The new blockbuster mentioned in this article is related to the childhood complex of many people.
Sir first asked a question about revealing age:
Are you a Raiders of the Lost Ark fans?
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" stars Harrison Ford, but did you know that its archetype is called Harrison Fawcett? (Yes, it is such a coincidence, Chinese translated name is one word worse)
What Sir wants to talk about today is to remake the thrilling blockbuster with the real adventure experience of this prototype -
Lost City Z
"Lost City of Z" has been well received since its debut at the Berlin Film Festival at the beginning of the year, with a freshness rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, almost to the point of opening champagne.
What about domestically? ...... A bit embarrassing, Douban is only 6.8, slightly higher than the passing line.
Big rating gap... Is there any misunderstanding?
Well, it may not be opened in the right way.
This protagonist, which we Chinese hear strangely, is an armed version of Xu Xiake (the metaphor is not appropriate for you):
British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett.
At that time, his fame for adventure was much stronger than that of today's Beiye - he had no live television and no modern communication equipment, and was known as "the last explorer of the Victorian era" and was the idol of many boys' dreams.
It was an age of exploration for straight men.
It was an era when I had to go out of the house at the age of eighteen and prove my strength.
At that time, "going to the far side", there was no group to report to you, no star hotel for you to live, not to mention the selfie mobile phone, not even a paper map.
With only maps of coastlines and rivers, much of South America is still an unknown world
Fawcett's most famous story is the search for the lost City of Gold.
Because of the legend that the Amazon hinterland of the Jungle of South America was hidden in a mysterious ancient city, full of gold. For this magical legend, he went deep into the Amazon many times in search of ancient civilizations.
In the early 20th century, when mass communication was still very underdeveloped and the safety factor of going out was very low, those who dared to do so were heroes.
Spielberg, should also be a small fan who grew up reading his stories, so later, there was "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
However, Raiders of the Lost Ark is more entertaining, opening with a standard demonstration of Hollywood-style action-adventure:
Indiana Jones enters the Peruvian jungle, just ten minutes, ruins, organs, treasures, aborigines, betrayals and killings, how thrilling and exciting.
What about "Lost City Z" that moved the main master out?
If it is filmed into this kind of thrilling game with scenes and scenes, it is another "Raiders of the Lost Ark";
If it is made into the Amazon Survival Guide, it will at most be another episode of "Survival in the Wild";
Lost City Z didn't do that.
It's as adventurous, exciting, fighting, killing... But none of this seems to be the goal.
Fawcett's adventure is "outward" and more "inward", a journey for an adult to find his own heart after reading a thousand mountains.
Let's start with the plot —
The film begins with a gathering of senior officers after a hunt.
Fawcett, who can ride a horse and shoot a gun, successfully shoots a deer that is hunting, showing a military style of one in a hundred.
Unfortunately, he was a junior officer, 38 years old, and still a minor major.
This hunt is not simple, it is a good opportunity for promotion. Because in the evening banquet, the winner will have a chance to toast to the senior minister.
Hit the deer and you can get this opportunity.
Get this opportunity and you can change your life.
Oh no, forgot one thing... He was not an aristocrat.
Then, there was no more, and the two high-ranking adults at the banquet, very awkwardly exchanged his identity, and omitted him——
"He's unfortunate, not a famous man."
In the subjective shot, the moment the door of the dinner party is silently closed, Fawcett, looks lonely and awkward.
This is not the first time he has carried it like this.
Previously, he had also been sent to Ceylon, Hong Kong and other regions, some remote places for the British, birds do not lay eggs.
Outlying islands, far from the British mainland, and far from the centers of power, Fawcett has always been a marginal man who was "exiled".
The hunting scene at the beginning reveals his embarrassing identity and his efforts to resist fate and try to break through.
But, what Fawcett craves, is all about power and honor?
It doesn't seem to be either. Because he knows, "These medals are ridiculous."
As mentioned earlier, he is 38 years old, not young anymore.
But he still has a family to support, a wife to take care of, two children to pull, and the standard of living cannot fall...
The most important thing is his heart, and there is a hidden thing...
Didn't find it.
Don't be afraid, soon God sent another dangerous mission, this time farther, more absurd, and may not even be able to come back——
Royal Geographical Society, on a journey to the Amazon.
No way, you still have to go.
Because the officials of the Geographical Society said that if the task is achieved, the military merit badge and reputation will not worry about anything.
Even, it can upgrade your mediocre family!
The pie painted this time is big enough, especially tempting in the eyes of hungry people.
Of course, the cost is enormous, and Amazon's thrilling adventures are much more real than Raiders of the Lost Ark:
Eating winds and sleeping, dangerous everywhere, sudden rainstorms and flash floods.
