In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the state put forward the policy of supporting study abroad, encouraging going abroad, and coming and going freely, and an unprecedented wave of going abroad swept the country.
Beijing Capital International Airport is non-stop day and night, and international flights are full of dreams of study, fame and fortune, flying to all over the world.
In 1993, Xia Gang's "Big Satan" directed by Xia Gang and starring Ge You and Xu Fan unveiled these dreams.
The perspective of "The Great Satan" focuses on the daily life of ordinary people who stay in the country, who are indirect participants in the boom of going abroad and the direct bearers of family changes. How they balance their relationship with their relatives abroad, how to adjust the trajectory of the current life, in which the cold, warm, sweet, bitter, and sad and bad stories have become the reality that countless ordinary families will face.
In the early 1990s, material and spiritual abundance were gradually abundant, and the dream of going abroad surged in the hearts of countless people. Everyone who goes out not only wants to change their destiny, but even looks forward to changing the world. Everyone at the airport has hope for the promises and dreams of their loved ones, and prays to meet them again as soon as possible.
Gu Yan (played by Ge You), who sent his wife abroad, and Lin Zhouyun (played by Xu Fan), who sent her husband abroad, are like this.
1.
The story begins at the bustling Beijing Capital International Airport.
White padded shoulder trench coat, red deep v underlay, pear blossom permed hair on the chest, the woman in the camera is full of spring breeze, full of enthusiasm, everyone say hello. Gu Yan, who is spitting out smoke rings and pushing Li, is in stark contrast to it: a new life that is about to run to Canada, and a day that continues to stay in the country and count the same.
Gu Yan asked his wife, who are you having fun with, and the acquaintances are coming?
The wife is dismissive, for his popular science: going out, with anyone to talk about politeness, people foreigners, especially love to talk about this, this is called warmth!
Longing for her wife in the new world, she strides towards security and never looks back, and all her enthusiasm is given to Vancouver, who is about to greet her.
The husband behind her, Gu Yan, from lying on the glass on the first floor to looking at her, to running to the railing on the second floor to see her for the last time, knew that his wife was going to beat the foreign dog with meat buns, or she was still nostalgic for her.
The people who leave are dashing and carefree, and the people who stay are inevitably sad and lost.
On the other side of the airport, the same drama is staged.
Lin Zhouyun, played by Xu Fan, fainted on the ground because he wanted to be separated from her husband, and the husband who was anxious to board the plane changed hands and entrusted his unconscious wife to the stranger Gu Yan, and once again emphasized the legitimacy of his resignation before leaving: I am going abroad! Please send you to the hospital!
The same is the end of the world fell people, when they met, why should they have known each other.
Gu Yan took Lin Zhouyun, who had fainted, to the hospital, and Lin Zhouyun, who had just been married for three months, miscarried, fulfilled her husband's wish, and really had no worries.
2.
At that time, most people had a beautiful vision for going abroad: to get a foreign famous university diploma, become a member of the wall Street storm center, and become a decent American middle class; or successful entrepreneurship, a migrant worker became a boss, no longer have to look at other people's faces, only stare at the rise and fall of the stock market.
Of course, the scenery across the ocean isn't always so smooth. There is the beauty of the new birth, and there is also the wandering of loss.
Thinking of making a lot of money in transnational trade, but finally entering a restaurant to wash dishes, doing odd jobs in a factory, between the rhetoric before going abroad and the reality of the downturn, it is difficult to fill the gap and embarrassment.
The trajectory of life abroad is different, and the days of staying at home are also cold and warm self-knowledge.
After her husband left, Lin Zhouyun began a "lonely nest" life, being alone during the New Year's Festival, killing a chicken at home and making the walls and the ground full of blood. The only concoctions in life were letters from her husband from abroad and a tape of American country music. Life goals have also become extremely simple, a mind to learn foreign languages, apply for a visa, and go to Vancouver as soon as possible for a couple reunion.
