Since ancient times, China has been a humane society, which is not only a philosophy of survival for people, but also a drawback left over from tradition. Today's story is about the human society, starring "Fan Debiao" Fan Wei's black-and-white movie "No Problem".
The story takes place in Chongqing in 1940, a farm with rich storage but always losing money. Ding Wuyuan, played by Fan Wei, is the director of the farm, usually sleek and proficient in human feelings. He would rehearse in front of the mirror how to communicate with people, and then send the farm chicken, duck and fish meat to the third wife of the farm owner, bring a brush to the daughter of the farm shareholder, and play mahjong with them and put a cannon.
So the left and right Fengyuan is naturally loved by the upper layers, and at the same time, it is also hot with the lower layers. He had a very good relationship with the farm workers, reducing their working time to five hours, and even when the workers were found by Director Ding stealing gambling money, he just laughed and played cards with them. However, the farm that could not make ends meet, and there was not enough money to pay this month's salary, Director Ding had to temporarily use soap to offset part of the salary, so that because of the good relationship, everyone was good to talk.
However, if the farm cannot make ends meet for a long time, shareholders will naturally be unhappy. He even told the boss what he had speculated in his heart, and the workers secretly peeled off the outer layer of cabbage to buy money, which must be because Director Ding withheld the employees' wages. Director Ding smoked silently after knowing this, and only when he was alone would he remove his disguise to reveal his vulnerable side.
Just when he didn't know how to deal with it, an uninvited guest came to the farm- the young painter Qin Miaozhai. He came here with a professor, but the professor was gone. Qin Miaozhai claimed to be an artist, oily and floury, although penniless, but Director Ding still accepted him to live. Qin Miaozhai always claimed that he had money in his family, but he refused to pay the rent for a long time, and Director Ding urged him, and he always said that his father would send money in two days.
On this day, the shareholder's daughter Miss Tong came to the farm, in order to please her, Director Ding asked Qin Miaozhai to chat with her. Qin Miaozhai shut up about art, which made Miss Tong, who likes to be vassal and elegant, very moved. Qin Miaozhai immediately boasted to her that he wanted to hold a painting exhibition. Immediately, he soaked Director Ding and the accountant softly, and the exhibition was actually completed. At the exhibition, Qin Miaozhai criticized one of the paintings, saying that this painting was completely disease-free and moaning, but she did not expect Miss Tong to hear it, and immediately ran out in anger, and it turned out that this painting was from Miss Tong's hand. Qin Miaozhai hurried out to chase Miss Tong, and coaxed her back to change her mind with three words and two words, it seems that this Qin Miaozhai is also an eight-faced exquisite figure.
Later, Qin Miaozhai made a big speech at the banquet at the end of the exhibition, saying a bunch of seemingly profound and actually unintelligible opinions, which attracted the applause of the crowd and really regarded him as an artist. Suddenly, a group of soldiers rushed in and took away one of the guests present, this person was a friend of Qin Miaozhai who had come from an unknown source, and it turned out that this person was a traitor. The farm owner knew about this matter that damaged the reputation of the farm, and he was completely enraged, believing that Director Ding should not leave Qin Miaozhai behind, and he was determined to resign Director Ding.
The news reached Director Ding, who angrily rebuked Qin Miaozhai, but Qin Miaozhai was just a hippie smile. Director Ding also said that if he was resigned, Qin Miaozhai would also be driven out, and when Qin Miaozhai heard it, he immediately changed his face and vowed to guard "our" farm. He immediately went to the pile of workers, made all kinds of inflammatory remarks, pulled the workers to stand in line, and quickly persuaded the workers with a clever tongue.
But the new director arrived soon. The new director, surnamed You, is a PhD studying in the UK and carries his wife. Compared with Director Ding's sleekness, Director You seems to be fierce. As soon as he came, he built circuits, caught egg thieves, and introduced reforms, urging workers to get up early in the morning to work. He also found Director Ding and asked him to immediately hand over power, and Director Ding wanted to intercede with the boss's wife, so he asked for a few more days of delay. Director You coordinated the work of the farm in every detail, so that the work efficiency was suddenly improved, but the workers worked harder and began to complain.
