Just a few days ago, Wuhan writer Fang Fang was banned from Weibo for making sensitive remarks.
The 14-day ban coincides with the virus's quarantine, and it's no wonder that some people treat "speech" as a "virus."
The fate of Fang Fang and the movie is not shallow.
Her well-known novel "Ten Thousand Arrows Through the Heart" was adapted into a movie and received excellent word of mouth.
What many people don't know is that as early as 1997, a film based on another novel by Fang Fang was once famous and nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 47th Berlin Film Festival.
It is "Ambush" co-directed by Huang Jianxin and Yang Yaya.
"Ambush" is a movie that looks small, but is actually very big.
Its plot is very simple, telling the story of two people ambushing.
But from the spread of this story, you can see the entire social structure and the sadness of the little people under the system.
That sentiment is in line with the current era.
If you don't believe it, look down.
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Talking about "Ambush", I can't get around it, and I have to talk about it from director Huang Jianxin.
Among the directors who were active in the 1990s, Huang Jianxin was one of the most thorough observers of Chinese society.
Poisonous eyes, fierce hands, quite a bit of film industry well-known meaning.
His most famous work is the "Urban Trilogy".
The names are: "Stand Up Straight, Don't Lie Down" (1992), "Back to Back, Face to Face" (1994), "Red Light Stop, Green Light Line" (1997).
However, these three films are far less neat at the core than they seem.
I think what is more representative of Huang Jianxin is another trilogy, consisting of Back-to-Back, Face-to-Face, The Black Cannon Incident (1985) and Ambush (1997).
I call it the "institutional trilogy" because they are all about the relationship between people and the system, or the dilemma of people under a deformed system.
Looking at these three films, it just constitutes a three-layer structure.
"Back to Back, Face to Face" is at the top and is about officials in the system.
Through a dispute over the curators of a cultural center, the film takes us into the Chinese official arena and watches a group of people racking their brains for a position and pouring themselves into each other.
Behind all laughter, there must be a knife hidden; under all loyalty, there must be a hidden killing heart.
In the end, everyone scrambled, but it was just a farce of "you sing and I appeared".
There are no winners, only a constant web of human debt and lust.
Live a modern version of the "Official Appearance".
"The Black Cannon Incident" is located in the middle level and is about intellectuals in the system.
This group of people should have lived a very dignified life, but because they have knowledge and the ability to think independently, they have been repeatedly doubted and excluded by the system.
The engineer in the film, Zhao Shuxin, was immediately suspended for investigation because he sent a telegram to a German expert.
The telegram read: Black Cannon 301.
Until the end of the film, German experts send a package containing all the secrets about the "black cannon".
What is it?
Let's see for ourselves.
In fact, no matter what the "black cannon" is, it represents "nothing".
Or, no, no.
As for the "Ambush" that we are going to focus on today, it is at the bottom.
It's about the little people in the system.
The film begins with a crime in which a family of four shipyard workers is brutally murdered in the dark of night.
Elder Tian tian of the security section and officer Ye Minmin were tasked with ambushing and observing the suspect's movements.
Beginning with this ambush, we see an invisible social structure slowly emerging.
There is the coldness of the system, the arrogance of power, and the grievances of ordinary people.
If you use the most appropriate sentence at the moment to summarize the main theme of this film, it is: you can't bully obedient people.
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ambush.
It sounds imposing, but it's actually a chore.
24 hours a day, can not leave the post, can not let the family know, as to when the end is unknown.
Detective Yang Gao divided a total of 7 ambush points, and finally assigned the most inconspicuous one to the Security Section.
Don't underestimate this plot.
Although it occupies only a small space, it is the key to the whole film.
First of all, through this incident, the director explained to us the social structure at that time, that is, in the early 1990s.
This structure is also divided into three layers.
At the top is the public security, which represents public power and is responsible for the detection of the entire case.
In the middle is the Joint Defense Brigade.
The Joint Defense Brigade arose in the late 1980s to fill the shortage of manpower in the police station at that time, so the police transferred personnel from various factories and used them for their own use.
These people are both workers and police officers. But it is precisely because they are closer to the state apparatus that they acquire a sense of superiority in power.
Corresponding to the character in the film is Qiu Jianguo, the joint defense captain played by Guo Donglin.
Next, there is the Shipyard Security Section at the lowest level.
They are down-to-earth workers, furthest from the state apparatus and least valued.
So there was a plot in which Yang Gao assigned an ambush point at the farthest edge to them.
