When the film shines into reality,
It is the truest, blood-soaked suffering.
Recently, a movie has been repeatedly mentioned by many people.
The film is called Blind Mountain, a rare film that truly tells the story of women's suffering.
Although it is already an old film from 15 years ago, it is still worth watching repeatedly by everyone to this day.
The reasons are not complicated, one is scarcity, the other is typical.
Scarcity lies in the fact that even after 15 years, there are still very few films with the same theme.
The typical lies in the world in the film, and the world in reality, sometimes almost the same.
When the director Li Yang explained the title of the film, he once said: "The death of the eye is not the same as the blindness of the eye... To derive is to turn a blind eye to conscience and to external cruelty. ”
In the end, "Blind Mountain" tells a story of "opening your eyes and being blind".
Picture | Movie: "Blind Mountain"
"Blind Mountain"
In the story of "Blind Mountain", the heroine Bai Xuemei is a girl who has just graduated from college, has not yet found a job, but her family has a lot of debts, which is a time of extreme anxiety.
Just at this time, Bai Xuemei met the "good man" Hu Jie, and the manager Wu of the "pharmaceutical company".
Sister Hu advised her to go to the countryside to collect herbs together: "If you run a trip, you can earn five or six hundred yuan without saying a word, and if you are lucky, you can earn seven or eight hundred..."
Bai Xuemei was moved, thinking that she would soon be able to pay off the family's debts. Therefore, she followed Sister Hu into the mountains to "collect medicine".
And this time, I never came back.
After entering the mountain, a cup of underwater belly, Bai Xuemei fainted.
When she woke up again, Bai Xuemei's wallet and ID card were gone.
She went from being a female college student to a woman who was trafficked to the mountains.
7,000 yuan, which is the price of 40-year-old villager Huang Degui, who bought Bai Xuemei.
The next day, the Huang family happily organized the wedding.
Inside, Bai Xuemei was gagged and tied to the bed; outside the house, the chips were staggered and festive.
Huang Degui also said to the villagers who came to drink "happy wine":
"Whoever doesn't dry this cup of wine will have to beat a bare stick for the rest of his life, and his sons and grandchildren will beat him with a bare stick." Whoever doesn't drink will beat a bare stick for the rest of his life..."
Of course, Bai Xuemei did not rely on it, she first begged the Huang Degui family to let her go, but it did not succeed;
I went to the village cadres to complain, but only exchanged it for a sentence of "This is your family affair";
He also wrote letters to his parents many times, but the postman turned around and handed the letter to Huang Degui...
After being humiliated, Bai Xuemei chose to die, which was the only way she could maintain her dignity.
But she was still rescued, and the "mother-in-law" also found other abducted daughters-in-law in the village to persuade Bai Xuemei to "accept reality".
They told Bai Xuemei: "If you can't escape, get used to this kind of life, just have children." ”
Perhaps because she died once, Bai Xuemei no longer committed suicide, but she did not admit her life and was still looking for an opportunity to escape.
On two occasions, Bai Xuemei almost managed to escape from the mountains.
But the first time, because she was refused to board the fare without three dollars, she was arrested and taken back.
The second time, she used her body to trade with the commissary owner and made forty dollars.
She had already boarded the coach, but was caught again by Huang Degui's "come up and see my wife".
Bai Xuemei was almost desperate, and she was still pregnant.
She had to settle down for a while, teaching the children in the village who could not afford to pay the tuition, and at the same time full of worry—if she had a daughter, she would most likely be thrown into the river and drowned; or sold like her, repeating her miserable life.
Luckily, she had a son.
It was also around this time that a child she had taught gave her hope—that child was willing to help her send letters.
Eventually, the child sent a letter that brought Bai Xuemei's father and the police.
Bai Xuemei, it seems that she is about to be rescued.
But it's just like.
"The Ending"
Blind Mountain has two endings.
In the release version of the ending, Bai Xuemei finally escaped from the mountain village and returned home with the help of the police.
