"Watching Youth" is a warm-tone film, the film focuses on an old teacher Liu Wei who gave up his high position and was willing to be a university counselor, taking his review of his nearly forty years of teaching career as a lesson, taking the growth stories of several representative students emerging as the weft, and gradually progressing with the narrative rhythm of not hurrying and still water flowing deeply, achieving the effect of emotional "smudging". To say that it is a warm tone, in addition to the film spreading the "inner volume" anxiety that is conducive to counteracting the hot discussion of the times, and once again establishing the positive value of "teacher, preaching, teaching, and solving puzzles", it also stems from the theme itself - it recounts the kind faces that most of us remember, the image of teachers who have influenced our lives. The film mobilizes these warm memories and tugs at the heartstrings of the audience.
"Watching Youth" is not only a semi-autobiographical film about "good people", but also a growth film about overcoming the stage dilemma of life. At the same time, the film sets up multiple character perspectives: the old teacher Liu Wei has reached the age of glorious retirement, and he wants to take a trip to visit the students who have been missing; the young teacher Yifan, under the soft and hard help of his wife, hesitates to give up the job of counselor; the college student is lost in the stage of his age, ignorant and suspicious of many ideas and beliefs... The three of them were on the road together. Liu Wei's life reached the autumn of harvest, he was no longer confused, some were determined and relieved, and the other two were always in the tearing between the ideas in their minds and the reality around them. From Liu Wei's point of view, this is a semi-autobiographical backtracking story, the main goal is to reflect and precipitate, from the perspective of the other two young people, this is a pursuit journey, a big question mark always hanging overhead.
The valuable thing about this movie is that it is not the kind of film that involuntarily proclaims and admonishes, it leaves room for the people in the story to argue with each other and the process of touching each other, not in a hurry to make judgments, but in an effort to present.
The film beads up several typical student stories, not only through events to shape the image of a generation of teachers and reshape the dignity of teachers, but also through the years of experience of college teachers to portray the many problems refracted in the corner of the campus society. There is no enlightening truth in the film, only simple and simple rules of conduct. At the critical moment of their growth, the teacher gave the former the blessing of faith, and paid the supervision and encouragement of not abandoning and not giving up. Against the backdrop of the sentiments of Liu Wei, a counselor of the older generation, the wavering and entanglement of young counselors is also very real. In the plot about career choices, the character of Yifan is the most able to benchmark the mentality of ordinary people. Young and middle-aged teachers, especially college counselors at the grassroots level, are prone to imbalance compared with the circle of people of the same age, the same class, and the same level. But why can Liu Wei be willing to be indifferent and hardworking? When we talk about professionalism and industry atmosphere, we often talk about adhering to the bottom line of the industry and polishing professional skills, but we rarely see the professional beliefs and career ideals behind the support. In Liu Wei's view, higher education is reshaping life and changing people's destiny, and college years are the most critical to people's growth. Therefore, being a front-line educator in the university is the guardian of youth life, the ferryman of the cultural ferry, and the person who has the deepest, most important and most valuable impact on others - a high degree of professional belief brings a high degree of professional honor and professional dignity, which compensates for the reality of hardship and poverty. In this way, the film shows the audience these two contrasting behaviors, not rushing to give an answer to what is right and wrong, but trying to respect the choices of each generation and each individual. "Peach and plum do not speak, the next is their own" - why does the peach and plum do not need to say more, but can attract the appreciation of many people? Because the persistence in silence is the most respectful. The dignity of the teacher's way shown in the film needs to be experienced and practiced by all people who are inspired by the spirit in action.
(Author: Sunina, Associate Editor and Deputy Editor of Art Wide Angle, Liaoning University of Literature)