To put it bluntly, this ambush mission is likely to be a blind hectic work with no merit and only hard work.
But there was no way, the organization sent down, and the people in the security section had to obey.
Subsequently, we followed this logic and entered the interior of the Security Section.
What is particularly interesting about this film is that it did not shoot pictures of factories or departments, but sketched out the ecology of the unit at that time in a profile way.
How is it outlined?
Let's first think about the question: How did this task fall on Lao Tian and Ye Minmin?
Is it because they can do it? Or is it something else?
The film does not clearly explain.
But if you think about it, you get it. Because they are the most honest.
Section Elder Tian, don't look at it as a section chief, in fact, there is no real power.
People familiar with the environment of the unit at that time knew that the Security Section was the most likely department to mix people inside.
Today the factory director handed over a note and stuffed it into two friends; tomorrow the secretary made a look and stuffed it into the two relatives.
The section chief saw that there were quite a few subordinates, but they actually had their own backgrounds, and no one could move when they were really working.
So Lao Tian had to go into battle himself, and the only one who could listen to his dispatches was the helpless democracy.
Unlike Lao Tian, Democracy has no good feelings for this system.
On the contrary, he showed distrust of the system from the outset.
He was a veteran who could have entered the public security system when he changed careers, but because he was afraid of being tired and troublesome, he went to the factory security section.
There is a disdain for the system in itself.
And the reason why he obeyed Lao Tian's arrangement was not out of obedience to his superiors, but based on the trust between friends.
As Lao Tian said, "This person of democracy is the least capable of my subordinates." But he has an advantage, morality, for the sake of friends, even if it is a small thing, he also treats it as a big thing. ”
In this way, Lao Tian took democracy and climbed a water tower next to the abandoned station and began the task of ambushing.
They held binoculars in their hands and stared into the distance, waiting for the target who refused to appear for a long time.
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This ambush has not been waiting for anyone.
It's painful to think about.
The environment on the water tower is extremely poor, and only a very small space can be used to survive.
Lao Tian and Minzu alone have 12 hours, day and night, and the first wait is more than twenty days.
But the man they were waiting for— the "wise men, the "wise men" of the criminal gangs— never appeared.
In these twenty days, the spirits of both people have been dragged down, and their lives have fallen into a huge predicament.
Lao Tian suffers from liver cancer, and his time is short, but he still has to carry out tasks with his wife and daughter every day.
Democracy is suspected by his girlfriend, but he can't explain it at all, so he has to drag his tired body and mind to the water tower again and again.
Sniffing melon seeds, drinking water, dozing off, chatting, all the ways to pass the time were tried by them, but the hopeless wait was difficult after all.
Whenever democracy sprouts and retreats, Lao Tian will always stand up and advise him: "Those who defend must not only have a sense of responsibility, but also have justice and conscience." As soon as we leave, what if the criminal runs to kill people again? ”
This is the dilemma that an ordinary person who does his duty in the system faces.
They have no backing, they cannot easily climb up; but on the other hand, they are not willing to fall, and no matter what work they face, they still do their duty.
For their conscience does not allow any negligence.
And the system is also looking at their "honesty and obedience", so that they do the hardest work and shoulder the greatest responsibility, but do not give them the respect they deserve.
Because the logic of the operation of this system has always been "nepotism, bullying the soft and afraid of hard", if honest people do not learn to cling to relationships and are unwilling to be a jerk, then there is only one ending left: let others be slaughtered.
So we see that when democracy finally couldn't hold back and went to Yang Gao to complain, Yang Gao just looked at him sheepishly and asked, "Who are you?" ”
That scene exposed the arrogance of the system.
Not to mention that 21 days later, the police noticed that the situation had changed and ordered the cancellation of the ambush point. Qiu Jianguo, the leader of the joint defense team, was so preoccupied with playing cards that he forgot to inform.
Since then, Lao Tian and Democracy have finally become people who have been completely forgotten and banished by the system.
They continue to carry out tasks that have long been revoked, and continue to hold on to the water tower until they lose their lives or even their lives.
It should be said that director Huang Jianxin's criticism is very poisonous.
He used "ambush missions" to refer to "futile errands" and "abandoned water towers" to symbolize "the situation of no one", thus writing about the system's annihilation of the individual.
And that's not all.
At the end of the film, something even more absurd happens.
