There's a saying that the more people you see, the more you like dogs.
Whether human nature is inherently good or human nature is inherently evil may be a paradox with no answer, but human nature is selfish and self-sufficient, and this deserves to be recognized.
A movie that subverts the three views of the movie "Old Beast", after watching it, I can't hate Lao Yang, a bastard old man, at all.
Produced by Wang Xiaoshuai, directed by Zhou Ziyang, and starring Tu Men, Wang Chaobei, Wang Zizi and others, it tells the story of the family farce in which the representative of the rich class, Lao Yang, went bankrupt at home to eat, drink, gamble and find a second milk, stole his wife's life-saving surgery fee, was kidnapped by his children, and sued his children in court.
Old Yang, you said he was an asshole, and it was really not too much.
The story takes place in Ordos, a city that was once glorious but now decayed and silent. Just like the legend of Lao Yang's life, he has truly been rich, and from the perspective of the "Boss Yang" called him by others and his own vanity, he has really become rich. Therefore, the fall from a high place and the person who is already at the bottom of the fall, these two kinds of pain are definitely not the same. Anyway, the current old Yang is not only poor, but also old.
His wife was also old and sick, paralyzed in bed and needing care. A family can be overwhelmed by a disabled elderly person. But in this family, only Lao Yang was breathless. The three children gave the responsibility of taking care of their mother to the idle old Yang.
Lao Yang naturally felt extremely desperate for such a life, so he still rode his small electric stove and wore his signature sunglasses, went out to hang out, lingered in the chess and card room, and went to the hair salon little lover's side to "cloud rain". Such a life, there is a little hope.
However, once Lao Yang sneaked out and caused his disabled wife to fall out of bed and was caught by the children, which was not okay, the children angrily arrested the bastard Old Yang and locked him in the house, so that he could reflect on it.
You can't keep me shut down, like a bird in the sky that can't keep flying. The arrogant old Yang, where is the trapped beast that can be tied up, he took the tool and smashed the door without saying a word.
Old Yang went out to meet his former friend, led a camel to see the camel, old Yang beat the swollen face and filled the fat man and invited his friend to dinner, and the friend asked him to take care of the camel. The fierce old Yang Cai was obsessed, because he really had no money, and sold his friend's camel for money. He also bought a Transformer for his grandson and a gift for his lover.
But in the end, it should still come, and his friend came back and asked him how to explain the camel? Naturally Lao Yang will certainly not be sorry for his friends, his wife is critically ill and needs to operate immediately, Lao Yang cheekily went door to door to ask his children for surgery fees and finally made up 30,000 yuan, which was placed at the head of his wife's bed. Old Yang quietly walked away 10,000.
He used the money to buy a cow for his friend, and with the cow, the friend was not worried. It turned out that this friend had helped Old Yang's eldest son when he was married and helped him make up the bride price.
Lao Yang's theft of money was eventually known to the children, and naturally this father, who had no image at all, was even more despised and disgusted by the children. Old Yang was locked up by the children again, and this time there was a more serious conflict. In the end, it was also the place where the court went to court, and lao Yang still did not hesitate to sue the children for their ruthlessness.
Indeed, Lao Yang is a very bastard, as a husband to his wife unfaithful, did not do a good job of taking care of the responsibility, the key is no money and face, but do not forget that his limited life is really brilliant. When he had money, he helped his eldest son to start a car repair factory, spent money to find a relationship to arrange a good job for his son-in-law, and bought a house for his younger daughter...
Almost every child's stable life now benefits from Lao Yang's past efforts, but this period has also been forgotten with the decline of Lao Yang.
As screenwriter Zhou Ziyang said, "What you see is not necessarily the truth, and what Lao Yang's children see may not be the truth, but gradually, they have no patience to see it."
The truth of Lao Yang, the children naturally have no interest in knowing, after the withdrawal of the lawsuit, he still did not get a trace of pity and sympathy from the children, still disdain and disregard. Old Yang, who has been accustomed to face all his life, finally gave himself a place to return in a peaceful way: fed his paralyzed wife whose condition deteriorated to take special medicine, ate it himself, and then slept together...
Is there a tomorrow? No, that's the best answer. As an old bastard, this may be Lao Yang's last decency. How many people can understand his repression and inner struggle like a trapped beast? When the fathers are old, the children no longer need them, but they have evolved into a mutual game between the children and the fathers, helplessly sighing.
If a person's situation in his later years is desolate and bitter, and he lacks care and admiration, it is the greatest misfortune in his later life. However, this unfortunate group base is so large that people sigh and sigh. The "China Development Report 2020: Development Trends and Policies of Chinese Population Aging" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the China Development Foundation predicts that around 2022, China's population over 65 years old will account for 14% of the total population, achieving the transformation into an aging society; by 2050, China's aging will reach its peak, and the population over 65 years old will account for 27.9% of the total population. If the age of 60 and above is used as the criterion for defining the elderly population, the number of elderly people in China will be close to 500 million in 2050.
Art comes from life, and the humanity in the film can also be glimpsed from real life. Among the 500 million elderly people, there must be no shortage of elderly people like Lao Yang. As a friend who works in a nursing home said, among the elderly who have lived in nursing homes for a long time, the proportion of elderly people with many children is higher than that of only children. Because whenever there is a pension dispute, the nursing home is the only way home.
In fact, the elderly do not hate to enter the nursing home, but in fact, the nursing home can get professional care, many elderly people who reject the nursing home are nothing more than nowhere to put for their dignity, and they are ridiculed for being homeless. Just as old people are not afraid of getting old, what they really need is dignity, just like Old Yang, for dignity is like a crazy beast, everything else is floating clouds.
At the end, a tear was shed for this arrogant, poor, angry old man.