"Carla is a Dog" is a comedy film released in 2003 and directed by Lu Xuechang, which reflects the real life of small people at the bottom of Chinese society. While this film has won the recognition of the system, it has also become the closest to the audience in Lu Xuechang's works because it meets the tastes of the public. After its release, the film won the 4th Chinese Film Best Film Award.
In this film, Lu Xuechang aims the camera at the small people at the bottom of society, and uses a calm and objective documentary style to restore a real public story to the screen. The film takes the capture of a pet dog as the main line, which leads to the frustrated life of the middle-aged man "the second oldest".
The "second oldest" is an ordinary low-level citizen who can no longer be ordinary, who reaches middle age and achieves nothing, not only his wife is disgusted, but his son does not confide in him. Half a life has passed, and a puppy named Kara, given to him by a friend, has become the only spice in the boring life of the second elder.
But even the pursuit of this moment of spiritual comfort comes at a cost. A subtitle at the beginning of the film explains the background of the entire film. In the past, citizens in Beijing needed to hold a license to keep a dog. However, a 5,000 yuan "sky-high dog license" has deterred many ordinary people. In this environment, the second eldest secretly raised Kara.
One morning, when his wife Magnolia led Carla around the neighborhood as usual, she encountered the "dog catching team", and the unlicensed puppy was quickly taken away by a group of policemen. Yulan was told by the police that she was limited to 5,000 yuan to "register" the dog within 18 hours, otherwise, their dog would be transported away.
In the era when the second oldest lived, his monthly salary in Beijing was only a few hundred yuan, and 5,000 yuan was an astronomical amount for an ordinary family like him.
Magnolia, who had lost Cara, thoughtfully and lost her soul, returned home. When his son Liangliang learned that Kara had been arrested, he persuaded his mother to spend money to quickly buy a certificate for the dog, but Yulan gambled and said, "I am the master of this family." ”
Immediately after, the camera turned and cut to the protagonist's second son. On this day, the second eldest had to get off the night shift and received a month's bonus and salary. At the stall where he did not enter the house, the second brother secretly withdrew a hundred yuan from the salary that was supposed to hand over his wife and folded it into his pocket.
But when he returns home with the clothes he bought for Kara, he finds that Carla is gone. The dog was lost, the second was anxious, seeing that his wife did not have the slightest intention of spending money to testify, the whole person was lost, but did not dare to attack in person, so he had to hide in the public toilet downstairs and count his wife against the wall.
In fact, from these small details, it can be seen that the husband and wife have maintained a "strong woman and weak male" family relationship in their married life. The second eldest is a man of saccharine and cowardice, who cannot make a lot of money outside, and who is not tough at home, just like a timid "wife and strict management" image; and Yulan has a strong personality, is a veritable "head of the family", and the decision-making power over the family's affairs is in her hands.
There is no sovereignty in front of his wife, and likewise, the second brother has no majesty in front of his son. The adolescent son is bright and looks down on his father. When he learned that the dog had been caught, his first reaction was not to consult with his father, but to ask his classmate Fat Man for help. The fat man had a father who was a policeman, and he also advised Liang Liang to find his parents to get a dog license, but he didn't expect Liang Liang to say, "My dad is an idiot, since I did it, he hasn't done a thing." ＂
As a rebellious boy, Liang Liang has been disobedient to discipline since childhood, and has acted his own way, but at the same time, he is principled and pays attention to the righteousness between his peers. This personality also led him to look down on his father, who was always a promise and had no opinion.
Working outside to see people's faces, going home to talk to see the mood of his wife, even educating his son to be retorted, "You are not worthy to be my father." "The middle-aged second, wherever he goes, is a top loser. He has no resources in society and no connections. For a dog, he finally waited and watched for half a day, and could only go to Yang Li, the old lover who sent his dog, to help.
Yang Li is the "card friend" that the second brother met at the mahjong table, and the two once had an ambiguous relationship, and this past naturally became an old account that his wife Yulan could not finish. Yang Li once told the second elder that Kara was not a valuable breed of dog and was not worth spending five thousand yuan on the hukou, suggesting that he might as well spend a few hundred yuan to buy a new dog. But the second insisted that he and Carla had a relationship, as long as Carla.
Yang Li went around to help the second eldest for this reason. However, after several twists and turns, the dog still could not be recovered. After the second brother returned home, he gritted his teeth and took out all his private money, and discussed with Yulan whether he could get some more dog licenses, but the two had a big fight in the middle.
On the one hand, Yulan believes that the reason why the second brother cares about Kara so much is because Kara was sent by Yang Li, and the relationship between the two is not simple; on the other hand, Yulan also put forward the most practical reason, the family economy does not allow, as she said: "The only money left in the family, you have to eat, the children have to use it to go to school, and when they are sick, they have to take it to see the disease..."
This is the most heartfelt marriage reality of the couple, the second and the second, Yulan, when they face the twists and turns of life together, which is also the epitome of most ordinary couples in China. When people reach middle age, the so-called romantic passion has long been bent by life, and the marriage itself is opened, and some are just chicken feathers. The original love and freshness have long disappeared in the chai rice oil and salt, and what remains is only the little family affection about "living a life" in the mouth of the second elder.
However, in the daily trivial and bleak daily life, such affection is also enough to move. The magnolia in life is undoubtedly distressed by the second elder, which can be seen from the details that she will deliberately leave a table of good dishes for the second elder, and a cucumber is also divided in half. Because she was worried about the second brother's lumbar disc herniation, Yulan also intimately returned the second brother's private money to him, asking him to save more and buy a motorcycle.