The original ending is much darker and more brutal.
Father Bai failed to take Bai Xuemei away, the police did not have much effect, and the enthusiastic villagers would not let anyone destroy the "tranquility" of the mountain village.
Huang Degui even beat up Bai Father because he did not want to release people.
Bai Xuemei was completely desperate, and at that moment she understood that it was every villager in the mountain who prevented her from being rescued.
She is not facing a "blind" individual, but a "blind" society.
So, she raised the kitchen knife in her hand and slashed at Huang Degui fiercely...
The movie, that's the end of it.
Director Li Yang did not want to give a conclusion easily, but left the audience with free imagination. From an artistic point of view, this should be called "blank space".
But when the film shines into reality, it has nothing to do with art.
It is the most real, bloody suffering.
The knife that Bai Xuemei cut down was certainly relieved, but so what? After all, her life could not go back.
Outside of the film, how many Bai Xuemei, how many Huang Degui, how many mountains can't be walked?
You know, "Blind Mountain" is adapted by Li Yang based on real events.
It is not only a film, but also the personal experiences and tragic experiences of thousands of abducted women in China's history.
In "Blind Mountain", what really makes people chill from the bones is every villager in the mountain who takes her existence for granted.
For example, someone taught Huang Degui how to control the abducted Bai Xuemei: "When she has a baby, she can't run." ”
They don't think there's anything wrong with that: if they can't marry a daughter-in-law, if they want to pass on their lineage, they'll pay for a wife— that's their logic, it's simple, it's terrifying.
In their view, women are a commodity, and procreation is their value.
Even in this real world, it has also been said that "the fight against trafficking will lead to the disappearance of villages." ”
And Luo Xiang responded with a French proverb: Fiat justitia ruat caelum. ）
If a village had to rely on trafficking in women to survive, it would have disappeared a long time ago.
Today, 15 years later, after "Blind Mountain" caused a hot discussion on the Internet, Li Yang sent a circle of friends:
If we talk about China's most underrated director, Li Yang must be on the list.
If you want to talk about the most humanistic director, Li Yang is definitely a name that cannot be avoided.
His masterpiece "Blind Well" exposes the evil of black coal mines; "Blind Mountain", which focuses on women's abduction; "Blind Road", focuses on stray begging children... Li Yang is aiming at the most crude suffering of China's low-level people.
Even if he can't get the investment, he has to finish the work out of his own pocket, because "I don't calculate it with money, I think it has social significance." ”
What is the meaning? Today, 15 years later, every audience who has been stirred up by "Blind Mountain" has given the answer:
History is a thing of the past, and suffering needs to be remembered.
"Li Yang"
In 1999, Li Yang, who had returned from studying in Germany, happened to see a news story: a woman who had been trafficked was sentenced to death after she rose up to resist and hurt people.
This greatly shocked Li Yang, and "Blind Mountain" also planted the seeds at that time.
In order to make this film, Li Yang visited many places and contacted more than 20 abducted women and the police who rescued them.
Even through friends and reporters, I came into contact with several traffickers who had been released from prison and obtained a lot of front-line information.
In those complicated information, Li Yang found a cruel common denominator: most of the women who were trafficked were deceived because they were looking for jobs.
They are full of hope and yearning for life, and as soon as they go out, they turn around and are sold into the mountains, inexplicably becoming other people's wives.
And the people who deceive them are often compatriots, acquaintances, and even relatives.
What is even more painful is that many women finally succumb to that fate and stay in the mountains.
On the one hand, they have children, and maternal love makes them choose to be patient, and not many mothers are willing to abandon their children and go away alone.
So they confessed their fate, and the mother's love made them great and trapped them.
On the other hand, due to the social environment, a woman who has been trafficked, even if she successfully escapes from difficulties and returns to her hometown, she still has to face countless "injuries".
For example, the discussion and eyes of others, such as the long-standing standard of "chastity" for women... It's hard to imagine how many people can afford it.
