Breathe hard, look up, even if the darkness is shrouded, the light will eventually shine on the earth. @Mu ZhiYu
Released in Argentina in 2011, the war film Dark is a war-themed film directed by director Agnieska Holland. It tells the story of The Polish sewer worker Socha and a group of Jews hiding in the dark sewers for 9 months, until the Nazis left. The film won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 84th Academy Awards and won many weighty awards.
Socha is an opportunistic Polish man who collects money for himself by doing sewer maintenance work while doing some petty theft. In 1943, the Nazis occupied Poland and began to plunder and massacre Jews. During a sewer repair, he and his work partner Zapec came across a group of Jews fleeing murder in the sewers. Socha saw this as a good opportunity to accumulate wealth and charged the Jews a certain amount of "life-saving fees."
Of course, the concealment of the sewers was far less so easy than imagined, the large-scale search of the German soldiers, the suspicion of the old acquaintance commander Podnik, the struggle of internal contradictions among the Jews, the departure of the workers, the incomprehension of the wife, the annihilation of the heavy rain. Socha was afraid and hesitant, but after experiencing the fragility and impermanence of life, the Jews had become a bond he could not give up. Finally overcoming many difficulties, he led the Jews to the end of the war and ushered in the light of the long-departed.
The film is often compared to Schindler's List, which is the same as the transformation from mercenary to self-sacrificing Jewish savior, but the film is more realistic than the latter, and the analysis of human nature in extreme difficulties is more profound and explicit, making the audience feel as if they are staring at a bottomless black hole.
If you only interpret this war-themed film from the perspective of the story content, I think it is difficult to deeply understand the true charm of this classic masterpiece. Therefore, this article will provide an in-depth interpretation from the three levels of "lens language, theme presentation, and processing of film details":
The presentation of the lens language: The overall picture of the film is gray and cold, which sets off the inner repression of the characters and conveys the director's revelation of the deeper truth of human nature
Theme presentation: The unique "sewer" setting, the narrow and depressing space highlights the difficulty of the protagonist's choice
The handling of film details: character personality, reversal and suspense, and the treatment of light in the dark scene add a lot of color to the film
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01, the presentation of the lens language: the overall picture of the film is black and gray and cold, which sets off the inner depression of the characters and conveys the director to reveal the deeper truth of human nature</h1>
As a movie fan, after watching "Darkness Diffused", I believe that many friends will feel the collision of thoughts and souls like never before. Although most of the shots in the whole film are completed in the foul-smelling sewers, and the film does not have too many gorgeous lines, the presentation of the lens language makes every look, every action, etc. express the inner activities of the characters, and the emotions of the characters are well rendered.
(1) With dull black and gray as the main color, rendering a depressing and heavy environmental atmosphere
The director uses a dull, oppressive black-gray tone throughout the film: from the entire plundered city to the color of the characters' clothes, from the colorless sky to the dark and foul-smelling sewers. The whole picture of the film is black and gray, cloudy and lifeless, and the biggest bright color may be the cold snow.
The clearly colored black and white gray not only renders the real situation of the film's characters, but also hints at the complexity and multi-faceted nature of human nature.
Overall, this tone of the film gives people a feeling of black oppression, and the endless black ash makes people feel as if they have been beaten into hell. However, the complex emotions of fear, sorrow and despair in the characters' hearts are suppressed and become one with the picture, and also reflect the meaning of the Jews wanting to break through the darkness and wait for the light.
Some say it's a revelation of brutal warfare by director Agneska Holland, as the director himself puts it: "Perhaps it exists to reveal the deeper and darker truths of our nature." It can be seen that the heavy theme of the film is the deep thinking and torture of war and human nature.
(2) Delicate picture shots express the rich and complex emotions of the characters' inner world
The lines in the movie are actually very simple and short, without too much embellishment, but many details are hidden in the capture and portrayal of the details of the characters in the lens.
When the Nazis hanged 10 Poles to avenge a German soldier, Socha walked to the scene, the camera pulled away from behind him, and the slow-moving camera reflected Socha's inner uneasiness at this time. The director then shot him leaving the gallows in a top-down shot until he reached the stairs of his home, where the overhead shot followed him upwards, and his stumbling steps were truly unfolded in front of us. This is actually conveying his inner pain and struggle, and also portraying Socha as a person who is good by nature and insists on justice.
