You are old, are you now "old and supportive"? Whether it's on someone else's or on your own.
You will eventually grow old, in the future, can you "grow old"? Whether it's on someone else's or on your own.
Since ancient times, old-age care is a heavy topic that we cannot avoid. With the aging of the population, we have to face a cruel but realistic problem: after 30 years, you are getting old, and your parents are waiting for you to retire. You are a pensioner on the one hand, and you are also a pensioner on the other.
As a film with a realistic theme, the movie "The Examination of the Mountain Festival" profoundly interprets the survival dilemma of "old and not dying is a thief" in a traditional custom, and deeply explores the various hidden pains of the elderly and the elderly in the cruel living environment: filial piety and survival should be sacrificed?
Cruel living environment, cruel hope for life
In a primitive mountain village deep in Shinshu, there is a cruel traditional custom that when the old man lives to be 70 years old, he must be carried to the mountain by the eldest son of the family, called to meet the god of the mountain, which is actually waiting for death on the mountain.
Due to the lack of food, the elderly without labor will waste family rations, so they must be ruthlessly abandoned to the mountain to ensure the survival of more people, if anyone is not willing to carry their mother up the mountain, they will be spurned by the whole village, this cruel rule, has become one of the reasons why this small mountain village can be maintained. Of course, in order to survive better, there are other customs in the village, such as only the eldest son in the family can marry and have children. The other sons are only the labor force that sustains the family, so they are also called "slave cubs" and live for the family as slaves for life.
The protagonist of the film, Ah Ling Po, is a 69-year-old man, and according to custom, she will soon be sent to the mountain by her son. For the matter of entering the mountain, Ah Ling Po looked very plain, as early as three years ago, she was ready for herself to enter the mountain. To this day, the only thing she can't rest assured of is her two sons.
The eldest son, Tatsuhira Dun, is honest and honest, industrious and capable. He and his daughter-in-law had two sons, one daughter. Unfortunately, when my daughter-in-law went to the mountains to pick chestnuts last year, she accidentally stumbled and fell into the valley. His daughter-in-law died, and Tatsuhira became a widower. Continuing the strings for Tatsumi was the greatest wish of Aling po mountain before. She hoped to find a new hostess for the home before being sent to the mountains this winter.
The second son, LiSuke, was lazy and had a strong body odor, which led to his never being seen. Although she could not marry and have children like the eldest son, Ah Ling Po still hoped to find him a woman and let him taste the joy of men and women. After all, he is also his own son, no matter how he is not a weapon, it is also the flesh that fell from his own body.
In the face of fate, Ah Ling Po still supports this family with an open-minded heart, and she does her best to make all her contributions to this family. As a mother, she is great and selfless, kind and strong, she is Tatsuhei's mother and our "mother".
Soon after, under the inquiry of Ah Lingbo, she heard that there was a widow named Ayu in the neighboring village who was willing to marry her. The boss's matter has been solved, and now there is still the second brother's business. In order not to let the old mother have regrets, the kind Tatsuhei consults with Ayu, who has just married into the door, hoping that Ayu will help her brother, but Ayu refuses. For Tatsuhira's idea, Ah Ling Po is also opposed, even if she is looking for someone, she cannot find someone in her own family. In the end, A-Ling-po found Akin-po, who was the same age as herself, and met Risuke and her own wishes.
The day of entering the mountain is approaching day by day, but Ah Lingbo's body is still very tough, and her teeth are still very good. But at her age, her teeth are good, and her body is tough is not a good thing. For this reason, her eldest grandson, Yuanfuji, often made fun of her, with good teeth and good mouth, and could eat anything. This kind of remark made Tatsuhira very angry, and he didn't want to listen to this kind of accusation against his mother, so he had to beat up The Robes once he listened. But Ah Ling Po was not angry, she just felt very ashamed, felt that she was so old and did not die, and followed her children and grandchildren to grab grain. In desperation, Ah Ling Po had to knock out her front teeth, blood flowed out of her mouth, although it was very painful, but Ah Ling Po felt very happy, she finally had no front teeth. Ah Ling po, who had lost her front teeth, walked around the village, and the intention was obvious, that is, to let the people in the village know that she was going to enter the mountain.
When the filial piety Tatsuhira found out, he was very distressed about his mother, who was obviously still very healthy, why did he have to go to Mt. Nichiyama to wait for death, he hated this cruel custom, but he could not say anything, he could not resist the rules of the village. His mother had also warned him again and again that when he entered the mountains in winter, he must be decisive and not break the rules of the village. Can't be like his father, become a joke in the village.
It turned out that 10 years ago, because Tatsuhira's father was unwilling to carry his mother on the mountain, causing their whole family to be laughed at by the people in the village, if this time, Tatsuhira was like his father, then in the future, the people in their family would have a bad life in the village.
