Note: This article contains spoilers
Destroying modern civilization doesn't require earthquakes, tsunamis, and alien invasions, just let the electricity disappear.
This is the story of the Japanese movie "Surviving Family". This unconventional disaster film begins with a seemingly ordinary power outage. In the early morning, the protagonist's family, who live in Tokyo, wake up and find that the electric pot cannot cook, and the mobile phone cannot be charged; they walk out of the house hungry and find that they are not the only ones who have lost power, and the residents of the whole building are complaining while walking downstairs; and then, when they enter the station, they are shocked to find that even the tram has stopped...
So the protagonist's family gradually realized that this is not an ordinary power outage, its scale and nature are beyond imagination. Not only is the circuit a problem, but the battery can't be used, as if the power has suddenly disappeared. It wasn't an accident, it was a disaster, and I don't know why it was or when it ended.
Surviving Family poster
There is no horror scene, no huge scene, the audience follows the footsteps of the protagonist's family of four, like following a set of fallen dominoes, watching how the effects of the blackout penetrate into one detail after another, which eventually leads to the shutdown of modern civilization: because the gas meter relies on electricity, the pump cannot work without electricity, so the long blackout also means a gas outage and water outage; the car cannot ignite, the plane cannot take off, the bicycle has become the only means of transportation; credit cards cannot be used, ATM machines cannot operate, And banks also strictly limit the amount of withdrawals; soon no one cares about money, only food and water have exchange value... The disappearance of electricity will not only confuse people addicted to the Internet and smartphones, but it will also be equivalent to sucking away the core of the modern industrial system and causing it to collapse, and urban life built on industrial civilization will also disintegrate.
The film does not directly tell the audience this truth, but slowly spreads the truth. The audience cannot actively seek, and can only passively accept reality with the protagonist's family. It wasn't until Tokyo's urban function was on the verge of paralysis that the protagonist's family was forced to leave home. By then, there was very little food and water left in the supermarket, and even maps had been snapped up, so they had to rely on an elementary school atlas to start a difficult escape. The protagonist's family reluctantly leaves the city, but in their hearts they cannot give up their dependence on urban life, still only go to supermarkets and shops to collect food, and believe that Osaka must have electricity, as long as they arrive in Osaka, they can return to their original life. This mentality is accompanied by their poor survival skills. Don't dare to kill fish, want to vomit when you see raw meat, get sick when you drink stream water... When laughing at the panic and clumsiness of the characters in the film, the audience can't help but ask themselves whether they can do better than them if they are facing the same situation. Has our dependence on cities and modern industry blunted our basic viability? When the habitual life disappears, can we remember how to survive? How to make a fire? How do I cross the river? How to preserve food? ...... The reflection on modern civilization is achieved plainly and profoundly in this inquiry into the details of life.
The delicate display of the disaster is certainly brilliant, but the biggest highlight of "Survival Family" is that such a doomsday theme has created a warm and delicate film full of laughter. In the context of the disaster, what the film really wants to portray is the family affection and growth of a family.
It's an ordinary Urban Japanese family —a father who is busy with his work and doesn't care about the housework, a housewife mother who works hard and no one cares, and sons and daughters who are in the rebellious years of adolescence. The family stared at their televisions, cell phones, and computer screens, unable to even eat at a table. However, the sudden power outage allowed them to see each other's eyes in the flickering candlelight, and the experience of looking up at the brilliant Galaxy side by side on the balcony made this indifferent family find warmth.
When the blackout lasted for a week, the father was the first to accept the reality and immediately offered to leave Tokyo; and the mother, who could not even win over a domestic helper, took out her own private money at a critical moment and played the housewife's specialty, cutting the high-priced mineral water of 2500 yen to 600 yuan; the son and daughter discovered a lot of long-distance travel necessities in the supermarket where important supplies were almost robbed.
However, the family of four lacked experience in the wild, and the bluffing father repeatedly made wrong judgments, resulting in repeated delays in the trip, which led to accusations from the whole family; when the family asked for help from other travelers, the father, who felt that his authority was threatened, also showed resistance; however, when the family was in a desperate situation, the father, the head of the family, finally understood his duty: even if he lost his self-esteem, he had to protect his family.
After the protagonist's family travels thousands of miles to Osaka but fail to get the expected supplies, hungry and rutting into the field, they usher in a key turning point in the journey. Mr. Tanaka, an old farmer who lived alone, took them in and asked them to exchange their labor for plenty of food and a warm bed. When Mr. Tanaka asked them if they wanted to stay, the family remembered their fisherman grandfather who was far away in Kagoshima. This is not only because Kagoshima is rich in products and can live well without electricity; but also because of the companionship and support, cooperation and dedication of these days, so that the family has found a long-lost family value. In order to promote the fulfillment of family values, they are determined to go to Kagoshima, where their grandfather is located, to reunite with them, a place that once left good memories of their children's childhood, but was forgotten and abandoned by them when they grew up.
Mr. Tanaka is not the only benefactor of the protagonist's family. In fact, along the way, they met almost all good people, and their generosity and enthusiasm helped the family of four get through a lot of difficulties. The kindness of strangers dissolves the cruelty of disaster, leaving this apocalyptic film shrouded in a warm soft light. The fly in the ointment is that every turning point in the story relies on the kindness of passers-by, so the efforts of the parties themselves are slightly insufficient. Fortunately, the clues to their growth are still clear: the son who has become a scrap iron mobile phone simply throws away the mobile phone, uses the mobile phone case to repair the tires, and takes on the role of caring for his mother and sister when his father temporarily leaves the team. And in order to protect his father, who almost drowned in the river, after being rescued by his family, the first thing he did was to reach out of the window of the steam train and discard the wig he used to cover the top of the river— he was no longer attached to the glamorous appearance, and this journey made him understand that his family was more important than anything else, and it was his mission to take care of his family.
This journey full of love and companionship finally ended in the customary sea breeze of Kagoshima. Fishing and weaving, the family live a quiet and fulfilling life, and it is no longer important whether electricity can be restored and returned to the city. Even if they return to Tokyo, their lives will not return to the dilemma where the story begins. Because although this film has made a critique of industry and technology, the final foothold is still in the hearts of the people. Whether technology will make people closer or farther between people does not depend on technology, but on the people who use technology; and reflecting on industrial civilization does not mean that it is necessary to return to the homeland, it is important to always reserve a place in the heart for the hometown and relatives.