"You knew stomach cancer was going to die, but he started life."
At the "Talk Show Conference" championship finals that ended some time ago, there was a theme of "is the end and the beginning". If we talk about it from a serious point of view, Akira Kurosawa's "Desire for Life" is extremely consistent with this theme, and has a strong philosophical dimension of life.
The Desire to Live is a film directed by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa in the 1950s. The film mainly tells the story of a model civil servant who has worked in the government for thirty years, after learning that he has stomach cancer, after experiencing despair and sound under the leadership of a novelist, he begins to have an epiphany with the help of female subordinates, and at the end of his life, he tries his best to overcome various difficulties to build a park for the surrounding residents. At the funeral, his former colleagues expressed their opinions, and the entire film sharply satirized and ridiculed the Japanese bureaucracy, and explained "how to make a living" from the perspective of a dying person.
The interaction of film with reality
The first scene in which the protagonist appears is to stamp and sign a stack of documents at his desk, which looks mechanically monotonous. A group of housewives walked into the city hall to respond to the problem of the sewage tank to the civic section, hoping to solve it, and the section chief Watanabe did not lift his head directly to the subordinates to transfer to the civil engineering department, and the whole set of actions was skillful and did not have any emotional color.
Then the film appears in a voiceover: this is the protagonist of the story, but it is not interesting to talk about him now, because he (with the action of pulling out the watch again to see time) is just living to kill time, he is not alive.
The laughter of the female subordinate Oda Che and the laughter on the note confirm this even more: it is said that there has never been a leave of absence, and it seems that the city government really cannot do without you; no, it can be without me.
The voice-over continued to sound: No, this is like a dead body, it has lived before this, and I want to do something, but now I don't have that enthusiasm, disappear into the meaningless busyness of the municipal government, although busy, but I don't do anything except protect the position, it is best to do nothing to protect the position, but is this good? Is it okay to go on like this? He had to seriously consider the problem until his stomach got worse, and he wasted some more time.
The complained sewage pond problem continues to be kicked from the Civic Division to the Civil Engineering Department, the Park Division, the Health Division, the Epidemic Prevention Division... Then to the education class... Reacting to the mayor's assistant, he eventually still kicked Watanabe, the chief of the civic section. Then continue this cycle to the civil engineering family.
The housewives finally got tired of being teased and left in anger. The panicked assistant section chief chased them to the door and told them that the section chief had taken a leave of absence today, and that the questions were answered in writing. The problem seems to be on the verge of being taken seriously.
The section chief took a leave of absence, and his subordinates began to whisper. "People who covet the position of head of department will be happy", "What are you anxious about?" It's going to be a lot to die before it's your turn"... Chats between colleagues revealed part of the truth about the bureaucracy. They care about promotions, they care about positions, and how much they really do is not paid attention to.
The film's large number of footage is used to show the trivial daily life of the office, the pace seems to be slow, and the content seems to be irrelevant. But many times our lives happen and go this way, and we spit out monotonous work and mediocre life outside the play. Isn't this the interaction of the film with reality? It places us in the same system as the characters in the film, and the frames of the film are mirror images of real life here, projecting our self-perception and self-identity, and becoming a mirror of life.
Watanabe, who was on leave, went to the hospital. During the waiting process, the patient next to him punctured the doctor's code, and Watanabe's symptoms were almost all hit, and he was overwhelmed after listening to the doctor's diagnosis in the clinic.
Watanabe, who walked out of the clinic, fell into fear and calm, while the doctor in the clinic carried out a soul torture, "If you only had half a year to live, what would you do?" ”。
Don't we often ask, when we watch a movie that shocks the heart or sees the tragic accidents that happen in life are touched, we also ask "What will I do the rest of my time?" Those who once were, regrets? ”
The fear of dying took over Watanabe's entire mind, and he returned home alone to drown himself in the night. The unsuspecting dialogue between the son and his daughter-in-law extinguished the desire he expressed. The son and daughter-in-law hope to use his savings and pension to buy their own small home outside, saying that the father can never take the money to the grave.
