Nordic cinema has always been known for its depiction and torture of human psychology in an era of high economic development. It is as if after human beings have been freed from the shackles of material things, the complexity and depth of spiritual problems will appear.
Nordic superiority in social environment and cultural alienation make the fusion of "Nordic" and "thriller" elements extremely wonderful, such as 2019's "A Midsummer Night's Horror" is mysterious, eerie and beautiful.
And these two, together with the keyword "child", are almost impossible not to look good. This is exactly what happened to the Norwegian film "The Innocent," which was shortlisted for this year's Cannes Film Festival. It takes a lot of classic settings from "The Shining", but changes the background from a large suburban villa to a quiet neighborhood in Norway.
If so, the horror of connecting with children in the quiet of the days is even more chilling.
It is worth noting that "The Innocent" wins in the shaping of the horror atmosphere, and although this article tries its best to analyze its shaping skills, it cannot be faithfully reproduced. Thriller lovers are better off finding a weekend night and enjoying this thrilling journey through the nordic children's world alone in the dark of night.
The protagonists of The Innocent are four children. In a sense, they represent the population of today's Nordic society in the context of a large number of immigrants:
Ida, who comes from a typical Nordic middle-class family, and her sister Anna, who has autism and a language disorder, are both blonde hair and eyebrows that are too faint to be seen. Such an image is reminiscent of the blonde child image common in horror films such as The Shining.
Aisha, a little black girl who lives with her mother, has a thick black mane. Ben, a young boy from a single-parent family, looks typical of Arabs.
The parents of the four children are busy with their own work, and the children are somewhat lonely and entertaining themselves. They seem to meet in the induction of each other, play together, and in the process learn about their superpowers.
Sister Anna
At the beginning of "The Innocent", Ida seems to be unhappy that her parents have poured too much energy into her sister Anna and secretly put broken glass into Anna's shoes.
Anna, who was in pain, could only babble but could not express it, and only when she took off her shoes when she returned home did she see the blood on the soles of her feet.
Elsa, a little black girl, felt the pain in her own home—it turned out that she not only possessed telepathic abilities, but also had a special heart-to-heart connection with Anna, regardless of each other.
She and Anna later became good friends. Aisha also guides Anna, who suffers from a language disorder, to express herself.
Another detail at the beginning of The Innocent is that the little boy Ben shows Ida his ability to use his mind to drive things to move (in this case his ability can only move small stones). Possessing the power but not understanding the meaning of the damage caused by these powers, he and Ida threw a cute cow cat off the roof.
Subsequently, the cat was brutally tortured and killed. (Unlike the recently raucous "Housewife" scene of the cat killing, which was shot with props and hidden details with a very dark light, it did not harm the animal's life.) ）
This detail is crucial because when the cruel concept of "death" suddenly breaks into the world of children's innocence, how parents guide their understanding has a major impact on children's life cognition and behavior.
For example, in Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning work The White Ribbon, when the little boy first learns the true meaning of death (the dead will never return), he is first angry, sad, unwilling to accept, and then in great fear to verify God's authority (such a thing can only be done by fearless children). And when he realizes that God may be just an indifferent bystander, the fear of God that his father instilled in him disappears.
And the patriarchy of Seri inward also collapsed with the shedding of the paint of the golden statue of God. In defiance of all authority, these children with white ribbons on their arms and sing religious songs from their mouths began by killing birds and walked step by step to the executioners of World War II.
The White Ribbon
There seems to be a mysterious gulf between the children's world and the adult world. Lively and innocent children learn silence and deception without knowing which day they begin to be—these adult tricks. And such acquisitions tend to be much earlier than adults think.
When people want to answer the question of whether the bad guys have grown up or grown up to be bad, the film and television exploration of the question of the "origin of evil" is producing thought-provoking works of art from different angles.
For example, the background of "The Innocent" is clearly a Nordic society that is a "paradise on earth" where material and spiritual civilization are highly developed, not a conservative German countryside ruled by religious and Junker landlords.
The skin tones of the four children also fit the beautiful picture of racial integration. So where do these vague barriers, apparent loneliness, and inexplicable violence come from? The movie doesn't give an answer.
In The Innocent, the little boy ben has not yet understood what his superpower means, so he uses this ability to teach his friends who are not at peace with him. It is even abused just to test one's own abilities.
