The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony ended after Bong Joon-ho and his "Strange Worm" won 4 awards.
This is undoubtedly a turning point in the history of Asian films, and it is also one of the most memorable moments in the history of Korean cinema, congratulations to director Bong Joon-ho for becoming the first person!
But with the awards and announcements, this year's Oscars have also become one of the most controversial.
"1917", which was originally very popular, and "The Irishman", which "called Marvel movies not real movies", became the guests who watched all night.
And this year's Oscars are really a collection of good films, masters over the tricks, in addition to the best director and best picture of the upset, there are popular candidates but no grain, in fact, Aunt Er here is also a pity a few movies.
Among them, the historical film "The Succession of the Pope", directed by Fernando Merrills and starring Jonathan Pressy and Anthony Hopkins, is one of the biggest relics.
This film depicting the world's largest religion, leaving aside obscure theology, instead presents a lovely papal succession history from a realistic point of view, as an anti-genre film that Netflix has invested heavily in filming, "The Succession of the Pope" has no grain at this year's Oscars, which is really infuriating!
As an atheist, I once visited a church on a sunny afternoon and met a missionary. He pulled me along to preach, but turned around and said only two things:
1. Jesus was born in a manger
2. You will not find a second person in history who was born in such a humble way but had such an influence on future generations
In 4 BC, when a boy was born in the manger of Bethlehem, the trajectory of the world began to change quietly. In an era when science was not yet taken seriously, religion began to explain to believers why people were born, where they should go, and where they went after death.
Human beings, who are highly intelligent and extremely sensual creatures, are in great need of such a being that can bring answers to the psyche, so even if there are epicureans, Lucretius, Lucian, Machiavelli, Hume, Voltaire and other great masters in history who have spared no effort to impact religion, this metaphysical consciousness collective can still grow and develop.
Even when modern science has broken through countless solidified cognitions, religion still stands. Some argue that this is due to inertia, others feel that religion compensates for the mystic part that science cannot explain, and others feel that religion has become a collection of interests.
But in fact, this "ancient civilization" that has existed for thousands of years cannot be defined in a few simple words, and religion is actually evolving with the times at a time when the world is changing rapidly. Christianity, for its part, once swayed politics, bowed its head in the flames of violence, distributed bread to the poor, and launched appalling crusades.
Sometimes it is the ultimate sustenance of the spirit, sometimes synonymous with decay and darkness, but more often, it is an ideology that can promote the progress of civilization. Because religion brings warnings and admonitions, if a society wants to be civilized, in addition to the intimidation of the law, it needs to control human instincts. Religion makes up for what the law can't take care of, and ubiquitous gods hang a sword of Damocles over the heads of believers.
And for most people at the bottom, religion makes everyone a participant in the world, gathering around God, reading the Bible, and gaining strength from it. In Les Misérables, Victor Hugo depicts a death row inmate who was originally trembling, but because of the power of faith, he walked to the execution ground with a red face.
Religion also has a special cohesion in most countries in Europe and the Middle East, without which the divided egoism and anarchy of humanity may not be able to coalesce into functioning nations. Therefore, in many cases, the unity of the church and state is a very mainstream phenomenon. The combination of theocracy and secular power means the maximization of the concentration of power.
During the period of about 500-1050, barbarians poured into Italy, France, Britain and other Western countries, and the european civilization that was shocked and fell was also survived by the protection of the church. Monks reclaimed wasteland, monasteries provided relief to the poor, hospitals sheltered the sick, and people surrounded the church to warm up and restore order.
Will Durant believed that the Renaissance and the Reformation were the two sources of modern history. In the top-down Reformation of Christianity in the 16th century, people understood that religion must have rationality in order to make religion constantly change in the direction of enlightenment and civilization, and constantly adapt to the requirements of the new era.
From this perspective, let's talk about the movie "The Succession of the Pope".
The film begins with a clash of ideas. After the Pope's death, conservative Benedict XVI and reformist Bergerio both actively or passively engaged in electoral confrontation, and Benedict XVI's victory meant the arrival of conservatism. Years later, church sentiments deteriorated, fundamentalism gave the impression of a return to antiquity, and conservatism came at the cost of an invisible wall that alienated the secular from the religious.
This is also the big tone of the film, Bergoglio has always put into his work with the attitude of joining the world, he brings milk and bread to the poor, likes tango and football, and loves pizza. He showed his lovely side, thus creating two distinct images between himself and Benedict XVI.
This image of joining the WTO also conveys a very important value in the film, that is, "human beings are a community of destiny, openness is better than conservation, and the white gloves of etiquette are more effective than guns." ”
Let's jump out of the movie and see the real world.