His son's actions broke his god's heart. He returned to his room to look at the portrait of his wife who had died many years ago, and the scene when his wife died pulled into his memories, and the attachment of his son at that time, but now he had become an obstacle to his son's life. The son upstairs suddenly called out to him dad and pulled him back to reality, and he hurried up the stairs with joy, but the son only told him to lock the door.
The voiceover remembered again at this time, a voice calling "light man", he once again entered the memory: the glory and darkness that his son had brought him, pain and happiness flowed with the sound of the call.
And at the moment, the room, he was alone. The exemplary awards on the wall, his cries, mixed together ... For the sake of his son's thirty years of unmarried, in exchange for the current heartache and grievances. He moved forward cautiously. The contradictions between father and son and family relations are also revealed.
Christ on his back
The next day he left on time, but did not go to work. He sat in a corner at a restaurant and met a popular novelist. He told the strange novelist about his grievances, saying that he was blind and did not know why he had lived to this age, but stomach cancer began to make him reflect, and he felt hard and happy. The novelist laments that misfortune also has a great side, which makes people begin to face life squarely; some people do not understand life until death, but Watanabe knows reflection.
He then took the initiative to be Watanabe's devil, a good devil who did not ask for a price. Take Watanabe to try the vending machines of dreams and dreams, go to the land of sound dogs and horses, abandon old hats to buy a new hat, and change old minds.
They came to the tavern. The camera is pointed at the mirror at the bar, and several people are photographed inside: waitresses, novelists, and Watanabe. The waiter picked up Watanabe's hat, but Watanabe quickly snatched it back as if he had been taken away. He regarded it as a treasure, because it was a symbol of the new mind, and in a sense it was also the beginning of a new life.
The waiter was surprised that he had stomach cancer and drank alcohol, and the novelist took over and said, "He is the Christ with the cross on his stomach cancer, you know that stomach cancer will die, but he began to live."
They then went to the dance hall, and Watanabe ordered a love song from the twenties, a love song full of sweetness and enthusiasm for life.
Life is short, girls fall in love.
Before the red lips fade, before the enthusiasm has turned cold,
No one knows tomorrow's affairs, no one knows tomorrow's events;
How short life is, girls talk about love,
Before the black hair has faded, before the flame of love has been extinguished,
Today is gone, today is gone..."
The camera sweeps over the faces of the dancers around them, sad, unwilling, moving... They enter the sea of dancing again, feeling the restlessness and enthusiasm of life, Watanabe's low expression and fearful eyes are incompatible with the joys around them. Plenty of accents continue to reflect Watanabe's loneliness.
Finally leaving the hustle and bustle, Watanabe was on his way home when he met his female subordinate Oda Che, who was looking for him to resign and stamp his seal. Their dialogue continues to echo the two voiceovers at the beginning of the film, with Oda cutting straight to her chest, saying that thirty years in the ghost place of City Hall, think you will die. Watanabe, who had not yet woken up at the moment, responded that he only remembered being busy and bored for thirty years.
The female subordinate who finished the stamp received Watanabe's gift, a pair of stockings. He took her to play with the dream vending machine, to eat and chat together, and he said that he had a happy day. He began to give and give, and he tasted happiness in giving. Do you remember the conversation with the novelist in a restaurant, where he said that he had never drunk alcohol with his own money in decades, that is, he had now completed a reversal of identity, from recipient to giver, and the value of existence and the meaning of life began to gradually appear.
The female subordinate said at dinner that she gave different nicknames to the people in the office: paper carp, sea cucumber, fan... According to their different characteristics, they are given different nicknames, which can still be borrowed if they jump from the film into reality, and the nicknames themselves are a summary of the inhuman nature, which constitutes the sentient beings of society.
The section chief was certainly no exception, he became a "mummy", a dry corpse without a soul. Why was he able to mummify for 30 years? He said he was for his son.
