The Heart of Noon at Dusk
Li Li
At that time, when watching the science fiction movie "Interstellar", I especially liked a line that recurred in it, written by Dr. Brand. Blent, played by Michael Kane, a veteran British drama bone), chanted: "Do not go gentle into that good night".
This sentence comes from the poem "Don't Walk Gently into That Good Night" by the English poet Dylan Thomas in the mid-20th century. The poem was written by Dylan Thomas to his critically ill father. At that time, his father was dying, and he had given up the hope of living and was ready to leave this world quietly. The poet hopes that his poem will arouse his father's fighting spirit to defeat the god of death, and not give up any hope of living.
Don't go gently into that good night,
Old age should burn and roar at dusk;
Rage, rage against the disappearance of light.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The whole poem is filled with the duality of night and day, darkness and light, gentleness and fury, death and life. The "good night" that falls at the end of the day (the dying of the light) is a symbol of death, and the poet exhorts people in a fierce tone not to obey fate, not to give up hope of living, and never to "walk gently into that good night." In the end, it does not matter if you do not pursue it, what is important is the attitude towards life. People must roar angrily in the face of the passing time, the uncompetitive dreams, and at the last moment of their lives, before the last breath is exhaled, they still roar and fight for survival. Dylan Thomas and his "Do not go gentle into that good night" have become a symbol and symbol of the English-speaking world, just as "the old man is a hero, determined to be a thousand miles; the martyr is in his twilight years, and his heart is strong" is Chinese.
In the movie "Interstellar", blight leads to the demise of global crops, the population is sharply reduced, the society is regressing, and mankind is facing an unprecedented crisis, and a cosmic journey to find a new home for mankind begins. Professor Brand is the planner and leader of the human migration to the alien planet, and the last time the poem appears in the entire film in the recording of the "Emigrating to the Aliens, Abandoning the Earth" plan to the male and female protagonists. Most strikingly, Professor Brand repeated three times at the end of the recording:
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Do not go gentle.
Professor Brand hopes that Cooper and Emilia will be able to fly the spacecraft into the universe and carry out the Lazarus plan to save mankind. In the repeated chanting of "Do not go gentle", Professor Brand has been suggesting from beginning to end that human beings have reached the time of life and death, and when faced with the history that is about to be abandoned or the extinction of human beings, do not hesitate, do not hesitate, and let go. Embarking on a journey into the vast space is like entering the vast night, in the dark and deep, lonely and vast starry sky, sailing far away, the road ahead is unpredictable, but no matter what, you can't face the fate of surrender, you must not "gently walk into that good night". Dylan Thomas's poem, read from the mouth of a human wandering man in space, does enhance the poetic dimension and shock of the film, and the words hit the heart of the audience.
The transformation of day into night, from the sun to the moon, is the rotation of the wheel of time, the eternal lord of the high, in fact, time. In the face of the invincible king of the gods "time", in the body of the dusk shaken by time, there is a heart of noon, even if it is about to die, it is still full of longing for life, firmly believing that the length of human life can not violate the objective law, but it is not completely subject to the arrangement of heaven. It is a force of the heart, a spiritual will. I love the strength of this struggle for life, so sincere and intense, so generous and moving. As long as he is still racing against time, fighting against fate, and fighting against himself, then this person is still growing up steaming and doing his best to extend his life, which belongs to the precious and beautiful life of an individual or group of human beings.
On the macroscopic scale of cosmology, the mountains and rivers and the earth are only dust, and human beings are even more dust in the dust. However, the existence of human beings seems destined to fight against the universe. For thousands of years, generation after generation of human beings have set out to explore, discovered the mistakes of human beings themselves again and again, and proposed new methods of exploration again and again. This is the greatness of small human beings.
"Don't Walk Gently into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas
Although wise men understand the truth of darkness when they are dying,
Because their words did not burst out of lightning, they
Nor did he walk into that good night gently.
Good people, when the last wave passes, chant their fragile good deeds
How gloriously might have danced in the green bay,
The furious man caught and sang the soaring sun,
Understand, but it is too late, and they make the sun sad on the way,
Serious people, close to death, are seen with dazzling vision
Blind eyes can shine like shooting stars and rejoice,
You, my father. In that sad high place.
Curse me now with your tears and bless me. I beg you
Don't walk gently into that good night.