1905 Film Network Special Article Douban 8.3 points, Cat's Eye 9.3 points; Berlin International Film Festival after the global premiere of applause; shortlisted for the Beijing International Film Festival official recommendation, a ticket is difficult to find; because the nationality of the core creative team does not meet the requirements, it failed to win the Oscar for Best International Film, becoming the "biggest pearl".
These are the "halos" that surround the heads of the new film "Persian Lessons". But it is a little regrettable that these halos have not been exchanged for the market attention of "out of the circle".
The film grossed less than 5 million yuan on its first day, and was coldly received along with another anti-war-themed domestic literary film "See Nara Again". However, like the history they record, these good films may be heavy, but they should not be forgotten.
At first glance, the creators of "Persian Lessons" do not look like stars, but they are all powerful.
Director Vadim Perman is a Ukrainian-born Jew. His big-screen debut, Dusty Home, was nominated for three Oscars.
Two male protagonists: one is Russ Eddinger, a famous German "drama bone", who is active on the theatrical stage all year round.
The other, Navel Perez Piscayate, is Argentina's brightest rising star, having won numerous newcomer awards for "120 Strikes Per Minute".
Director Perman said that Naville's most attractive thing was "vulnerability", but under the seemingly weak appearance, there was a tough and rich heart.
The authoritative media "Variety" praised it even more: Naville's performance can be compared with Adrian Brody's performance in "The Pianist" 20 years ago.
When it comes to films that focus on the tragic situation of the Jews and reflect on World War II, it is easy to think of a series of classics such as "Schindler's List", "A Beautiful Life", "The Pianist", "Son of Thor", "Jojo's Whimsical World" and so on. In front of the pearl jade, what is special about this time's "Persian Language Lesson"?
"Quirky"
"Life is nothing strange", this is a sentence in director Xie Fei's feelings after the view of "Persian Language Lesson". Indeed, the film tells a story that is almost "impossible".
In order to escape the massacre, Giles, a Jew, falsely claimed to be a Persian "Reza", but accidentally became the Persian teacher of the German captain officer Koch.
In order to save his life, Gilles, who knew nothing about Persian, concocted a whole set of languages based on the names of the Jews imprisoned in the concentration camps.
In this way, over the course of 700 days, Gilles "made up" 2,840 pseudo-Persian words, and Koch remembered 2,840 names of the "nameless people" he regarded as grassy mustard.
The ending is even more ironic: Gilles escapes, allowing the names of his compatriots to go down in history. Koch, on the other hand, was arrested at customs for revealing his identity for "fake Persian" and received the punishment he deserved.
This story of "hiding the sky and crossing the sea" seems incredible, but it is based on real events.
Screenwriter Ilga Zofin said that when she was 15 years old, she had read the story in the newspaper and had always remembered it. When he was writing the screenplay years later, he discovered that a similar story had been written by the famous German screenwriter, director and honorary Golden Bear winner Wolfgang Kohlhazzer into a short story called "The Invention of Language". Zofin and director Vadim Perman created the Persian Lesson based on the novel.
The original novel of "Persian Lessons"
Neither Gilles nor Koch had a specific archetype, Perlman said, and that they could be any of the victims and perpetrators of that war. The meaning of language and the alienation of man by war were the subjects he really wanted to discuss.
Language
Speaking of the film's style, Perlman concludes: In films about concentration camps, there are both brutal and realistic works such as "Son of Thor" and modern fairy tales such as "Beautiful Life". The Persian Lesson is somewhere in between. Instead of focusing too much on the brutal atrocities in the concentration camps, he uses language as a medium to tell a "parable" about human nature.
In order to improve, Perlman brought in a professor of linguistics at Moscow University and developed the film's "pseudo-Persian language": it sounds like a Middle Eastern language family, with grammar, prefixes and suffixes.
The roots are also really derived from the names of the Jewish victims, and the 600-word dictionary will be published in the near future.
In Perman's view, "language" is one of man's greatest inventions. It is not only a tool for communication, but also an identity.
"German" is Koch's native language, and he uses it to give orders and express loyalty, but he cannot explain his voice.
"Persian" is different, it carries Koch's beautiful vision of going to Tehran after the war to open a restaurant and reunite with his brothers, and it is a pure land of his soul.
He spoke in "Persian", words that could not be expressed in German, about family, about dreams, and even about love. The process of learning Persian is not the process of facing his true self and "regaining" his humanity little by little?
This also seems to answer many viewers' questions: such a flawed language, even ordinary soldiers can not deceive, how to deceive the German captain?
"Koch is not a fool, but he wants to learn the language too much, wants to have a 'friend' too much, and is even willing to fool himself." This is the interpretation given by the director.
Indeed, the "Persian classroom", far from the front line of the battlefield and the center of evil, and the language that only two people could understand, in some moments, built a utopia and a refuge.
Neither Gilles nor Koch found a moment of peace in it.
But the atrocities that are staged at any time outside the window, and the sound of gunfire in the background, are always reminding the audience that the evil has not stopped, and the reality is so cruel. As Koch wrote in "Persian": "The wind blew the clouds to the east, where there were souls longing for peace, and I would be happy, where the clouds drifted." ”
It sounds beautiful, but when you open it, every word is full of Jewish blood and tears.
Theodore Adorno said: "After Auschwitz, it was barbaric to write poetry. ”
Without true reflection and introspection, poetry is meaningless and civilization is unsustainable.
"First Name"
There is another detail in the film that is worth playing. After Koch finished reading the poem above, he smiled and said to Giles: Don't call me "Captain", call me "Klaus".
Klaus is Koch's name, but after joining the army, it is rarely mentioned.
In fact, it is not only the name that is sealed together, but also the "self-consciousness" behind it.
Like countless ordinary people, Klaus also lived at the bottom of society, because of hunger, learned to be a cook.
For a decent uniform, join the army and become a screw in the huge war machine.
Not only Klaus, but also several German soldiers depicted in "Persian Lessons" have names, and they also have seven passions, even love music and art, and will engage in office politics like workers.
This is deliberately done by director Perman, who wants to portray the "devil" and "thug" in these traditional perspectives with more "human" brushstrokes.
"Not to glorify or sympathize, but to provoke the audience to ponder: how ordinary people like you and me can commit such a crime?"
Like Koch's self-excusion: I'm not an executioner, I'm just a cook, and I just want to be a cook.
This numbing banal evil is the most contemplative.
Koch once asked Giles: Is it worth it to take your life for these nameless people?
Giles retorted, "It's only because you don't know their names that they're nameless." ”
So Giles put 2840 "unknown people" into a language, and asked Koch to recite the chant repeatedly.
Jewish director Perman also made this story into a movie, so that more people can remember this indelible history.
At the beginning of the film, the Germans attempt to burn all the documents before the rout, erasing the evidence of the existence of these names, but at the end, they are reborn with giles' memories.
Let history remember these names, let mankind remember this history, is the greatest meaning of anti-war movies such as "Persian Language Lesson".
Someone asked the director, why make a World War II movie in the moment?
Perlman replied: War is not far away, and these stories should be told at any time, especially now.