The degreed mummy
The most enjoyable day since I was sick was over. When he returned home, he was ready to confess his illness to his son, but the son thought that he was old and flowery, and only worried about the distribution of property. He yelled at his father, saying he didn't want to know and didn't want to hear him.
Father despaired again. The next day, he went to the factory to find the young, lively and energetic female subordinate, hoping that she could continue to accompany him. However, the female colleague who was already a little bored also threw a tantrum at him, but Yu xin could not bear it and finally agreed to his request and accompanied him after work at night. They went to the restaurant, next to the hilarious birthdays of others, sweet couples; either passionate, or affectionate; and only his heart was full of desperate sorrow, and in the panic, he loudly said his distress and wishes to Oda.
He had stomach cancer, and even though he had only a year and a half left to live, he still didn't know how to spend the next few days. He asked the female subordinate why she was so energetic, and he wanted to live like her. From Watanabe's eyes, Oda and the audience see the horror of a dying man and the struggle to grasp the last straw of life.
Everyone has their own God, and everyone is their own God. The little white rabbit saved him.
Yes, it is the little rabbit that the female subordinate Oda cuts every day in the factory, she says that this can make her feel that she is in contact with the children, Watanabe can also try to change jobs, do something that is not boring and meaningful, Watanabe said it is too late. But sometimes, a person's awakening and rebirth are only in an instant. The once turbulent lung flow is only to wait for the sublimation and leap of the crucial moment. He picked up the rabbit and hurried downstairs amid the "Happy Birthday to You" song from the birthday party next to him. He found the point that could connect his last life with the meaning of real life, and was born again.
And the female subordinate is his de facto soul ferryman. The nickname of the mummy was given to her, and she used the mummy to sum up his thirty-year work career; the little white rabbit was also sent by her, and she used the little white rabbit to complete the transmission of soul and hope, and finally completed him at the end of Watanabe's life. With the little white rabbit in his arms, with the rebirth after the epiphany, he hurried to the outside world, and he had no time to delay.
He went back to work and made up his mind to build a children's park. The original kicks between the various disciplines have become challenging in his already determined will.
The idea of treating the sinkhole and building a park came to life, the protagonist of the story has just begun to act, and the picture that follows the film is that he is dead. Died in the park. Well, the park has been successfully built.
The film finally progresses to its most powerful picture.
Rashomon at the funeral
Many film critics divide Watanabe's rebirth as the dividing point into two parts, but today's analysis breaks the first and second halves of the story, and the rise and fall of famous scenes set off the complexity of human nature and the darkness of reality.
At Watanabe's funeral, a group of people, led by the vice mayor, appeared. During this time, the deputy mayor was interviewed by the media, and when the media said that the park was Watanabe's credit, he erased Watanabe's credit and said that it was his own contribution. But public opinion often reveals the truth of the facts, and the congratulatory message of the deputy mayor when the park is built is more like a campaign speech to the residents. Watanabe's death is considered a silent protest against his superiors.
After the media left, the deputy mayor told his subordinates in front of Watanabe That the citizens knew too little about government agencies and operating systems, and Watanabe did his best to build parks, but that was his duty, not to obey the will of the people and exceed his duties; if he understood the operation of government agencies, he would find this ridiculous, and Watanabe would smile bitterly if Izumi was aware.
Still in front of the spirit of the picture. Those residents who had previously complained to the Civic Division about the problem came to mourn, and their tears of sorrow slipped down. At this moment, there are no words, no need for any words, and the actions of the residents are a substantive rebuttal to the vice mayor's remark that "Watanabe did not obey the will of the people and exceeded his duties." The meaning of life and the value of existence are maximized at this moment.
The deputy mayor and his retinue then left, and the remaining guardians, Watanabe's former colleagues, began a Rashomon-style debate about the completion of the park and why Watanabe had suddenly changed.
The completion of the park should be the credit of the park section, civil engineering section, and so on, and each state its own reasons and opinions. But there are honest people inside who say that of course it is Watanabe's credit. The subsequent plot development is mainly in the form of memories, showing the audience the various obstacles watanabe encountered during the coordination of the construction of the park, including the threat of the underworld. Some colleagues said that Watanabe was too enthusiastic, and there was no room for enthusiasm in the dark society, and now this is the dark society.
