"Of course, a fluttering newspaper can't escape gravity, but we pray that it will fly higher, higher." 」
Last weekend, a movie that was supposed to be released in 2020 was finally released after a long three-year delay. Many people call it the second "I Am Not the God of Medicine", others say it is an elegy dedicated to the golden age of print media.
Although from the perspective of the quality of the finished film, there is still a certain gap between "More than Endless" and "I Am Not the God of Medicine", it does pull the audience back to the dusty but shining early 21st century with the unique power of realistic films.
(The movie "More Than End)")
People will always miss those times that they have not personally experienced, or have long passed, and use imagination to beautify stories that are not perfect.
Even so, some immortality should be remembered, as we should say about More Than End: it's not perfect, but it's worthy of praise.
1
More than non-stop, no pain and no itch?
A good news article should be true and objective, and this standard also applies to the evaluation of the film in this article. Although "Never Endless" carries the feelings of too many news media practitioners and professional students, we still can't say that it is a perfect work.
It can even be said that "More Than Ending" is disappointing in terms of the theme and character shaping of the play.
(The movie "More Than Ending": Han Dong and Huang Jiang)
Han Dong (played by Bai Ke), a junior high school graduate, came to Beijing in order to pursue his journalistic ideals and entered the newspaper internship with the help of veteran reporter Huang Jiang (played by Zhang Songwen), and the two completed the Shanxi mining disaster report together.
In the subsequent "hepatitis B test" report, in order to eliminate social discrimination against hepatitis B carriers, Han Dong had a fierce conflict with Huangjiang on the issue of retracting the article, and finally resolutely gave up the opportunity for the newspaper to become regular, wrote "100 Million People's Anti-discrimination Claims", and promoted the revision of relevant laws.
("More than Ending": a report written by Han Dong)
From the synopsis, "More than Endless" is indeed very similar to "I Am Not the God of Medicine" in terms of concept, both are "a sick person saves a group of sick people", but on closer examination, the two are very different.
Whether from the perspective of the theme of the play or from the perspective of character shaping, there is a big gap between "More than Endless" and its target "I Am Not the God of Medicine".
In terms of play, the main problem of "More than Endless" lies in the shifting narrative focus and the intention to seek stability. The wandering performance of the narrative focus is the film's greed for more and more in the thematic elements.
The film not only wants to show the life of young people in Beipiao, but also depicts the professional life of investigative journalists, which is reflected in the film, which is the main creator who uses a lot of space to tell how the protagonist Han Dong and his girlfriend Xiaozhu live in Beijing, which greatly suppresses the investigative journalist, which should be the core theme of the film.
("More Than Ending": Han Dong and Xiaozhu)
In addition to the experience of North Drift, the main creator also arranged for Han Dong and Huang Jiang to go to Shanxi to investigate the mining disaster, although this scene is quite outstanding under the performance bonus of Zhang Songwen and Jia Zhangke, but it once again divides the story space that should belong to the hepatitis B investigation case, making the already small film time more tense.
It can be seen that the director has adopted the opposite idea of "I Am Not the God of Medicine" in script creation, not to let the character serve the story, but let the story serve the character. Whether it is the difficult north drift story with the background board girlfriend, or the investigation of the Shanxi mining disaster, it directly serves the role shaping of the protagonist Han Dong.
This is a shooting idea that is conducive to shaping the arc of the protagonist's character, but too many side plots that have nothing to do with the main line make the climax of the story lack of lighting and foreshadowing, and the ending is also perfunctory and hasty, which is difficult for the audience to feel empathy.
(The movie "More Than End")
If the narrative focus shift is due to the main creative team's lack of control over the rhythm of the film, then the intention to seek stability may come from a more far-reaching helplessness.
During the roadshow of director Wang Jing, a reporter raised this question: Is there an unspeakable dilemma in the expression of the mining disaster investigation part of the film? Wang Jing's answer was that the undercover reporters who covered the mining disaster were more courageous than them.
From any point of view, choosing a hepatitis B prosecuting case to show the responsibility of an investigative journalist is quite clever, but the price of cleverness must be to give up profoundness.
Han Dong, as a heroic character that the whole film focuses on, what is the object of his struggle? The answer given by the film is the stereotypes in people's minds. But how this stereotype is formed, why it is formed, and what people do to eliminate it, the film does not give a convincing enough answer.
On the other hand, "I Am Not the God of Medicine", after a long period of layout, the climax of the film will point the finger at poverty, and the sentence "poverty disease is the only disease in the world" allows the audience to generally feel empathy.
(The movie "I Am Not the God of Medicine")
In "More Than End", Han Dong, as an investigative journalist with social instruments, does something similar to calling for love in the center of the universe. Investigative journalists do not point the finger at the truth, but only cheer up the crowd. This arrangement not only destroys the image of the protagonist who has been painstakingly created, but also dwarfs the lofty intention that the film should have.
