In a sense, "The Stranger" is not a movie, but more like a sad elegy, which remembers not only the West that was not destroyed by the white people who were once self-interested, but also the hearts of the people who have not been deserted.
The film deliberately filters out the color rendering, in the way of black and white films, so that the audience can focus on the plot and characters, the speeding train, the wasteland, the jungle, the desert, the polite passengers in the train car become rude gun hunters, the film gives the audience a strong hint at the beginning, from civilization into the wild west, this journey is destined to be extremely dangerous.
To briefly introduce the plot, William Blake (Johnny Depp), an American boy from Cleveland, goes to the western town of Madson to make a living, and he plans to apply for an accountant at a local factory. Missing out on his job, he was ruthlessly kicked out by the factory owner Dickinson.
Later, he meets Thiel, a flower seller, outside a tavern, and the two have feelings for each other, and after spending a good night together in the hotel where the flower seller lives, he happens to be bumped into by Charlie, Thiel's ex-boyfriend and the youngest son of the factory owner Dickinson, and in an unpredictable accident, Charlie pulls out his gun, the bullet passes through Thiel's body and shoots into Blake's chest, Thiel dies tragically, and the terrified Blake is forced to defend himself, shoots and kills Charlie, and flees the town on a spotted horse.
Next is the most exciting part of the film - Blake's escape journey, in this journey, the transformation of Blake's life, the nameless wisdom of the Indians, the pursuit of three killers, under the transformation of the scenery of the river in the western dense forest, under the change of day and night, one by one, coupled with the melodious electric guitar sound, injecting the film with a sad fateful background, this is a one-way life journey, and the end is the destination of all souls.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > a secret composition</h1>
It has to be said that the director used metaphorical composition to turn the film into an allegorical poem. When Blake shot and killed two police officers (one of whom was accidentally injured). The head of a fallen policeman pressed against the ashes of a fire arranged in a ring of branches, like a crown crowned to him by nature, endowed with the meaning of God. After the killer Cole saw this scene, he cruelly stomped on the head of the corpse, challenging the psychological endurance of the audience, highlighting that in this west where there is no distinction between right and wrong, black and white, the gods will be mercilessly desecrated, let alone people. It also confirms the words that Nameless said to Blake: "The gun will replace your tongue, and here you will learn to speak with it and write poetry with blood." ”
Another scene is when Blake meets a deer that has been shot to death, he mixes the deer's blood with his own blood, makes a mark on his face, and then quietly snuggles next to the dead deer, recording what Blake sees at the angle of the upward beat: the sky, the surface is covered with frosted tree trunks, the picture rotates, time and space pass, and people can't help but think of the poem that Nameless often recites: "Every night, every morning, some people are doomed to suffering." Every night, every morning, some people are destined to be happy. Some are destined to be happy, and some are destined to endure the endless night. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > the inner meaning of the movie motif "Do You Have Smoke?"</h1>
Motifs refer to the main elements that appear repeatedly in the film. Always linked to the subject, it serves to reveal the subject. In this sense, the recurring "Do you have smoke" in this film is an important motif of this film.
Nameless asked this question when he first saw Blake. Blake replied that there was no smoke because he didn't smoke. From the point of view of Blake and the audience, this seems to be a simple and correct answer, and it is only after repeated occurrences that it arouses attention and reflection.
The killers, Cole and Conway, who found the bodies of two policemen, also said, "They certainly didn't have any cigarettes." "It seems that anyone familiar with the western law of survival knows what it means.
The phrase "Do you have a cigarette?" finally appeared as a parting gift from Blake, who was looking for a resting place of life, and by this time Blake understood the meaning of the phrase, and although he replied that he did not smoke, he still held it tightly.
So, what exactly does "do you have a cigarette" mean, and different audiences have different understandings of its interpretation. I think the phrase "Do you have a cigarette?" should be a kind of reliance for people who survive in Westworld, which can be an extraordinary ability, some kind of object or a spirit. With it, you can rely on the west of the weak and the strong, under the natural law of survival of the fittest, at least in exchange for the capital to continue to survive.
From Blake's answer, it is not difficult for the audience to find that from the initial "I did not" to "I sold it", Blake's transformation from a jerky cream boy to a tough guy who makes the killer feel frightened is the best answer.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > the evolution and change of Westerns from "The Exodus"</h1>
As one of the oldest film genres, Westerns have specific story materials and narrative patterns. The film generally revolves around the contradiction between immigrants and native Indians in the Westward Expansion Movement in the United States, and although many themes are involved, the core is still the conflict between civilization and the wilderness. The conflict between these has had different emphases and changes in different eras.
During the period of Hollywood's big studios, Westerns had a modernist style, emphasizing individual heroism, and establishing an orderly civilized world in the wild West through personal efforts. Railway construction, cowboy culture, small town good men and gunmen frequently appear on the screen, "Guan Shan Feidu", "Chivalrous Tenderness", "Searcher" is a typical representative of this period.
Beginning in the last century, with the defeat of the Vietnam War, anti-war ideologies emerged in the United States, and it also began to re-examine the policy of expulsion of Indians that was almost genocidal in the original "Westward Movement". Dancing with Wolves is a prime example.
From the perspective of overturning the case for Sioux Indians, the film tells the story of Dunbar, a white American officer, who volunteered to garrison the Western Front after the Civil War, and ended up making friends with Indians who did not speak the language and culture. The film shows the ferocious and violent side of the white soldiers to the fullest, while the Indians are portrayed as representatives of peace and friendliness. In addition, the ideal that nations should abandon struggle and coexist peacefully was put forward, and the melody of fraternity, equality and peace was played.
"The Alien" should be a continuation and development of this trend of thought. The difference is that director Jarmusch has gone further, and in a way that challenges mainstream culture, he makes the film more acute and profound than "Dancing with Wolves", not only depicting to us the western world of crisis, the weak and the strong, and the national opposition, but more importantly, the fate of people in the western world is like duckweed, and the soul is nowhere to rest.
The film's almost only female character, Thiel, is pushed into the mire; killer Cole brutally eats the hands of his companions; the homes of Indians burned down on the banks of the river; and even priests, cloaked in hypocritical human skins, sell blankets with viruses to unsuspecting Indians.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > conclusion</h1>
At the end of the film, a boat made of cedar carries the dying Blake to the deep sea, the sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the nameless says that it is the home of all souls, and perhaps the only pure land far away from the westworld.