Can war really bring peace and democracy?
Billy Lynn and his comrades-in-arms broke into the Iraqi house late at night and found that the male owner had hidden a gun and a certificate of enlistment, which made them highly nervous: the Iraqi man in front of them may be innocent, but he may also be a potential terrorist. Anyway, take him away first.
Although the man's wife is crying silently, his mother is crying and praying, his children are trembling with fear and sadness, and one of the little boys' eyes is red with anger and despair.
He looked straight at Lynn, the American who took his father.
At this moment, the seeds of hatred have been planted.
If this Iraqi doesn't come back later,
Will his children, his wife and his mother become avengers in the future and become "terrorists" who can't be killed in the American population?
In an interview with Chen Wenxi, Ang Lee said that he went to Jordan to visit refugees in order to make this film. What he learned was actually much more serious than what was shown in the movie.
Although there are pictures of American soldiers swearing and arresting Iraqis without sufficient evidence, it is still much milder than the actual situation.
In Ang Lee's view: "This is neither the fault of the soldiers nor those people, but such things will still happen.
You will really feel sorry for the people who searched the house and the people who were searched. You will hate those politicians. Why do they set up such a chaotic situation and don't take human life seriously? "
Ang Lee interspersed many plots in the film to show the gap between the actual effect of the war and the effect of politicians-one was at the press conference, when a reporter asked "what changes this war brought to the local area", Lynn's comrades replied: "It just added more people to fight." .
In another place, when Lynn came home, her sister asked him, can war really bring democracy? Lynn was silent.
So, what is the significance of this war? What is this for?
Ang Lee knows very well that this will hurt some Americans more or less.
Americans whose homes have never been invaded by war may not be able to understand the feelings of ordinary Iraqis.
"I come from the third world and am more sensitive than Americans." Ang Lee consciously should stand up and express his views. "(Making a movie) still needs some ideals and objectivity." Because of this, he is willing to accept criticism from others.
Who are soldiers fighting for? Are you really protecting people, or are you becoming a powerful thug?
While Lynn and his comrades were eating a buffet, a boss engaged in shale gas mining came to Lynn and told them that if the shale gas mining technology in the United States is further improved, we can be self-sufficient in energy, and you children don't have to go to Iraq as soldiers to occupy Iraq's oil resources.
The monitor got angry after hearing this. In order to embarrass each other, he deliberately said that he and his soldiers went to the army because they liked killing and war.
You develop your energy, we kill our people, no offense.
Of course, this is not the case. These soldiers are not evil butchers. The monitor is just performing.
The boss was well-advised to leave, and the monitor was a little guilty and asked Lynn if I was an asshole.
The monitor's reaction is actually a kind of stress reaction after self-worth is denied.
According to the logic of the boss, these soldiers were sent to the battlefield, not to protect the motherland, but to plunder other people's oil resources and for naked interests.
It is morally untenable for these people to risk their lives to fight.
The monitor behaves like this because he thinks that in the eyes of shale gas bosses, they are used chess pieces and killing tools.
I might as well make you think that I just like killing people. I went to war because I was happy, not because I was used.
When I read this passage, I was overwhelmed by great sadness and powerlessness.
People need to deceive themselves in order to survive and not collapse.
I know my life sucks, but I don't need a savior to save me and question the value of what I dedicated myself to.
I need to be affirmed more than being saved and pitied.
Even though I know what you said may be true, I won't admit it, because it will make my efforts a joke.
Do people really love "heroes" as they say?
People shake hands, sign autographs, hug Lynn and talk endlessly about their admiration and gratitude, but is this the whole truth?
In the film, football players, journalists and ordinary citizens will ask Lynn about the details of war and killing.
Nobody cares. For him, remembering those things is a repeated reappearance of traumatic memories, and it is to show the wounds again and again.
Everyone just satisfies his own lust, curiosity and secret thirst for blood.
In the commercial society, everything can be consumed, and these soldiers are just an object of consumption.
Those who sit in front of the TV and watch Billy Lynn save his comrades-in-arms may consume a friendship of comrades-in-arms, a yearning for heroism and obscenity. Those investors who want to make this story into a movie see the box office of future investment returns.
For the parties, the important experiences, feelings and emotions in their own lives are just a story that can be sold in the eyes of others.
And it's not very valuable-at first it was $6,543,800 per person, but at the end of the transaction it became $5,500, and only one person was willing to pay $5,500.
When Lynn was performing on the stage, black dancers danced around Lynn and said to him, Fuck you, silly soldier. Even in such a high-profile occasion, he could clearly feel the malice from others.
