"Three Billboards" is jointly produced by the American Fox Searchlight Company and the British Film 4 Company, as the representative work of British director Martin Macdonald, the film continues its trivial, violent and black humor production style, and has been well received by the audience after its release, winning the Best Screenplay Award at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and the Best Drama Film and Best Screenplay at the 75th American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards. The Douban score is as high as 8.7 points.
The film tells the story of the daughter of a mother, Mildred, who was raped and charred, and as the months passed, the police never found the killer. Desperately disappointed with the police, her mother, Mildred, rented three billboards to accuse the police of incompetence in handling the case, in order to pressure the police to take her daughter's case seriously. With the announcement of the contents of the three billboards, the forgotten rape and murder case returned to people's attention, and a series of stories were triggered.
For this film, many people analyze this film from the perspective of narrative, character shaping, and human complexity, but in watching this film, the strongest feeling is from Mildred and Dixon's body, seeing the two facing sudden difficulties, psychological trauma caused by different reactions and ways of doing things.
Therefore, in this article, I want to combine the scenes in the movie and the situation of people, analyze what is psychological trauma, indulge in traumatic consequences, and how to get out of trauma to interpret this film, so that in addition to feeling the difficulties of life from the film, we also learn how to redeem ourselves from it, to heal trauma and harvest a better life.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > discussed in conjunction with the dilemmas faced by Mildred and Dixon, among others:</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" >What is psychological trauma? Why? </h1>
What is psychological trauma? Usually we think of wars, floods, earthquakes, fires and air crashes, etc., but psychological trauma is far more than just these powerful events. There is also neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse or violence that we may experience for a long time in our daily lives, which can promote the formation of psychological trauma.
In psychiatry, psychological trauma is defined as "an event beyond the experience of ordinary people." Trauma often makes people feel powerless or helpless. The core criterion for assessing psychological trauma is the degree of psychological and physiological stress response of the person.
Speaking of concepts, many people find abstraction difficult to understand, so I will explore the psychological trauma and its causes from the impact of the sudden appearance of the billboard in the film.
1. Behind the angry mother, there is domestic violence and unforgivability of herself.
After the tragic accident of her daughter Angela, the mother Mildred walked into her daughter's room and remembered the scene before the accident: the daughter asked her to borrow a car, she refused, and hated her daughter for smoking marijuana all day. The two scolded each other, and finally Angela slammed the door and cursed herself: hopefully I was raped on the road. As a mother Mildred also coldly reiterated: I also hope you are raped.
Who would have thought that a word would come to fruition. Mildred violently threw her daughter out of the house with verbal violence, and it can be said that she was responsible for her death. But on the surface, she blames all her faults on the police, and this is not a condemnation and unforgivable for herself.
There is also a detail in the film, that is, the ex-husband took his little girlfriend to the door because of the billboard incident, and without saying a word, because he did not agree, he pinched Mildred's neck and hit the wall, and their son immediately grabbed a kitchen knife to his father's neck in a hurry.
Through the film, we can know that Mildred was abused by her ex-husband for many years, and also cheated on her marriage, so it caused Mildred psychological and physical trauma, she was alcoholic, rough, did not trust men, treated children after divorce, and continued the mode of getting along between husband and wife, often angry and cursed each other, but also let the child have a psychological shadow, and eventually led to an irreparable tragedy.
2. Behind the irritable police officer Dixon, there is a hidden fact of lack of paternal love and educational bias.
Dixon, Sheriff Willoughby's subordinate, an irritable, inferior, and idle cop. He didn't work seriously, dozed off with his eyes on his to work, read comic magazines, and liked to put his feet on the table; from his daily demeanor, he was full of foul language and abused black suspects, and he constantly obstructed Mildred's accusations and would only solve problems in a violent way.
It can be said that Dixon does not seek progress in his work, does not get along well with colleagues, and often quarrels. Returning to his family, Dixon lost his father at an early age and his mother's discipline was biased, so Sheriff Willoughby understood his situation, he would understand Dixon, and he would say a few kind words for him, and Dixon respected the sheriff as a father from the heart.
So after learning that Sheriff Willoughby had committed suicide, Dixon's mood swings were particularly large, which made his weak sanity even more out of control, and he was furious and rushed to the opposite advertising agency to beat Welby and throw him out of the window. Countering violence with violence caused him to lose control of his emotions and cost him, and he was fired by his new boss.
In the film, the appearance of these two characters, rough behavior, strong personality, self-centered thoughts, are the distinctive characteristics of them, and they both choose to use violence to fight violence, even if they mess things up without knowing it. The "three billboards" act as a vehicle to transform the trauma in everyone's heart into anger.
What are the consequences of < h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > addiction? </h1>
As the plot develops in the film, it can be clearly seen that if we are all addicted to our own psychological trauma and let the anger vent at will, it is like entering an inexplicable strange circle, anger will produce greater anger, hurt each other, tangled and struggling, but can not find an outlet for emotional venting.
Mildred's intention was to put pressure on Sheriff Willoughby through billboards to force him and his subordinates to do their part to solve the case quickly. This would have been a resounding thing. But everyone lets go and indulges in trauma, and the consequences go beyond what they were meant to be.
