Produced by Hollywood upstart A24 and directed by David Lowey, "The Green Rider" is finally online.
But don't get this title wrong. If you want to see a Guillotine-style fantasy film, or an epic like King Arthur, take a detour.
2021 The Green Knight
Because "The Green Knight" is not a strong plot, fast-paced drama film, but a psychological thriller cloaked in fantasy, it is a rich allegorical poem (the film is adapted from the medieval British poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight").
However, if you are a fan of a series of horror movies previously produced by A24, such as "The Witch", "Lighthouse", "A Midsummer Night's Horror", etc., then this movie should still be to your liking.
2015 The Witch
2019 A Midsummer Night's Horror
First of all, I hope you don't get intimidated by the voice of "can't understand" on the Internet or the knight "popular science" of the long-winded knight. Although the five-pointed star representing chivalry appears several times in The Green Rider – symbolizing piety, generosity, kindness, loyalty and friendship. These five qualities, as a test of the protagonist Gao Wen who appear one by one, have different degrees of performance in different paragraphs.
King Arthur's five-pointed star necklace
But in the process of watching, even if you can't grasp the one-to-one correspondence between the storyline and the chivalric virtues in time, it does not prevent you from immersing yourself in the story with a great audiovisual experience.
In fact, only the first 15 minutes of the film are not very friendly to the audience: if you don't know anything about this legend, you can't immediately understand the true identity of Gawain's mother and girlfriend. But that doesn't hurt the excitement of an adventure about growing up: we follow the nervous Gao Wen into the self-honing ashram, and are stunned by the variety of treacherous stylized photography along the way.
Just like the long shot taken above: after a clockwise 360-degree ring, Gao Wen, who was kidnapped by the bandits, has become a dry bone; then in a counterclockwise circle in the opposite direction, Gao Wen struggles to get up from the ground.
When you notice the counterclockwise difference, you know that it is not describing some mysterious event or parallel universe. The knight is a "dream" of Gawain that points to two possibilities in the passage of time: to sit still or to survive.
In my previous movie-going experience, I can't seem to think of similar ideas in other films. Perhaps only the "red face and dry bones" scene in David Lowe's previous film "Ghost floating life" is similar. This exquisite design of life and death and resurrection from the dead is reflected in literary works, such as Lu Xun's short story "Rising from Death".
2017 "Ghost floating life"
There is also a scene of encountering an "attacking giant" in the valley: exhausted Gao wen tries to ride on the giant's shoulder, but when the giant spreads his huge palms, Gao Wen is frightened and retreats - what the director wants to say is that the practice of self-discovery can only rely on itself, and there is no shortcut. If you think about tang monks and learn the scriptures, you will understand.
Of course, if it is all such a frame-by-frame interpretation, it will be endless. Because we can ask further: Who are the giants? Where did these behemoths come from? And who is the fox who has been following Gawain all the way since he was on the road? Was it Gawain's mother who came from the illusion? What about the blind old lady in the castle? Is it also the "double" of Gao Wen's mother?
Details: Mother Gawain was blindfolded when she summoned the Green Knight
The blind old lady in the castle
In addition to the characters from unknown sources, there are many doubts in the plot: as a reward for "you chose the right one this time", the green axe is understandably lost, but why is the magic belt snatched by the bandits in the hands of the castle lady? Also: Alicia Vikander, who plays Lady Castle and Gawain's girlfriend, is that the answer? Is it to show that Gao Wen is actually "single-minded", but that the gap between utilitarian purpose and class cannot take that step?
Details: Gao Wen, who promised his girlfriend a lot of gold, eventually snatched his girlfriend's child with a few coins
In fact, a question mark is normal, and "not shot clearly" is deliberate. David Lowey's purpose is to ask oneself constantly as they watch. And since this is "poetry", of course, it will not be too clear.
The poem appeals to private emotions and even private life experiences, all ambiguous foreshadowing and symbols, in order to break the narrative strategy based on strict causality, in order to give the audience more and more room for interpretation. Who says that a person's hidden mental phenomena and mental processes follow a strict "law of cause and effect"?