He can't resist. If he was under the stage, he might have hit a left hook, but when he was on the stage, so many pairs of eyes looked at him, he could only stand still like a prop.
As soon as the performance was over, he and his comrades were immediately driven away by the staff like cleaning up garbage. The meaning is obvious. After the performance, you run out of props, so leave quickly. ? When Lynn was about to leave and kiss the cheerleader goodbye, Lynn couldn't help but blurt out, I really want to elope with you, and the girl's smile froze at that time. Where are you going? Aren't you an American hero?
Obviously, she doesn't love Billy Lynn, but "American hero" Billy Lynn.
It hurts, doesn't it? Ang Lee, regardless of Lynn's heartache, moves on-at the end of the film, he shows you that the repairman retaliated against Class B with iron bars, and these soldiers were beaten to death by the people he claimed to protect.
This probably makes Lynn see the reality more thoroughly-people live in their own world. Even if they love you, they only love the person they need.
Why did Billy Lynn choose to return to the battlefield? Is this choice brave or cowardly?
Billy Lynn himself is not a person who supports the war, and even says that he is anti-war at heart.
He has seen the tearful eyes of Iraqi boys and the hostility of people in that land, and he can't help but doubt the meaning of war.
But in the end, he returned to Iraq and continued to be a soldier.
Even if he really has PTSD, even if the psychologist calls him and tells him that you are not cowardly, but really brave. If you stand up, more people will realize the existence of PTSD, and more soldiers will get the treatment they deserve, instead of continuing to suffer from war and mental illness.
Once, he was persuaded by a doctor and promised his sister to accept a psychiatric diagnosis and leave the army to consider her proposal.
However, in the end, he still couldn't do it.
In the parking lot, he and his sister looked at each other, full of helplessness and sadness.
He was afraid that his comrades would not understand him and even spit on him, thinking that he was a deserter who was afraid of death and abandoned his brother.
He was afraid of the people he met at halftime. They said they loved him, but they seemed to eat him.
Although he doesn't want to be a soldier, ironically, he actually has good qualities as a soldier. In the words of the squad leader, he is brave and calm on the battlefield, can calmly deal with problems and appease the emotions of his comrades.
A soldier's career can give him a sense of accomplishment and honor. If he stays at home, he is probably just the most mediocre waiter.
Although these fears are real, he loves his comrades who fight with him.
At first, he went to the battlefield because he loved his sister, but now he returns to the battlefield because he loves his brother.
He is not a hero, he is just a pure boy.
All he cares about is whether he can be with the person he loves, and it never matters where he goes and who he travels with. Even if the front is a battlefield, what if it is death? At least I still have you.
I can't leave you When he stepped onto the chariot, the face of the dead monitor mushroom appeared in front of him. He can't help saying "I love you". This kind of love is the most touching.
Mushroom once told Lynn that you have to find something bigger than yourself, and Lynn has found it.
For him, that thing is a sense of collective belonging with his comrades.
He is more concerned about whether he can get recognition, belonging and love than to stand up and admit that he has post-traumatic stress disorder and let himself and more people with post-traumatic stress disorder leave the battlefield.
To this end, he can go to war.
Ang Lee expressed his views on war in Ten Years of Movie Dreams. "Sometimes people who join the war have little to do with ideas, just because they want to prove their self-worth in the group, just like cheering for the team. You must stand on the local side of your hometown, which is not necessarily a rational judgment." ? You can use this sentence as a footnote for Lynn to finally choose to return to the battlefield.
So, to what extent can people choose freely? What kind of choice is really brave?
In Ang Lee's words: "If we go deeper, people are not free in interpersonal relationships and social groups." ? Each of us is a slave to interpersonal relationships: slaves of family, friends, country, ethnic groups, etc. Black slaves are only the most extreme examples, and they are the shackles of human nature. "
But who can escape the shackles of human nature?
How can people be free?
Ang Lee said that I wanted to make a movie because "making a movie gave me the right to speak.
If you don't shoot, everyone thinks it's ready-made; If you shoot, people will have another choice on the existing basis ... If I don't fight for it, don't express it, don't talk, just let nature take its course, then the future history and the cultural impression in everyone's hearts are another matter.
Artists and writers want to reflect it and let the world see people's true feelings. "
This movie did it.
He makes you reflect on your inherent ideas, makes you doubt "of course it's right", and makes you look at people and things from another angle.
After all, what Ang Lee wants to do is to make you live more freely.
Because "the spirit of freedom is not sure what is the right spirit;" The spirit of freedom is the spirit of trying to understand the opinions of others; The spirit of freedom is the spirit of considering the interests of others and their own interests without prejudice. " (In the words of the learned hand of the judge)