The Desire to Live: The meaning of living is to find infinite value in a finite life. Introduction - 1. Narrative structure: Using a causal linear structure, intuitively and clearly tell the protagonist Watanabe's story to the audience, let us think about life with Watanabe and find the meaning of living. 2. Lens language: Many places use medium scenes, close-ups and close-ups to show the protagonist Watanabe from despair and pain, to self-indulgence, to self-redemption, and to find the meaning of life and life, which is vividly expressed and deeply rooted in people's hearts. 3. Auditory narrative: The narration takes us out of the plot, and the combination of sound and painting of the soundtrack allows us to integrate into the storyline and think about our own lives. 4. Theme thought: from internal causes to external causes, from shallow to deep, expressing director Akira Kurosawa's understanding and thinking. Conclusion ——

"Misfortune" teaches people to understand the truth, and people do not understand the preciousness of life until they are dying. - "The Desire to Be Born"

<h1>Introduction——</h1>

The film "Desire to Live" was filmed by director Akira Kurosawa and starring Joe Shimura, Chiaki Shi, Fujiwara Kazushi, Kaneko Nobuo, Nakamura Noburo, and others, and was released in Japan on October 9, 1952.

Since its release, the film has won a series of awards such as the Berlin Senate Special Award at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival, the Best Award of the 26th Japan Film Shunbao, and the 6th Japan Film Technology Award.

The film tells the story of the protagonist Watanabe, a model representative who has worked for 30 years and never asked for leave, and it is precisely because of this that he became the head of the municipal government's civil affairs section. Once, because of physical discomfort, I went to the hospital to check and found that I had stomach cancer, and I only had a short life of four months.

After a series of events, Watanabe decided to end his thirty-year life as a "mummy" and find his own story of meaning in life.

Film director Akira Kurosawa, as the most famous director in Japan, has made many classic films, today we will interpret this Douban score of 9.1 points from the narrative structure, lens language, audiovisual language, theme ideas four angles to interpret this Douban score of up to 9.1 points of the film "Desire to Live", at the end of the article I will combine the film narrative analysis, talk about their own thinking and feelings.

<h1>1. Narrative structure: Using a causal linear structure, it intuitively and clearly tells the protagonist Watanabe's story to the audience, so that we can think about life with Watanabe and find the meaning of living. </h1>

Causal linear structure is one of the most common narrative modes in film shooting, with the time of the story or the causal relationship of the plot as the narrative to completely present the entire story in front of the audience, so that the audience can understand the story content more directly and clearly, better communicate with the protagonist to cause a sense of resonance, and bring thinking and inspiration while watching.

The film also uses a causal linear narrative structure, through the cause, passage, result, climax of the story to express a story about the protagonist Watanabe's self-redemption and search for the value of life.

Cause: Watanabe is a model civil servant who has been "not asking for leave, not being late, and not leaving early" for nearly thirty years, because he is unwell, so he decided to go to the hospital for examination, who knew that he had stomach cancer and could not live for four months.

Pass: Watanabe is in pain and intends to tell his son about it, but he is only concerned about his pension and property. Reluctantly, he had to release his loneliness and emptiness in other ways, and he went to drink and indulge in the down-and-out third-rate writers, until he met miki, who was full of sunshine and vitality, and he was inspired.

In the first half of the film, the cause and process of the film show us a mediocre and inactive little character in the process of telling the story, who feels lonely and helpless, lonely and empty when faced with life and death decisions, without anyone's help, even his own son ignores him, director Akira Kurosawa is not willing to stir up emotions, but still can make us suffer a sad emotion on Watanabe, with a realistic effect, as if we are the next Watanabe.

Climax: Watanabe decides to do something for everyone to prove that he is alive, so he takes out the housewife's "underground repair request" in a mountain of documents, and acts to run for it in just four months of his life.

Ending: Watanabe successfully repairs the culvert, builds a park, finds his own value in life, and dies on the swing of a children's amusement park.

The climax and ending of the film belong to the second half, showing us a person who goes from pain to fun, finds the unique blood and original heart of youth, and finally finds the meaning of life and completes redemption.

