Epigraph: From the other shore to this shore, love has always been on the way.
For a long time, movies have been my blind spot. It's not that I can't see them, but I have some resistance. Because I am a stubborn person, too much渲染and indoctrination has no meaning to me, even though I know they are right and accepting them would do no harm, but I always feel constrained. Those fancy theories of love, philosophies of life, and secular morals, in fact, you don't need to learn them, under the assimilation of life, what you should know, you already know. Even if you accept too many theories, you can't apply them in reality, because most of them can only appear in dramas. So, I might as well put up a wall between ideals and reality, so they don't meet.
This time watching "My Father and Mother" might be an exception, because I read about the merits of the movie in Annie's essays, a lot. Such as music, visuals, characters, and the simplicity and purity of the story. It has completely broken away from Zhang Yimou's usual style, no longer exposing the scars of feudal remnants in society, it is just a pure love art film.
In the morning, the sky was overcast, and such weather easily leads to depression. So, I turned on the network and watched "My Father and Mother".
Although I knew that this is a movie that has been around for at least ten years. The main characters who acted in the movie have all gone through their respective glorious decades in acting careers, and now both Zhang Ziyi and Sun Honglei are important figures in the entertainment industry. For the works that once brought them honor and glory, they have long faded from people's sight. But, art is never out of fashion.
The movie begins with snow covering the entire land, as well as Shengzi's hometown.
After receiving the news of his father's death, Shengzi rushed back to his hometown. When he pushed open the slightly ajar door, the cold house was empty, but there was no sign of his mother. The village chief said that mother had gone to the primary school where father used to teach. Since father's death, mother sat blankly by the gate of the primary school every day, crying. Shengzi was not surprised, he knew about the true feelings between his father and mother.
Next, the village chief told Shengzi that his father's body was still in the morgue of the county hospital. Because mother insisted on carrying father back manually from the county town, but due to the severe cold, no one wanted to endure the freezing weather! Now, it was up to Shengzi to make the decision.
Shengzi took out five thousand yuan from his pocket, handed it to the village chief, and asked him to arrange this matter. Yes, no matter what, he didn't want to disappoint his mother. After bidding farewell to the village chief, Shengzi went to the school and found his mother. In the biting cold wind, the aged mother shivered, sitting facing the dilapidated school filled with memories. This was where father worked all his life, spending countless winters and summers here. Here, there were also the laughter, tears, and expectations left behind in the prime of mother's youth. Shengzi even knew that without this school, there wouldn't be the love between father and mother.
Shengzi supported his mother back to the old house, and mother asked Shengzi to bring out the long-forgotten loom. She wanted to weave a coffin cover for Shengzi's father. Although Shengzi insisted on buying one from the store, he couldn't persuade his mother's obstinacy. Shengzi knew that mother's feelings for father were abundant. Therefore, he carried the broken loom and walked a long distance to let the master repair it. He was a reserved and profound man like his father, understanding that mother's love for father had penetrated through the dust of time.
That night, mother sat in front of the loom, radiant. It was the last thing she could do for her lifelong companion, and she was happy.
All night, Shengzi was reminiscing. Recalling the stories about father that mother told him.
The year mother met father, she was eighteen. That year, the village built a school. Father was a promising young man from a nearby county, accidentally came here to teach. On the day father arrived, the village was unusually lively, and all the villagers stood at the entrance to warmly welcome him. Father was surrounded by the village leaders as he walked along. Mother stood among the crowd looking forward, because she heard it was a young man, so she was curious. But mother was the only water-spiritual girl hard to overlook in the crowd, she always wore a bright red cotton jacket, with a red scarf around her neck, her black eyes emanating a lively and simple charm. If a boy in his prime saw her, he would remember her forever.
I don't know whether father imprinted mother's appearance in his heart during that first glance. But later, on the day he was invited to eat at mother's home for the first time, father remembered mother's smiling face forever. Her slight smile was like a blooming tender rose, father stood outside the fence staring for a long time. Then he entered, and ate.