Regarding the second eldest, although he is cowardly and has no achievements in his work, he usually gives all his salary to his wife, and he is also loyal in life. Even when Yang Li changed clothes and was ready to take him to find her ex-husband, he saw that Yang Li was not wearing underwear, and he instantly twisted his head elsewhere, and did not cross the thunder pool for half a step. When Yulan took out the passbook and cried about the use of the money, the second brother also expressed comfort in the compromise. Under these life moments, the love and compassion between husband and wife are all in words.
But as the saying goes, "Poor couples mourn." The chai rice oil salt sauce vinegar in marriage seems simple, and once it is implemented into life, it is a mountain on ordinary people. The contradiction between the second and his wife about the dog is actually a contradiction about money.
The second oldest man in the film is an honest man, and it is precisely because he is too honest that he does not know how to be sleek in the world, and he encounters walls everywhere in work and life, and the days of no money make him angry inside and out. Unable to find comfort in his family, he only dared to confide in his confidant Yang Li occasionally and look for some understanding. Until Yang Li gave him a dog, he put all his spirit on Kara, because only in front of the dog, he was like a person.
On the other hand, her wife Yulan, she is essentially a considerate husband, diligent and diligent woman, and she knows the cold and the hot in life, only because she married an incompetent husband, she can only do everything by herself, forming a strong personality everywhere. In fact, the second brother wants to apply for a dog license, Yulan does not want Kara to come back, but the pressure of the economy makes her have to make careful calculations for the family's life.
Whether in the past or in today's society, middle-aged people like the second elder can be seen everywhere. Some time ago, I saw a news that in Foshan, Guangdong Province, Xiao Liu, an employee of a factory, asked his boss for leave because he was unwell, but he was rejected. The boss pointed at him and said, "You don't have a hospital leave, you want to skip work, you don't have a door, you can't finish your work, next month see what life you take." ”
A simple and harsh sentence became the last straw that crushed Xiao Liu, and a few hours later, Xiao Liu committed suicide in the factory, leaving a note to the effect:
"The pressure of work in the factory is too great, the body is gradually difficult to cope with, and symptoms such as insomnia, breathing difficulties, endocrine disorders and other symptoms begin to appear, and I want to take leave to rest, but the factory requires resignation procedures."
For Xiao Liu, he has been in this company for six years, because he does not have other skills, and he will not be able to find a job after going out for a while and a half. In the face of the current high-pressure work, his body is obviously difficult to support, but if he gives up this job, the child is still young, the parents are old...
The collapse of adults is silent. Zhang Ailing once said: "Middle-aged men often feel lonely, because as soon as he opens his eyes, he is surrounded by people who want to rely on him, but there are no people he can rely on." ”
Parents' medical expenses, pension expenses, children's tuition fees, tutoring class fees, monthly mortgages, car loans, and a large number of unshirkable work pressures to be faced every day... Too many such burdens are enough to make middle-aged people miserable, so that those "teenagers" who were once young and vigorous and full of vigor become fathers and husbands who are humble and bent for five buckets of rice.
When people reach middle age, how many people have tried their best just to live. They removed the sharp armor of their youth and ground themselves from one square into a circle.
Because "there are old people on the top and small people on the bottom", the daily life of most middle-aged people is: do not dare to get sick, do not dare to be angry, and dare not resign. Even if the body is extremely weak and hovers on the verge of psychological collapse, they still have to carry the weight forward.
Middle-aged people, it seems, have suddenly become the best bully in this society. Because they have no way to retreat, no harbor, even if they are not satisfied, no matter how painful and difficult, they dare not give up easily, because they do not even have the qualifications to give up.
Lu Xuechang's "Carla is a Dog" is ostensibly a dog, but in fact, it restores the real living conditions of the people at the bottom of the city and the embarrassing plight of middle-aged people.
The second eldest in the film is a representative of the low-level citizens, he has a small salary, no social status and resources to speak of, and if he wants to do something small on weekdays, he has to bow his head and smile, but he is still not put in the eyes. Compared to Carla, who can run freely and make her owner happy that there is food, the second brother is much more depressed than this dog.
Jiang Wen said: "Middle age is an age of laughter, not only to make the elderly happy, but also to become a role model for children, but also to cater to the mood of good bosses." ”
Middle-aged people, for the sake of livelihood, face, house, car, tickets, must be rotated like a gyroscope.
The second chinese man, who is ordinary to the nest, actually reflects the shadow of thousands of middle-aged people who live like him. They have no ability, no social relations, the leaders in the unit do not want to see colleagues to look down on, at home is the wife strict management, even their own children look down on them.
They do not have any sense of existence in society, but they are honest and kind, helpful and enthusiastic. Just like the second eldest, he works diligently and honestly, all he wants is to get by and get by, and it is better to live in peace than anything.
"Carla is a Dog" is a simple movie, so simple that every ordinary person can find their corresponding self in it. In such a realistic story, Lu Xuechang is not willing to deprive the audience of the last shred of expectations. At the end of the film, Yang Lituo sent Kara back to the second family's house, and Yulan took out 5,000 yuan and gave Kara a certificate the next day.
In this happy ending, the second brother has regained his spiritual sustenance. Although he is still sloppy and frustrated, he is also like every middle-aged man who carries the weight of his family forward, steadfast, stoic, and pursues happiness within his ability.
At the beginning of the story, maybe everyone laughs at the second oldest, but at the end of the story, maybe people have begun to laugh at themselves, why are they not the second oldest?
Text/Tingxin
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