The lack of space caused by the shifting narrative focus and the lack of courage brought about by the stability and ingenuity of the intention make "More than Endless" painless. The topics that really need to be explored are picked up high in the film, but gently put down, like the story it depicts over the years.
2
Fluttering newspapers with the gravity of reality
The protagonist Han Dong is the absolute center of the film, and a series of events such as North Drift, mining disaster, and selling blood are all set up to shape Han Dong's character. Usually, the protagonist's character arc needs to change as the contradiction unfolds to promote the development of the plot, for example, in "I Am Not the God of Medicine", Xu Zheng's Cheng Yong completed the transformation of the character after experiencing Lu Yi's funeral.
(The movie "I Am Not the God of Medicine")
But Han Dong does not seem to be like this, his sympathy for the discriminated group and his ideals for journalism are throughout the film, and the biggest challenge to this "Wei Guangzheng" image in the film is a dispute with Huang Jiang about "love and law".
This flat character image makes the audience not feel the change in the arc of the protagonist's character, and it is difficult to empathize with it. But on the other hand, Han Dong's flat sympathy and ideals are also the biggest reason why we praise this movie.
In the film, an old reporter said to Han Dong: "Some people have been journalists for a long time, and they regard it as a profession rather than an ideal." "Journalism is certainly a profession, but because of its specificity, people have given it deeper powers and responsibilities.
The premise of writing articles with clever hands is to shoulder morality with iron shoulders, and since you have the power to speak for the public, you must bear moral responsibility and social responsibility.
(The movie "More Than End")
Of course, this sentence can be understood in other ways in the film. Professionalism is the requirement of journalistic professionalism, and the ideal is the ability to empathize with social injustice. Han Dong decided to retract the manuscript out of sympathy after learning of the unfair treatment suffered by hepatitis B carriers, while Huang Jiang objected.
Huang Jiang's objection is obviously more in line with the requirements of the journalism profession, the topic to be tested for hepatitis B is not followed up by a media outlet in the Beijing Times, the retraction is meaningless, take 10,000 steps back and say, as long as the manuscript is not inaccurate, the correct way for the reporter should be to make supplementary reports from another angle after publication.
(The movie "More Than End")
But Han Dong's decision to retract the manuscript was quite firm, and his flat ideals and sympathy had completely overshadowed professional rationality and personal prospects. This kind of paranoia makes Huang Jiang and the audience incomprehensible.
But in the real world, countless greatness is based on incomprehensible paranoid beliefs. The golden age of print media shines not because of false names such as "uncrowned kings", but because of the specific and subtle paranoia of individual journalists.
(China Newsweek, 2003)
When Huang Jiang first met Han Dong, he saw a sentence in the book in Han Dong's hand: seek refuge in the immortal cause. This is the name of the first historical feature in Zweig's When the Stars Shine, which tells the story of the European explorer Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean.
There is a sentence in the text: "The greatest luck in a person's life is to discover his life mission in the middle of his life, in the prime of his creative life." ”
(The movie "More Than End")
There was an era when countless young people like Han Dong entered the newspaper industry with journalistic ideals to become investigative journalists, and with a responsible attitude towards the country and the people and the courage of self-sacrifice, they promoted social progress with truthful reporting.
It is precisely because of the existence of investigative journalists such as Wang Keqin, Yang Haipeng, and Jian Guangzhou that the concept of "journalistic ideal", which has long been dusted, can cause collective memories again and again, and there is evidence of the golden age of print media.
(Douban user comments on "More than Endless")
The story of "More Than Ending" takes place in 2003, the year an investigative report by the Southern Metropolis Daily about Sun Zhigang shook the country and became a label of the times. Twenty years later, in 2023, the demise of investigative journalists is no longer a question to be asked why.
According to the Report on the Ecological Change of the Investigative Journalist Industry in the New Media Environment, as of 2017, there were only 175 investigative journalists in China. Unexpected, but reasonable. The times are moving too fast and too fast to take into account everyone's feelings, and only the unspeakable continue to float in the wind.
We praise More Than Rest because our society needs idealism and a different voice. We are disappointed in "More Than End" because it lacks courage and pain.
(Southern Weekend 1999 New Year's Message)
In 2004, the title of Southern Weekend's New Year's message was "This Dream, Never Endless". In an era of change, justice is often easily paid as the price of change, but the flip side of the paradox is that the more changing the age, the more people call for justice and fairness.
After all, where in the world is there anything that has nothing to do with us?
(The movie "More Than End")
At the end of "More Than Ending", Han Dong's "Anti-Discrimination Propositions of 100 Million People" appeared on the front page, and the newspaper carrying the ideal of journalism fluttered high in the wind.
Of course, the fluttering newspaper can't escape gravity, but we pray that it will fly higher and higher.