On May 22, 2021, Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", passed away at the age of 91. On this day, the whole world mourns, and all the people at home and abroad are grateful for his outstanding contribution to solving the global food crisis.
Portrait of Academician Yuan Longping
Despite this, there are also many indiscriminate people here, for example, some stars do not have much feeling for Yuan Lao's contribution, casually post perfunctory, and actually write guoshi peerless as "unparalleled in the land", which is indignant. This is probably because such people have no concept of famine.
A number of celebrities posted perfunctorily
This not only reminds me of a celebrity in a reality show some time ago who complained that the 650 yuan per person per day was too small, claiming that he could not not eat meat, eggs and milk, so ignorant and arrogant really had a sense of irony of "why not eat meat paste".
Celebrities complain that 650 yuan a day is not enough for food
Therefore, I think these people should study history well and have a minimum understanding of "famine" and "food". Here, I recommend a movie related to famine, "Dou Man Jiang", after watching it, you will deeply appreciate how happy it is to eat a full meal.
Poster of "Bean Man River"
Historical background
The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century coincided with the fruitful development and promotion of hybrid rice by Mr. Yuan Longping, but at the same time, it was also a "cold winter" that the North Korean people could not look back on, during which an unprecedented famine broke out in North Korea, during which about 240,000 to 480,000 North Koreans were estimated to have died of hunger or malnutrition. In order to get rid of hunger, many people who have escaped from the north and fled the wilderness have smuggled into the Yanbian region of our country in search of food to make a living. The story of "Bean Man River" unfolds in this context.
Dou man river (Tumen river)
The so-called "DoumanJiang" is a Sino-DPRK border line in the Yanbian area, which is also called the Tumen River in China. On both sides of the river live the Korean people of our country, and on the other side live the People of North Korea. Those who have studied history know that the Koreans are cross-border ethnic groups that have successively moved from the Korean Peninsula to settle in the northeast, so there are very delicate links between the people on both sides of the strait in terms of language and culture.
Based on this connection, when famine broke out, the Korean people made a difficult choice between reason and emotion in the face of a large number of north Korean deserters who had smuggled in and fled the country. The movie "Dou Man Jiang" tells an ordinary, but very profound little story about the Korean people's adventure to take in the deserters who escaped from the north.
Photograph the suffering of the times from a microscopic perspective
Most disaster films use a macro perspective to shoot the suffering of the times, for example, "Wen Gu 1942" is very "big". And "Dou Man Jiang" is very "small", and this "small" is reflected in three aspects:
First, the location is "small".
The story takes place in a humble Korean village on the banks of the Tumen River (Douman River) in China - Xintian Village, Jiangyan Township, Tumen City, Jilin Province, if the movie does not mention, I am afraid that many people do not know this place.
A small border village in the movie
Second, the character is "small".
The protagonist is one of the most ordinary Koreans in the village, with a grandfather, grandson and granddaughter. Because the child's father died in the DoumanJiang floods, and the mother went to Work in South Korea to support her family, the three grandchildren depended on each other for their lives.
The protagonist's family
Third, the story is "small".
The whole story has no magnificent plot, only about the daily trivialities of the three grandchildren who take in and rescue the deserters who have escaped from the north.
It is such a "small" story, but the Korean director Zhang Lu has made a triple texture: "the cruelty of famine", "complex human nature" and "lamentation for the Korean nation". The film won the Crystal Bear Award at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival - Special Mention - Youth Film - Best Picture Award - How did he do it?
Directed by Zhang Lu
Let's analyze it:
The cruelty of famine
"Dou Man Jiang" does not use a frame to show the scene of hunger and death, and does not focus on rendering the state of hunger, but it does not prevent the audience from feeling the cruelty of famine. To do this: on the one hand, it is in the gloomy winter as the background, shooting a deep sense of depression, for example, the opening of the film uses an empty mirror of about two minutes to show the snowy, gray and depressed Dou manjiang, adding a sense of desolation to the audience from the composition, and also laying the tone of the whole film.
The empty mirror that opens with depression
On the other hand, the director used calm and restrained camera language, through the villagers' habitual and strange attitude towards the "starvation of people on the other side", indirectly made us aware of the seriousness of the disaster on the other side, of which several clips were deeply impressed:
Clip 1: The Shubian warrior calmly and skillfully drags the corpses of the deserters who died of freezing and starvation on the Douman River to the shore;
The corpse of The River
Clip 2: One child suddenly collapses while walking due to hunger, while other children are accustomed to it;
A child who is unfortunate enough to starve to death
Clip Three: A deserter named Zheng Zhen who escaped from the north sneaked across the river, came to the protagonist's house to rub rice, and asked to bring a portion of food to his brother before leaving. Soon after, he came to rub rice again, and the protagonist asked him if he wanted to bring a portion of food to his brother, and as a result, Zheng Zhen said in an indifferent tone that his brother had starved to death.
