It's Easy to Close Your Eyes and Live: Finding the Exit of Life

(Written by Zhi Ning on October 5, 2014)

The Spanish film Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed is a dim-hued, warm road movie, just as almost all road movies explore one thing — finding answers and exits to life, and the same is true of the film's motif, but if the background of the era, the background of the characters, and the way it is presented are taken together, it will give people a sense of joy and relief from the heart.

The background of the film is the era of franco rule in Spain, when the young people can not see the future, the heart is full of wandering and confusion, the background of the character is the famous John Lennon who was in Spain at that time to participate in the film shooting, here Lennon seems to represent a spiritual level of sustenance, in such a context, the film is presented cleverly and witty, touching and interesting, in the film people's different life confusion mixed with a little pleasure, but also let the film have a freshness out of the situation at that time.

Just look at the title, many viewers will feel familiar, the title is taken from the Beatles' single "Straberry field forever", in this film, Lennon is not only a musical genius, he is more of a spiritual pillar, is the original intention and meaning of the search, the film people to find Lennon as the reason, through a variety of sorrows and joys, and finally reached their own and future life coexistence, with a hint of melancholy, but more is the expectation.

The film is set in Spain in 1966, when Lennon was filming the film "How I Won the War" in the southern Spanish city of Almeria, and his die-hard fan, a middle-aged Spanish English teacher Antonio, decided to take a leave of absence to meet his idol, an English teacher who liked to use beatles' lyrics as teaching content when teaching on weekdays, and he was willing to teach it whether the students understood it or not.

Antonio drove all the way south, along the way to take two young people, one is an unmarried pregnant girl, the other is a teenager who ran away from home, these three people who have never lived before, different life backgrounds began a strange search journey. The uncle is enthusiastic, the girl is moving, the teenager is cute and handsome, but all are confused, at least two young people are. Along the way, Uncle Antonio does not change the nature of the teacher, likes to preach, but does not annoy people, from the words and demeanor can be seen that Antonio is full of concern for the younger generation, worried that they lack the courage to live because they do not see hope.

The theme of Antonio's trip is very simple, that is, to get close to the idol, because the days of listening to the Beatles' songs and remembering the lyrics have given him inspiration and courage to endure the unsatisfactory in a boring and lonely and depressing living environment, and have a different optimism than the average person. The process of meeting the idol is not easy, but as long as the will is strong enough, the opportunity will be favored, and the part of the film about Antonio meeting the idol is not presented positively, but from Antonio's later narrative, the audience can perceive Lennon's kindness to the fans, and he even recorded the voice for Antonio's students. After meeting the idol, Antonio seems to be more excited, he began to direct the teenager to pluck up the courage to face the challenge, although the result is to run away, but when he goes on the road alone, the childish prank makes him happy to embark on the journey home.

On the bumpy road, the appearance of a young girl who has added a touch of color to the picture full of dusk and warmth. The girl's life seems to face a dead end, her previous choices have led to her current predicament, her escape with a sense of determination, but also with a sense of confusion, no clear purpose, just want to leave the original life. The opportunities brought by the encounter open up more possibilities on her future path, and sometimes, life is a desperate life, just to see if you dare to take the first step.

On the surface, the departure of the teenager stemmed from a disagreement with the autocratic father on the issue of haircutping, but in fact it was a kind of green rebellion against the oppression of the dictatorship, an impulsive defense of the immature dignity. But this way he also caused a lot of trouble because of the length of his hair, when he asked the girl to cut his hair, he was rational thinking and taking the initiative, and in the film crew of Lennon's film, the teenager recommended that the girl join the makeup team to cut his hair, which was motivated. In the process of this series of hair struggles, the teenager grew up, and the last job he proposed to the girl was also related to haircutting, the barber in Madrid, so the trimming became the behavior proposition of the teenager's trip, because he needed to trim more than just the hair.

The film is classified as a comedy, but the unsatisfactory aspects of life abound, but are handled relatively lightly, and the trip is actually the meeting of several lonely people, in general, none of them have a happy family, or celibacy or a bunch of family problems, such as the life of a local restaurateur, who runs a dilapidated restaurant alone with his disabled son, just to be able to wait until his wife who abandoned them occasionally comes back to take a look. Because of this trip, these people gained unexpected friendship, which was enough to warm the lonely people.

The scenery along the way in the film has a kind of beauty of a long time, the actor's performance meets the needs, it is in place, the soundtrack is full of nostalgia, and it is worth mentioning that the lines are not bad, everyone with life experience in the film, whether it is Antonio or a restaurant owner, speaks classics, such as, "Young people often happen to this kind of thing, they often think about things in a bad way, with the passage of time, they will find out how stupid everything is", "When I talk about these things before, I always cry, But now I feel like something that happens to someone else, life is like this, the longer things go on, the more you don't care", "Life is like a dog, smell your fear, it will pounce". Regarding Lennon's lyrics, the English teacher was quite insightful to think that "some lyrics will save lives, knowing that someone has felt the same way you have before, you will feel that you are not alone, and we all need to cry out for help." 」 ”

This search journey is actually a cry for help, in the shouting at the same time, people understand each other, comfort each other, and complete the subtle mutual influence and guidance, and finally turned over this mental journey.

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