—Cannibal fireworks, write red dust stories —
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"In our hometown, people are the most priceless treasures,
What is said makes more sense than raising the volume;
After all, it is rain that moisturizes the flowers to grow, not thunder. ”
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In the history of the Oscar nominations, a film with Muslim elements was shortlisted, an animated film about the Taliban era in Afghanistan, "The Breadwinner".
Douban 8.3.
The Oscars of the past two years have been like a grand anti-Trump demonstration movement in the literary and artistic circles.
For example, there was the best foreign language of the year, given to "The Salesman", and the director Asha Farhati is Iranian. Not long ago, Trump issued an executive order banning visas for Muslim citizens of seven countries, including Iran.
Ashar became the only small gold man winner last year who, for "objective reasons", could not come to the scene to receive the prize.
As we all know, Trump has constantly proposed various harsh policies against Muslims from the campaign to the stage, and "restricting entry" is the climax of his anti-Muslim movement, but the Oscar judges insisted on giving the little golden man to Ashar under the premise that they knew that the director could not enter... It's a slap in the face.
So as soon as the film appeared in the nomination, it caught my attention.
What attracted me to it was the movie poster, the fantasy exotic background, a girl, wearing a monochrome blouse, big eyes staring ahead, a loose turban, a high nose and deep eyes, wide eyes and thin eyebrows, the depression of the color matching, the vicissitudes of innocence, forming a contrast that catches people's eyes.
PART 1.
The animated film "The Breadwinner" is a hand-drawn animated feature film produced by Cartoon Salon Animation Studios, which won the 44th Animated Annie Awards after beating countless super powerful works, and this film is adapted from the author Deborah. Iris's novel of the same name.
In these two stills, it can be seen that Parwana is supporting her badly injured father, who for some reason has been able to move forward on support and crutches.
The family's life is all supported by the father, and the whole family is lost in confusion and sadness.
In another still, Parwana and her partner are preparing to climb into a tank.
The Breadwinner is set in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Women born here are not allowed to go out and study from an early age.
In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, women are not allowed to take to the streets, buy any goods, or communicate with outsiders.
Women who have reached adulthood are not allowed to show any of their skin or they will be convicted of a crime.
Parvana took to the streets and was found to be a girl, and the rice shop owner yelled angrily, "Get out, let your father or brother come", almost caught by a group of hooligans, and struggled several times before fleeing home.
The protagonist, Parvana, is a strong and optimistic girl, her father is a teacher, her mother is a writer, and this sister and brother, and the family is very harmonious.
However, for some reason, my father was framed by the Taliban and imprisoned, and the family has been torn apart ever since.
For the survival of the whole family, the second daughter Pavana, despite the opposition of her family, finally decided to cut off her long hair, put on a white hat, and pretend to be a little boy, because only in this way could she buy food from the rice shop, work to make money in disguise, and even ask around for news to rescue her father.
In many film symbols, long hair represents the inherent roles traditionally set for women.
In the movie "Wrestling Daddy", the cut hair represents the father's determination to let his daughter practice wrestling out of the small place, while in "The Breadwinner", Parvana takes the initiative to ask for the long hair to be cut, representing her determination to take responsibility for herself.
PART 2.
Compared to other big productions in the animation nominations, "The Breadwinner" is still a niche art film, and although it unfortunately failed, it is still the favorite I want to recommend to my friends at this year's Oscars.
Most cleverly, in addition to the main line of the realistic narrative, there are several parallel romantic sub-lines.
The story of the country (the Silk Road) is the background of the film.
Afghanistan, the junction of East and West, connecting South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia, has an important geostrategic location, and has experienced countless invasions and conquests in the long course of history.
Correspondingly, it has also suffered from various culture shocks.
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Stories about the princess were also quickly interrupted.
So the story and reality really work well together, and this girl with a little temper becomes a breadwinner.
The girl's friends are also dressed as men, more sleek and optimistic and cheerful.
I believe that in Afghanistan, there are countless such girls, forced by various helplessness, will make such a choice.