And what about women who are fierce and desperately rebellious?
They escaped again and again, were taken back again and again, beaten, imprisoned, raped again and again...
In the long run, no one can afford such torture, and many people end up with mental problems and become "crazy women".
Pile by pile, all made Li Yang feel sad from the bottom of his heart.
In his view, as a director, or an artistic creator, you should have a basic sense of social responsibility.
When he saw the sorrows and pains, he could not pretend to turn a blind eye.
"Our society is not only about high-rise buildings and sunny, but also where the sun can't shine," he said. ”
There are many people who praise the sun, but very few people look directly into the shadows.
Li Yang wanted to be the one who looked directly at the shadows and analyzed the darkness.
Whether it is "Blind Well", "Blind Mountain", or "Blind Road", no matter what the subject matter, he always insists on going deep into the front line and collecting real materials.
Because film is his means of expression, and truth is the foundation of everything.
When studying in Germany many years ago, Li Yang learned a truth - "everyone sweeps the snow in front of the door" is correct.
Because German law stipulates that if a pedestrian falls on the road in front of your house, you are legally responsible.
The roads are under the control of sanitation workers, while the sidewalks are under the control of individuals.
Looking at the clean whole sidewalk, he suddenly understood: everyone must first take care of themselves and turn themselves into a clean person, and there will be fewer dirty and dirty people in this society.
There are many things that he is also powerless to do.
But at least, he wouldn't allow himself to be reduced to an indifferent spectator, or even a cruel handmaiden.
"Ideal place to stay"
Li Yang is a director with lofty ideals.
The ideal road is destined to be long and bumpy in many cases.
When filming "Blind Well", Li Yang himself invested a lot of money, and the film won many awards in the world, but it could not be released in China.
Coupled with the flood of pirated CDs at that time, Li Yang lost a lot of money when he came and went.
Then to "Blind Mountain", the original ending is too depressing, in order to be able to release, he had to change the ending to another relatively harmonious and beautiful version.
But unfortunately, the box office at that time was also very small, plus the 4 million he invested, almost a loss-making transaction.
The final "Blind Road" made him angrily reprimanded by some netizens: "Compromise with the market and make a bad film!" ”
Because "Blind Road" is so warm that it is not real enough.
And Li Yang also admitted his compromise: "If this movie can meet the audience, it must be compromised." ”
No matter what the evaluation is, how much the box office is, he finally shows what he wants to say and the ideas he wants to convey in front of the public.
How the effect was was not something he could decide, but at least, he made his own voice heard.
And in many cases, silence is often an accomplice to evil.
Therefore, at this time, Li Yang sent a circle of friends to say that "copyright issues are not pursued", but "called on everyone to watch "Blind Mountain"" instead.
You should understand that this 62-year-old "little director" is still the dreamer with ideals.
Figure | Li Yang
Next, Li Yang is also preparing to shoot a film on the theme of domestic violence.
His lens is still aimed at the suffering at the bottom of society, still thanklessly focusing on those deep, obscure dark corners.
This kind of attachment may be silly and difficult to come forward.
But what we need is exactly such a stupid and persistent person.
After all, ignoring the suffering of the suffering is a sin in itself.
The true strength of a society is never embodied in the worship and glorification of the strong, but in the sympathy and protection of the weak.
There is a line in the movie "Donkey Got Water": "If the past is just like this, then the future will only be worse." ”
Those real pains, no matter how far away, should not be ignored, forgotten, or even rewritten.
Therefore, a person who is willing to go deep into the bottom is very rare; a person who is willing to record and tell the story of suffering is also rare.
As the writer Liu Shenlei said: "I think it is not difficult to face sin, but to face the past." ”
It took us many years and walked a lot of roads to exchange for today's civilized society.
And on that way, the scattered fragments that were left, ignored, and forgotten had to be picked up one by one.
Li Yang did this, and I felt that there was no one cooler than him.
The article image is derived from the movie "Blind Mountain"