Sheriff Willoughby, who is honest and responsible, does not stop the billboard incident after learning of it, but seeks reconciliation with Mildred, but Mildred, who is in a rage, refuses. Later, under the dual circumstances of cancer and stress, he chose to commit suicide by drinking bullets.
Dixon, the first discoverer of the billboard, repeatedly thwarted Mildred's accusations and imprisoned Mildred's best friend. After learning that the sheriff had committed suicide, he impulsively threw the head of the advertising agency down the stairs.
Mildred's ex-husband, despite his grief and remorse for his daughter's murder, chose to set fire to the billboard after getting drunk in order to eliminate his anger and humiliation.
And the burning of the billboard was like detonating a bomb, making Mildred's anger directly irrepressible, she felt helpless and desperate, she mistakenly believed that the police station was responsible, she chose to set fire to the police station.
At this point, it has far exceeded the original intention of the billboard incident, everyone has lost their minds because of the anger of trauma transformation, resulting in mutual distrust and misunderstanding intersecting, venting anger has led to more anger and violence, the victim has become a perpetrator, a criminal, and the behavior and thoughts of the characters have become more dangerous.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > out of psychological trauma: return to reason, love in the heart, learn to forgive</h1>
When it comes to how to get out of the strange circle brought about by the three billboards, the character of Sheriff Willoughby has to be mentioned. He works diligently, with integrity and serious work, and his family is also very happy and happy, and he is deeply loved by the people of the town. He is not only the central figure of the contradiction of this incident, but also the point of relaxation of the contradiction of the whole incident.
In the end, the sheriff chose to commit suicide, leaving three letters, three of which showed deep love for his wife, unlimited trust and entrustment to Police Officer Dixon, and guilt for the desperate mother. The letter had a driving effect on the later change of mentality of Dixon and Mildred.
The first is a letter to Dixon, who encourages and praises Dixon for his integrity and is a good piece of material for being a policeman; and shows that he understands him because his family is stressed and full of anger, but this will not achieve the ideal of being a police detective. Finally, there is advice, telling him that what is needed to become a police detective is love, and love can make people calm down and calm down before they can think. Resentment can never solve any case, but a sober mind can.
It can be said that the sheriff's letter to Dixon awakened Dixon's inner rational side, and this letter gave Dixon spiritual guidance and prompted him to change his behavior and attitude. It is not difficult to understand that when the police station was blown up by Mildred, he would struggle to bring out Mildred's daughter's file and burn himself to serious injuries. From this incident, it can be seen that his heart has completed a redemption.
Second, in a letter to Mildred, he confessed: Sometimes, life is so helpless, many cases just do not have a clue, teach people can not start, such as Mildred was killed in this case, he has tried his best to investigate, but the multi-party search is fruitless. Even more surprising was the sheriff's deliberate emphasis on his death as having nothing to do with the billboard, and paid for the billboard for the next month.
Seeing this scene really wanted to cry, and the help of Sheriff Willoughby also made Mildred, who has always been paranoid and tough, start thinking and gradually showing his soft side. And Dixon sacrificed his own safety to protect his daughter's case data, coupled with the understanding and testimony protection of his dwarf friend James, also made Mildred realize the harm that paranoid attitudes and extremist behavior caused to others.
The famous trauma therapy master Basel van der Cork's book "The Body Never Forgets" also mentions that trauma is actually very close to us, and once we understand its essence, then its lethality is greatly dissipated. For the treatment of psychological trauma, comb through the two most important points:
First, the internal part: restoring the balance between the intellect and the emotions. For example, it is with the help of Sheriff Willoughby that Dixon and Mildred in the plot begin to think and reflect on their own behavior, returning their sanity to normal. In this way, emotions and reason do their part in the body, and they also find control over the body.
Second, the external part: seeking interpersonal help and good social support. For example, after Dixon was burned, he met the advertiser Red in the hospital room, who forgave Dixon and handed him a glass of orange juice to reach a settlement; Dixon reconciled with Mildred, and they went on the road to track down the killer.
These two points are summed up in the core words, that is, to return to reason, to have love in the heart, and to learn to forgive. So at the end of the film, we will find that Mildred has let go of her inner hatred and no longer be the opposite of the opinions around her, and Dixon has also returned to sanity after leaving the police station, and began to become a real police inspector, facing the evil and willing to pay for the case.
When they can calmly speak about their experiences and behaviors, it also indicates that their psychological wounds are beginning to heal. Although they have gone through many detours, they have begun to accept their current selves, and they have released themselves from their own emotions of grief and hatred, let go of their previous graces and grievances, and completed their own redemption.
summary > <h1 class="pgc-h-center-line"</h1>
"Three Billboards" This movie will show the violence and tenderness of human nature vividly, the film ends with Mildred and Dixon continuing to find angela's murderer, this ending has also become the final sublimation of the film, let us think that the two main characters through love and forgiveness, finally reached inner peace and sanity, but also for our viewers to provide a huge spiritual motivation.
There's a line in Hamlet: "Light and darkness are only on the line." This movie also brings us inspiration, life is not easy, if we encounter hurt and trauma, how should we do, I believe that everyone can get inspiration from this movie.