In addition, during an overhaul of the waterway, Socha encountered two lost Jewish children, and by this time he had cut off contact with the Jews in order to save his life. The camera stayed between him and the two children, and time seemed to stand still. Do you care or don't care? In any case, two children may be killed, and if they are in charge, they may put their families in danger. This vividly embodies Socha's entanglement, and finally the good nature overcomes the selfish and fearful heart, and he reaches out to the two children.
In my opinion, the delicate picture lens makes up for the lack of shooting space that cannot be stretched too much. It is the mutual integration of these lens languages that infinitely enlarges the inner emotional activities of the characters in the film, and the sensibility and rationality both express the multi-faceted and complex character emotions and inner world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02, theme presentation: unique "sewer" setting, narrow and dark space highlights the difficulty of the protagonist's choice</h1>
The film's story environment is simple, the director chose the claustrophobic and dirty sewers, so that the main plot development and character transformations all take place here. It can be said that it is precisely in such a limited environment that the director can portray the complexity of human nature and the desire to survive vividly. In the end, Socha changed from mercenary to self-sacrifice to save others, completed a self-redemption, and became the savior of the Jews.
(1) Limit the background of the story, and highlight the multi-faceted and complex nature of human nature in the limited environment
In this sealed desperate situation, some stenchy and rotten, rat-like pictures can make the audience have a bad audio-visual, and even a vague sense of smell. Here, everyone shows their truest selves, and their inner nature is fully revealed.
For example, some people can't stand the smell of sewers and choose to flee the uncertain future of being taken away; some people can't stand this kind of inhuman life and steal the money of their companions to sneak out of the sewers; when Socha said that only 10 people can be guaranteed, it is the united Jews who fight for the right to live.
Doubt, quarrel, fear, desire, despair are like crisscrossing sewers, long periods of repression torment everyone's sanity, giving up and insisting only in a single thought.
Even Socha himself, in such an environment, the mercenary side slowly faded, and fear and fear began to strike. Finally, witnessing the cruelty of the Nazis, the fragility of life, the desire of the Jews for life, his heart slowly moved closer to the good side of human nature.
In my opinion, only in this dark sewer, all people have to face the real inner struggle, fear, anxiety desire, the good and bad of human nature here seems to be unusually clear, and it is repeatedly interpreted.
(2) Placing the characters in two extreme choices highlights the contradictions and difficulties of the protagonist in his choices
This inner entanglement of the character is concentrated in Socha, who is confronted with a choice question about human nature:
On the one hand, the Jews, who were innocently implicated and brutalized by the war, hid in the symbiosis of putrid sewers in desperation, but they longed to live and see the light again; on the other hand, the safety of their loved ones and the temptation of a warm and comfortable life, and the brutal suppression of The German soldiers.
The director chooses two extreme situations, uses this strong contrast to make the audience feel the difficulty of this choice, and uses unexpected choices again and again to constantly convey to the audience the reason why Socha finally made his choice - Socha finally jumped out of the desire in human nature, abandoned all worldly constraints, and followed his inner voice.
In my opinion, human nature has been most truly and urgently embodied at this moment. Different from the absolute beauty of human nature, there is a mixture of good and bad human nature, and in the end, good and justice compete for success and emit the brilliance of human nature.
(3) Finally, the reverse ending is set, giving up money to help the Jews, and highlighting the protagonist's shining divine image
From the previous interpretation, we know that Socha often risks some petty theft. For him, it is a fool who has money and does not take it, and it is a waste of money that does not collect money. It was even more difficult for him to give up his money.
Here the director sets up a plot that makes the audience hold their breath: the Jews have reached a desperate moment of embarrassment, and they really don't have any money to pay Socha.
I believe that when it came to seeing that the Jewish couple could no longer come up with money to pay Socha, many viewers wanted Socha to stop taking Jewish money. However, in the early part of the film, there is a plot in which Socha abandons the deal with the Jews in order to protect himself, and returns the money to the Jews. At that time, we hoped that Socha would not return the money to the Jews.
That's the biggest charm of this movie. We are already immersed in the plot when watching the movie, immersed in it to follow the tragic encounters of the characters, sometimes nervous and sometimes worried, as if it is our encounter, and we feel socha's feelings and psychological changes in the process.
In the face of fresh and innocent lives, we can't turn a blind eye, nor can Socha. Between human nature and money, he chose human nature, and in the face of justice and evil, he chose justice. It seems to me that this choice shines with sensual beauty and the brilliance of humanity.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >03, the processing of film details: character, reversal and suspense, the treatment of light in the dark scene and other details add a lot of color to the film, presenting a deeper connotation of the film</h1>
Film itself is an art form, generally an outward expression of a creator to an era or a group of people. Whether we can understand a movie is not only from the language, theme and other aspects, but also from the details of the part can help us understand the deep meaning of the story. I have to admit that the director's performance of some details in the film adds a lot to this film, which makes people unable to calm down for a long time after watching it.
