In 2003, a special film was quietly released in France.
This movie is special in that it does not have all kinds of majestic and spectacular framing that we see in blockbusters, and its set is simple to almost rudimentary. The whole story takes place in a simple cement floor, and the ground is drawn with white chalk. There were no walls, no doors, and even the bushes around the village were drawn in chalk.
At first glance, this is almost a stage play. People walk back and forth in the white line, and at one point people can't help but laugh, but at the same time, they inevitably feel bored.
However, this "simple" movie has caused a huge response after its release, and today we will talk about this "Dogtown" that exposes human nature in the simplest and most straightforward way.
In a small enclosed village in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, dozens of comfortable and kind residents live. People rise and set at sunset, they are kind and gentle with each other, and the town is full of peace.
One night, a gunshot shattered the town's tranquility. Young Tom, sitting on a bench contemplating philosophy, finds Grace being tracked by the Man in Black. Faced with Grace's pleas for help, the kind Tom lets her hide in a mine and points the Man in the wrong direction. The Man in Black left Tom a business card before leaving, telling him that if he found Grace's trail, he would provide it to him in time, and they would provide a great reward.
After the Man in Black leaves, Tom takes Grace into the town and proposes to the residents to keep her. In return, Grace will offer people an hour a day of help, and after two weeks, she can stay in the town if the crowd is happy with her.
To this end, Grace did her best to help the residents, she was beautiful, intelligent and enthusiastic, and she was quickly recognized by everyone. At the vote two weeks later, Grace voted unanimously, giving her a chance to make a home in the town.
The goodwill between people is here to be shown with no effort. In this small, enclosed rocky village, the kindness and enthusiasm of the residents is comforting.
But if you think it's a song of praise for the true, good, and beautiful of human nature, you're wrong.
Here we have to say about the film's director, Lars von Trier. The film won him the Best Director Award at the 16th European Film Awards. Originally from Denmark, he has won several world-class awards as early as school, and is known as the "ghost director".
In 1995, in order to adhere to the persistent pursuit of film and restore the essence of film art, he signed the "dog ma95" declaration with thomas Windberg and four other film directors. Perhaps it is so, in "Dogtown", he abandons the consistent framing and redundant factors, and uses chalk to draw a schematic diagram of a small town on the ground in order to show the essence of the film's service to the story to the extreme.
Grace is grateful for the kindness of the residents and goes even harder to repay them. On the National Day of the United States, everyone warmly thanked Geles during the dinner, thanking her for her diligence and help, so that everyone could get more warmth and happiness. At this moment, however, a search notice was posted outside the church, which was a photograph of Grace and said she might be a suspect in the robbery.
The townspeople begin to worry a little, but Tom, who has a crush on Grace, once again tries to persuade everyone to stay grace. In return, Grace will provide double the time each day to help residents. After this time, the residents' attitude towards Grace changed significantly. People no longer smile at her, don't give her small gifts from time to time, and no longer thank her for her help.
In order to stay, Grace endured the indifference of the crowd until a wanted notice made a shocking splash in the town.
The wanted notice said Grace was a bank robber and would receive a hefty bonus if anyone found her trail and reported it to the police station.
This time, the townspeople didn't report her to the police or drive her away as they had done before, but people slowly began to take Grace's help for granted, and even thought she should offer more.
Grace was young and beautiful, many men in the town liked her, many women began to hate her, and even children began to lie because they did not get Grace's favor, and framed her for beating herself.
The decline of human nature is beginning to appear. In this small, closed village, goodwill brews quickly, but it is far less rapid than the spread of ugliness.
Grace began to be the target of public criticism. One day, when Grace was helping at the apple orchard owner Chuck's house, the police came to town. Chuck knew that Grace was afraid to speak up at this time, violated her in his home, and told his wife that Grace had seduced him. Chuck's wife was furious and led a group of women to viciously insult and insult Grace. Tom, who knew all this, walked away silently, not daring to stand up for the girl he liked.
Grace, who is finally desperate for the town, begs Tom to take her out of here, and Tom introduces her to a truck driver. However, after Grace paid the truck driver ten dollars, the truck driver hid in the carriage and violated Grace halfway under the pretext that the police were passing by, and brought her back to the town. There was still the fragrance of apples around the carriage, but Grace's eyes were numb and empty.
To prevent Grace from escaping, she was put in heavy chains. And in addition to toiling during the day, she also had to endure malicious violations at night. It wasn't until Tom finally came to ask her that she finally knew that Tom had colluded with the truck driver before, and that Tom, who had walked into her heart, was so hypocritical.
At this moment, Grace, who had just arrived in the town and still had good expectations for the future, was completely "dead".
The rejected Tom became angry and reported Grace to the Man in Black who had left his business card. However, when the vehicle enters the town, the residents are horrified to find that Grace is the daughter of the gang boss, and she is dissatisfied with her father's cruelty and struggles to escape her father's control.
In the face of the horrified eyes of the crowd, Grace showed unprecedented indifference. She finally accepted the power in her father's hands, and the whole town was washed in blood, leaving only a dog. And that dog was the only one in the whole village who hadn't bullied her.
Many people said after watching this movie that they were "very depressed" because "seeing the evil of human nature is so easy to be stimulated."
This is exactly the theme that the director is trying to express. Throughout the film, the background outside the village is blurred to the greatest extent, relying solely on lighting to show night and day, and the town appears so small and closed in the vast darkness and paleness. This "sense of isolation" indicates that the inhabitants know nothing about the outside world, and also hints at the inner closure and blind obedience of the human character.
The townspeople were kind to Grace, who had fled alone, and they accepted her and allowed her to settle down in the village. This is what a human being alone should have been. But when they see the wanted warrant, they feel that their interests are threatened, and this individual humanity quickly disappears in the group, replaced by the "sanctions" of the group opinion on those who threaten the interests.
Carnegie said in "The Weakness of Human Nature", "Many mental and psychological problems, the hidden cause is often that they can't maintain themselves. "Not being able to maintain oneself means not being able to take responsibility for one's due responsibilities."
At the end of the film, a conversation between Grace and her father is thought-provoking:
"Why can't I have a good heart?"
"No, you can be kind, but you have to keep your own standards and you should keep standards for others. Mistakes made by yourself should be punished, and so should others who make mistakes. Everyone is responsible for their actions. ”
In today's simple but complex relationships, people are too susceptible to interference with the opinions and actions of others. Firmly choosing in this kind of mass coercion is a compulsory lesson in our growth process.
The way to clear the customs is very simple, stick to ourselves, take responsibility for our own actions, and we can truly have a "complete personality" in the strict sense.