We live in a world where isolationism prevails, Brexit, the United States wielding the stick of tariffs and smashing people, the Japanese right wing looking up, the Ottomans sharpening their knives against the Kurds... The world seems to be getting more and more chaotic, and behind this chaos is the prevalence of isolationism.
This will lead to trade, culture and universal values becoming guns, germs and steel. Therefore, when the United States assassinated the top brass of the Iranian military, the topic of #World War III on Twitter sparked a heated discussion.
Back in the film, Bergoglio explains to Benedict XVI that there should be no walls between nations, that greedy capitalists should be punished, that more help must be given to the poor, and so on. Benedict XVI replied: "I don't agree with anything you just said." ”
An old stereotype jumped out.
Benedict XVI had a strict schedule, a fixed recipe, rarely went out, he was far from believers, but he thought he was close to God. He knew he was better suited to be a scholar than a manager.
In fact, if a pope hears only the voices of those around him and cannot receive the cries of the masses, he is bound to fall into self-righteous chaos. According to our Chinese words, it is impossible to use it in the world.
In fact, Plato believed that "if the nations are governed by philosophers, or if the rulers of these countries have the opportunity to study philosophy, then these countries are lucky." But the premise of this perception is that philosophers should not be arrogant in the air and rule the world according to ancient dogmas, but should apply philosophy to politics.
How to apply? Remove authoritarianism from action and walk into the crowd. Keep pace with the times in thought, keep up with the carriage of the times. But neither of these benedict xVI was done.
When Bergeglio reminded Benedict XVI that bread was not distributed to believers, the latter's conservatism had turned the church into an island. The island still radiates a holy glow and is worshipped, but the invisible hand prevents those who want to approach the island, who are people who do not conform to traditional teachings, who are homosexuals, who are rebels of the times.
Oh, how did God lose his former generosity and mercy?
Berglio told Benedict XVI that he could not bear to be a salesman for a product, and that he believed that the church was out of touch with the world and no longer part of it. Benedict XVI replied: "A church that is married to the spirit of this era will be widowed in the next age." ”
In other words, in the age of flowing water, the church of iron.
But as mentioned earlier, the Church is both the patron of classical civilization and a participant in new civilization. Religion cannot transcend the world in any era, and it necessarily needs to be closely related to the secular in order to arm and strengthen itself.
The dogmatist Benedict XVI is like the Song Confucian in Hu Shi's mouth, "They say 'zhizhi', but what they want is not the principle of this thing and the reason of that thing, but a final absolute truth." Although Song Ru said, 'Today's Ge is a matter, Tomorrow's Ge is a matter', but their purpose is not this matter of today's Ming's Ge. What they want is the absolute wisdom of 'once it suddenly penetrates'. This is the opposite of science. The knowledge that science seeks is the truth of this thing and that thing, and it does not delusionally think of the last supreme wisdom. If we lose the concrete physics and seek the great enlightenment of "once we suddenly penetrate", there is no science. ”
In the first half of The Succession of the Pope, the image of Benedict XVI is vaguely evil, but through the words of Benedict XVI, I also see that the young Berglio was actually a pedantic dogmatist. However, Bergerio chose to change, and this change seemed to Benedict XVI to be a compromise.
Compromise is different from change, the former passive, the latter active. When Berglio went to love pizza and tango, our Benedict XVI was at a loss, never fully understanding why the church under his leadership was criticized. It wasn't until after a lengthy conversation with Berguelio that he seemed to realize something while struggling.
Maybe God loves to tango too?
When the conversation between the two enters the third act, Benedict XVI's abdication decision shifts the dialogue from the outside inward, from looking at the world to going deep into the heart. Without the slightest hesitation, Bergerio refused the request for succession, telling Benedict XVI his story: in his youth, he did not stand on the side of truth and fight against the mighty with martyrdom, but chose to preserve the power and be under the might.
Because of this incident, Berglio was exiled for a time, and this "stained" past made him feel that he could not bear the weight of the pope. And our Benedict XVI also said that he had failed to protect his people and that he could no longer hear God's voice.
"No one is perfect", Benedict XVI and Bergoglio repented of each other. The two old men went from confrontation to understanding, from understanding to mutual encouragement, and finally completed each other's redemption.
Based on this, a key word in the film is highlighted, that is, an important Christian doctrine: salvation.
When Jesus was crucified and fulfilled the atonement for the sins of the world, he overcame sin, over death, over the devil, over the world, and whoever repented and believed in Him was forgiven of his sins, justified by faith, born again, and entered into eternal life.
The power of Christianity lies in giving people faith rather than knowledge; it is an art, not a science; it is a sense of beauty, not truth. It provides people with a weapon against death, a channel to atone for the sins of the past, and a vision of bitterness.
