Before understanding the Testimony, the following knowledge points must be understood:
1. According to Judaism, male Jews were required to wear a small round hat on their heads, which was called "kipa" in Hebrew, meaning "cover", which meant to express the fear of God. It is not possible to shave the hair on the sides of the cheeks, including the hair on the sideburns, so Orthodox Jewish men often have sideburns hanging down their cheeks, curling their beards, and even combing the whiskers on the sides of the cheeks into small braids. (2) According to Israel's Law of Return, any person whose mother is Jewish and who has not converted to another religion, or who professes Judaism, is recognized as Jewish.
Testimony is the story of a man who is willing to take every risk to seek the truth.
The protagonist, Joel, is a senior researcher at the Holocaust Research Institute, and as a Jew, he tries to find out the truth about the murder of 200 Jews in Lansdorf, Austria, which has been hidden for many years, but in the process, he accidentally discovers the secret that he is not a Jew.
In terms of text design, "Testimony" has a unique path, not like "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", "The Cry of the Concentration Camp", "The Pianist", "Beautiful Life" and other films, directly using storytelling and artistic techniques to express history, but from the perspective of modern people's exploration of historical truth, by interspersing a large number of vicissitudes and thick confidential information in the film, it presents a documentary-like picture texture, which is more real and reliable. At one point, I thought the movie was based on real events, but I didn't find any information about it.
In terms of lens language, the film always maintains calmness and restraint.
At the beginning, through the long-range lens, the male protagonist who carries the bag is placed in the vast nature, like a lonely walker, stepping on every corner, struggling to find the truth between heaven and earth.
On the way to and from work, through deliberate scene scheduling, the strangely dressed, bearded male protagonist rides his bicycle alone through the city, which seems incompatible with the surrounding crowd or walking or driving, suggesting the resistance encountered by the male protagonist in the process of finding the truth.
In addition, through many people interview shots with fixed camera positions, the film picture appears monotonous and repetitive.
These film languages show the dullness and hardship of Joel's search for the truth.
In terms of narrative logic, the film adopts a narrative structure of interlaced nesting. The so-called interlaced nested narrative structure refers to the similarities between the two paragraphs of the film in terms of theme, plot, and narrative method, and are interlaced and parallel in structure. The contrast between them can both create suspense and reveal common themes.
For example, the Thai movie "Genius Gunner" adopts this narrative structure, in which the picture of the character being tried and the picture of cheating on the exam are nested and alternate with each other, forming an unreliable narrative of several protagonists arrested for cheating, and this suspense is not revealed until the characters rehearse before the exam, forming a narrative reversal.
Specifically in this film, the male protagonist's exploration of the murder of 200 Jews in Austria and the exploration of the Jewish identity of the mother are related to the examination of the truth, and they are nested and interleaved in the movie.
However, the damn thing is that the protagonist's journey to the truth is by no means smooth, but full of obstacles. The film thus creates a strong dramatic conflict.
The search for the killing of 200 Jews is increasingly hopeless because of its age, the death of those who knew about it, and the lack of clues. At the same time, the male protagonist is facing the pressing step by step of the Austrian project builder, and if he can't find a mass burial post to bury Jews, he may even get into a huge lawsuit. Under great pressure, the male protagonist had to go through a race against time.
When the male protagonist sought the comfort and support of the soul, the priest advised him bitterly to "don't make trouble, he forgot all this", his mother was indifferent to his work, his sister always did not support or even sneer at him, and even the colleagues who fought side by side were ready to give up because of the coercion and inducement of the Austrian project builder.
The male protagonist describes himself as a dull and boring person, and his circle is so big. However, when he encountered difficulties, the faith he had always adhered to, the affection he had always held, and the trusted colleagues made him unable to rely on, and the whole world seemed to be against him, and the search for the truth became difficult and deadlocked. This is the first dilemma set by the movie for the male protagonist.
The exploration of the Jewish identity of the mother has plunged the male protagonist into a crisis of identity and faith. According to the knowledge points introduced above, according to the provisions of Israeli law, if the mother is not Jewish, the male protagonist will no longer be Jewish!
However, the male protagonist has always considered himself a Jew, has an extremely devout belief in Judaism, insists on answering in Jewish Hebrew in interviews, and often participates in the activities of the Jewish Church, and is also very harsh on his son's learning of the pronunciation of Jewish prayers. Suddenly learning that he is not Jewish, just like Qiao Feng in "Tianlong Babu" is suddenly told that he is not a Han Chinese, but a Khitan person, and the inner shock must be incomparable.
In the first dilemma, the film nests another dilemma. In contrast, this dilemma of self-loss and shaking faith is more than the previous one.
Through a close-up shot that reverses the character 180 degrees, the film reflects the inner confusion and identity loss of the male protagonist after first learning the truth.
The inverted shot shows the inner confusion and disorientation of the characters
Two suspense arises, one is that under the difficult circumstances, can the truth about the killing of Jews finally be revealed? Another bigger suspense is whether the male protagonist will accept his non-Jewish identity.
One is the obstruction of millions of people, and the other is the loss of self-identity and the collapse of faith. It's often harder to break through yourself than it is to break out of the world.
The film does not quickly give an answer while setting up suspense, but repeatedly lets the male protagonist carefully hide his true identity in front of his colleagues. Apparently, he was experiencing a fierce ideological struggle under his seemingly unfazed facial expression.
In terms of different attitudes and dispositions towards the "two truths", the film can be compared with each other to verify whether the male protagonist is as he said, "I only explore the truth". For example, while the film can reveal the truth about the murder of Jews, the male protagonist still chooses to hide his true identity and live a peaceful and stable life as before, thus producing a strong artistic satire.
But the plot is not set in this way, but staged the most thrilling scene in the whole movie.
The male protagonist faced the mirror alone, but also examined his own heart, his face gradually sad and determined, after a fierce ideological struggle, he finally made up his mind to face himself sincerely and calmly. So he shaved off the beard he had been keeping, cut off the small braids, took off the small round hat...
In this way, the male protagonist shows his relief and acceptance that he is not Jewish, and at the same time, he is also a knack for his false identity. On the road of pursuing the truth, he has indeed achieved "although tens of millions of people are looking forward to it."
Then, under his unremitting persistence and meticulous deduction, the truth about the murder of Austrian Jews was finally revealed.
The film ends with a very romantic shot, which once again echoes the male protagonist's acceptance of his identity. The man's mother faced the camera and said: "I just wanted to tell him that I am not Jewish, but Joseph (the father of the man) said to me to follow me, you are my wife, we are a pair made in heaven." ”
I'm not Jewish, but we're a match made in heaven. In the same way, I can no longer be Jewish, which, while contrary to my beliefs, does not stop my yearning for the truth.
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