No one thought that the water tower was the real stronghold of the wise, Lao Tian and Democracy, two people who had long been abandoned, but because of their loyalty to their duties, they accidentally made great achievements.
Seeing that scene, my heart was full of mixed feelings, and I didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
Admittedly, like "Crazy Stone", the director through a tortuous process, let the real gem accidentally fall into the hands of the people who guard it, which is a reward for a change of direction.
The same is true of Ambush.
But on the other hand, what is the cost?
It was Lao Tian who failed to seek medical treatment in time, aggravated his illness, and took his life for it; it was Ye Minmin who found Qiu Jianguo and beat the latter up fiercely, so he entered the bureau.
So, at the final commendation meeting, the leader stood tall and read the name of the meritorious person.
Offstage, people from the police station, people from the joint defense team, and some faces that had never been seen before, I thought it might be other colleagues in the Security Section, all sat there and shared the honor.
The only ones that did not appear were Lao Tian and Ye Min.
These two people, who deserved to be the highest praise, unsurprisingly became absentees again.
At this time, I understood that the comfort given by Huang Jianxin was false.
And the scene at this moment is the truth.
In a deformed system, the dignity of ordinary people cannot be easily obtained, and even after many tribulations and turning points, it will eventually fail.
More ironic you know what it is?
From beginning to end, the most sincere praise that Lao Tian and Ye Mindi received did not come from the righteous side, but from the "wise men" who they had sought for more than thirty days.
The murderous demon king said, "I want to meet the people who are ambushed on the water tower, and I respect them." ”
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Regarding the story of "Ambush", we can also see it more "virtually".
What is it talking about?
It tells the story of two people waiting for someone who never shows up.
Doesn't that sound like "Waiting for Godot"?
That's right.
If you understand Ambush more abstractly, you can think of it as the Chinese version of "Waiting for Godot."
In the film, Lao Tian and Democracy are waiting for the legendary "wise man".
They repeat similar actions every day, chatting about boring topics, but they never see anyone coming.
Gradually, they feel powerless, confused, and even irritable, and over time they begin to become numb and depressed, until at last they finally overcome the torment of nothingness, continue to wait, and give a new meaning to their waiting.
Why is Lao Tian waiting?
For he knew that his life would be over.
He would rather die in a hopeful wait than in a hopeless sickbed.
Why is democracy waiting?
Ostensibly, what underpins him is the phone call with the mysterious man.
The mysterious man kept explaining him with words, telling him the truth that "if it comes, it will be safe"...
Until the end, Democracy rushes to the mysterious house and finds that he is actually a "deaf man", and the so-called call between them is just two one-way self-talk.
Ridiculous?
Maybe.
But it implies a positive connotation.
That is, democracy does not continue to be adhered to because of the encouragement of others, on the contrary, it is because he already has the conviction in his heart that he will mistake the unintentional words of others as a great encouragement.
What is his belief?
Two words: love.
This is what struck me the most about this movie.
The reason why Democracy insists on completing the ambush is not because he really believes that the murderer will appear, nor because he wants to win the approval of the system, but because he promised Lao Tian to stand the last shift for him.
Although there is only one in ten thousand chance that the murderer will escape due to his own negligence, this one in ten thousand will destroy the innocence and duty of Lao Tian's life.
So democracy did not dare to slacken off, and struggled to support itself in the water tower for more than ten days.
His persistence is not the "foolish loyalty" to the system, but the commitment between two ordinary people.
As at the end of the film, Yang Gao is touched by democracy and wants to be friends with him.
Democracy in front of Yang Gao, not at all in the face of public power when the humble, on the contrary, he always maintained dignity.
Watching Yang Gao walk away step by step, Democracy said to his girlfriend: "If he looks back at me, I will make this friend." ”
After that, Yang Gao turned back, and the two looked at each other and smiled.
It is not to bow to the system, nor to ask the system to turn back, but only to feel sorry for each other between two individuals.
From this point of view, "Ambush" has anti-system overtones from beginning to end.
It tells the story of two ordinary people who are assigned by the system and suffer.
But in their bodies, humanity has been preserved to the greatest extent, and the simple goodness and the sentiment of common suffering have been preserved.
This is a process in which bad money drives out good money.
In an ironic way, the film seems to be about things outside the system, but in fact, every knife pokes at the heart of the system.
Again, you can't bully obedient people.
More than that, the system should not bully people.
Rather, it should serve people so that people can better organize together and live a better life.
Ambush, a movie from twenty years ago.
Today, it is still not outdated.
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