There has also been speculation about why Watanabe has suddenly changed dramatically. In the days of ridicule, the assistant told him that he should hate the departments that did not do all kinds of prevarication, but Watanabe said that he could not hate because there was no such time. A similar scene appears in The Dream, where the dreamer crosses to van Gogh's Valley to meet Van Gogh, and Van Gogh tells him that he has no time to waste, that he keeps drawing like a driven locomotive without stopping. Akira Kurosawa, thinking about the meaning of time and life, how to maximize the meaning of life in the limited time known, seems to be the proposition he has been pondering.
In the end, Watanabe's colleagues came to the unanimous conclusion at the funeral: Watanabe knew that his illness would soon change his temperament. Then someone punctured the truth, and everyone present will one day usher in their own death, and what will they do then? More and more colleagues in Lingqian began to admit that they were scum, but one of them said something worth pondering: there are actually good people in government departments, but after working for a long time, they will change, and in order not to offend people, they can only pretend to be doing things.
Watanabe, on the other hand, was able to build a park after suffering from stomach cancer, and eventually the credit was taken away by others, so "the person who grabbed the credit was simply not a person." After this debate and reflection, his former colleagues passionately stated that they must inherit the spirit of Watanabe, to be brave and dedicated again, to be a public servant without selfishness...
If the camera stops at this moment, these civil servants may really be reborn. The magic is that the plot is so "out of place" to reverse.
The first time I saw the film, I thought it would end after that impassioned statement, and then the civil servants would try to find real change. However, it is such a black humor, and the master always has the master's narrative technique, giving a surprise.
The picture cuts to the government office, and the new section chief continues to repeat Watanabe's previous work, stamping a large stack of documents, and the complaints of the public are still kicked to the civil engineering department. The only person who woke up in Watanabe's death stood up and tried to protest, but finally bowed his head weakly and embarrassedly... The funeral had just ended, and the afterglow of those bold words was still wafting, but everything was fatalistic back to its original appearance.
Contradictory truths are obscured by paradoxes
The satire and criticism of bureaucracy in this 1950s film can still illuminate the charm of the bureaucracy in many cities or countries with the same ills today. There is no need to deliberately innuendo, no need to sit in the right seat, it all stands there.
The reflection and description of the enthusiasm of the "dark society" and the loss of the individual in the group, Le Pen said in his "The Ragged Crowd", "As soon as a person arrives in the group, the IQ is seriously reduced, and in order to gain recognition, the individual is willing to abandon right and wrong, and exchange the IQ for the sense of belonging that makes people feel safe." The civil servants' tongue-in-cheek revelations about their daily work at funerals in the film all show this point: abandoning right and wrong, the ultimate goal is only to keep a position.
Or, like the classic line in The Shawshank Redemption, "These walls are fun." When you first go to jail, you hate the walls around you; slowly, you get used to living in them; eventually you find yourself having to live on it. This is called institutionalization." Having worked there for thirty years, who doesn't know that government departments have their own turf.
The real end of the film still gives hope. The children who live around have a park where they can play freely; perhaps, the new generation that is still playing in the park is the force that will change the front wave in the future.
The movie is over, and many paradoxical lines that flash with contradictions are still echoing. For example, meaningless busyness, idleness without time to think, busy and boring...
This does seem like a paradox, linguistically contradictory, but in fact and in the sense of life it reveals the truth behind the contradiction; just as any end point may contain another starting point. Watanabe, who suffered from stomach cancer, ushered in the end of his life, but he also received the reflections on the meaning of life that the god of fate had given him at the end, and thus made the starting point for rebirth.
It is the end and the beginning. The little white rabbit who had reborn Watanabe finally appeared at Watanabe's funeral and became the ultimate extradition of his life; the desire for life, the meaning of life, would not end with the disappearance of the physical time of life.