In Yang Dechang's movie "One One", there is a famous line:
"After the invention of the movie, the life of human beings has been extended by at least three times." The sentence
, Uncle Yu deeply agrees.
's magical world of light and shadow, so that the small me, who is confined to a limited time and bounded space, has unlimited possibilities to experience. The
movie brought the world to me.
is even enough for me to experience the future.
And the work below is great because it allows me to experience 14 real life at once.
is shocking, and there is no other word to describe it-
"Seven Years of Life 9"
63 Up
This documentary was rated as the top of the "50 Greatest Documentaries of All Time" by , .
spans more than half a century.
In 1964, the director had a whim and found 14 7-year-old children to make the first season of "Seven Years of Life". After
, every 7 years, the film crew will find these 14 children again and shoot another season.
is already the ninth season this year.
’s 7-year-old child has now become a 63-year-old man, and the story is still being serialized.
has been unfinished in the drama, but this film has always maintained a super high standard.
sits firmly in the position of God's work, this time he returns to 9.6 again.
Watching this film is like driving at 7 times speed, and it has gone through the lives of several people.
Through the lens, we can get a glimpse of different aspects of life, each of which may change the final direction.
This is not a movie, there is no script.
is shocking because it is real.
Uncle Yu spent three days to see these people from childhood to old age.
is entirely from the perspective of God.
then discovered that there are roughly three factors that affect life.
▶▶Family and class
Tony is a child of a working family and grew up in East London. When
was a child, he liked fighting and thought that any problem could be solved by fighting.
talked about class differences, 7-year-old Tony pinched his nose to learn to speak "the first class", rolled his eyes:
"they are crazy."
asked about his ideals. Tony said that "wants to be an equestrian" .
At the age of 14, Tony took a step closer to his ideals, became an equestrian apprentice and participated in several competitions.
However, due to lack of talent, he finally gave up his ideal of equestrian.
is 28 years old and Tony owns a taxi of his own.
He has been a taxi driver for decades.
56 years old, Tony sold his house to invest in Spain, but the investment failed.
Later he returned to England and continued to drive a taxi.
is now 63 years old, and Tony, who re-drives a taxi, is having trouble again.
Uber and other online ride-hailing services have greatly reduced his income.
Tony has spent most of his life and still has to worry about economic problems .
is in sharp contrast to Andrew from an elite family.
His father is a financial practitioner. When
was 7 years old, when asked what he usually read, Andrew was already talking.
"I read "Financial Times" and I am very interested in stocks."
He also knows his education plan very well.
can already tell which elementary school, junior high school, high school, and university he will go to in the future.
As expected, Andrew moved forward steadily step by step. When
was 21, all his predictions about himself at the age of 7 came true.
is 21 years old, and Andrew continues to predict.
He said that he wanted to be a successful lawyer.
So he studied law in Cambridge.
is 28 and officially became a lawyer.
is 35 years old and became a partner of the law firm. A few years later, he joined the legal department of a large British industrial company. Shortly after
, the company was acquired by Germany.
is now 63 years old and Andrew is about to retire.
He and his wife have lived in the country, usually travel .
's trip in Japan is the most memorable, so when they got home, transformed their courtyard into a Japanese garden .
Standing in the 63-year-old age group, Tony and Andrew were both asked about their views on the class system.
Tony said, "has always been us and them, two kinds of people, two worlds."
and Andrew of "Another World" has similar views.
He said, "I do have more choices than others, and I am very lucky."
Actually, the huge contrast between Andrew and Tony is expected. What kind of family and class
comes from, what kind of person will eventually become.
This is cruel, but reality is often like this. The so-called "starting line" of
is determined at the moment of birth. After
, the vision, planning, knowledge, and the way of life all come from this.
is also a 7-year-old kid, and Andrew knew the Financial Times and worked hard to understand stocks. The family provided him with a sufficiently high vision and perspective.
and Tony, he realized class antagonism at a young age. He has used
as "they" since childhood.
As for whether he can become "us" with "them", Tony has never thought about it for more than 50 years.
What we often say is "a large number of beings", and most of the people who are difficult to escape from the solidification of the class are the Tonys.