Gu Yan was much more sober than she was. Back at home, the broken ashtray on the table, the underwear dried by his wife on the hanger, and the emptiness on the double bed all made him understand that the marriage of the other party after going abroad was like a bicycle after the handle, and it was difficult to predict and control.
Gu Yan not only sobered himself, but also ruthlessly debunked Lin Zhouyun's psychological construction: your husband threw you away when you were most in pain, he sacrificed his children in exchange for a future, despicable, he can treat children like this in the future.
Lin Zhouyun did not believe it, and even suspected that Gu Yan had a bad heart, provoked their husband and wife relationship, and blasted him out in one breath.
However, the next facts all confirmed Uncle Ge's point of view.
A year later, the two met by chance in the subway, when Lin Zhouyun had already bought a ticket to go abroad, only a visa. As a photographer, Gu Yan took the initiative to ask Miao to take photos of her scenic spots and monuments in Beijing, saying that especially if she wanted to take pictures of the Yuanmingyuan, foreigners would feel guilty.
Two years later, on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Gu Yan called his wife in the phone booth, but did not get through. Lin Zhouyun, who was facing the phone booth, also staged the same drama.
3.
When the family was reunited, the two people who had no one to rely on decided to form a temporary family to partner for the New Year. Together with bread dumplings, firecrackers and fireworks, say hello to each other for the New Year... These most bland family flavors and fireworks are their long-lost luxuries.
Gu Yan has been completely disheartened, but still nostalgic for the simplest companionship and reunion, "the most afraid of the New Year, to anyone's home is a family."
Lin Zhouyun's expectations have gradually been extinguished, and Chinese New Year's Eve no longer toast to relatives who are far away from home, no longer toast to the early reunion with her husband, but "just toast to us both."
These two abandoned people, the ones who went alone, after endless waiting and disappointment, came together and hugged each other for warmth.
It is precisely because she has already seen through it that when Gu Yan received the divorce agreement sent from abroad, she accepted it calmly. Lin Zhouyun also finally signed a visa for Canada, but fell into a struggle of whether to go or stay, and finally she decided to hide her passport in Gu Yan's arms...
4.
Director Xia Gang won the Best Director of the 13th Golden Rooster Awards of Chinese Cinema with this film, and the actor Ge You won the Best Actor of the 13th Golden Rooster Awards of Chinese Cinema.
As one of the screenwriters, Although Feng Xiaogang did not win the award, he met the heroine Xu Fan and eventually entered the marriage hall hand in hand.
Of course, none of this is the point.
The point is that "The Great Satan" opens the narrative curtain of the 90s overseas boom from the perspective of ordinary people who stay in China. Four years later, in "Not Seen, Not Scattered", Liu Yuan wandered in the United States for ten years, living in a fixed place and having an unsuccessful career, which seems to fill the plot of the life of the Chinese in "The Great Satan".
With the advance of the times, China's comprehensive national strength has been continuously improved, and the people's national self-esteem and self-confidence have also increased rapidly. From going abroad, immigrating, and then returning, the filmmakers' perspective on the boom of going abroad in the 90s is also richer and more diverse, and the story level presented is also full of twists and turns.
Twenty years later, in "Chinese Partner", Meng Xiaojun, played by Deng Chao, ran away from the United States with great pride, but unexpectedly returned to China with a broken dream, and finally had a successful career to return to the United States, which can also be regarded as a re-realization of the unfulfilled ideal dream of the foreigners who were coldly watched.
In the new century when network communications are developed and the world is connected, the boom in going abroad in the 90s has become a group memory of a generation along with faded letterheads.
Of course, the significance of the movie "The Great Satan" is not only to present social impressions and relive the brand of the times.
The big sass is the meaning of "ignore him, open up", just like when riding a bicycle, you can't help it and let the car continue to rush forward. Whether it is the 90s or the 21st century, whether it is leaving or staying, life changes or does not change, we should all have the courage to dare to "throw the handle" on the past, never hesitate when we should be firm, and never linger when we should let go. (Text/MuYan)
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