the most beautiful time

Chapter 28 It Looks Beautiful (1)

When Iranian film master Abbas's "The Taste of Cherry" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival ten years ago, I was still huddled in a small town, like a chrysalis, for the black July two years later , struggling to bite the cocoon she made, hoping that when she could swallow up her despair and helplessness day by day, all of them would be reduced to nothing at the moment of fluttering her wings.

It was really a difficult time. Many people often use sad sweetness to refer to the beauty of youth. When recalling, the words are filled with infinite warmth and joy. It seems that that period of life is really like the description In that way, in the stream of time, there is a faint luster, and all the anxiety, despair, sentimentality, and loneliness are in it, like the floating water plants, standing quietly.But is that really the case?Can the gentle orange at the end fade away the almost cruel struggles and pains of the past so easily?In "The Taste of Cherry", Abbas used plain camera language to let me look back at myself ten years ago, and let me know that in fact, nothing can be concealed. The ups and downs, when looking back, will smile and be grateful, just because we shed too many tears in it, and every step of the trek also has real pain.And life, precisely because of truth, touches our hearts so softly.

This is of course a fictional story.An Iranian man named Badi, in his prosperous middle age, has money and a car, but because of some reasons that have never been mentioned, he stubbornly wants to commit suicide.He dug a grave for himself under a cherry tree in the desolate suburbs, and then drove around the outskirts of Tehran, looking for a kind person who could bury his body after his death, and tried to persuade them with money , to accept the well-paid job.

He met all kinds of people, the unemployed looking for work, the workers who drove him away with roars, the scavengers who believed that they belonged only to the garbage mountain, the young soldiers who looked wary and alienated, the guards who refused to go for a ride because of their duties. The author, a seminary student who persuaded Buddy to cherish life with blunt teachings, and an old man who, like him, had a suicide experience.The car drives mechanically in the dusty outskirts, and this Iranian man, who actually refers to the majority of the audience, is in a monotonous roar of machines, in a large piece of loess that buries and breeds life. Among the nameless plants passing by, in those warm daily scenes, I slowly found the meaning of my "resurrection".

The one who saved Buddy in the end was the last old man he met.The appearance of the old man was extremely abrupt, and the audience didn't react at all, and there was an elder's wise voice, which sounded first outside the camera.I think Abbas has his own reasons for such a clip. He thinks that we, like Buddy, believe that this is just another soldier, or a seminary student. Buddy, on the verge of despair, is worthless.And this elder is the spokesperson that the director and Buddy in the film are looking for.It can be seen that the director is trying to avoid the way of preaching. From the narration of the elders, he frequently focuses the camera on the scenery outside the car window, the sky, the land, the vegetation, pedestrians, houses, and the laughter of children.Before the elder, what the camera swept across indifferently was the truck body raised high by the bulldozer, the pouring stones, dust, and Buddy standing in front of a big pit full of mud, looking at those cold The hard soil screamed and smashed at his own shadow, as if it wanted to bury it alive.

The story of the old man is like a sketch. On a certain morning when he could not survive, he took a length of rope and went under a cherry tree, trying to commit suicide.But he tried many times, but couldn't tie the rope successfully.At last he had to climb up the tree and fasten the rope firmly to the branches.But just as he was tying the rope, a cherry quietly fell into his palm.He ate the morning cherry, and was deeply attracted by its wonderful taste.On the morning when he was planning to commit suicide, he was sitting on the tree, eating delicious cherries one by one. A child who was going to study passed by and begged him to shake a few. He happily agreed, and when the child was satisfied, he agreed. In the smiling face, become happy again.Finally, he picked a large bag of cherries and took them home. At this time, his wife just woke up and was very happy to see the cherries he brought.It was at that moment that he suddenly tasted the taste of life, the sweet and sour taste like cherries, the fresh sunshine every day, the fragrance of flowers blooming, and the infinite land, how could he Give it up so easily?
The end of the film is open-ended.On a hillside full of brocade flowers, a group of young soldiers were shouting slogans, passing through vigorously in the sun; during a break, two of them were laughing and fighting for a bunch of unknown flowers Wild flowers; I don’t know if it’s the sideshow of the film or a group of filmmakers who came here to shoot, they are aiming the camera at this beautiful mountain; and the man who has gone through life and death in the tomb is leisurely walking up the hillside, taking a He only took a few puffs of cigarettes and handed them to the strange staff.No one knows what he was thinking while lying in the grave he dug himself in the night of lightning and thunder; no one knows the real reason for his suicide; but this journey of searching makes the audience feel the same as him , On the hillside of the soul, get rid of the large barrenness and replace it with the prosperity of life.

