Persian Lessons: The Story Behind 2840 Names

Author: Mai Qing

There is a kind of film doing multiplication, countless brain-burning plots, serial set of structure laying out, making people feel as if they are stepping into a narrative labyrinth, such as Nolan's "Inception"; there is a kind of film doing addition, followed by comedy segments, dazzling fantasy space, such as Xu Zheng's "Tai Yuan"; there is also a kind of film doing subtraction, there is no magnificent grand scene, there is no complex plot of thousands of twists and turns, it is calm, restrained, hidden but like a wisp of thin water, trembling your soul in the silent place, For example, the recently released "Persian Language Lessons".

A

The pain of history that has never been forgotten

During World War II, a German businessman went bankrupt to save the lives of many Jews and spent the rest of his life in poverty. Deeply moved, the director made "Schindler's List" for this purpose. At the end of the film, accompanied by the sound of printers, is a black-and-white list of more than 1,100 people. Behind this list were living beings, and from there was a huge ethnic group of Jews, which later generations called "Xin Jews".

Coincidentally. In the World War II concentration camp, an ordinary Jew Giles used the unique way of language lessons to remember the 2840 wronged souls on the road to death. Through his own recollections, he completed the mourning of his fellow citizens and the indictment of Nazi crimes. The 2840 names, this long list, touched the director Vadim Perman of Jewish descent. In the film Persian Lessons, he expressed his respect for the Jews and reflections on the history of World War II.

Regarding war, the whole tone of The Persian Lesson is repressive. Except for the color at the beginning of the film, the whole film is almost a bleak scene composed of black, white and gray and other tones. Thick fog, sharp barbed wire, simple and crowded prisons, accompanied by the shouts and beatings of the German army, the tragedy of the enslavement, abuse, and torture of the Jews was staged. On the one hand, the laughter of German officers and soldiers, on the other hand, The life and death contest between Giles and the German Nazi officer Koch; on the other hand, the tranquility of cooking in the kitchen, on the other hand, the heavy and painful groans of the quarry; on the other hand, the scene of the German officers at the picnic meeting, on the other hand, koch's brutal beating of Gilles... In the film, Germans and Jews form two worlds: tall and weak, noble and humble, hope and despair, life and death, etc., these conflicting concepts weave each other in the picture, forming the most impactful collision of human nature, showing the most absurd dark moment in human history, World War II, the most absurd dark moment in human history.

The story of the Persian Lesson is based on real historical events, and both Jew Giles and Officer Koch have prototypes. There are no shocking historical events in the film, nor are there fancy and skillful camera skills, but more of daily shots such as eating, laboring, chatting, and eating together. But the air of anxiety, pain and despair that is nowhere to be found in the camera deeply touches the audience. Nearly 80 years have passed since the end of World War II, but the bitter lessons of history have never been forgotten. "Persian Lessons" uses a calm lens language to tell the distortion of human nature and the devastating blow of war to life.

B

A legacy for the unknown

Giles, the male protagonist of "Persian Lessons", is a Jew, although thin, but in an extremely cruel environment, he can be quick and intelligent, which makes people applaud his extraordinary IQ and emotional intelligence. However, throughout the film, his real name appears only once. If you don't listen carefully, the audience will mistakenly think that his name is Reza. In order to survive, Giles lied that he was a Persian and named "Reza". Koch wanted to learn Persian. In order to save his life, Giles created a language that did not exist, and taught Koch "Persian" every day in the concentration camp.

Under Koch's pressure, Giles was initially only trying to survive personally. But when a Persian in the camp was killed, Gilles changed completely. The victims gave their lives to help him get out of trouble; his fellow Jews were beaten and tortured again and again, and the picture of them living or dying was staged every day in front of the window where he helped cook. Finally, Gilles stopped thinking about his personal safety and decided to trade his death for the life of another person. When Koch pulled Giles out of the death row, Gilles shouted "you're an executioner like them."

The film doesn't exaggerate Giles' psychological motives here. Giles's positive image does not have the tall characterization and camera strategy of the heroes of ordinary war films, but he has memorized 2840 names, and he is a witness and accuser of Nazi crime. It was such an ordinary person who unleashed a precious human brilliance in the Nazi concentration camps and became a dawn that illuminated the dark world.

2840 names correspond to 2840 living beings. In Nazi concentration camps, they were ravaged, humiliated, and hurt. Gilles was soft and kind at heart. Every time he made soup for them, he remembered these ordinary lives with his sad eyes. Patience, understanding, love... Based on the Roster of Jews in the Nazi concentration camps, Giles converted each of these names into his own original "Persian" root. These fictional roots were finally engraved in the lives of Koch and Giles. For Koch, these fictional roots became a sword to expose his false face and false identity, leaving him with nowhere to escape; for Gilles, he inscribed these names deep inside. Although he could not turn the tide and bring these innocent people back to life, he used his brain and memory to establish a legacy for those unknown people.

C

Reflections on the evil of mediocrity

In almost every film that reflects on World War II, there is almost a crazy German officer, who kills people without blinking an eye and eats blood. Koch in Persian Lessons is very different. He is not a vicious murderer, but more often than not, we see the image of a thirsty and polite kitchen supervisor. Koch grew up poor and had a strong sense of food deprivation. He grew up to be a cook. Later, Koch joined the German Nazi organization and became an officer in the logistics department. Even in the darkest years of World War II, he never forgot his dream of opening a restaurant in Tehran, which was the root cause of his painstaking study of Persian in the concentration camp. However, there is another side to Koch's violent nature. When he was not angry, when the guards around him were silent, when he felt cheated and beaten Gilles with impunity, Koch was no different from the war demon.

The line "I didn't kill anyone, I was just a cook" fully demonstrates Koch's forgiveness of his sins. When a person loses the ability to think independently and judge right and wrong, it is inevitable that he will be wrapped up by the majority of the people and fall into the torrent of blind obedience and mediocrity. At the time of the avalanche, not a single snowflake was innocent. Koch and other criminal accomplices are most worried when they are unaware of their own mistakes, and even cover up and whitewash them with grandiose reasons.

The contest between good and evil, time finally gives the answer. People finally ushered in spring, with lush greenery in front of their eyes and free winds blowing in their ears... (Mai Qing)

Source: Hainan Daily