There is always a shot lingering, it is the always sad face of the male protagonist Mr. Watanabe, the oblique angle of the light shines in his eyes flashing tears, the mouth seems to be covered with a lifetime of pain, but I don't know who to tell. This unique face under the lens of Akira Kurosawa, but I saw the shadows of countless people, maybe my parents, maybe myself.
1 Beginnings
The movie is called "The Desire to Live", that is, the desire to live, showing the male protagonist Mr. Watanabe who fell into the dilemma of survival after finding out stomach cancer, and then struggled to survive through the way of "he saves" and "self-help", and finally calmly went to death. The power of cinema is undoubtedly powerful, it does not shy away from revealing the suffering of life, allowing us to follow in Mr. Watanabe's footsteps and re-understand the essence and meaning of life.
In "Memories", "He Saves" and "Self-Help", the film shows the last moments of Mr. Watanabe's life, and also verifies the famous American psychologist Erikson's view that the "review, regret and self-acceptance" of the last stage of the eight stages of life development.
2 Memories
In the first half of the film, After Mr. Watanabe is diagnosed with stomach cancer, he makes an unprecedented detailed recollection of his life experience. Mr. Watanabe spent the first half of his life in a state of happiness and satisfaction, he gave the meaning and value of life to his only son, since the death of his young wife, he did not remarry, but he did not feel lonely, because the young son's growth can fill the lack of his heart.
When the film narrates mr. Watanabe's experience in the first half of his life, it adopts the technique of intertwining reality and the past, deliberately contrasting Mr. Watanabe's state of happiness and satisfaction in the first half of his life with the current situation of nothingness and loneliness, and unfolding Mr. Watanabe's long and difficult journey of "self-help".
3 He saves
In the second part of the film, Mr. Watanabe takes the "he saves" approach. After Mr. Watanabe reached middle age, his young son had grown up, married and formed a new family, and was naturally estranged from his father, who had been intimate, and Mr. Watanabe failed to deal with the relationship with his adult son, and still put all the meaning of his life on his son. When he overheard that his son wanted to buy a new house with his pension, he mistakenly thought that his son no longer loved him. At this time, his hopes were suddenly shattered, and the high wall that built his life collapsed. So, he ran away from home and rediscovered the meaning of life.
First, I met a second-rate popular writer in an izakaya, sought his help, and after spending a night in the street with lights flickering, I was still empty in my heart. Immediately after, he found the female subordinate who resigned from the original company, like clinging to driftwood when drowning, refusing to let go, because her youth, her smile, like a medicine for rejuvenation, can bring him hope for life, but still can't make up for the huge emptiness in his heart.
4 Self-help
In the third part of the movie, Mr. Watanabe goes around in the wrong trap and finally adopts the "self-help" approach. He no longer attached the weight of his life to anyone, did not rely on the guidance of the writer, did not rely on the laughter of the female subordinates, but followed the call of his heart, returned to the company, and from the pile of documents, found the document that the housewife who was rejected at the beginning of the film jointly applied to build the park. As the chief of the Civic Section, building a park has long been beyond his scope, but he sees this as the last hope of his life.
Mr. Watanabe had repeatedly whispered to the help of other sections, regardless of the cold eyes, not afraid of the provocation of the gangster forces, and because at this time his heart was firm enough, so the life force that burst out could destroy all obstacles. This time, he truly found the meaning and value of life, although it was less than six months, but when he sang on the swing in the vast snow before he died, I believe that he was truly happy and truly regret-free.
5 Epilogue
Mr. Watanabe is lucky, but also unique, and director Akira Kurosawa is warm, but also cruel. Mr. Watanabe finally found the meaning and value of life through the way of "self-help", and obtained the true freedom of life, but not all of us can be as lucky as he is, because most of us mediocre people, throughout their lives, will live in the atmosphere of nothingness and terror, cycle and cycle, the reason is very simple, because "we do not know when we will die", we always think that life is an inexhaustible well.
"Life is short, love girl." No one will know until your red lips have faded, until your tidal wave of enthusiasm has cooled. Life is short, love bar girl. Before your inky black hair fades, before the fire of love in your heart is extinguished, today is gone. ”
This song appears twice in the movie, the first time is Mr. Watanabe's humming in the dance hall, the camera is the face that is always sad, the oblique angle of the light shines in his eyes flickering tears, the mouth seems to be covered with a lifetime of pain, but I don't know who to tell. At this moment, he is still in nothingness.
The second time, at the end of the film, the endless night is wrapped in a vast snow, and Mr. Watanabe swings on a swing and laughs and sings in the silence. At this moment, the sky was freezing cold, but he could feel the presence of the fire of life.
The power that the movie brings to me is not meant to be strong, and I have asked myself, like Mr. Watanabe, what would I do if I only had half a year left in my life? Now, I have a clear answer in my heart.
What about you?