This is the most terrifying face of evil, not the ubiquitous but invisible horror of aliens in the Alien series, nor the disorderly evil of the Joker's worship of chaos in the Batman series.
The most frightening face of evil is the ignorant and fearless face of a child, his/her fluttering eyelashes so thick, his pupils as clear as a fountain of water, and his skin may be sprinkled with a few playful freckles.
Yet neither man's law nor God's law can do anything about it in his/her place. The alien wants to breed, the clown wants to provoke, and the little kid, you don't know what he wants, maybe he just thinks it's funny. Maybe he just thinks, since I have this ability, I'll do something.
That's exactly how the horror and horror of Innocents is: on the playground, children are happily playing football. But the camera slowly pushed forward, like a vicious gaze.
That's Ben's perspective, and why isn't it the malevolent perspective that often flashes in people's minds? It's just that mortals don't have superpowers. So the galloping child suddenly snapped and broke his leg.
Another example is in the kitchen, the gentle and considerate mother suddenly holds the kitchen knife behind her waist and turns around... Terror is not in dangerous circumstances or cramped spaces, but in the lazy sunshine of Northern Europe, in the innocent eyes of children, in the dearest family and friends.
From the moment she saw Ben abusing the cat, Ida, who seemed a little evil at first, gradually felt uneasy and frightened. If she had hurt her sister Anna before and Anna could not express it, now she clearly recognized the fragility of life and the meaning of harm. As Ben reaches out his claws to Aisha, Ida finally begins to fight Ben's evil.
6-year-old Ida asked her mother what I should do if someone around me hurts someone else. The mother said: Tell the adults. Ida asked again: So what would adults do? The mother said: Adults will ask the police for help. Ida did not ask for help.
Now she knows that there is only a line between power and violence. But she chose to defend this secret while being afraid like a little adult, and hugged her mother silently and wept silently before executing the plan, with the intention of becoming a ren if she did not succeed.
Ida pretended to be greedy and led Ben to the overpass where Ben was committing the crime, pushing Ben down. And the passerby A who witnessed all this was shocked - how can a child be so strategic and brave? But this time, the "rectification of the chaos" did not make Ben turn back, but let Ida break her leg and put on a plaster cast.
Eventually, in the quiet park of the community, Ida, who has thrown off the plaster cast on her leg, runs to Anna to bravely fight Ben. Anna still couldn't speak and walked slowly, but her belief in kindness and fraternity seemed to strengthen her strength.
The adults were still chatting in pairs, unaware of the undercurrents. Only the children somehow sensed something. Even the other children standing upstairs eating melons seem to have played some kind of role...
The most fun thing about Innocent is its restraint on the portrayal of violence. The film depicts the interaction of children in large volumes, from the initial vigilance to the gradual approach. Rejoice at the discovery of superpowers, and fear and avoid danger because they perceive danger.
The performances of the four child actors were quite stunning, such as Ben's biggest fear of Anna, who could not speak. As soon as he saw Anna, the avoidance of the eyes betrayed him. Anna, who suffers from autism, is always distracted, and when she is angry, the slightly raised eyebrows and pale golden eyebrows are simply the light of the right path.
When Ida sensed danger and ran into the room, the imaginary shot of the classic sharp knife inserting the door panel in The Shining did not appear. In its place was the mother's urging to go out to buy.
And when it comes to the final showdown between the two bosses, which should be the climax, everything is ruled by a kind of silence: the soil under the feet is silently arriving, the waters of the artificial lake are silently rising and falling, Ida and Anna are clasping their hands, and justice is silently coming.
At this point, the horror of "The Innocent" seems to have come to an end. In a gentle panorama, the neighborhood seems to have regained its former ease and tranquility. "The Innocent" obviously has no intention of rendering the evil and unknowable of the children's world, but pins its hopes for goodness and love on the children's own observation and learning of the world.
Thus, although the parents of these children are ignorant of the children's superpowers and careful thoughts, the children have formed a vague alliance of mutual inspiration and help. The perception and care of life is born.
Such simplicity makes "The Innocent" finally not as cold as the nordic film "The Hunt", but retains a glimmer of light in the thrilling experience - because of the existence of people, the world is unknowable and terrible. Also because of the existence of man, the world may also be knowable and lovely.