"Then why did you take me with you?"
"Do you remember the bet on 20 cans of canned meat?" I don't want to lose. ”
The German officer Koch answered the question of the Jewish prisoner Gilles. Then he smiled and turned goodbye and embarked on his long-dreamed journey to Tehran, leaving a dazed Giles behind.
In my opinion, this almost absurd story in the movie "Persian Lesson" ends with the safe escape of two people, and the end of the two people should be left to fate.
Jew Gilles was captured by the Germans in France in 1942 and escaped by lying that he was not a Jew but a Persian, named "Reza", when he was about to be executed. He was soon sent to Koch, a German officer in the camp, who asked him to teach Persian because he dreamed of opening a German restaurant in his brother's city of Tehran after the war.
And how did Gilles, who knew nothing about Persian, respond? It took him more than 700 days to create a new language and teach Koch so that the two could communicate smoothly and even compose poetry. The tension of the plot lies in whether the "Persian language" created by Giles can be recognized by Koch, and once it is recognized, there is only one consequence, and he is immediately executed.
This suspense exists from beginning to end, holding the audience's heart tightly. In fact, this story is logically difficult to justify, a person in a limited time to create a language out of nothing is already extremely difficult, and it is almost impossible not to find out that this is a fake Persian. Of course, you can say that under the longing for life and the deep love for his fellow citizens, giles inspired and potential to complete such a difficult task.
From another point of view, why didn't the German officer Koch find it false? At that time, Germany had completely occupied France, and there should be a certain number of Persians living in France, and it was not difficult to find a random confrontation, and the truth and falsity were clear. In the concentration camp, the prisoners knew the truth, and Giles told the doctor the truth, and everyone tacitly protected the lie. This can be verified by the fact that the brothers of the two brothers did not hesitate to get rid of the Persian-British pilot.
In fact, the German officers in the concentration camp can also see that Giles is not actually Persian, let alone Persian, and reflected in Koch, Koch is still unmoved, and even Koch's superiors have pointed out that someone has made a small report, Koch still chooses to believe that Giles is a Persian "Reza".
It's hard to make sense logically, but that's how it happened, and that's what the film is all about. People have to wonder why. Koch may have suspected Giles long ago, and even beat him up at that officers' meeting, but later chose to believe Giles.
In fact, he did not believe in Gilles, but believed for the sake of believing, a self-deceptive belief. Because he did not like war at all, hated the current environment, was full of death and humiliation, and the German officers were also deceitful internally. Under the war of extermination of humanity, he left himself a pure land, left himself a little hope, he wanted to go to his brother, that is, Persia, to open a restaurant, an ideal that could no longer be ordinary. When this desire grows stronger, he is subjectively willing to choose to believe everything that is close to this desire or contributes to its realization.
In his opinion, once he chose not to believe in Gilles, then he was one step away from his wishes, which he could never accept. So from acquaintance to understanding, doubt, familiarity, Koch's view of Gilles was also changing, and even later for Gilles, the muzzle of the gun was pointed at another German officer.
Yes, Koch was just an ordinary German, living a difficult life before the war began, and chose to be a cook in order to be able to fill his stomach. Officers dressed in handsome uniforms and smoking cigarettes were seen on the street and joined them. When the war came, he, like everyone else, was wrapped up in the torrent of history, and it was rare to influence his life. His brother, whom his superiors called unpatriotic, left early and went to Tehran to live quietly away from the war. When he found out, he made that wish to himself.
There is no doubt that the Nazis, infamous and heinous in their crimes, have long been nailed to the pillar of shame in history. But this group is also made up of one person, except for a very small number of war demons, the vast majority of them are ordinary people like Koch, who are full of excitement before the war, and gradually develop disgust in the war, while their hands are stained with blood, while making wishes. These aspirations are the aspirations of the people, which can attenuate the ideological motivation of the war machine, can make people gradually return to humanity, and can make people reflect on war and life, which is better.
The film is still very heavy, and the lives of Jews are like grass, and they can be killed, whipped, tortured, humiliated, or even for no reason, just because you were born Jewish.
Gilles used the names of Jewish prisoners as roots to create 2840 words, each word is a living life, and when the film ends, Gilles says the names of his compatriots, which is really like a memorial service. They're all dead, they don't even have names left, are you in front of the screen with Giles in tears?
Author: Zhao Guanmin, produced by the bone film critics team