The boy's brother unfortunately starved to death
These daily scenes silently erupt into an incomparable tragic tension, bringing the audience a deeper and more lasting shock.
Complex human nature
The collapse of human nature in a state of disaster is the theme that most directors are keen to express, but the director of "Dou Man Jiang" provides a different way of thinking - does the disaster inevitably lead to the evil of human nature? The director expresses his point of view through the different styles of several characters.
1, a man who fled the north: looks like a calm appearance, but in fact, his heart is dirty
A certain man who escaped from the north came to the protagonist's house to rub rice, first he was polite and polite, and then he had to go in, taking advantage of the fact that his grandson was not at home, and violated his sister.
A man who has escaped from the north and fled the wilderness with a straight face and a benevolent revenge
2. Boy who fled the wilderness: Misunderstood and beaten, but he kept his promise for the grace of a meal
The boy Zheng Zhen was blessed by the protagonist and promised to help him play football, although he was later misunderstood by the protagonist and even beaten, but in such a difficult situation, he still kept his promise.
Remember the grace of a meal, a little boy who keeps his promise
3, the village chief: on the surface of the righteous gentleman, behind the scenes of the land with people secretly love
As the leader of the villagers, the village chief has always given the impression of being a decent gentleman, but behind his back, he has secretly affairs with a third party.
A righteous gentleman before people, and a hypocritical village chief after people
4. Unemployed youth: have the ability to work, but eat mixed and wait for death
There are unemployed young people in the village, who are idle every day, eating and waiting for death, and often not giving credit.
Unemployed young people who are able to work but are idle
These characters seem to be unrelated, in fact, a kind of "confrontation" relationship, comparing "1" and "3", "2" and "4", it is not difficult to find: the loss of human nature is not caused by disasters, at any time, in any environment, there are good people, there are also bad people.
In addition, the director does not stand on the moral high ground to criticize good and evil, but more to describe a kind of helplessness: the border fighters prevent the escapeees from entering the country in order to abide by international law and maintain law and order; some villagers secretly accept the escapees out of sympathy based on inter-ethnic care; the escapees steal things to fill the hunger, and some villagers beat the escapees because they disturbed the law and order in the village...
Good, good, evil, right and wrong, good and evil, right and wrong, together constitute the chaotic human world in the background of this famine. The director examines complex human nature from an objective perspective, making the depth of the film's thinking beyond the ordinary disaster film.
Lamentations about the Korean nation
Historically, Korea was a troubled nation, colonized by Japan for 35 years, and after World War II, it was forced to divide south Korea and North Korea into two countries.
In order to escape famine, disasters and colonization, since the Tang Dynasty, a large number of Korean ancestors have immigrated to China to settle down, and finally formed the Korean ethnic group within our country in modern times.
This has led to the division of the Korean nation into three groups, which have taken root in different regions and gradually become estranged with the changes of history. For example, South Korea and North Korea now have little in common but speak the same language, and will no longer have an intimate emotional connection.
As an ethnic Korean director, Zhang Lu is full of compassion and lamentation for the history of the Korean nation. In this film, he shows the sense of separation between different Korean ethnic groups that is both familiar and strange. At the same time, through subtext, the different living conditions of three groups of Korean ethnic groups are shown: North Korea (famine and turmoil), Korean ethnic group in our country (stability and peace), and Koreans (struggling under the high pressure of capitalist society).
At the end of the film, the director uses a surreal approach: a bridge and a picture of an old man walking back to express the search for roots in national culture. But the wheel of history is rolling forward, this body is my home, and all this is in the end into a sigh.
Surreal picture of the ending part
After watching this movie, while having a new understanding of hunger, I will also sincerely thank the state and Academician Yuan Longping for their outstanding contributions to solving the problem of food and clothing for our people.
Some time ago, watching an interview with movie star Wu Mengda was quite touching: The visitor asked Uncle Da, who has both fame and fortune, what else is he asking for now? Uncle Da, who is nearly ancient, replied: Where do you still think about fame and fortune, how much money you want to make, and it is enough to have a bowl of "Happy Tea rice"!
However, the world always desperately pursues luxury things, but always forgets the most ordinary and simple happiness.
Finally, thank you Mr. Yuan Longping for bringing us the happiness of "eating a full meal", and wish you all the best...