They didn't want to change, and they didn't know how to change, letting themselves be pushed forward by life.
Of course, there is no need to be too pessimistic.
Because there are still many ways to achieve class leaping in this world, it depends on whether you are willing to fight for it and whether you are lucky enough.
This is what I will say next, the second factor that affects life-
▶▶Learning and ambition
Nick is a farmer’s child.
He had a strong desire to "break free" and "escape" since he was a child.
Most others are content with the quiet life in the country, but he yearns for the splendor of the city. When
was 14, Nick became more certain. Director
asked him which course he liked.
He replied confidently, "I like physics, but I won't study here." When
was 21 years old, Nick got his wish.
left the farm and was admitted to Oxford University for physics. In just seven years,
has grown tremendously.
Nick at the age of 14 is a very shy little boy.
is not good at speech, blushes easily, and always puts his face away:
"I don't want to answer this question."
But at the age of 21, Nick was like a new person .
has bright eyes, talkative, charming and confident.
28 years old, Nick immigrated to the United States and entered a university to become a researcher.
35 years old, he was promoted to assistant professor.
is 42 years old and he has become a full professor.
Nick is unwilling to be reconciled to his inherent background, and he has gone further and further in the years since he grew up.
moved from the countryside to Oxford, and then immigrated from England to the United States.
is therefore unwilling to go home.
Until the death of his parents, the number of times he returned to his hometown can be counted with one hand.
And as time goes by, every time goes home, it is heavier than the last time.
Nick is now 63 years old.
He is suffering from throat cancer, and the treatment drugs have made his blood thin. This time he was interviewed in the hospital.
He dared not talk about the future, but instead talked about his views on politics.
He doesn't like Trump very much.
As for death, he said that he was not worried, but that his family was sad. When
talked about this issue, looked away from the camera for a long time, just as he did when he was a child.
Nick’s life trajectory looks exciting. He is the only one among 14 children who has broken class and achieved a leap.
cliché, knowledge changes destiny. The
exam is indeed a visible and easiest opportunity to grasp.
sometimes hears "sour words", saying that prestigious universities may not be able to teach much. They are diligent enough to learn knowledge by themselves.
But one thing that should be seen clearly is.
At the university level, the significance of the school is more than just knowledge and academic qualifications. What
is more valuable is the people you are in contact with and the environment in which you are in contact, the vision, opportunities, and more "possibility."
At the same time, Uncle Yu believes that the core of Nick's success is not being admitted to a prestigious school.
, but his desire is urgent and clear.
A 7-year-old child can tell "If I can change the world, I hope to turn it into a diamond." The potential of is unlimited.
He has the courage to dream.
He does not obey the fate arrangement at birth, but spends his whole life looking for a place where he wants to belong. All realization and leaping of
is just a matter of time.
▶▶Marriage and love
People will have two families in their lifetime. One of
cannot be chosen, and the original family is determined at the moment of birth; the other
is a reorganized marriage family that is independently chosen by adulthood.
Paul is a child who grew up in an orphanage.
was sent to live in an orphanage because his parents separated;
was brought to Australia by his stepfather after his mother remarried. When
was 7 years old, Paul was different from other children.
He always looks melancholy, speaks very slowly, speaks vaguely, and only promises.
He said, "don't like older children hitting me" .
Speaking of the ideal after growing up, Paul also has his own idiomatic sentence:
when he was 7 years old, he said, "I want to be a policeman, , but it is difficult for a policeman to be admitted to ." When
was 14 years old, he said, "I want to be a physical education teacher, , but to be a physical education teacher you have to finish university ."
Paul's logic has always been "I think...but...", he was very unconfident since he was young.
At the same time, he still does not believe in marriage.
He doesn't think he can live with anyone for a long time. When
was growing up, every time he was asked about marriage, he would say, "I don't want to get married."
28 years old, he met his wife. The wife of
told the director, "Paul is very handsome, , but he doesn't know about , especially in summer when he wears shorts and Paul’s butt is very uplifted. Director
asked, what attracts you most about Paul? The wife of
replied that "is his sense of helplessness that inspired my maternal instinct."
