The way the director tells the story is rational and calm. Through the miserable life of a nobody, he kept throwing all kinds of questions at you and discussing the meaning of life with you. He put the protagonist on a woman, highlighting the tragic fate of the characters, making the sad people sadder and deepening the tension of the drama. After reading it, I can't help sighing the fate of the characters, but also want to find the answer.
1、
The story begins with the fact that the Li Baoli family moved.
The director compared life with a house. Moving is a new life and a farewell to the past. The environment of Paulie's new home is better than that of her old home. At least she doesn't have to share the bathroom and kitchen with others, and she doesn't have to listen to the complaints and nagging of her neighbors next door.
The house is also a metaphor of a certain class and a symbol of status. The bottom people finally realized their dream of a better life by trying to get rid of their past lives. However, fate is not so friendly. It always likes to play jokes on people.
Life in Li Baoli has not improved. First, she discovered her husband's affair. Facing her husband's affair, Li Baoli didn't accept her fate and solve the problem. She didn't face the reality, didn't choose someone who wanted money or important like her best friend Xiao Jing, but chose revenge willfully. This wanton act of dispelling anger and escaping from reality triggered the second "heart-piercing" incident.
Li Baoli's revenge sent her husband Ma Xuewu to the public security bureau, and the position she just promoted was removed by the unit, so her husband faced the dilemma of being laid off. Faced with the bad future of a grumpy wife and middle-aged laid-off, Ma Xuewu committed suicide by jumping off a bridge.
What Polly was waiting for was not a husband who changed his mind, but the cruel fact that Ma Xuewu had died.
My best friend Xiao Jing attributed Paulie's experience to the geomantic omen of the new house. She thinks that the layout of Paulie's new house is fierce and will make the people living in it bumpy. Xiaojing suggested that Bao Li move.
But Paulie doesn't believe in Feng Shui and fate. She thinks that even if an arrow goes through her heart, she will live a brilliant life. At this time, Paulie is still optimistic about life. Although life is not easy, her heart is full of hope, hope for her son and hope for the future.
2、
Ma Xuewu is the best metaphor for people who don't want to accept reality and fate. Facing life, different people have different choices. Ma Xuewu chose to end the pain brought by life, but he chose not to accept his imperfect life.
In real life, some people are alive, but they are dead. They feel helpless and powerless to survive, so they escape from reality and never really face life. They only face themselves in the eyes of others. In fact, Li Baoli was such a person at first. In the face of her husband's affair, she chose to escape and choose revenge instead of facing the reality.
However, after the baptism of life, Pauli's thought has changed. She accepted the fact that her husband committed suicide and the responsibility of being a single mother to support her children, grandmother and family. This change is not sudden for Polly.
At the beginning of the film, the director shows her arguing with the workers to save money and swearing at her husband. Although these details reflect the bad elements in her personality, from another aspect, it just shows that she is very aware of the hardships and difficulties of the vegetable seller's life. She can quarrel with people regardless of her image, or even make trouble without reason, just to "defend" her hard-earned money.
After she became a single mother, she gradually accepted life and reality. She is willing to change from a comfortable and dignified salesman to a coolie like a "shoulder pole" for her son, just because the "shoulder pole" makes money quickly. In this way, her son was admitted to the university with the first place in the city, and she supported a family of three by herself. For her, life has never been a face, and living is the real lining.
3、
When her son was admitted to college with honors, Paulie thought she could have a rest. She worked hard for half her life and finally brought some good results, but something more heartbreaking happened. Fate wants to take away the only thing she cherishes. Her son found out the real reason for her father's suicide. It turned out that her mother reported her father to the public security bureau, which led to her father's final death. The youngest son cannot forgive his mother. He asked Polly to leave the house and disowned her.
We don't make moral comments on our son's behavior, which is not the focus of the director's attention The point is what you live for, and what is the value of your existence? What is the meaning of your life? These are the life problems that the director threw at us. If you were me, what would you say? What would you do with it?
10 years ago, she was still looking forward to moving and living a good life with her husband. She lives for this, so her husband's affair is unacceptable to her, because it breaks the meaning of her life.
After her husband died, her son was still very young and her grandmother was too old to go out to work. For her son, she picked up her broken heart and went on her way. Her son became the meaning of her life.
In this way, she has been a "female pole" for ten years. It is not easy for a woman, but fortunately, she got her wish, her son grew up and finally became an adult, and she was admitted to the university with excellent results. All this made her feel gratified. But at this time, the big hand of fate suddenly pushed her into the abyss and lost her son's life. What does it mean to her?
4、
At the climax of the film, after Paulie learned that her son was going to kick her out, she couldn't stand the blow and ran to the place where Ma Xuewu jumped off the bridge ten years ago and wandered alone. The director used bright fireworks, the unrestrained life of young children and birthdays to describe the arrival of new life. Yes, there will always be new and unknown life pouncing on you unexpectedly. But, for better or worse, all you can do is accept it, then change it, then accept it, and then change it.
At the end of the story, Li Baoli left the real estate license to his son, who packed his luggage and planned to move out. At this point, Jianjian unexpectedly appeared downstairs in Bao Li, still driving his shabby bun to pick her up and leave. Polly was surprised at this time, but after thinking for a few seconds, she chose to get on the bus.
Although life is helpless, hard and unpleasant, it is not as bad as you think. There are always people around you when you need them, and you can always find a solution to the problem. As long as you are willing to accept all this and let go of the past, you can start a new life.
At the end of the film, the little broken car under construction suddenly failed to start again. Paulie walked up to the cart, kicked the corner and scolded, "This son of a bitch!" ".Yes, isn't this son of a bitch's life still going on? You must live and love.
Through Li Baoli's story, while lamenting the fate of the little people, we also see a very precious part of human nature, that is, her tenacity and courage, which is worthy of admiration and admiration.
Jia Ceng said: "Even if we are always in an inevitable situation, we still have to live and love." This may be the true face of life.