(1) The character of the character often implies the fate and plot direction of the character
It is said that character determines destiny, don't think this sentence is a bit exaggerated. In movies, when the director creates characters, he often performs according to the character of the set character.
The protagonist in the movie, Socha, is doing sewer repair work, which is a stinking and disgusting job, something that ordinary people do not want to do, which is also doomed to be a small person who is not simple. At the beginning of the film, it is described that he and his work partner turned into other people's homes in the middle of the night to steal, mercenary and decisive, shrewd, and not afraid of death. This personality also allowed him to risk being exposed to profit from encountering Jews who had evaded the sewers.
But Socha is not a heinous person, he loves his daughter and wife very much, and the stolen money only wants to buy her a decent gift and want her to live better. Such a man with a family in his heart is actually emotional and kind. This also explains why Socha was able to sacrifice himself and risk helping the Jews.
In my opinion, whether a film work can be successful or not, the shaping of the character is a very key factor. Only by digging out the soul of the character's inner world can the work be raised to a higher level. For the audience, observing the plot through the character characteristics of the characters can grasp the core of what the film wants to express.
(2) The constant reversal and suspense are carefully designed by the director
This film is simple and straightforward, and the director tries to restore the real situation, but the intriguing place of the film is that the director sets a lot of reversals and suspense for the film.
For example, in the beginning, Jews hid in sewers. When everyone thought that these Jews had finally found a hiding place, because of the limited conditions, Socha could only guarantee the safety of 10 people. In this way, the abandoned Jews could only watch the fading lights and plunge into boundless darkness. It can be said that this reversal caught the audience off guard, so can the remaining 10 people escape safely? The suspense after the reversal hung up again.
Socha and his co-worker Zapec went to the Jewish house to rummage for useful items, and Zapec turned over a Jewish ragdoll and said that he would give it to Socha's daughter. This move also laid a suspense for the later plot, and later the officer Podnik went to Socha's house as a guest, picked up the apple on the table and wanted to eat it, Socha's daughter said "can't eat it, it's for the Jews", the officer became suspicious, then the girl held up the ragdoll and said, "The apple is for this Jewish friend of mine." Because of the Jewish muppets sent by Zapec, the Socha family was able to overcome the danger.
In my opinion, these reversals and suspense not only make the plot of the movie more exciting and attractive, but importantly, promote the continuous development of the storyline. These scenes are deliberately created and carefully designed, just like stringing together a lead of all the plots, so that the story develops smoothly and not scattered, which can be seen in the director's good intentions.
(3) The treatment of light in dark scenes is quite methodical and has special symbolic significance
Most of the plot of "Dark Diffuse" takes place in the dark sewers, and the flashlight in Socha's hand often flashes in the dark narrow passages, light or dark. Sometimes, this faint beam of light almost faded, but with a turn, the light reappeared. For the Jews huddled in the darkness, this light seemed to carry a glimmer of life, so that they could still see a little hope in the desperate darkness.
The film also expresses the desire of the Jewish people who are grounded in the darkness for light many times, and the most touching scene is shown by the Jewish little girl. When Socha secretly opened the manhole cover, the light shone in, and the little girl who was picked up squinted her puffy eyes, and the light at this time was dazzling, and everything on the ground was colorful and blurry.
And this beautiful scene of seeing the light and breathing freely was soon covered by the manhole cover, and the heaviness struck again, but for the Jews, tomorrow was like the magic light, and its arrival was no longer so difficult.
It seemed to me that the light of the flashlight in Socha's hand was like the light on the manhole cover, which made the Jews yearn for it, and also made them believe that as long as they breathed hard and looked up, even if the darkness shrouded them, one day the light would come.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summarize:</h1>
The core of this story is actually very simple, the director uses a sharp realism style to faithfully reproduce a more terrifying and closed desperate situation than the Nazi concentration camp, coupled with the precise control of details, so that the audience is immersed and empathetic. The carrier of sewers makes this dark history even more dirty, and the development of human nature and the desire of the characters to survive are portrayed very brilliantly.
Although the film tells the story of war, doesn't this reflect our real life? When we face the difficulties of life, the heart is full of light, and hope will always be in our own hearts. As long as you follow this light in your heart and work hard, the darkness will always pass, and the light will eventually come.