The audience can only empathize with Gao Wen's thoughtful twinkling eyes: what you read from it is what it is. It's not just Gauvin's journey of self-discovery, it's also about discovering yourself.
Even inside the castle, Gawain didn't know what he wanted
Therefore, we can exclude the metaphors and symbols on the details, which do not have a practical narrative function. In order to grasp the core expression of "The Green Knight", we only need to answer the following two questions: First, what is the "Christmas game"? Second, who is the "Green Knight"?
1. What is the "Christmas Game"?
The game goes like this: During the Christmas feast between King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, a green knight who looks exactly like Groot comes uninvited and proposes to the princes present to play a game that sounds absurd to the audience — who of you will bring the seeds? It's the knight who's coming to cut me!"
The Identity of the Green Knight is a mystery
At first glance, we are not unfamiliar with such tricks: Niu Er in "Water Margin" forced Yang Zhi to play. But although the game is simple, the rules are hidden. The Green Knight directly copied the logic of "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" in the Code of Hammurabi: how you hurt me now, and on the same day a year later, I will pay it all back.
Just when the scheming Knight of the Round Table was calculating that "there must be a demon when things go wrong", Sir Gao Wen, as the second generation of power, could not sit still. It has always been muddy, can not find a sense of existence, the atmosphere is set off to this child, simply force yourself: by challenging the Green Knight to prove their value.
But the problem is: the Green Knight is not here to "challenge" at all, but to "get off the set". He stretched out his neck and waited to be cut, so that Gao Wen, who could not get off the stage in full view, had to obey. Sure enough, the Green Knight was an immortal body, and after a knife, he picked up his own head and walked away triumphantly. When I came, I also threw down such a sentence: Don't forget to fulfill the contract after a year!
The strange game and the story triggered by the game are basically like this, in short, this is a "please enter the urn" of the attack, is a "head for a head, a thousand miles to send the head" of the game.
The game is not difficult, but what is difficult to understand is: what is the purpose of this game? Is it because the Green Knight has been in the church for a long time, empty and lonely and cold, and he has to rely on signing a "yin and yang contract" with the world every three to five to relieve his boredom? ——NO。
The essence of this "Christmas game" is: to live to die. First of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the prefix of this game: Christmas.
The film opens with emphasis on Christmas Day
Presumably, everyone knows the allusion that Jesus took the initiative to die for the sins of all mankind, and then rose to heaven three days later. Whether in the original poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" or in this film adaptation, we can see a lot of religious elements.
For example, the various witch-like characters in the film (except for Gawain's girlfriend Essel) and Gawain in the wilderness take the initiative to carry his "sin"—the green axe that cuts off the head of the green knight, which instantly reminds people of the scene of Jesus carrying the cross and asceticism in "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "The Passion".
Pay attention to Gawain's axe-carrying posture
The Passion of the Christ 2004
Of course, considering "living to die" from a religious or atonement point of view is too complicated, and we might as well return to the original meaning of the word: people are always saying this word, but what does it mean?
Living to die is actually a concept proposed by the German philosopher Heidegger in Existence and Time. Heidegger argues that it is often inappropriate for people to use the word "death" together. Death is a process, and death is the end of death.
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
This is a bit of a detour, and the explanation is that life is a countdown that is doomed to wither once launched, so when a person is born, it is already a "mortal thing" - whether you are a long life or a halfway death, or simply like Gao Wen, there is only one year left to live, this period of time is always running to die.
If there is any "purpose" in it, it is also death. In this sense: the whole life of man is a process of "living to death", and "death" represents the end of this process.
It's so sad and obscure to say that. It is no wonder that most of the Chinese are more secretive. It's like the one described in The Theory: When you say, "This child is going to die," you're bound to get beaten up (there's also a long, similar line in Ghostly Floating Life).