Dozens of centuries ago, when Jesus used allegorical methods to preach, he probably couldn't have imagined what kind of feat he was doing. And the reason why Christianity can change from a small ideological organization to a giant that can influence the world is no longer the verbal agitation of the past, but constantly self-correction.
Benedict XVI eventually chose to change, understanding that the Church needed more of a popular man like Bergerio than an old-fashioned scholar like him. This change, rather than compromise, gives him a dazzling arc of character. Or rather, he is a man who has the courage to carry out self-revolution, and he is also a person who can tolerate dissent.
Then, Benedict XVI's character image in the first half of the film is completely overthrown. The conservative chose the most radical way (abdication) to make changes, and this change was reflected not only in his choice to abdicate, but also in the way he treated others.
At the end of the film, Benedict XVI does not choose to let the security guards when he walks out of the compartment with Bergeo, but generously walks into the crowd to shake hands with the believers, and Bergoglio believes that Benedict XVI is enjoying this closeness. When the two separated, Bergerio also took the initiative to teach Benedict XVI to dance tango.
In the final scene of the film, the two sit on the couch while drinking a carbonated drink while watching the World Cup, and religion is completely integrated into the world.
And our Berglio, after becoming Pope, traveled alone to get close to the faithful. He broke the situation of the church painting the earth as a prison, and vividly displayed the ancient wisdom of survival, which is the saying of Chairman Mao, who is all familiar with it, "From the masses, to the masses." ”
Historically, Christianity has been constantly challenged by various parties, some of which have arisen internally, such as hedonism and outdated religious consciousness. Some challenges arise externally, such as philosophy, witchcraft, science, etc.
In the mid-to-late sixteenth century, European thinkers began to challenge religious taboos—to debate whether God existed. By the eighteenth century, Christianity was caught between Enlightenment and Islam. Even in modern times, religion has always suffered many criticisms and challenges, such as the novelist Dan Brown, who has attacked religion several times in the form of novels.
In Origins, Dan Brown attempts to subvert religion with artificial intelligence. In "Angels and Devils", it also portrays the Pope's attendant as a conservative villain who has an allusion. "The Da Vinci Code" has caused the church to be dissatisfied.
Christianity has responded to challenges in a violent way, but violence can only bring temporary peace, not perpetual survival.
However, christian resilience gave it an evolutionary instinct, and in the eighteenth century Christianity untied the ropes of superstition, stubbornness, and exclusion from paganism, and it no longer used supernatural punishment and reward as the standard for reorganizing morality. In layman's terms, Christianity is no longer aggressive and prone to atrocities in the name of God, but in a gentle and tolerant way to keep pace with the times.
The trajectory of the history of Christianity should also be the same as another key word in The Succession of the Pope: change. Or, in other words, a change that is in line with the times.
Ideologically, Bergoglio moved from conservative to innovative early on, and Benedict XVI clearly showed a trajectory of change in several dialogues. In fact, I privately think that Benedict XVI has changed more than Bergeo, not only because of his appalling abdication decision, but also because the focus of the change throughout the film has always been on him.
Remember that pedometer that Benedict XVI always wore? The pedometer urged the old man to take ten thousand steps a day, and Benedict XVI's slow and tortuous pace was the process of his change. When he realized that he was no longer the best candidate for the Pope, he decisively put the burden into the hands of Bergeglio, and the succession of the Pope was smoothly completed.
In fact, the rhythm and style of "The Pope's Succession" are not too popular, but Jonathan Pressy and Anthony Hopkins have made a brilliant interpretation of what could have been esoteric and dry with their decisive acting skills. For example, in the scene where the two meet at night, Benedict XVI, played by Anthony Hopkins, played the piano that he was once good at, and Bergglio, played by Jonathan Pressy, remembered the past with the sound of the piano.
When the two of them talk about music, it makes me forget their identities for a short time, thinking that they are a pair of acquaintances. Their differences and the anger of the daytime confrontation disappeared by then, and a few minutes later, when Berguelio pulled out the resignation letter, the tension returned instantly.
Oh, I love the acting skills of these two old men.
Let's talk about an interesting clip from the movie. In the opening scene, Berglio calls the airline to try to book a ticket, but when he announces his name and location, he is thought to be a prank by the airline staff and hangs up.
Towards the end of the film, the scene is brought up again, and Bergoglio, after being hung up, finds a guard who borrows his cellphone network to book a ticket. The guard asked him in surprise, "They'll let you go out alone?" Berglio replied: "Of course I am the Pope." ”
Also, director Fernando Merrills should be a lot of talkative about Trump.