In the era of scarce resources, survival was a difficult thing, and the custom of sending people to the mountain after old age was passed down from generation to generation, in order to reduce the burden on the family, but also to continue the family, the most cruel survival law was formed in this small mountain village.
In the face of the harsh reality, "filial piety" and "survival" cannot be combined
Soon when winter came, Ah Ling Po urged Tatsuhei to send him to the mountain quickly, and when he grew up, he completely understood why his father was reluctant to carry his grandmother up the mountain. Before entering the mountain, the people who came were all people who had entered the mountain, and they were invited to come in the hope of knowing some precautions from their mouths. The road into the mountain is to walk for a day and a night, do not speak after entering the mountain, and do not look back when you come back.
The next night, Ah Ling inspired the indecisive Tatsuhei with a reproachful tone and climbed the road to Mount Matsuri. Ah Ling had already scooped up the snowflake rice that everyone would eat tomorrow, and the matter of fragrant mushrooms and trout had also been taught to Ayu in detail. Ah Ling saw that everyone in the family was asleep, so he gently opened the door under the eaves of the back porch. Then he lay on the back plate that Tatsuhira was carrying. There was no wind that night, but it was particularly cold, the sky was overcast, there was no moonlight at all, and Tatsuhira moved his steps like a blind man toward a dark road. After Ah Ling and Tatsuhei went out, Ah Yu got up from the bed, pushed open the door and walked out of the house, she held the tree stump in her hand, and looked at the dark and dark night sky with her eyes, and sent her off there. (Excerpt from the original text)
Along the way, Tatsuhira tries to talk to her mother, but her mother is reluctant to say a word to her son as if she hadn't heard. Mr. Peng Tao has made a profound explanation for this strange rule, and he believes that these rules have a lot of meaning in them.
First of all, not speaking is a village rule that must be observed. Secondly, the rule of not speaking is also to invisibly cut off this family relationship, because once he speaks, the old man may pray for his descendants to give him the opportunity to live, and also to avoid the younger generation of soft hearts and unwilling to send the old man up the mountain, resulting in the loss of family honor. And why carry a mountain on your back instead of walking with you? The way to use his back was to satisfy Tatsuhei's filial piety for his mother for the last time, and he would never have the opportunity to do anything to serve the elderly again. On the other hand, the form of using the back is to make the old man mentally prepared, and there is no way to go back to the road that has not been traveled, and the hope of the old man's survival is completely destroyed.
The road to Mount Tatsuhira was heavy for Tatsuhira, and he walked slowly, hoping that he would never go to Mount Tatsumi in his lifetime. His mother, on the other hand, only tapped him on the shoulder and urged him to go faster. Desolate mountains, crows that feed on carrion everywhere, and the ground is full of the white bones of those who entered the mountain before.
After Ah Ling Po and Tatsuhira arrived at Mt. Nichiyama, she found a place with her back to the stone and sat on the ground. She looked at Tatsuhei, who was in tears, and gave him a slap and told him to hurry down the mountain. Grief-stricken, Tatsuhei stumbled down the mountain.
As he descended the mountain, he met a young man from the same village who sent his father into the mountain, and the father was very stubborn and unwilling to enter the mountain. The son had to push him off the cliff with great determination. Seeing this scene, Tatsuhira turned back in despair and ran back to the mountain. The white-haired mother sat weakly in the snow, her hands folded as if she were chanting the Buddha, and her eyes were empty and she could not see any emotion. Seeing Tatsuhira returning, she quietly stretched out her hand and shook in the direction where Tatsuhira was, meaning, "You go back, you go back!" ”
"Kaoyama Festival" is a 1983 Film adapted by Japanese director Masahira Imamura based on a novel written by post-war writer Shichiro Fukasawa, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Through this film, it is not difficult to find that when a society's resources are scarce to a certain extent, survival and filial piety are forced to play a game, and the evil of human nature will be revealed. But what is more worthy of our deep thinking is that they are all countries with serious aging, and Japan has become a rich country before entering the aging society, and we still have to face the more cruel fact of getting old before getting rich.
I have to admit that to this day, like Tatsuhira, we are still living in a dilemma where "filial piety" and "survival" cannot be combined. When our parents are old, in order to earn money to support the family, even if the parents are unwilling, we have to send our parents to a nursing home. Faced with parents who are seriously ill in bed, they have to arrange nurses to serve, as middlemen with old and young, they want to fulfill filial piety, but they have to work. Who among the young people who were forced to work for their livelihood and left their parents alone in the guys did not have deep self-blame and remorse in their hearts?
We fight all the way, just to live better!