The 73-year-old old horse, once a carpenter and painter in the village, worked with Lao Cao of the same village to make coffins for the elderly in the village.
But in recent years, cremation has also begun in the countryside, so no one has come to them to make coffins.
Although burials have been banned in the village, Lao Cao still sought out Lao Ma before he died, and the two worked together to make a coffin for themselves.
The old horse took out the brush and dried paint that had been placed for a long time, and carefully painted the crane on the coffin, implying that it would soar to the sky after death.
After the coffin was ready, Lao Cao took out two bottles of wine as a thank you gift to Lao Ma according to the rules in the line.
In the small village where they live, young men go out to work, and only the elderly, women and children are left in the village.
The old people in the village had nothing to do, and usually gathered under the trees in the village to play cards and chat, and inevitably discussed the matter of life and death.
Although Lao Ma has long looked down on the matter of life and death, he has always had a deep affection for "burial", because the idea of returning to the roots of fallen leaves and entering the soil for safety has been deeply rooted in their hearts for thousands of years.
But now there is a sudden rise of "cremation", which is unacceptable to the old horse in any way, he does not want to leave this world through the chimney at the end, so this matter has been torturing the old horse.
On this day, Lao Ma's daughter took him to his home for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Lao Ma secretly asked his granddaughter whether they were buried or burned after the death of the people on their side?
The granddaughter didn't understand what he meant and said that someone was buried in the field of their house.
The old horse asked his granddaughter to take him to see it, and found that there were actually only a few graves in the field, and they were still the old graves of the past.
But the old horse was very happy, and he drew a circle and said that he would be buried here in the future.
When the daughter learned of this matter, she persuaded lao Ma that all were now cremated, and here were the old graves of the past.
But the old horse was still not dead, and he began to please his granddaughter to teach her to paint, and wanted to live in her daughter's house all the time.
Lao Ma painted a white crane for his granddaughter, saying that the crane was a sacred bird that could take people to the sky.
The granddaughter saw the old horse painting and said that she had seen this bird, which was in the lake at the mouth of the village.
The old horse asked his granddaughter to take him to see it, but it turned out that it was not a white crane at all.
After the daughter noticed these absurd behaviors of the old horse, she felt that the old father was afraid that it would not work, and quickly called her brother to send her father back.
Because the old man died in the village at his daughter's house, the son would be gossiped about by the people in the village and poked in the spine.
After Lao Ma returned from his daughter's house, he learned that Lao Cao had died, and the family buried him in their own cornfield, but did not dare to express their condolences publicly.
Lao Ma took the wine to Lao Cao's grave to worship him, feeling sad and envious in his heart, hoping that he could also be buried in his own cornfield after his death.
When the old horse returned home, he told his children that he had seen the crane by the lake, and believed that the crane could carry him into the fairyland, so he hoped that he could also be buried in the future.
But children do not understand their father's thinking, thinking that there is no difference between burial or cremation after death.
But lao ma's heart was more and more uneasy, he went to the lake every day to find the white crane, everyone did not understand him, only the grandson and granddaughter believed him, accompanied him to find the traces of the white crane.
The matter of Lao Cao's burial was finally discovered, the village director brought a group of people to dig the grave, although the villagers advised that the burial was still buried in their own fields, and now it is still a matter of people being dug out, but Lao Cao is still cremated.
This incident greatly stimulated the old horse, and he felt that the chance of burial was becoming more and more slim, such a large piece of land, but there was no place for himself.
The old horse was even terrified of the chimney at home, and he stubbornly blocked his own chimney again and again, afraid that he would become this wisp of green smoke.
The old horse's health was getting worse and worse, but he often ran to the lake and sat under the tree, waiting for the crane to take him to the sky.
One day Lao Ma sadly told his grandson that he would be dragged to the crematorium after he died, and the grandson rushed to comfort his grandfather and said that since you did not want to go, it would be better to hide.
The old horse listened to his grandson's words and said to the child, "Then you should dig a pit and bury me."
The grandson did not understand what it meant to dig a pit and bury it, he just wanted to make grandpa happy and fulfill his wishes.
The grandson helped Grandpa dig the pit, and when he saw the old horse sitting next to him, he burst into tears and said, Grandpa, if you don't want to go in, let's go home and eat.
But the old horse still made up his mind to stand in the pit, let the grandson drop the soil, and told the grandson that he could not listen if he did not shout to stop.
The grandson obediently listened to Grandpa's words and poured a shovel of soil into the pit, only to hear Grandpa's words at the end: Tell them, I took the white crane and went...
This is the storyline of the movie "Tell Them, I Went with the White Crane", which was released in 2012.
The film is directed by Li Ruijun, and the actors in it are not professional actors, but relatives of the director in the countryside.
The film ended up costing $1.5 million, but this non-professional actor and small-budget film won the "Horizon" category of the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
In addition, this film was also selected by the French Ministry of Culture as a Recommended Chinese film textbook for international Chinese courses in french junior high schools and high schools.
The ending of the movie makes many people unable to understand, feeling that the old man's approach is not only cruel but also too unethical.
Although the old man ended his own life, but he let his own grandson to do this thing, the child is still young do not understand what life and death is?
If one day he grows up and understands what life and death are, this truth will be too cruel for the child, and the child may feel guilty for a lifetime.
But the old man could not take care of so much, because except for the two children of the grandson and the granddaughter, not only did he not understand himself, but no one would come to help him.
It should be the wish of all the elderly to go to the ground and return to the roots, so even if many people in the village have lived in the city for a lifetime, they will still return to the countryside before they die and be buried in the rural land.
Although the film discusses the contradiction between cremation and burial, it also reflects a reality, the sadness of people when they face fate and cannot choose.
May every old man be treated gently by the changes of the times, so that they do not leave endless regrets.
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