The film uses not only a causal linear narrative structure, but also an omniscient narrative angle, supplemented by small details that allow us to take the protagonist's misfortune from a bystander's perspective.

At the beginning of the film, director Akira Kurosawa's first shot is an X-ray of the stomach, and through a cold, emotionless voice, we tell that the protagonist Watanabe has a stomach problem for only four months, although he does not know about it.

What an omniscient perspective is, is God's perspective, insight into everything. We as viewers know more than the protagonist Watanabe.

Using an omniscient perspective, the narrative angle overrides the characters, the narrative is simple and clear, the reader looks relaxed, it is easy to understand the plot, and quickly enter the emotions.

In the film, director Akira Kurosawa seems to consciously use an omniscient perspective to let us get rid of Watanabe's plot, not to immerse ourselves in sadness, and to single out us as a spectator, to watch and study Watanabe's short past life, to think about the meaning of living.

<h1>2. Lens language: Many places use medium scenes, close-ups and close-ups to show the protagonist Watanabe from despair and pain, to self-indulgence, to self-redemption, and to find the meaning of life and life, which is vividly expressed and deeply rooted in people's hearts. </h1>

The language of the lens is to tell the story through the lens, including the scenery and the way of shooting. The scenery includes long-range, panorama, mid-view, close-up and close-up, and the shooting method refers to the direction of camera movement, including pushing the lens, pulling the lens, panning the lens, following the lens, etc.

According to Watanabe's three states, let's analyze what scenes are used in these shots, and what is the significance?

These two pictures are Watanabe's first state, using the middle scene, with a central composition, showing Watanabe's mental outlook, he takes out his pocket watch from his pocket from time to time, looks down at the time, plus the pile of documents behind it, telling the audience that Watanabe has been doing boring and tedious work for thirty years, he pushes the day down the mountain, becomes numb and has no concept of time, laying a foreshadowing for the rise of Watanabe's thought behind him, forming a contrast.

When Watanabe knew that he had stomach cancer, director Akira Kurosawa used close-ups to clearly convey Watanabe's subtle expressions and mental activities that were difficult to observe to the audience, so that we could also feel the fear and pain when Watanabe knew that he had stomach cancer.

This is Watanabe's second state, using the middle scene, combined with balanced composition, Watanabe wants to drink, drunk until he forgets the fact that he has stomach cancer, but Watanabe wants to escape on the one hand, but on the other hand, he has lost the vitality of life, and has been bowing his head, this detail implies that the audience Watanabe has been unable to bear the torture caused by illness, and the contrast between the dead and the fallen writer tells us that Watanabe has a strong desire to live.

This picture also uses the middle scene, the young, energetic Miki is like the first straw that Watanabe encountered after dying and struggling, he found the missing happiness and youthful beauty in her, and it was Miki who let Watanabe get the inspiration and know the meaning of life.

This is the last state of Watanabe's life, looking at the park he created, imagining a group of children playing happily, using close-ups to clearly see that Watanabe's eyes are full of love, and he has completed the last value of his life.

In order to better narrate watanabe's story, director Akira Kurosawa mostly uses medium-shot and close-ups throughout the film to express the protagonist Watanabe's psychological journey from lost to redemption.

<h1>3. Auditory narrative: The narration takes us out of the plot, and the combination of sound and painting of the soundtrack allows us to integrate into the storyline and think about our own lives. </h1>

Early films have no sound, can only complete the narrative of the story through images and subtitles, known as "beautiful women who can't speak", and later with the development of the film, people gradually used vocals, sounds, music to more completely narrate the plot of the story, and the combination of sound and picture to increase the sense of picture of the film.

The first voice of the film comes from the narrator outside the picture, belongs to the third person narration, and is used for introduction, discussion, comment, etc., with a strong isolation effect.

For the gastric X-ray at the beginning of the film, the narrator tells us in the third person: "This is the protagonist's stomach, although there are symptoms of stomach cancer, he does not know."

