On the last day of the vacation, I rewatched "Farewell My Concubine". The story is not complicated, it is about the life of Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou, two opera singers. Apart from the parting of life and death, love and hate, Chen Kaige describes the change of the times and the ups and downs of the fate of the characters, thus showing the rise and fall of the traditional Chinese culture led by the Peking Opera.

First of all, it is its solid mass foundation. At the beginning of the movie, when the famous actors entered the capital, the streets were full of drums and gongs, and the actors had a high status, which is equivalent to that of today's traffic stars, and the class president's sentence, "As long as one is a human being, one has to listen to the opera," shows the profound mass foundation of the Peking Opera; and then, it is the background of its era, the early period of the Republic of China. The early Republic of China, the social upheaval has always led to the freedom of thought and culture, the feudal forces on the cultural bondage of the loosening, so that the traditional culture can be innovative and inheritance; last but not least, is the power of culture.

The movie sings four scenes of "Farewell My Concubine," corresponding to four periods: the early Republican period, the Japanese colonial period, the beginning of the victory in the war of resistance, and the beginning of liberation. The Japanese army forced the famous actors on stage to sing for the soldiers, while listening to the play, the Japanese army on stage is quite solemn, officers in the background wearing Duan Xiaolou's costume, which are all respect and appreciation of the Peking Opera as a cultural art form, originating from the power of traditional culture, spanning the nation, with far-reaching influence.

The troupe learns to play

The beginning of the movie, the troupe learns to play, the master physically punishes the students, the practice is not good, hit, practice is good, but also hit, take the board to hit, take off the pants to hit, while being hit also shouted at the same time, "the master hit good, the master hit good," began to see when I was always thinking, why do not they escape ah, or fled, why still come back? Why do they still have to come back, see later I seem to understand a hint of it, that is, after the liberation, Dieyi in the theater class teaching opera, apprentice Xiao Si did not listen to talk back, Dieyi with a wooden bar to beat, the apprentice to resist, go back to the house with a parcel out of the butterfly, Dieyi chased to the door, outside the door of the stage, people, Xiao Si has been disappeared, here there is a close-up, Dieyi's eyes are blank, which is not only the This is not only the confusion about her future in the era of liberation, but also the confusion about how to pass on traditional culture.

Why don't they run away, perhaps I should ask? We are pursuing freedom and democracy, pursuing individuality of thought, but we have not thought about the rationality of the existence of a certain system, with the eyes of the later to think about the original choice, will be full of contradictions, when the concept of the importance of human nature and the past culture of the way of teaching a conflict, the traditional culture of the way out of the way?

Director's expression

Director Chen Kaige has actually given his thoughts in the movie, which are expressed in the two main characters. The two main characters are Cheng Dieyi, who has never forgotten his original intention and has been singing for his entire life. I envy him, but it's a pity that Dieyi couldn't make a compromise in the end, and he has become Yu Ji (虞姬)in the theater, and has cut his own throat in front of the king. The first is the Duan Xiaolou, from the beginning of the uninhibited and unrestrained, to the later to beg and even betrayal to survive, the real king of the real king into a fake king, a change of flavor led to nothing, is the "lost roots of the culture" of the final destination.

In China, compromise is the least bad way out of most problems, how to compromise? In my opinion, it is a kind of respect, if the later can try to respect the traditional Chinese culture, perhaps the culture in the inheritance can be more to survive its root, if Dieyi and Xiaolou can be more respect for each other, perhaps the end will not be so miserable.

Writing this paragraph has been the next day in the early hours of the morning, the window is dark, the lanterns on the side of the stage, glowing with a faint red light. Just received the news of the success of the ticket, the journey is bumpy, there is something like the history of that period, the train slowly north, the cultural heritage is destined to be a bitter journey.