If there is a movie that allows you to sit still for four hours, it can only be Robert De Niro's "Once Upon a Time in America." A movie for four hours may seem a bit lengthy, but four hours to condense the whole life seems unfinished. This is the charm of the classic American gangster epic film "Once Upon a Time in America": a gangster movie, but it is said It is the survival meaning of the whole life.
"Once Upon a Time in America" and "The Godfather"
"Once Upon a Time in America" is hailed as a classic American epic gangster movie. In the hearts of many people, its status is not even lower than that of Al Pacino's "The Godfather", but two films But there are essential differences: "The Godfather" is relatively macro, telling the huge operation and development history of the entire gang family; while "Once Upon a Time in America" is more delicate, telling the friendship stories of several street gangsters entangled for a lifetime. Although "Once Upon a Time in America" is full of struggles for the interests of gangsters, the focus of the movie has always been on the portrayal of character relationships and emotions. Therefore, to a certain extent, "Once Upon a Time in America" is a movie based on the background of gangsters. Character fate, to lead everyone to think about the true meaning of life in the movie. The emotion of the characters in the movie is too rich, so that everyone can't be calm for a long time after watching it.
A movie, a life
"Once Upon a Time in America" tells the story of "Noodles" (Robert De Niro) and Max (James Woods) headed by New York street gangsters who have experienced their lives and deaths together. Struggling, weaving a deep friendship, and finally being betrayed: the “noodles” of adolescence took his partner with him. It was just a gangster who made a living by robbing alcoholics on the street, but when Max joined , He quickly led the team to grow and become the new leader. But it is a pity that "Noodles" entered the prison in order to avenge the dead brother. After he was released from prison, things were already wrong, and the brotherhood was still there, but it was drifting away. In the end, because of different personal ideals, Max designed "noodles" and destroyed the entire team. 35 years later, when Max faced his inevitable fate, he found "noodles" and confessed everything he had. A movie tells the whole life of "Noodles".
Everyone is pursuing what is right in their hearts.
Friendship and love are the two main clues in "Once Upon a Time in America", while "Noodles", Max and Deborah are the main characters in the movie, friendship and love Love involves the relationship of these three people, but each of them is pursuing what he thinks is right: "noodles" struggle for friendship, and the discord in the family since he was young made him grow up in the streets, and friendship with his friends It is his most precious thing. In his life, the glory and wealth will never be as deep as the friendship of his brothers; Max fought for profit, and he was unwilling to be ordinary and yearned for more and greater wealth. When precious friendship hindered him When he accumulated his wealth, he chose to betray his brother without hesitation; Deborah struggled for his ideals and hated all kinds of humble people around him since childhood, looking forward to escape from here through his own efforts, in order to be able to go to Hollywood and abandoned "Noodle" love.
Life is a way to constantly miss the past in harvest.
All three people live for their own worth, but they seem to live unhappy in the end: the friendship that "noodles" sticks to has spent thirty years in endless self-blame For many years; Max has gained great wealth under high authority, but he can't escape the fate of being a survivor; Deborah eventually becomes a Hollywood star, but sacrifices her life's happiness. The end of the movie gives people a sense of tragedy that is not a tragedy. This sense of tragedy may stem from empathy in real life. In real life, each of us also firmly believes in a certain belief, and makes unremitting efforts to persevere and compromise for it, but in the end we may find that what we really pursue is far from being as perfect as we imagined. Life may be a matter of In the harvest, I constantly miss the path of the past. This is what makes "Once Upon a Time in America" different from other gangster movies. It uses the fate of little people to resonate with our true self. We don't have to fight and kill like them, but we will also face the helplessness of life and the confusion of our sense of value.
grows older, more lonely. In the end, only memories are left.
"Once Upon a Time in America" tells the life story of the movie characters in the three stages of old, middle and young in the way of interstitial and flashback. In the youth, everyone is very innocent, with friendship and expecting love. It is the most relaxed and harmonious period in the whole movie. Everyone’s deep friendship is also here.Established at that time; middle-aged life began to become complicated, because of the different growth environments of the characters, people's ways of looking at things were different, "noodles" still yearned for the innocent and good times in the past, and Max was higher and farther In the future, the conflict between friendship and self is slowly becoming irreconcilable; the rest of the old age is nothing but memories. No amount of pain or wealth has become a passing moment. Whether right or wrong, everyone can’t let go or the only thing in the past. A precious friendship. A person's life, with the passage of time, is the process of the accumulation of various emotions and wealth, and at the same time a process of the continuous loss of innocence and self. People's growth often comes at the price of compromise. The more you grow up, the more lonely you are. At the end of the day, the most precious thing is the memory of your own time.
believes that a better world can be beautiful.
"noodles" finally chose to forgive Max. He didn't shoot him. You can understand that it is "noodles" that Max doesn't care about life or death, but in fact "noodles" "He still clings to this friendship deep in his heart, because he knows that despite his mistakes, Max still misses that friendship in his heart, otherwise he wouldn't have such a show before he died. In the face of hatred, the way you look at hatred is very important. "Noodles" can completely remember that hatred killed Max, but he finally chose to let go of hatred and only believe in those beautiful things. The last side between him and Max, although watching By the time the story hides the truth for more than 30 years, he is more willing to believe the illusion in his heart. In his eyes, that good friend named Max had passed away 35 years ago. This reminds us of "The Fantastic Drifting of the Youth Pie" directed by Ang Lee, whether the cook killed the mother or the hyena killed the monkey. This happened is something we cannot change, but we can change our view of things The way to believe in beauty in your heart will make the world a better place.
A life and a dream
After reading the entire "Once Upon a Time in America", it is like a dream in another world, and whose life is not a dream anymore. We are like "noodles", like Max, like Deborah, are we looking for what we want, and what we lose is what we care about. A person's life is always wandering between gains and losses. No amount of time can wash away the little memories of the past. Life always has too much beauty and helplessness. "Once Upon a Time in America" is really not a movie about fame and fortune, but a life dream that we all want to immerse in the good memories of the past.
