Introduction: "After being a dog for several lifetimes, I finally understood that first of all, we must be happy, we must do our best to help others, lick the people you love, do not have a bitter melon face for the past, and do not have a sad face for the future." Living in the moment is the dog's mission. ”
"A Dog's Mission" is directed by Lyser Holstrom, director of "The Story of Hachiko the Loyal Dog", starring Josh Gad, Britt Robertson, Dennis Quaid and others, the film is based on the novel of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron, telling the warm story of a dog named Bailey from the perspective of Wang Xingren, who has gone through 4 reincarnations, constantly searching for his own mission, and finally returning to his master.
Unlike the lifelong wait in "The Story of Hachiko the Loyal Dog", the film "A Dog's Mission" does not tell the life of Bailey, but uses a surreal approach and uses the element of rebirth to tell the 4 reincarnations of Bailey. In these 4 dog life, Bailey constantly pondered the meaning of his life and the mission of existence, the film focused on showing the interaction between people and dogs, and arranged many inner monologues for Bailey, who accompanied each other, grew up with each other, and gradually became an inseparable part of each other's lives. Thus sublimating the story connotation of the film, reflecting different emotional experiences in life.
The whole story unfolds from the perspective of Bailey, a Wang Xingren, adding vividness, fun and authenticity to the story. The film makes extensive use of low-angle shots, shooting at a height of about 20-80 cm, and the line of sight can often cross the bottom of the table and get closer to the ground. The use of this perspective, on the one hand, can ensure the similarity of the audience's vision and the dog's vision, on the other hand, it can satisfy the audience's curiosity and bring a different viewing experience.
For example, when Bailey was locked in a car and dying, ethan rushed to the rescue in Bailey's gradually blurred vision, reflecting Bailey's weakness from a subjective point of view. When Bailey looks at the owner's family, he also uses an upward view to show it. This use of the animal perspective as the subject perspective is a sign of establishing the dog as the protagonist of the film, showing Bailey's independent thoughts and consciousness.
The film uses a concatenated clump narrative, in Bailey's 4 reincarnations, describing his mental journey of seeking a mission, and emphasizing the mission to reveal the theme of the film many times. In Bailey's first life, he grew up with Ethan and encountered misfortunes together, and he witnessed the joys and sorrows of the Ethan family, and lived the life of the Golden Retriever, a life he had not yet thought about the mission of living. After the second reincarnation, Bailey became a shepherd dog, his owner is a middle-aged widowed policeman, this life Bailey's mission is how to find criminals according to the smell, in a bailey followed the master on the way to the mission, he was killed by criminals in order to save the master, this life Bailey learned responsibility and responsibility.
After the third reincarnation, Bailey becomes a cute short-legged corgi, and his new owner is a black girl with social phobia, and they are dependent on each other one by one, and Bailey in this life has learned the meaning of companionship. After the fourth reincarnation, Bailey was abandoned by his young master and turned into a stray dog. But it was also in this life that Bailey returned to the golden wheat field in the first life, and it reunited with Ethan after many hardships, not only helping Ethan find his first love again, but also touching his master in the game of catching. At this time, Bailey is no longer the bailey of the first life, ethan is not the original Ethan, in the journey of life, they have experienced growth and become more mature themselves. As a result, the whole story also forms a complete narrative closed loop, which is undoubtedly a great comfort for the audience who owns pets.
In each rebirth of Bailey, the changes of the times and the social changes are rooted in the film. In Bailey's first life, full of black-and-white television sets, suburban villas, and television broadcasts of the Cuban Missile Crisis, they all show us that this is the United States of the 60s. In Bailey's reincarnation as Little Corgi, blacks can comfortably stroll around the university campus, and the color television set alludes to the passage of time and the progress of the times. Bailey's last life was a time of contradiction, with modern skyscrapers coexisting with endless slums, bustling metropolises and rural farms in sharp contrast. The background of the era hidden in the film greatly enriches the connotation of the film, and from Bailey's different reincarnations, we can also glimpse the social culture behind the United States.
One of Bailey's repeated phrases in the film is: What is the meaning of my life? After he had 4 reincarnations and experienced a different dog birth, he finally answered this question: "After being a dog for several lifetimes, I finally understood that first of all, I must be happy, do my best to help others, lick the people you love, don't have a bitter melon face for the past, and don't worry about the future." As long as you live in the moment, living in the moment is the mission of the dog. "The road is simple, the meaning of living is to live in the present."
The theme of the film "A Dog's Mission" is not only the relationship and companionship between people and dogs, dogs are the most loyal partners of human beings, you may have many dogs in your life, but you are the only one in your life, calling on everyone to be kind to these little lives. The film also tells us a story of continuous reincarnation and growth.
The protagonist Bailey entrusted a heavy responsibility to help mankind, pursue the mission of life, tell 4 life stories through Bailey's 4 reincarnations, discuss the mission of the dog, say that it is the mission of the dog, rather than the mission of the person, but present it from the perspective of the dog, more easily reflect the meaning of life: do not have a bitter melon face for the past, do not worry about the future, how happy is life? Why is death painful? What we have to do is live in the moment, cherish everything in front of us, embrace life, and appreciate every day of life.