What the world believes in is the complete opposite of Heidegger's values, which are like Confucius's saying that "the unknown is born, the unknown knows death", or the common people's vernacular, "It is better to die than to live". Therefore, the reason why "The Green Knight" may make some people feel uncomfortable is that it wants to say the truth of "natural righteousness" in reverse - unknown death, unknown life? Lai live, it is really better to die.
So, what is the meaning of living such an "axis"? David Lowey thinks: It makes sense. Only by living to death can this "life" be meaningful. Otherwise, if you don't die like the Green Knight, "life" will not exist. Because infinite + endless, meaning is not needed at all. Not only is "not dead" meaningless, not even "not knowing death" meaningless.
Let's think about it: When Gawain realizes that he has only one last year left in his life, and falls into a fear of endless trepidation: Does his life really have meaning? Does he really value his life?
As soon as the two shots at the beginning of the film, we have already briefly explained to us who Gao Wen is. The first freehand shot of the point is to show that the hero is not always a hero, and the hero's flesh and mortal fetus need to be reborn from the fire.
The second long shot is even more interesting: the camera retreats from the cold, ragged world of Les Misérables to the naked, sleeping Gaowen in the gentle township. It turned out that this was a master who was indifferent to human suffering, and Essel asked him: Can you be counted as a knight? Gawain replied: I still have time — meaning he still has a lot of time to squander before becoming a real knight.
Gao Wen, who had been in the brothel all night, claimed to his mother that he was doing Mass
Fifteen minutes of foreshadowing before the Green Knight appears, we can see what the original character of this anti-hero looks like: he hangs out with prostitutes all day long but adheres to the posture of a scumbag who does not refuse or take the initiative, is not religious in his religious beliefs, and although he is related to the royal family, he has no merit in taking it. In a word: a stupid boy who does not learn and has no skills.
Mo said that King Arthur did not know what this nephew was doing all day long, and that Gawain himself despised himself from the bottom of his heart—but he really could not find the purpose of life and the meaning of existence. Just when his life fell into a scorching state of day after day and a pool of stagnant water, his mother could not sit still, and finally sacrificed the green knight as a great killing weapon to force her son to grow up as soon as possible.
This is often the case: people are not very good at living well, and can only "die and be reborn" after death. The power of cowardice, greed, carnal desire, and vanity is so great that without forcing a person into a desperate situation at the level of existence, the so-called mind cannot be awakened. It is important to recognize the sin of wasting time, to know that life is as fragile and short as a white colt crossing the gap, and to regain the simple and incomparable belief in life that "people will die" or even "will die soon".
1957 The Seventh Seal
Only by exhausting the process of "living to die" can people truly inspire and truly feel the "self" thing. David Lowey's opinion is clear: the so-called "self" is the product of despair. It is forced out, not an innate essence of existence, but an invention of human beings and freedom. Although the process of self-discovery is accompanied by fear like approaching the abyss, it eventually "goes to the tao, and the sunset can die."
Only by living to die can we die calmly
Who is the "Green Knight"?
After talking about what a "Christmas game" is and why this game is played like this, we have to talk about who the setter of the rules of the game, the "Green Knight", is.
In the original, the "Green Knight" is the castle lord played by Joel Edgerton. David Lowe made a drastic adaptation of the original poem: the Green Knight was no longer associated with the castle lord, but became a deity invited by Gawain's mother to save her son, and the magic belt was also created for her son by Gawain's mother.
These changes in identity origin are not important, what matters is: what exactly does the "Green Knight" represent? Represents nature as opposed to man. Or call it another name: Eternity.
First of all, note the image of the Green Knight: in the original it is not a "tree man" face, and David Lowey's purpose in packaging his image is obvious: the reason why the Green Knight is immortal is precisely because it symbolizes the Creator of the world, the nature that can make all life cycle (you may recall the scene that came back to life earlier). There is also a picture detail: when the Green Knight put down the plate axe, the smooth stone surface that the plate axe touched immediately grew moss.
