Using the love for one's country and family to set off the beauty of human nature, and using the beauty of human nature to set off the love for one's country and family - A review of "Decryption"
2024-08-07
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Stills from the movie "Decryption"
Li Jianqiang
As one of the most anticipated screen masterpieces of this summer, the film "Decoding", produced by Shanghai and adapted from the novel of the same name that won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, was finally released as scheduled. The film focuses on the unknown heroes on the hidden front, showing the family and country feelings and rough experiences of small people in the context of great history, and eulogizing the touching deeds of the ancestors who were loyal and devoted, which left the author with endless aftertaste.
Natural Talent and Eccentric People
Rong Jinzhen is undoubtedly the most important character in the film. He showed amazing mathematical talent since he was young and was noticed by people for solving difficult mathematical problems. Director Zheng of "701" was eager to recruit talents and loved them like his own sons, which eventually led him to the door of code decryption smoothly - and the wonderful story started from this.
The story is legendary, and the characters are even more peculiar. A famous writer once pointed out that traditional Chinese biographical literature has a long history, "but only writes about who the person is, but not how he became who he is", which often results in things being piled up and characters not being prominent. Rong Jinzhen's success and success are not only due to his special talents that ordinary people cannot achieve, but also because he lost his father at a young age and lived under the care of others, which led to his eccentric and eccentric personality, and even made it difficult for him to interact with others.
In the collectivist concept, it is difficult for such a person to achieve great things and become a heroic model of the times and the advanced class. However, "Decoding" insists on doing the opposite, not concealing the strange behavior of this hero, nor avoiding his eccentric paranoia.
For example, he would be at a loss when seeing a woman; he would get furious when his wife called him in the morning; he would be distracted and almost crazy when his notebook was stolen. He often couldn't tell the difference between dreams and reality, and couldn't tell the subject from the object... so much so that his wife Xiaomei cried out in agony: "Don't blame me for your failure!" "Those dreams gave him inspiration, but also devoured him."
Indeed, from a single perspective and common sense, Rong Jinzhen's words and deeds are bizarre to the point of being almost incomprehensible, but all of this is an indispensable part of his complete life. Strangeness and weirdness are the basis and cornerstone of the existence of this natural talent. The film writes about the character's internal contradictions, showing the power of wisdom and the pain of genius. As the two seemingly irreconcilable forces intertwine and advance in a confusing manner, the image of a new Chinese military decryption expert rarely seen in domestic films in recent years jumps onto the screen.
The personality of a genius can certainly be surprising, but it can never be fabricated at random, and the director cleverly drew on the findings of modern psychology.
We now know that the human brain has two modes of consciousness: realization consciousness and awakening consciousness. The former is a perceptual mode that enables people to concentrate and focus their attention to complete the goals they have promised to achieve. When people approach and reach the peak of consciousness, they can touch the source of their power and find the key to open their hearts and the world. However, when people overuse this consciousness, it will consciously or unconsciously control and change the structure of the brain, causing depression, anxiety and confusion due to excessive pressure. This is the inner texture of why geniuses are often alienated and lonely. There are many subtle and hidden areas hidden in their brain structure, and their hearts are full of struggles and challenges, which dooms them to not live a normal life.
With the help of literary adaptation, "Decoding" analyzes the thinking mode and behavior logic of this natural talent in depth. With the support of modern psychology, the character of Rong Jinzhen appears extremely real and credible. The exploration of "Decoding" undoubtedly opens up new ideas and boundaries for the creation of heroic characters on the screen.
It is also worth noting that the film sets up a solid and close social relationship around Rong Jinzhen's growth and progress. If his adoptive father, the vice president of Zhijing University, taught him to love his hometown and relatives, and Professor Hijs, his mentor, taught him to devote himself to science and never forget his teacher's kindness; then Director Zheng, as a revolutionary guide, taught him to be loyal to the country and the people. Recognizing talents, loving talents, cultivating talents, and cherishing talents have become a main thread throughout the film, step by step, layer by layer, laying the growth of Rong Jinzhen, an extraordinary hero, on a particularly solid foundation - here, the natural talent and the eccentric person blend seamlessly and seamlessly, which is the victory of the people's war and the high coupling of revolutionary heroism and romanticism.
Love for one's country and the beauty of humanity
The family and country feelings in "The Decryption" are closely integrated with the characters' social and life experiences.
Rong Jinzhen experienced the humiliation of foreign invasion in his childhood, witnessed the corruption and incompetence of the Kuomintang government when he was young, and then witnessed the revival of New China. From the time he translated the first telegram in a muddleheaded way and inadvertently "saved many lives", his sense of home and country began to sprout. After years of education and training at the 701 Institute, his sense of home and country arose spontaneously, became increasingly firm and mature, and eventually grew into a great hero who deciphered three advanced codes and 21 intermediate codes of the enemy. The character's unparalleled ability has continuously promoted the growth and development of the country and nation in selfless dedication. At the same time, the continuous development and progress of the country and nation is also increasingly strengthening and enhancing the character's sense of home and country. This is a complementary process, a political and historical logic. As a large-scale production with a main theme, the film convincingly shows the continuous growth and self-spiritual purification of a mathematician. His high-spiritual heroism and sense of home and country are always a valuable spiritual wealth.