When he saw the camera turn to Watanabe, he added: "He is the protagonist of the story, but it is not interesting to talk about him now." Because, he's just living to kill time, he's not alive."

Through a few simple comments from the narrator, our eyes are detached from the protagonist Watanabe, but instead look at the last moments of Watanabe's life from an audience perspective, which is easy to understand and fascinating.

When Watanabe learned that he was suffering from a stomach problem, everything around him was silent, but when Watanabe was almost hit by a car, director Akira Kurosawa suddenly joined the sound of cars driving and honking their horns.

On the one hand, at this time, we realize that this is the world in Watanabe's eyes, his inner feelings, he has no feeling for the external environment, his eyes are sluggish and lifeless, on the other hand, it shows that Watanabe has always been only a person, he can only rely on himself, no one can approach his inner world, to truly understand him, to lay the groundwork for watanabe's disappointment behind him, and played a transitional role.

Watanabe returned home from the hospital and sat quietly in a dark corner, thinking about whether to tell his son about his stomach cancer, but when he heard that his son and daughter-in-law wanted to renovate and move out of the house, and remembered his pension money and subsidies, he was disappointed and turned away.

Back to the room Watanabe looked at his wife's posthumous photo, reminiscing about the past, at this time several memories lead us to reminisce about Watanabe's youth, on the one hand is reality, on the other side is memory, alternating back and forth tormenting Watanabe, now he is in pain, but finally returns to reality, heralding the end of Watanabe's life, in addition to the contrast between the past and the present, let us more deeply realize that Watanabe has been terminally ill, there is no cure, only people will remember the first half of life before death.

In this scene, Watanabe crossed shoulders with a girl with a birthday, and the song "Happy Birthday" with blessings rang out from upstairs, even though the song was sung to the girl on her birthday in the film, we knew that this song was sung to Watanabe, celebrating that he had found the meaning of life and congratulating him on his spiritual rebirth.

In order to better integrate us into the plot, director Akira Kurosawa also added sound source music, that is, character singing, live noise, etc. In the film, Watanabe's favorite song is "Song of the Anchovy Boat": "Girl, life is short, go to love!" Taking advantage of the fact that a touch of red lips has not faded, and taking advantage of the fact that a cavity of hot blood has not yet been cold, there will be no such a good time tomorrow. ”。

The song is peaceful, sad and heavy, expressing the author's thoughts on life, eternity, love, and family affection, and it is most appropriate to use it on Watanabe.

Watanabe first sang this song when he was at odds with people who were obsessed with the pursuit of excitement, and sang along with the accompaniment, telling everyone present not to waste their youth, to be content and happy, and also to show that he longed to live.

The second time we sang this song was a moment before Watanabe's death, and when the song sounded, we felt an atmosphere of sadness, but at the same time we were happy for Watanabe, because he found the value of life, was reborn, and he was still "alive".

In a specific situation, the music in the audiovisual language can name the theme, render and set off the atmosphere, continuously cultivate the mood of joy and sorrow, and push it to the climax, expressing the emotion while rendering the theme.

<h1>4. Theme thought: from internal causes to external causes, from shallow to deep, expressing director Akira Kurosawa's understanding and thinking. </h1>

The first layer: born and died

The eternal topic in the movie seems to be inseparable from "man and death", what is the meaning of human life?

Watanabe spent his life mediocre and inactive, living a nine-to-five life, with a fixed salary in the eyes of outsiders, and a pension when he was old, as if he looked good.

But when Watanabe suffered from stomach cancer, he began to get tired of the "mummy" life, felt a pang of emptiness and loneliness, and he didn't know what he had done in this life.

Obviously, he was also an ambitious, idealistic young man, he had enthusiasm, and he had hot blood, but day after day, year after year in his life, he was quietly erased in this boring work, and when he looked back and found out, he could no longer remember the "appearance" of his youth.

Director Akira Kurosawa conveys to us one of the most core themes through the protagonist Watanabe, "Man and Death", which deserves everyone's silent consideration.

