I read some film reviews written by some film friends, and they all felt great, at least more detailed and profound than I did. Unfortunately, I am not a film critic myself, and my literary talent and film insight are second-and third-rate. Moreover, the so-called "truth" of movies has been studied enough by predecessors. Therefore, I dare not discuss the significance of this film from the film form and expression itself.
This film made me foresee two kinds of life that completely exist in reality and can be chosen at present to decide my future life: Noodles and Max. The former chose conscience-oriented life for morality and the perfection of personality; The latter is a fame-and-fortune-oriented life that betrayed personality and succumbed to life because of the trend of interests, rights and fame.
Remember what Noodles said to Debroah: "In order to avoid going crazy, you must be isolated from the outside world;" However, after so many years, time seems to have stopped, because I am like a walking corpse-there are two things I can't forget: one is Dominic, who said' I slipped' before he died, and the other is you. " It can be seen from this that the death of Dominic, his childhood partner, had a great impact on Noodles, and he rushed forward to avenge his dead friend.
In the face of the same situation, Max's reaction is to hide in fear and to be surprised and admired after seeing Noodles' behavior. Yes, Max would never do anything impulsively to harm his own interests for the sake of friendship.
With the gradual development of the plot, I became more and more aware of Max's grand plot: using once upon a time in america of Noodles to pave the way for my career and money. I think everyone has seen the film and learned about it, so I won't go into details.
What shocked me the most and was the most unexpected (perhaps many friends expected it, but I didn't) was that at the end of the film, the old Noodles met the old Max (Bailey) again, and Max actually let Noodles kill him. At first, it seems to me that the message given in Debroah's dialogue: "If you attend the banquet on Saturday, even our only memories will disappear" seems to be: Noodles going to the banquet means death. Of course, there are many insufficient reasons, for example, Max wants to retaliate against Noodles for reporting him, Max wants to kill Noodles to silence him, and so on, but he never expected such an ending.
But after doing some thinking, I gradually understood the reason why Max wanted Noodles to kill him: for more than 30 years, he was not happy, even though he had everything he wanted, such as power, money, fame, career and so on, but he was still "nothing"-precisely because he lost the best thing in the world, love.
It seems that at this moment, the ultimate winner of the game between N and M should be Noodles, although it seems that Max has taken Noodles' residence, women, money and everything he owns, leaving N with a miserable life of more than 30 years and endless guilt. But the fact is that Noodles won, and the only measure is whether the soul is at peace. In the face of M's mania and anxiety, N at this time appears very calm and sanctimonious. Yes, N with only one sincere conscience at the moment is much more substantial than M with everything.
This may also be the different feelings of life under the two roads. What left the deepest impression was the dialogue between them:
N-We'll never guess what you're thinking.
M-this is your revenge?
N-No ... This is my view of life.
Long after the end of the film, in the long music, I was vaguely reminded of my teacher's words: Never compromise your personality for the sake of life.