What is more worthy of recognition is that the film does not stop at expressing and conveying family and country feelings from a common perspective, but strives to portray and highlight the value of the beauty of human nature from a more intrinsic perspective.
The adoptive father went through all kinds of hardships for Rong Jinzhen's growth; Director Zheng spent all his efforts to shape Rong Jinzhen. When he heard that Li Mei had thrown Rong Jinzhen to the ground, he blurted out a sentence of "It's broken, can you afford to pay for it?" and was furious. He almost lost the posture of a senior leader who had been through many battles. That kind of anxious expression, the concern that was beyond words, and the purity of the connotation were enough to move people. Even for Professor Hijs, who was both a teacher and an enemy, Rong Jinzhen always gave the greatest respect. This pair of enemies did not break up because of their different masters, but they cherished each other and felt sympathetic. In the end, in order to protect his mentor, he did not hesitate to withdraw his title as the person in charge of the decryption project. This is a genius cherishing another genius, and a student's highest respect for his teacher. This series of seemingly inadvertent strokes penetrates the fog and cover of history and elevates revolutionary humanitarianism and the potential beauty of human nature to a considerable height.
From this, we can better understand why Li Mei endured humiliation to fulfill her husband, why Vasily was determined to protect the hero, and why Director Zheng risked violating strict rules to save Rong Jinzhen's adoptive mother and sister... It is these noble personalities, the goodness and beauty of human nature that together play a high-spirited song of humanity. I think that using the feelings of family and country to set off the beauty of human nature, and using the beauty of human nature to set off the feelings of family and country is the brilliance and brilliance of this film.
Some insights and inspirations
The success of "The Decryption" has provided many inspirations for the creation of future spy films in my country.
First, we need to have new ideas.
Since the new era, there have been many domestic spy war suspense films, but not many of them have really left a deep impression on people. The reason is that they are all pretty much the same and lack new ideas. In recent years, the iteration speed of movie consumption has been getting faster and faster. Compared with the previous mainstream consumer groups, this generation of young audiences has greatly broadened their consumption willingness and consumption channels, and their consumption capacity and consumption demand have continued to increase. How to find a new way in this new context, the market and audiences have put forward urgent requirements.
In fact, new consumer demands are new development opportunities. Responding to the audience's constantly changing and improving aesthetic requirements will inevitably bring new vitality to the development of new-era movies. The iteration and upgrade of spy movies should be put on the agenda. The iteration and upgrade of movie consumption is actually the iteration and upgrade of imagination. If you can't reach the vector of the audience's imagination, how can your product attract him? How can you convince him to spend real money to watch your movie in the theater?
The experience of "Decryption" is that we must strive to break through the constraints of experience, step out of our comfort zone, and strive to improve our own imagination and innovation, technical creation, and iterative ability of content expression. By constantly optimizing ourselves and providing the audience with new emotional cognitive value, we can promote the growth of the consumer ecology and continue and expand the influence and penetration of spy films among the new generation of audiences.
The second is to have a big picture.
In the past, spy war movies focused more on story weaving, interpersonal conflicts and heroic behaviors, and failed to effectively express the broad spiritual pattern that strongly echoes the current era and historical emotions. "Decryption" has a broad vision and melts the thrilling struggles at home and abroad into one, including the close fighting between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party on the hidden front, the outbreak of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the infiltration of the intelligence department of the Taiwan authorities, the assassination of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the Kashmir Princess incident, the shooting down of the U2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the Chinese atomic bomb explosion... The huge ideological and historical capacity is intertwined with the strong desire of the characters to make achievements. It is impossible for the characters to be multi-faceted and three-dimensional, and it is difficult for the story to be not exciting. The reason why the deciphering of the black and purple codes is particularly important is that it is presented in this overall situation of fighting that affects the whole body.
It seems that making a spy film cannot be just for the sake of spy fighting. Once you have a broad vision, thoroughly study the overall background, and consolidate the coordinates, there will be more space and possibilities for the development of characters and stories.
Third, you need real craftsmanship.
In addition to the highlights mentioned above, the production of "Decryption" is also very sophisticated. Whether it is the use of color, the design of details, the management of scenes, or the use of music, they have all been meticulously crafted. It is said that in order to restore the costumes and props of the year, the crew tried every means to find old objects of that era. If they couldn't find them, they would use the design drawings to restore them in proportion with 3D printing; the "701" dormitory and work area were carefully built to completely replicate the surrounding environment of the protagonist's work and life; the photography was shot using IMAX special shooting throughout the process, using long-lens aesthetics to show the special battles on the hidden front, and using AI technology to create a film-like granular texture in the later stage, so that each shot has "its own personality". In particular, the creation of several dreams is magnificent and dynamic: the huge Ferris wheel, the endless sorghum field, and the red sandy beach with filters are all full of visual impact. It can be seen that there are tributes to Christopher Nolan, but there is no lack of its own unique rhythm and construction. This meticulous and meticulous craftsmanship is undoubtedly worth advocating in the creation of contemporary films.
(The author is a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and vice president of the Chinese Film Critics Society)
(Source: Wenhui Daily)
