The closest thing to retaking a person's life over again is to recall that life, and if you can, record it in words so that it lasts as long as possible.
—Benjamin Franklin
There is such a "strange" movie, the whole film has only one character, no line, and the length of the film is only 12 minutes and 05 seconds. You may think that such a movie will be very monotonous, but the truth is just the opposite, this movie is not only not monotonous, but also shows a person's long life course vividly. It is the Japanese animation movie "Memory Building Block Hut" with a high score of 9.3 on Douban.
"Memories of Building Blocks Hut" Douban score
Directed and written by Kato Hisahito, the film not only won the 81st Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but also won the love of thousands of viewers for the warmth and stubbornness of another category of "The Old Man and the Sea".
The film tells the story of an old man living alone in a small house in the lower half of the sea that has long been submerged. When the sea flooded one layer, the old man added a layer, but there was a small square opening between each layer. When relocating upwards again, the old man's beloved pipe accidentally fell into the square mouth. In order to retrieve the pipe, the old man dived down into the old house in the water. As the old man drilled down layer by layer, the memories of the old days were also peeled away layer by layer.
Although Memories of the Brick Hut is an animated film, it is worth reading for all adults. The old man sneaked into the bottom of the building block hut layer by layer, not only reversing his long life, but also symbolizing that the heart of everyone in real life is wrapped in layers. We are full of excitement, sailing through layer after layer, wave after wave in the ocean of the world, but we find ourselves far away from family affection, away from warmth, away from all the beautiful expectations we had hoped for since childhood, so that we finally lost ourselves.
The old man's affectionate memories of "home" are like peeling onions, layer by layer, stimulating our hearts step by step, recalling our redefinition of life and self. Maybe what we have to do is to peel off the heart layer by layer like the old man and find the most authentic self.
In this article, I will analyze the practical significance of this classic animated film from the dual "onion-like" presentation of the old man's life and state of mind, the special film conception technique used by the director and some reflections on real life behind the film.
Poster of "Memory Building Blocks Cabin"
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">01</h1>
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > peeling off the "onion-style" life of the elderly: losing a loved one, but still having memories of a warm life </h1>
At the beginning of the film, the photos hanging all over the walls present the image of the elderly living alone in front of the audience. He smoked a pipe, stared at the photo, and then opened the small square cover on the floor to catch fish. Such an interesting house is really rare. But when the camera moves to the sparkling water, we learn that this is a brick hut deep in the sea.
The old man fished in a small square mouth in the house
Living alone in the sea is the appearance of the "onion-style" life of the elderly. Through the picture, we can perceive that the old man has no relatives, he is alone, and the most comfortable picture every day is to open the window and look at the sea; then, cook the small fish caught and eat a full meal. The television set next to it made a noisy noise, but the old man ate quietly.
When the sea flooded the floor again one morning, the old man knew that a new journey of moving was about to begin. Building walls, laying bricks, moving furniture, everything was business as usual, but he accidentally dropped the pipe that had accompanied him for decades into a small square mouth in the water.
After much thought, the old man decided to put on his wetsuit and dive into the water to retrieve his pipe. Just as he was about to pick up the pipe, the old man remembered his wife who had helped him pick up the pipe countless times, and looking around, the bed where his wife had been lying was still there.
After diving into the water, the old man saw that the bed where his wife had slept was still there
In this regard, the old man's "onion-like" life has peeled off the first layer: it turns out that he also has a family. He drilled down again in turn. With each floor, his "onion-style" life peels back a layer: it turns out that he also had children and grandchildren, it turns out that he also has a daughter who dreams of a new life, it turns out that he has also watched his wife play with his children happily, and it turns out that he and his wife have built this cottage together from a young age...
When stripped away, the "onion-style" life seemed destined to be a passing cloud, and at the very bottom of the cottage, the old man saw the wine glass his wife had used to celebrate the first time he lived in the cottage. He took the glass back to the very top of the hut, graciously poured two glasses of red wine, touched them and drank them all. From this, the film solves all the mysteries of the old man's life alone: others have moved elsewhere, but he still stubbornly stays in the sea, in addition to the obsession with the cottage, it is more of a nostalgia and memory of the beautiful "home" life in the past. And this memory makes him very satisfied with his current life.
The old man was once a happy family
The French philosopher Camus said in the Myth of Sisyphus:
As long as a person learns to remember, he will never be alone again, even if he only lives in the world for one day, you can use your memories to be alone in prison for a hundred years without difficulty.
Therefore, it is true that the old man has no relatives around him, but memories can warm his life. Back in real life, many people only care about fighting all the way forward, competing with others, delusionally trying to obtain the greatest secularized self in a complex world, thus becoming indifferent and ruthless, but they not only lose the courage to remember, but also lose everything that can warm life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">02</h1>
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > peel off the "onion-style" state of mind of the elderly: seemingly lonely old age, still have a good attitude towards life </h1>
Throughout the film, in addition to showing the "onion-style" life of the elderly, it also shows the "onion-style" state of mind of the elderly.
