Movies about people with disabilities chasing their dreams are not uncommon, and can even be said to be overmade. But the film is particularly special, and its name is "Flying Backlight.". The film is adapted from the real thing, and the protagonist Yuxiang is played by the story prototype Huang Yuxiang. A blind man playing himself in a (non-documentary) film is unique in film history.
Director Zhang Rongji won the Best New Director Award at the 49th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards in 2012 for this film. The actor Huang Yuxiang was nominated for the Best New Actor at the 7th Asian Film Awards in 2013, and the actress Zhang Rongrong was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress for the third time with "Flying Against the Light".
Text: Lei
Edit: April
Curated: Leave the bookroom behind
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You might as well be bold with life, because we always have to lose it.
- Nietzsche
(Starring in the movie "Flying Against the Light": Huang Yuxiang)
A major attraction of the movie is naturally the real performance of the male lead actor, the story does not have a plot of ups and downs, the narrative is not alarming, because it is good enough, Huang Yuxiang successfully made himself a movie.
The protagonist YuXiang was born blind. He showed a musical talent beyond ordinary people from an early age, and after the development and training of the day after tomorrow, he learned to play the piano.
But he just wanted to live an ordinary life and didn't participate in any piano competitions. When he was a child, whenever Yuxiang won a place in the competition, there were classmates talking behind his back, and the judges gave him a high score out of sympathy. Yu Xiang was no longer willing to accept "alms" and was ridiculed for receiving honors that were incompatible with his abilities.
Compassion is one of the most basic and greatest human emotions, but if it is not handled properly, it will hurt the person being sympathized with. What the vulnerable really need is respect and assistance, and excessive sympathy around them may create an inferiority complex for them.
Compassion is the care of the strong for the weak. The existence of sympathy means that the sympathized party is the weaker, which means that the two sides are not equal. No one wants to be treated as a weak person. Empathy, by contrast, is more valuable. Empathy makes people empathize with the pain of others and can put themselves in the shoes of others to help others.
(Movie "Flying Against the Light": The male left is Zhu Ziqing)
In the film, Yuxiang makes two friends of the same age, Zhu Ziqing and Xiao Jie. They did not condescend to "sympathize" with Yuxiang, but chased their dreams with him. This is the empathy that vulnerable groups such as the disabled need. Zhu Ziqing and Xiao Jie knew what Yuxiang needed.
The film tells the three feelings of Yuxiang, which are the three most basic feelings in life: family, friendship, and love. It symbolizes Yuxiang's complete life.
Yuxiang was born prematurely and did not detect abnormalities during the obstetric examination. Yu Xiang was found born three months after birth. Yuxiang's mother had the idea of abandonment, and motherhood made it impossible for her to give up her flesh and bones.
She accepted fate and was grateful that fate had given yuxiang to her. When Xiao Jie came to Yuxiang's house as a guest, Yuxiang's mother showed Xiaojie a photo album to tell the story of Yuxiang's childhood. The happiness that Yuxiang brings to her mother far exceeds the burden. YuXiang completed his mother's life.
Zhu Ziqing is Yuxiang's roommate and music lover, and can play and play the violin. He formed the band "Super Music" and invited Yu Xiang to be the band's pianist. The band ended up judging and was recognized by the judges. Yuxiang also completed Zhu Ziqing's life.
(Movie "Flying Against the Light": The female right is Xiao Jie)
The heroine of the film, Xiao Jie, loves to dance, but she failed to stick to her dream. Until YuXiang appeared in her life. Yuxiang's passion for life inspires her to regain her dreams.
She has an inner monologue, "Thank you for having you, for letting me understand." If you can't give up on what you like, then you have to work harder to let others see your existence. ”
The film is not vulgar on the theme of love, and Yuxiang is attracted to Xiaojie's beautiful voice and has a hazy liking for her. Point to the end.
A person's life is a process of constantly breaking through difficulties and stepping towards happiness. Yuxiang's disability only magnifies human limitations. His mothers, Zhu Ziqing and Xiao Jie, all have their own difficulties, and while helping Yuxiang, they also help themselves.
Yu Xiang's primary school is an ordinary school, because of discrimination in the middle school transferred to a special school, after graduating from middle school, he chose to leave home to go to Taipei to study at a normal university, during which he had many difficulties. He needs his mother's company and assistance to gradually adapt to the unfamiliar environment.
For a blind person, the new environment is full of dangers. At night, when practicing walking at school, my mother said to Yuxiang, "You pass by this pillar, especially when there are many people, you should be careful, it is full of small stones, and if you are not careful, a piece of skin will not be seen." ”
In fact, everyone stepping into an unfamiliar environment is like a blind person. As the saying goes, the rivers and lakes are sinister and the hearts of the people are unpredictable. In real life, there are many reefs, and even if there are noble people leading the way and escorted by relatives and friends, it is inevitable to be injured.
Tearing off the label, Yuxiang is no different from ordinary people. The difficulties he faced were not fundamentally different from those faced by each of us. The only difficulty in life is that we do not have the enthusiasm and determination to face its imperfections.
What we want to learn from Yuxiang is not "physically disabled", but no matter what state and environment we are in, we must be strong and enthusiastic. It has nothing to do with whether you are blind or not, whether you are disabled.
(Cover of the movie "Smell the Fragrance and Recognize the Woman")
In the movie Smell the Woman, Lieutenant Colonel Slade gives a wonderful speech, one of which is:
“...... At one point, I could still see, I saw many, many younger boys, their hands and feet blown off, torn apart, those souls that were not as terrible as ugly, the soul could not have prosthetics, you thought you were just sending this good young man home like a deserted dog, and I said you executed his soul..."
Not everyone deeply understands this passage. The mutilation of the body is obvious, but the mutilation of the soul is difficult to see.
What persons with disabilities need more is practical assistance. According to the latest statistics of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, as of February 2020, there are 85 million disabled people in China. It accounts for about 6.21% of China's total population. That's a staggering number that exceeds the populations of most countries in the world.
About 6 to 7 million of these people with disabilities are blind. But we rarely see them in our lives. One of the main reasons is that infrastructure in our mainland region does not adequately take care of the blind.
The Taiwan region has considered it relatively thoughtfully in some respects. For example, blind alleys in schools. Blind lanes are road facilities that specialize in helping blind people walk. In the movie, the teacher told Yuxiang's mother, "This is the first time that the school has accepted blind students, and it is quite stressful." "But the school's corridors have been blinded. This is rare on campus in mainland China.
Disabled people are only crippled in one respect, but compensatory effects make them better than ordinary people in other aspects.
At the climax of the film, the band "Super Music" participates in a review. There was a sudden power outage at the scene, and the others were dazed, only the piano kept coming.
Yu Xiang is "immune" to the darkness, completely reveling in his own music, and forgetting both things. The piano ended, and the scene resounded with warm applause.
The strong think they are superior, like to show the direction to the weak, they say, look, the light is there. But the light in their eyes is not necessarily the light in someone else's life.
Yu Xiang's heart has another light guide, not so much that he is "flying backlight", but that he is flying towards the light in his heart. The desire for happiness is like a light that guides us forward.
There should be a light in everyone's heart. Open the window of the heart and let that light shine in, leading us to spread our wings and pursue happiness. This is the simple truth that "Flying Against the Light" wants to tell us.