and laughing and asking where the guests came from.

In the end of Lao Zhang's memories, remembering the neighboring sheep herding girl who was said to be kissed when he was a teenager, the sheep herding girl in the memory was substituted into Ajiao's face, it can be seen that Lao Zhang has always transferred all his homesickness to Ajiao's body, the real hometown has long been blurred, there is no way to go and no way back, Lao Zhang chose a desperate and tragic way to end his shattered dream, destroy himself and destroy Ajiao.

Bewildered

Xiao Bao's fellow villager Hua Xing asked him: Why did he become a soldier? He was a native child of Taiwan, before Taiwan was the era of Japanese occupation, he had never been to the mainland in his life and did not know what historical changes, and then when the Kuomintang came, he shouted to counterattack the mainland and recover the land, why should he counterattack? What is the motherland? In Hua Xing's view, the counterattack on the mainland had nothing to do with him, he was originally at home and doing well, why should he become a soldier? Why fight? Hua Xing couldn't understand.

Lao Zhang himself is a mainlander, and the biggest attraction of counterattacking the mainland is that he can go home, but he was beaten from the mainland to Taiwan together with other comrades-in-arms. So why fight? It's just because he happened to be caught on the way home, this life didn't have a step that he chose, but he could never go back, and Lao Zhang couldn't understand it, but he didn't ask anyone, just scolded at the sea with homesickness tears, "His grandmother's!" "Not to scold anyone, but probably just to scold this world, half a point by man."

Many young Men in Taiwan who have seen this film have seen themselves from Huaxing's experience in the army, and just this year in the Taiwan military, there was also news that new recruit Hong Zhongqiu was physically punished to death by his commander, which caused an uproar in Taiwanese public opinion, and it is said that this kind of corporal punishment is also the norm in the army. On the first day of Xiao Bao's visit to the tea room, he visited the senior, and since then he has followed the instructions of the senior, fortunately, the senior did not embarrass him. And the tunnel where Huaxing went was full of water, everyone lived a life of rashes and no day, and corporal punishment of subordinates was the only pleasure and venting.

Hua Xing was punished for standing guard in the rain for twenty hours in the middle of the night, punished for doing push-ups in the water in the middle of the night, and had to pay for veterans to go to the tea room to prostitute, and later met Sasha who was often bullied in the tea room, and the two had pity for each other. On the day that Huaxing decided to become a deserter, he changed Sasha's military uniform and helped her shave off her long hair, the process of shaving her head was also the only way to become a soldier, shaving her head meant saying goodbye to the past days, living a new life in front, but the future was uncertain, and it was still not up to anyone.

Huaxing and Sasha rushed hand in hand to the rough sea, and across the sea was the 'homeland' they had never met before. The director didn't tell us in the end whether they had swum to the mainland on the other side. But what about swimming to the mainland? This side of the sea is also an era of involuntariness.

Pure

The most significant feature of the male protagonist Xiaobao is innocence, even in the military paradise, everyone can not avoid buying a ticket to go in and lose their souls for a moment, even the brothel chef who is often bullied says that he has saved enough money to buy a ticket to go in and do a whole round, but Xiaobao always insists on writing to his girlfriend and insists on keeping the boy's body to his future wife.

Xiao Bao was later dumped by his girlfriend, which was also a setback often encountered by young soldiers, and the young people in Taiwan called it a "mutiny". Xiao Bao was attracted to the different Nini, often playing guitar with her in the middle of the night, listening to her sing the song "there is a river of no return", the two are really from the spiritual love of the relationship, although it originated from the brothel, such as the most carnal place, but the pure is not a little vulgar and dirty. But Nini hides her secrets, she has children, and the crime of killing her husband, and sells her body just to reduce her sentence and go home to see the children. The moment when the two truly communicate is the beginning of the outbreak of love, but it is also the time when love comes to an end.

The day Xiao Bao retired from the army, Nini also had the day of her release from prison, on the day when the two ran out of the tea room to see the ephemeral flowers, it was doomed that this relationship could not have results, risking his life to see the ephemeral flowers did not bloom in the end, even if it opened, it was only a flash in the pan, Nini wanted to be really intimate with Xiao Bao before leaving, but Xiao Bao ran away, and before leaving, he stuttered and told her the innocent old saying, which was left for the future wife, Xiao Bao knew that he and Nini had no future, Nini did not care, but Xiao Bao still cared He was still the innocent young man.