Facing the sea alone, facing the sea after waking up alone, the sea flowing through his feet, he looked so lonely and helpless. And this is only the surface of his state of mind. After peeling off this surface, we see the old man's incomparably strong inner layer: he climbed up the brick wall of the roof, and regardless of the storm, he rushed to work overnight to add another layer so that he could continue to live.
After the sea flooded the layer where he lived before, the old man added another layer to continue to live
Is this another image similar to Hemingway's stubborn "old man"?
Just when we think so, the pipe that the old man accidentally dropped into the water has become an incision for us to continue to peel off the old man's "onion-style" state of mind: in the memories of his life, the old man loves the warmth of home and has endless tenderness for his family. Therefore, although we can't see the expression on the old man's face behind the wetsuit, he forces himself to drill down layer by layer, and from time to time bubbles bubble up from the wetsuit, we know that in addition to the stubborn side of the old man's heart, there is also the sadness and helplessness after the love has been full of love but now lost love.
But is this the old man's final state of mind?
Just like after returning to real life, the old man simulated the scene of drinking with his wife in the past, after touching the cup, the old man not only got satisfaction, but also suddenly became a state of mind. After peeling off the old man's "onion-style" state of mind, the original core is the old man's simple outlook on life.
After taking back his wife's wine glass, the old man toasted with the wine glass
For this view of life, Camus also made a more thorough explanation in the "Myth of Sisyphus":
Live, live with the rifts that the world has given us, smooth each other's wounds with broken palms, and stubbornly face happiness. For there is no fate that punishes man, and as long as you do your best, you should be happy, embrace the light of the moment, do not hope in the empty utopia, and exhilarate, because survival itself is the most powerful resistance to the absurd.
Undoubtedly, the old man has managed to embrace the light of the moment. And stripping away the double "onion-style" life and state of mind of the elderly, in addition to the eyes being stimulated, what should be learned in the heart. Everyone always has to experience suffering, misunderstanding, loneliness and old age in their lives, in addition to working hard to prove themselves, they must also retain a unique and enlightened charm. As long as you live, you can always see the sun rising the next day.
Once, when he first moved into the cottage, the old man and his wife raised a glass to celebrate
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">03</h1>
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the special film conception techniques used by the director and some reflections on real life behind the film </h1>
In a short space, the film uses flashbacks to recount the life of an old man and conveys to the audience a rich cognitive concept. With this alone, we have to impress director Hisato Kato in his art of film conception.
In addition, the director also uses the contrast and free switching of cold and warm colors, which highlights the image of the elderly and the theme of the film. When the old man sneaked into the floors of the flooded building hut, what he saw with his own eyes was displayed in a cold blue-green color picture, but the memories that the old man touched the scene were all shown in a warm pale yellow color picture. One cold and one warm, the transformation is free, which not only makes us feel empathy for the "onion-style" life of the elderly, but also causes us to think deeper in the visual shock.
The clever use of the symbol of sea water highlights the environmental awareness of director Kato Hishino in humanistic thought. Many years ago, the old man lived on a lush land. People live and work in peace and contentment, creating human civilization in the embrace of nature.
But as the old man married and had children, children and grandchildren, until his wife died and stayed here alone for decades, the sea level continued to rise, and eventually the land became a vast ocean. In the process of civilization, human beings have become powerful, but nature has become more vulnerable.
Sea levels rose and the sea flooded the once-accumulating huts, revealing only the top
In this regard, Kato Hisato uses the brick hut submerged in the water to awaken the sense of environmental distress of human beings, and uses silent pictures to call on everyone to find a harmonious symbiosis between humans and nature.
Of course, in the film, the director not only shows the human appeal of "harmony with the environment", but also shows us the cognitive appeal of "harmony with the self" through the silent old man. The world is like a big windmill that never stops, working day and night, and many people living in it are trapped in the loss of self-determination, thinking that constantly catching up with the times is the best way to show themselves. Therefore, they forget the beauty of the past, ignore the light of the present, and slowly sink in the time without memories.
But the old man in "Memory Building Hut" stubbornly lives in the cabin that is about to be submerged, looking really lonely and desolate, but in the state of desirelessness, he recalls the happiness of the past, and extends the happiness to real life like a perfume. This open-minded and persistent attitude towards life is enough to wake up busy urbanites. In fact, we can also be like the old man, on the road of self-chasing life, we may as well slow down, listen to the voice of nature, listen to the voice of the heart, try to put the former beauty back in the bottom of our hearts, maybe we will see a different world.
The old man saw the undersea building blocks hut
epilogue:
Memories of the Brick Hut is a short animated film, but it's really pithy enough. It does not have classic dialogue scenes, nor does it have a beautiful and tortuous storyline structure, but the philosophy of life it contains is worth everyone's careful taste. There is no lack of love in life, and the world does not lack warmth, but it lacks the right way to open up itself. Cherish memories, cherish life in the moment.