This meal thoroughly revealed the secret of love buried deep in mother's heart.
After the meal, while mother was tidying up the dishes, she timidly asked father, do you recognize this blue-and-white bowl? Father shook his head, then grandmother told father, Zhao Di (mother) brings food to the construction site every day with this bowl, she hopes you will take this bowl and eat the food she made. Father suddenly realized, and smiled, evading by saying, oh, I thought this bowl looked familiar. Mother said, then tell me, what did you eat yesterday? Father couldn't answer immediately. Mother smiled and went out. At that moment, father understood mother's intentions.
Love, perhaps in an instant, quietly takes root. But father, what he didn't know was that mother fell in love with him much earlier. On the first day he came to the village, after seeing him, she started to have feelings. In each sunrise thereafter, under the azure sky, amid the children's clear reading voices, mother detoured a long way. Originally fetching water from the front well, she changed to the back well. Just to hear the voice of her beloved. In countless dusks, on the long yellow earth road where he sent students far away, mother painstakingly lingered, hesitated, seeking an excuse for an unexpected encounter. And that kind of bitter yet pleasant torment was something father would never know.
But, no matter what. Father finally realized that mother was infatuated with him. And wasn't he also harboring the same feelings?
On the second visit, originally they had agreed to eat mushroom-filled dumplings, but he just sent a small hairpin and left. People in the village said he got into trouble in the city and probably couldn't come back. Hearing this, mother took the steaming hot dumplings out of the pot and ran all the way, wanting him to definitely eat these dumplings. Unfortunately, her steps couldn't catch up with the horse carriage, he left by horse carriage. Standing on the hilltop, she faintly saw the horse carriage galloping rapidly, so she continued chasing, eventually slipping in the thorny bushes. She slowly got up, tears falling drop by drop, landing on the broken pieces of the bowl, she carefully wrapped them up, disheartened walking on the road.
The next day, mother fell ill. In her coma, she dreamed of father, so she struggled to get up, dragging her sick body despite grandmother's obstruction, determined to tread the snowy path to the county to find father. Everyone knew it was a wrong move. As a result, she fainted halfway and was sent back by a nearby villager. This stunning action quickly spread throughout the surrounding villages, and people were all amazed at mother's boldness. In that special era, when most people didn't even know what love was, mother was so audacious, showing that her love for father was already as deep as the sea. Yes, in the days when father wasn't around, she would go to the dilapidated classroom late at night and paste the broken wooden window frames with white paper, and then stick beautiful paper cuttings on them. She carefully cherished that place, just like cherishing her own home. Her actions might have moved heaven. On a snowy morning, she had just woken up, and grandmother told her, Chang Yu (father) has returned (Chang Yu is my father). Instantly, a string of happy tears flowed from mother's eyes.
She ran wildly, the thick snow under her feet making heavy sounds. She heard him reciting, "Big things, small things, pick up the pen and record," that familiar and magnetic voice finally echoed in her ears again. She reached there, and the villagers surrounded the school tightly. She stood quietly for a long time, they saw her, and kindly shouted, Mr. Luo, Zhao Di has come to see you. Father stood far away, and smiled.
Although later, father returned to the county for some transformation, but soon came back, after all, he had no bad historical baggage.
Yes, this is the love between father and mother. Simple and passionate. Simple because there were no twists or mistakes, no third parties, and no obstacles from family or background. Passionate because it was a special era, when love was not yet widely known, they had quietly crossed a beautiful gap! A touching first love story that happened in a special era but was not bound by it, and this first love, was not a fleeting glimpse, loving, was a lifetime.
Shengzi finally understood why mother insisted on carrying father back manually. Because, their love has always been related to this road, loving, waiting, and parting. Mother just wanted father to retrace this road that accompanied her entire life one last time. On this road, there are their shared memories. If there is another life, remember to remember this road that belongs to them.
From this shore of this life, to the other shore of the next life, love has always been on the way!