Although the heroine Wan Qian plays Nini is very beautiful, pure and provocative, but Nini's character setting is somewhat vague, saying that she paid for the ticket out of her own pocket to renew the ticket only for fewer customers, but also with the brand-name watch left by her father, it seems that she has a very good background and a good background, but the movie does not explain more. Can sing English songs with outstanding temperament seems to be a well-educated girl but because of the encounter with someone unladylike and a domestic violence man eloped, and finally had to kill her husband to escape, this story is too lacking in the times and universality compared with other stories, about the director just wants to describe the part of the military prostitute who wears crimes and sells herself, but it is still not very real, there is no place too impressive, the image of the character is far less vivid than others.

Xiao Bao later continued to work in the tea room after Nini left, from a new recruit to a veteran, became someone else's "senior", in the past he nervously accompanied the girls to the town to perm their hair (the army was afraid of prostitutes escaping), watched the hairdresser outside the barbershop flirt with the girls selling things in the town on the street, and now the outside of the barbershop talked and laughed and became himself, and the barber shop who sat cramped next to the prostitutes with the perm became another young recruit; Xiao Bao did not leave the virgin boy's body to his future wife after all, and he later became a ticket buyer. Xu Ye really did it for a round, and there is no way to know.

The audience suddenly realized that Xiao Bao was not a specific person, but also just a member of the thousands of recruits in that era, from youth to drifting, after retiring from the army, but also relieved to return to the original life, the tea room owner said: Find a good girl to live a good life! Like the military paradise, it should be born from time to time, it should die from time to time, Xiao Bao who walked out of the tea room still has innocent fantasies in his heart, at the end, he fantasizes that he and Nini are married, the old open dumpling restaurant takes Ah Jiao to give birth to a child, Huaxing and Sasha successfully swim to the mainland to take root in the motherland, everyone has a happy ending, and the shadow of the military paradise seems to have never existed.

This time, the director still uses the love general Ruan Jingtian, and promotes a number of young Taiwanese actors, such as Chen Yihan, Wang Baijie, Xiao Shrimp, Lei Jiexi and so on. I have to say that among these actors, only Ruan Jingtian has taken off the tone of the former Taiwanese idol drama in these years of tempering, performed natural and sincere, and the combination with Chen Jianbin did not feel abrupt, and most of the rest of them were stiff or wandering, and there was no need to repeat it.

Although there is much controversy about Chen Jianbin's performance in the biography of Zhen Huan, in this film, his acting skills can more than enough to crush everyone. Especially in order to transform Chen Yihan, who has sacrificed to wear bra tulle throughout the whole process, she not only has a naked back in the film and accepts an extremely indecent death, which cannot be said to be forceless, but the characters she portrays are still superficial, and no matter how hard she is, it is impossible to believe that she is the hateful and deplorable prostitute Gillian. In the trailer, "Why are you so good with the person who killed your husband" and "You provincial boys can't go back in your lifetime" are the essence of the whole film, but unfortunately, the result is still a drama.

In contrast to the young actor, another old Taiwanese actor Miao Keli played Ah Xiajie, a half-old Xu Niang who was used to doing things in the wind and dust, very freely in only a few short scenes, and could only say that the new actor continued to work hard.

I have watched Niu Chengze's "love" before, but I have not been deeply impressed, and this "Paradise in the Army" is about the director's own unique feelings as a provincial person, so it is filmed with extra care. After watching the film, you will find that the pattern of the film is far smaller than imagined, there is almost no discussion of too much war and human nature, there is no response to the changes of many big times as expected, it is just an island, a small history of the wind and moon, not even a period of era style, at most just a glimpse of the military camp of that era. The whole film is one word: involuntarily. This is true of prostitutes, and it is true of soldiers.

Many movies in Taiwan are actually like this, small perspectives and small patterns, no matter how big the problem can be condensed into a wisp of breeze to wrinkle a pool of spring water of small love, so after watching it, I always feel that there is more than enough refinement and something missing, the love between the male and female protagonists is particularly obviously empty and dragging, but in general, this movie still has a lot of touching places.

It is not difficult to imagine how many people in the village of Kinmen, whose lens is far away, have taken root in a foreign land and can only return to their hometown in their dreams and do not know their way back. And the dreamlike military paradise and the prosperity of the former Kinmen Island have also disappeared into history like dust, and in the dream, they do not know whether they are guests or not, and they are greedy and happy, who remembers where they went later?