This is an increasingly impetuous society. We are engulfed by the huge wave of material desire, and gradually lose our soul, unable to find its origin and the island where it belongs.And Abbas's film, after ten years of time, can still guide us so powerfully.Abbas never makes commercial films, so audiences looking for entertainment in them will be disappointed.This movie cannot be shared with a large group of noisy people in a theater filled with a mixture of popcorn, cola and melon seeds.I have always believed that there are such movies, like prose that focus on the human mind, that can only be read slowly by one person in a quiet night.And Abbas is such a director who shoots for his own soul.Perhaps this is also the reason why he insists on making children's films, because only with children can he find a pure land.

Chatting with a few girls from small towns, everyone agreed that if there was an afterlife, they would definitely not be older sisters, whether they were relatives or were raped by some immature big boys, they would definitely not be.

This is of course just an assumption.In fact, several of our women born in the early 80s, without exception, have a younger brother who we regard as a burden.Before we had finished enjoying the favor of our parents, this younger brother couldn't wait to come to the world, competing with us for the care of our parents and the New Year's money during the New Year.Because he is a few years older than him, and he is an older sister, he needs to make sacrifices, be courteous and bear hardships.If you get the first place in the exam, it must be the result that we, the elder sister, deserved, and the younger brother who can be willful and rude because he is young, has the right to be forgiven and forgiven by adults in the face of any mistakes right.

Chatting with a few women with similar identities, I found that we and our younger brothers, who had made our way in the city completely by ourselves, were equally useless. Under our shade and light, we were carefree and carefree It seems that as long as our elder sister is around, even if his parents are no longer alive in the future, he can live a happy and leisurely life with his prosperous elder sister as usual.

Friend Lian's younger brother, who was so-so in his studies, managed to get into a third-rate university and was about to graduate, but he was in danger of being unemployed after graduation due to his poor major.Lian was worried for him, but he didn't think it mattered. Before the postgraduate entrance examination paper that Lian bought for him, he was indifferent.Lian asked him whether he wanted to take the postgraduate entrance examination, or wander around the society without a job for a year, but he couldn't tell.Lian's parents called several times and asked her, as an elder sister, to take care of the future for her younger brother no matter what, either find him a good job, or let him be admitted to a graduate student at a university in Beijing, and then follow her It's getting closer, and I can take better care of this younger brother.Before the mother hung up the phone, she only threw a word to Lian: We are old and useless, so I will hand over my younger brother to you in the future, so you can take care of us for us.

This sentence made Lian feel a lot of grievances. Along the way, her parents never said to find someone to lean on for a moment for her a thin girl. It seemed that she was born as a sister, and she was destined to be mature and responsible.At that time, Lian was pregnant for three months, and he was burdened with a heavy mortgage in Beijing. However, this unsatisfactory younger brother, like his parents, pushed himself to Lian. It seemed that if he had no good future, It's her fault for being a sister.

In such a responsibility, Lian calls almost every day to let his younger brother study with peace of mind, and tries every means to create a good learning environment for him.She also traveled around major bookstores and websites, looking for postgraduate entrance examination materials for him, and helping him analyze the characteristics of the examination questions over the years.As the younger brother, he almost felt bored, and every time he heard her call, he would just put things in a perfunctory way, saying that he had already worked very hard, and there was no need for her to nudge and urge him.

When the results of the postgraduate entrance examination came back, Lian's younger brother almost didn't get into the university he wanted to study, so he had to adjust.At this time, the big boy who always hated Lian's care suddenly had an unusually strong desire to go to graduate school, and began to self-criticize himself for not listening to her, otherwise he would definitely be able to score more points in the exam, so that she would not have to work so hard to make adjustments.Lian couldn't laugh or cry about him being such a sweet trick from her parents and professors, but in order to satisfy her parents' wishes, she had no choice but to go to the university she was studying to find help from her past teachers, and when she learned that the competition was fierce, she used Do everything possible to break through personnel barriers.

(End of this chapter)