They lived an ordinary life in Australia and had two children.
Now both children have grown up and have their own small families.
A family enjoys a happy life.
is 56 years old. When a reporter asks any questions, Paul always looks at his wife and says, "I have to wait for her to answer first."
Then the old couple laughed.
Paul said that over the years, his biggest change is that he will no longer feel entangled with inferiority complex, nor will he be ashamed to express his emotions.
Now he finally dared to say "I love you" to people, especially to his wife.
Regarding Paul's changes, his wife replied:
"Two people will influence each other when they are together. I'm very decisive, so he won't be entangled."
To be honest, "class leap" is too difficult for most people.
Throughout our lives, if we can achieve "self-improvement", it will be enough without regret.
Paul, who grew up with a childhood shadow, can meet people who truly love him and support each other.
has gone through half a century of ups and downs, from a depressed ordinary person to a happy ordinary person, which is also a kind of happiness. If
does not take money status as the value standard, then in fact, everyone in this documentary is happy. Tony, the taxi driver mentioned at the beginning of
, although he didn't make a lot of money, his life was ordinary.
can also enjoyHave a happy life.
When he was a child, he was a lively child, hyperactive and playful, always shaking his head in front of the camera. After
gets old, he is still a lovely old man.
Once, Tony's taxi pulled a celebrity passenger, and a passerby outside knocked on his car window and said he wanted to sign.
Tony turned around subconsciously and said to the celebrity that someone wanted you to sign.
But the passers-by outside said, "No, what I want is your signature." When
talked about this in his fifties, Tony still laughed wildly and was particularly excited.
"I am more popular than the second person to land on the moon!"
Among the 14 interviewees, only one person has passed away until this year.
Lynn .
She grew up in the East End of London and became a librarian at the age of 21, responsible for distributing books to children.
has been in this profession for a lifetime.
also experienced a lot of setbacks and ups and downs in the middle, but until the age of 50, she still sticks to this line.
is an inconspicuous job for outsiders. It doesn't make a lot of money, let alone straddling class, but Lynn loves it very much.
love from the bottom of my heart.
When the director is worth it, Lynn, who is in her forties, will still burst into tears with excitement:
is "worth it."
Five years ago, Lynn died of illness. In this year's film, her husband and two daughters are sitting in front of the camera instead of being interviewed. After
passed away, Lynn’s library was renamed after her to commemorate her contributions.
The ordinary life of an ordinary person was completely recorded by the eight seasons of the program.
was born in the ordinary and died in the ordinary.
dedicated his life to a small library and took care of countless children of all kinds.
and feel happy and satisfied for this.
When Lynn was interviewed for the last time by the show, the director tried to ask a question, "You are to your life..."
Before he finished speaking, Lynn rushed to answer:
"I am very satisfied with my lifestyle."
This is enough. When
first started shooting this documentary, he always talked about "class".
seems to want to reflect more profound and heavier real problems by recording the lives of these 14 children.
This may also be the original intention of shooting.
But with the passage of half a century, in the end, it turns out that the word "class" is no longer important.
"Achieving class leap" is indeed the ideal and goal of many people, and it is a way to achieve satisfaction.
is just one of them.
is because there are tens of thousands of happiness.
After looking at these 14 real lives, Uncle Yu realized that, in fact, everyone's goals in life are very similar. In the final analysis,
is nothing but satisfaction and peace for .
Whether you are a lawyer, a professor, driving a taxi, or a librarian. The most important thing about
is not what others have seen, but what you have experienced in the process.
Class, status, money, and titles are just rules framed by mainstream society, but happiness is not in these, but in people's hearts.
The happiness in my heart, why does it need the approval and approval of others?
Every little happiness is a great happiness.
At the beginning, we thought that all roads lead to Rome, so everyone was full of hope;
later, we found that some people lived in Rome, and some people would not be able to reach Rome in their entire lives, so we were so depressed;
has been through most of our lives, The answer in front of us is like a joke, teasing everyone we are searching up and down in the hardship-
some people don't want to go to Rome.
And such people can also be happy.