The second layer: parent-child relationship

One of the most troubles we encounter in life is the relationship between parents and children. We always leave the good temper to outsiders, the bad temper to the relatives, the habit of replacing love with indifference and quarrel, and the delusion that the other party will understand, step by step to pull the distance between ourselves and our relatives farther and farther.

In the film, Watanabe's middle-aged widowed wife, in order to take care of the child for a lifetime, played single sticks, carefully cared for him from childhood, watched him play ball and shouted loudly and cheered, proudly telling the people around him: "This is my son, Mitsuo." , accompany him to the operation, wipe his sweat and clench his hands, more nervous than his son... In the end, his son grew up and left Watanabe and took the train far away to the new world that belonged to him.

Brother Watanabe said, "You don't marry for the sake of your children, but when your children grow up, they won't leave their parents." When he grew up, Mitsuo was not close to Watanabe, and he thought about his pension and his life savings.

It's all very much like our current life, and director Akira Kurosawa hopes that we can reflect on our relationship with our loved ones while watching the movie, and don't wait for the loss to know regret.

The third layer: bureaucracy

In the film, director Akira Kurosawa uses the protagonist Watanabe's status as a civil servant to satirize Japan's current bureaucracy.

There is a scene of a group of women who come to the government department to run errands, but are pushed away by the staff kicking a ball, and the mothers are busy with the high public servants, but the employees with the same face are indifferent to their requests and evade each other.2

In just a few minutes of footage we see the "terrible" between the bureaucracy, which contrasts strongly with the mothers who come to ask for help, reflecting the helplessness and weakness of the mothers, and the irony and criticism are strong, as the line says: "There is no democracy here." After Watanabe's death, his mothers sincerely thanked him and instantly raised Watanabe's image to a higher level, indicating that Watanabe was still "alive".

The fourth level: old and new ideas

The gradual drifting away of Mitsuo and Watanabe illustrates the conflict between old and new concepts, the large bed in Mitsuo's room, mirrors, porcelain vases, etc. all indicate that the young couple has received a new education, while the floor bed in Watanabe's room, the old quilt, and the old hat worn on his head show that Watanabe is an old-fashioned concept.

When Watanabe feels pain, he can think of the most outrageous thing he can think of is drinking, but the third-rate writer takes him to pursue excitement, feel the nightlife, sing and dance in the bar, immerse himself in this cheerful time, but Watanabe seems extremely uncomfortable, unacceptable, and thus seems out of place with everyone.

Watanabe chose to stay with Miki all the time, in addition to the sunshine on Miki's body, the beauty of cheerfulness and "living" deeply attracted him, and the deeper miki as a young man has many ideas, and his ability to accept new things is very strong, which makes him envious, because he has been abandoned by the times.

In the film, Watanabe and the birthday person are two opposing states, on the one hand is the new concept represented by young people, on the other hand is the old concept represented by Watanabe alone, director Akira Kurosawa separates them through balanced composition, telling us that Watanabe has derailed from the new concept, Watanabe cannot accept the new concept, and no one tells him how to accept it, he can only stand alone, guarding the old concept that young people abandon and are unwilling to accept.

Although "Desire to Live" has many themes, but it does not appear abrupt, but close to life, director Akira Kurosawa from small events to express grand views, many small details are worth our attention to study, each shot has its unique meaning, showing Kurosawa Akira's super high shooting technology, known as: "Kurosawa Emperor", "The World's Kurosawa" laid its artistic value and status, becoming one of the world's most famous great directors, in 1990 won the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming the first Asian filmmaker to receive this honor, His films such as "Rashomon", "Seven Samurai", "Chaos" and so on are worth our taste and watch.

<h1>Conclusion--</h1>

Zang Kejia once said, "Some people are alive and he is already dead; some people are dead, and he is still alive."

What is the meaning of being alive? After watching the film, I think that the meaning of living may be to do what you want to do, like to do things, keep your enthusiasm, and always keep your original intention, then our limited life will be infinitely extended and become full of meaning.

Written by: White Gardenia

Image source: Network

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

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