Qin Miaozhai took the opportunity to mobilize workers to give gifts to Mrs. You to intercede, so the workers really carried eggs. Mrs. You also felt that her husband's handling was too unsympathetic and not smooth enough, so she accepted the egg and promised to persuade her husband. That night, after listening to his wife's persuasion, Director You just shook his head, saying that this group of people only knew that the days were muddy, they were very inferior, and he was powerless to change anything, and could only wait for the wheel of history to roll forward and crush the new era.
As the days passed, the farm's production became more and more on track, and the workers became more and more disgusted with Director You. At this moment, Director Ding came back with a gray face, he came back to be the deputy director, it was obvious that this was a plan, he wanted to take the opportunity to bring Director You down. When Qin Miaozhai saw that he had a backer, he became more and more unscrupulous, lobbying workers everywhere, he counted Director You's crimes, and also framed Director You's wife for embezzlement and bribery, which turned out to be the basket of eggs. The workers were bent on continuing to be Director Ding's parasite, so they all agreed. Director You knew about this and hurried home, learning what had happened from his wife, and he collapsed on the bed, knowing that everything had been ruined. A basket of eggs has cast an eternal stain on this person who has been upright all his life. Soon, Qin Miaozhai and his workers surrounded Director You's residence, and in desperation, Director You had no choice but to hand over his power and leave the farm in despair.
Director Ding regained power, the workers were excited, and Qin Miaozhai was happy that he had a long-term stable and free residence. Director Ding promised him that he would cover him in the future. Then, the next day, Qin Miaozhai was captured by the army. It turned out that the missing professor who had come with Qin Miaozhai was imprisoned for political problems, and Qin Miaozhai naturally could not get rid of the relationship, so Director Ding resolutely reported him. In fact, at the beginning, Director Ding only wanted to use Qin Miaozhai's lobbying ability to use it for his own use, and Qin Miaozhai's various incitements to workers also stemmed from Director Ding's repeated radical methods, and now that he has lost his use value, Director Ding easily got rid of him.
Everything returned to peace, life on the farm was as usual, Director Ding sat firmly in his position and recruited new tenants, and Miss Tong, who had once been in love with Qin Miaozhai, also smiled and let Director Ding introduce new tenants to himself.
"No Problem" is adapted from Mr. Lao She's short story of the same name, and the adapted screenplay won the Golden Horse Best Screenplay Award, and Fan Wei also won the Golden Horse Film Emperor's trophy. The whole film uses black and white images, under the soothing film rhythm of Ozu Yasujiro, showing a scene like an ink landscape painting, this scene with obvious Chinese classical aesthetics, subtle and introverted, not showing mountain dew, such a scene setting is in line with the character image of Director Ding, on the surface low-key modest and kind, but behind the scenes, the farm is connected up and down without moving.
Ancients Cloud: Insight in the world is learning, and human feelings are all articles. Director Ding can be said to have used this point like a fish, he went up to find a backer, pulled down the circle, not only benefited from it himself, people also got a bunch of harmony, and continued to parasitize under the system. When he first saw Qin Miaozhai, he made up his mind to use him; when he saw Director You's various deeds, he knew that he was not far from returning to his original position, and all these things seemed to be Director Ding's deep intentions, but in fact, his approach was in line with the operating rules of the humane society.
This is a drawback of China since ancient times, and this is one of the inferior roots of Chinese human nature. In the propagation of ideological values, people praise the idealism of Director You, who is just and upright, but in reality, people are more willing to follow Director Ding. As the movie says, being willing to be a parasite makes big things small and small things small.
People in modern life are still like this, the relationship society, upward and downward effects, gangs, people who are really capable and shoulder ideals and justice are always buried, and those who can survive in the rules are always those who are familiar with the rules and play with the rules. "The Problem Of No Problem" is actually a parable of modern society.