A little food can make the so-called civilized people tear off their masks and draw their swords at each other.
Life, everywhere is not guaranteed:
Poisonous snakes, piranhas, black panthers that sneak up at any time...
The Indians hiding on the shore with cold arrows...
All kinds of terrible diseases that make people vomit blood and their skin fester...
How to say it, keep reading it, you will understand what is called "big life".
The various experiences of the jungle are not only dangerous, but also layered with Fawcett's awareness and awe of nature.
They entered the Amazon as conquerors. But they were educated by the crisis, infected by the survival wisdom of foreign races, and became tolerant and humble.
You don't know, do you? Cannibals also grow crops...
No, not everyone is sublimated.
Mr. Morley, who comes from the upper class, is a negative teaching material.
Before setting off, he also said that he had gone to Antarctica for exploration, and then made a bet with Fawcett and also participated in the Golden City adventure.
Unfortunately, as soon as I got on the road, I fell off the chain in a bit of pain, showing the cowardly and fearful side of my pig teammates-
I really want to die
What's even more disgraceful is that he will not hesitate to frame his teammates for the sake of face. On his solo return, he destroyed the expedition's food—you know, if the crew starved to death, his ugliness would be unknown.
And that's not even the most faceless...
After the team members overcame the difficulties and returned to England, he actually bit back and slandered Fawcett for abandoning himself!
It's speechless.
In fact, in life, there are many people who have heads and faces and don't have faces, right?
The villain, just one of the adversities that Fawcett encountered, the collective, also gave his efforts a stumbling block -
The clues of ancient civilizations along the way, such as the hunting skills of indians stun small fish and the rational layout of farming techniques, subverted Fawcett's "common sense", and he wanted to tell these to his fellow British scientists after he returned home.
Unfortunately, the arrogant Royal Geographical Society did not believe it... South America, the land of barbarians, the pristine Amazon, how can there be culture?
The ancient civilization of the Amazon in Fawcett's mouth, hehe, no one cares.
Even, I suspected that there was something wrong with his nerves...
The impact of this expedition on the human spirit is also enormous
If the whole world is against you, someone with a strong heart may be able to overcome it.
But who can overcome the debt to the family?
Because of the adventure, Fawcett missed too much - the company of his wife, the growth of the eldest son Jack, the birth of the second son and the birth of the youngest daughter... As a husband and father, he was always absent.
Looking at it, you gradually understand what the screenwriter's intention is:
This is not a simple adventure, but a story of an adult who still walks in a crisis of contradiction.
Tempered by various adversities, Fawcett has walked into the Amazon three times (five times for real people).
Every time, the Golden City has not changed, but his goal in life is changing:
For the first time, as mentioned above, he did not love adventure, but for fame, for survival.
The second time, in addition to personal interests, there was also the pursuit of the state. Z City, the lost wealth in most people's eyes, is in his eyes a precious human civilization - "the last piece of the human puzzle".
The third time, he changed from major to colonel, 58 years old, successful, the children are older, no longer have to worry about livelihood...
But at this time, the hidden thing in my heart was about to come out——
I'm here for adventure, for the unknown!
Exploring him, from the initial interest drive, little by little, has become a simple and simple belief -
Man should transcend his existing limitations,
Otherwise what would heaven do?
(Robert Browning verse)
At this moment, a humble major, an ordinary person in reality, has finally found the answer that makes life no longer ordinary.
You may have to ask, what is the answer?
Sorry Sir doesn't know either... But Sir also felt it faintly.
At the end of the film, he is given a poetic ending.
In a trance, he was surrounded by natives, surrounded by natives, and saw a road illuminated by a campfire, winding deep into the jungle, with no end...
Leading to death? Or the gateway to Z City?
unimportant.
The real Fawcett eventually disappeared into the adventure, and no one ever found him again.
The movie is good and just as thought-provoking.
This film talks about faith, about trust, about the efforts and persistence of adults.
Yes, there are all of them.
But Sir felt that the most enlightening thing was how to deal with the "far side" in his heart.
In life, each of us is too susceptible to human influence.
What is good, what is bad, what is success, what is happiness... In order to think about this, we spent a lot of effort, but gradually forgot the thing that attracted us since childhood:
What is "far away".
Faraway is certainly not a cheap charter tour, nor is it a simple romantic poetry, but the same as Fawcett:
Lonely, persistently searching for the unknown.
Not the unknown of the world, but the untapped, its own "unknown".
Fawcett tells you with his distant back:
In fact, those that you feel you can't lose now may really not be important.
Living by other people's standards can only prove that you are still young and contradictory.
Facing your own unknown is the bravest thing.