Text/Yijie Wang
(The author Wang Yijie, a student of Nanjing University of the Arts; this article is an exclusive manuscript of Lychee News Client and Lychee Network, please indicate the source when reprinting.) ）
Running for another collaboration with the "Hawkings" in "The Theory of Everything", I walked into the cinema to enjoy this film, which is also based on real people and real events. In The Theory of Everything, I saw a poignant, fragile, and frothy relationship, and The Balloon Aviator presented an unparalleled adventure. The two films have one thing in common, that is, human beings' pursuit of knowledge and science.
The scene design of "Hot Air Balloon Aviator" is soft and grand, rendering the world above the clouds incomparably beautiful. The director keeps the rhythm of the whole journey in place, and the occasional storm or frost makes people suffocate at once, and then the snow or the flocks of fluttering butterflies make people addicted to the endless sea of clouds. The film uses a two-line narrative, interspersed between the balloon journeys and interspersed with bits and pieces of the two people's pre-trip lives. The two protagonists cooperate tacitly. In particular, the heroine Felicity Jones, in this film, surpasses the male protagonist "Little Freckles", showing the female aviator's sensibility, determination, and sometimes vulnerability to the extreme.
Usually movies based on true stories resonate more with people, but this "Hot Air Balloon Aviator" has made me frequently doubt its authenticity. In the film, I did see growth, but I didn't see a convincing process of growth. For example, I understand the heroine Amelia's hesitation in planning a hot air balloon trip after experiencing the fear of life and death. But she hesitated, as if a casual remark could change her mind. After meeting James Glaisher at the ball, she regained a belief she had forgotten for two years. But because of her sister's speech on "women's family status", she categorically gave up the hot air balloon that had been put into production. In the end, he was pushed by people he didn't know to make a final choice. This is very different from Amelia's various dangers and rational decisions that followed.
In fact, what puzzled me the most was the father of the male protagonist James, who did not show support for James's career when he first appeared; when he appeared the second time, he became a semi-amnesiac old man, murmuring about his obsession with the starry sky. Why did he reveal his love after the amnesia? His last appearance is at the end of the movie, where he reads a newspaper in bed, and the newspaper is the news of the success of the balloon trip. This clip is a bit bland at the end of the film, and the emotional rendering between father and son should have a more intelligent way of expression. Looking at movies such as "The Fantasy Drift of The Young Pi" and "Saving Private Ryan", there are superb techniques to depict the hearts of the characters. The emotions of the characters are imitated as animals, thereby reducing the guilt of the inner "survivor guilt" and the collapse of human nature; from "I go to save a stranger, who will save me?" The question of mercy, the birth of redemption. In these films, although it is the "hero" who completes the "adventure", the hero can always return to life, and the completion of the adventure is inevitable. The behavior of the characters can often be explained by life.
The film portrays a woman as the hero of a hot air balloon journey, but in the true events of 1862, both explorers are men. Inspired by Sophie Blanchard, the world's first professional female balloon pilot, the director changed the gender of one of the main characters, giving her an opportunity that was almost unimaginable in Britain at the time. In the 19th century, women's quest for knowledge was considered dangerous, but Amelia was able to stay awake and climb to the top of the hot air balloon amid much criticism, and many times her abilities surpassed that of her male colleague James, proving her worth. But has the director's portrayal of this character fallen into the trap of "post-feminism"? Is it really a sign of female independence simply to kill a loved one by completely killing other possibilities in one's own life, living in a cluttered house, and drinking and sleeping? If her vulnerability completely coincides with the tragedies of her contemporaries, it is not simply the "fragile side of the hero's character".
In addition, as I rose through the clouds, james and Amelia had some free chats about their understanding of the beauty of science and literature, which touched me. People who study science can also love literature. Indeed, knowledge is good. I think this is also one of the connotations that this film wants to express. In the real events of 1862, the two explorers were 53 years old and the other 80 years old. But old age and external oppression are not worth mentioning in the face of intellectual curiosity, because truth is an unstoppable force— even though it is not recognized by most people. In the film, we can feel the powerlessness of the sober people standing among the ignorant, and the right to speak is trampled on, but they prefer to maintain the dignity of knowledge. Perhaps what moved me in the film was not the sophisticated scientific instruments, not the superb high-altitude survival skills, or even Amelia's memory of her deceased husband Pierre, but this attitude towards truth.
Since ancient times, human beings have had an infinite yearning for the starry sky. The thirst for knowledge, the reverence for the starry sky, may be better than the sky itself. This also explains the words on Kant's epitaph: "There are two things, and the deeper and more enduring my thoughts I think about them, the greater the wonder and awe they evoke in my mind will change and grow with each passing day, and this is the starry sky above me and the moral law in my heart." Towards the end of the film, James exclaimed, "We made the stars closer." In fact, they not only brought the stars closer, but also brought knowledge closer to the ordinary, numb crowd.
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Source: Litchi News