Fearing that the audience would not understand the symbolism of the Green Knight, David Lowe joined a long dialogue between the Lady of the Castle and Gawain to clarify:
Green is the color of this land, the color of life and life... Green is the color left behind after the enthusiasm has dissipated, the color that the passion is no longer there, the Slovak people have gone. After you go, the grass will cover your footprints, the moss will cover your tombstone, and when the sun rises, the green will spread all over the mountains and everywhere. Patina will erode your sword, as well as your coins and battlements, and even if you do your best, everything you hold dear will yield to it, including your skin, your bones, your virtues.
I want to say that the only drawback of this line is that it is too blunt and wordy, and the poet Bai Juyi's "away from the grass on the original, one year old and one year old" is also similar. Therefore, "The Green Knight", which is full of a large number of humanistic metaphors and religious symbols, is difficult to understand, but it is not so difficult to understand, basically, as long as you understand the words of the castle lady, you can basically understand what "Green Knight" wants to say most.
Or, if you interpret this "theme green" about death and rebirth as Kieslowski's endless and ubiquitous "theme blue," it's not impossible.
1993 Blue
From Madame Castle's words, we can further reflect on the deeper tragic significance of the "Christmas game": the small human beings face the greatness of nature, the finite life faces the impermanent eternity, and we have not been playing the same game of losing for thousands of years? Does the confrontation between Gawain and the Green Knight remind you of the knight Bullock's battle against the Grim Reaper in The Seventh Seal?
Bergman thinks about the relationship between God and man from the perspective of death, and David Lowey also looks at the relationship between life and nature from the perspective of death. How futile it was for Bullock to play chess with Death, Gawain to run away in the face of Death, and Sisyphus even dared to kidnap Death. This is based on the same psychological mechanism of self-preservation: human beings and reason face death and eternal unwillingness.
Being born human is certainly optional, but because of the choice, the rest of the possible options are abandoned. In the face of the omniscient and all-powerful who transcends time and space, no matter what name this almighty is given: God, Death, Fate, or the Green Knight, the challenge as a human being will not actually "succeed".
Just as Gawain didn't understand what it meant to accept the Green Knight's challenge at first, he just felt guilty about his inability to do anything and longed for knighthood honor. Although this "glory" can be said to be a vain and blind instinct, is courage wrong? But for the first time in his life, Gawain made a major choice in his life.
To be "successful" in a mortal end, one must shoulder the responsibility of free action. Even if this freedom, this action, is made by you in an unclear way or on impulse, even if you have no confidence in this action yourself, you are responsible for the consequences of your actions. You can't be irresponsible, hold others accountable, or simply run away and cheat.
The consequences of escape and deception are very clear in the film: under the extreme fear of life and death, Gao Wen imagined a "dream" that was diametrically opposed to the generosity to death (echoing the previous 360-degree dream) - he escaped, he was crowned, he abandoned the bottom of the Essel and snatched her child, but his child died on the battlefield, he lost the hearts of the people because of his moral corruption, and the rebellion was separated. When the smoke was rising and the soldiers were approaching the city, he finally slowly untied the amulet given by his mother, the magic belt.
So, the head that should have fallen long ago finally landed on the ground, and the decades-long escape was finally inevitable to die - or the exact same way of death. This is the end of the puppet's life and the loss of the true self: the glory of the knight you think, but the worldly power; the power you chase is monstrous, but it is just a dream.
As everyone knows, accepting the "at the mercy" of fate is the greatest mockery of fate. Just like in the face of the blade of the sharp axe, you can not flinch; in the face of the death god step by step, you can also sing and dance, face the punishment of the gods, and practice the hopeless struggle of pushing stones up the mountain. Mo Dao's life is like a dream, at least when saying goodbye to this big dream, you have to be worthy of this dream.
To explain in the words of Epicurus, The above line of Bullock in the Seventh Seal: Death need not be feared, for death does not come when we are alive, and when death comes, we are no longer there. More than two thousand years later, Wittgenstein also expressed this meaning: death is not an event of life, and people have not experienced death.
In this way: what does death have to do with the living? Only by looking at the living from the perspective of death is "a game and a dream"; and when the living look at death, why not summon up the courage to live towards death?