In order to appease her younger brother, Pavana told him a bedtime fairy tale:
A boy who does not know the height of the sky decides to save the village and chooses to go alone to fight the elephant demon who stole the food. The boy meets the mysterious old woman and instructs him to find three things, but he is chased by the monster.
A little girl, dressed as a man, in the case of being found and taken away at any time, it is impossible to have zhang Huang's fear in her heart.
And this story about the brave little boy is told intermittently from the beginning to the end.
It may have a basis in folk tales, or maybe her parents and sister had told the girl repeatedly, but when she began to tell it to her brother, the story became the story she created.
For example, if a leopard rushes down the mountain to drive the donkey away and eats the tree, this may also have some kind of metaphor, but if the children tell stories, the logic is almost like this.
As reality changes, the story slowly moves forward.
The little boy does not have the strength to defeat the Elephant King, but only tells his own story repeatedly, a short story with a bland beginning (parental profession), boredom in the middle (sisters quarreling), and a shocking ending (toy explosion), a story that the mother never had the courage to tell.
Every time the paper-cutting style of the branch line appears, it is a time for despair to spread, and the fear of the little boy in the story is the fear in Pavana's heart.
Later, Parvana used her brother's name as the boy's name.
The mythical story about the elephant, the director gives an incomparably realistic ending.
Parwana once had an older brother who one day found a toy on the street and picked it up and it exploded.
And this passage is repeated five or six times in the film, and what the director wants to express is clear.
In the mythological story, the brother defeated the elephant king with his own story.
In the real world, the brother picks up the toy, the toy explodes, the brother dies...
You have to ask me what is the ending of this animation?
That's the end!
This means that when her brother died, in Pavana's heart, she had already put herself in the position of taking the place of her brother and taking on the responsibility of taking care of her family.
The narrative of this kind of film is like a magnificent symphony, the first two branches of the first two branches are winding each other, and at the end, all the instruments play the most moving chords together, summarized in the final theme:
The boy in the story finds the mirror and defeats the elephant; while Pavana confronts the fear in her heart and rescues her father.
Without much background, without much plot, the ending is exploding.
Why does this story make the Elephant King's armor fall off and calm down?
I don't know, but the little boy facing the Elephant King can only tell this story repeatedly.
The highest level of the film is to use this story told by Pavana herself to carry all the inner worlds that cannot be expressed through external plots.
This method of expression directly allowed the film to rise from a qualified animation to an outstanding artistic animation that matched the little golden man.
Under the nest, there are finished eggs.
The so-called domineering is to run over anywhere without saying hello.
There are various reasons for telling stories, but for this family, without telling stories, there is only despair in life.
In the midst of repeated narration, I was reminded of the famous "Blowing in the Wind."
How many deaths will it take 'till he knows that too many people have died?
All wars are essentially a struggle for interests.
Those in power don't care how many other people die, but they still have to tell the story over and over again.
PART 3.
This movie has won unanimous praise from everyone, anime originates from life above life, and many of the plots in it have deeply touched everyone's heart.
It takes some small pain to resist the numbness that comes with life's roar.
Director Tomei said in an interview: "The sense of responsibility of Afghan children to their families and friends is completely different from our culture based on individualism. The story was new to me, but it was common in that environment. My task, or my biggest challenge, is to make this special story ordinary in the movie. ”
The film is set in Afghanistan, where the Taliban ruled the region, Muslim fundamentalism has revived, and under the wave of feminist movement in the 21st century, the women of Afghanistan are treated as appendages of men.
All the plots in the movie are happening in real time.
Reflections on war and calls for peace do not come in the form of "shouting with arms raised" and shouting slogans.
After all, the luxury of "thinking about the meaning of war" is only worthy of peace; in war, all we have to do is survival.
The film itself does not have any character lines or plots that directly hint that "I hope the war will end quickly, we need peace"; instead, through the rich scene details, the cruelty of the war is refracted and the pain of the war is transmitted to the audience.
The film itself can only tell one story, and the criteria for distinguishing a good movie are to induce the audience to think for themselves.