In many people's minds, " let the bullets fly " released in 2010 is the most influential work of Jiang Wen 's film, and it can best reflect his style. The rich details and philosophical lines in the film have made countless fans have fun in solving the mystery.
As a director, Jiang Wen's works are not many. Released in 1995, " Sunny Days " was his debut and one of his most highly rated works. After that, Jiang Wen directed "The Devil Is Coming" and " The Sun Also Rises ". One of these two films,
, is highly rated in the industry, but it is forbidden to be released in China. The other one suffered a serious failure at the box office and word of mouth because Jiang Wen was too self-expression. They all cast a shadow of failure on Jiang Wen's directorial career to varying degrees.
was the denial and ridicule of domestic audiences (thinking that he was just an art film director who would lose money to investors), and Jiang Wen's doubts about his own abilities. At that time, he was undoubtedly on the cusp of the storm.
Therefore, Jiang Wen's "Let the Bullets Fly" is more like a negative work. Just to prove to the audience and himself that he can also make a commercial film "like this". The result of
There is no doubt that he did it: the film finally took more than 600 million box office, breaking a number of records; at the same time, Douban attracted 1.01 million people to participate in the rating, and finally got a high score of 8.8.
Jiang Wen raised his eyebrows with this movie.
Throughout the film, Jiang Wen included the characteristics of magical realism and revolutionary romanticism under the framework of the story of the two main protagonists of the film. In addition, a lot of " Zhou Xingchi style" black humor has been injected, taking into account the attributes of literature, art and business.
Today, this article mainly starts from the story level of the film, analyzes the plot structure of the film, and analyzes the changes in the heart of the protagonist Zhang Muzhi , as well as the struggle between Zhang Muzhi and Huang Shilang . In addition, the article will also conduct a detailed analysis of the film's major doubts.
So, the article is a bit long, but it's definitely sincere.
The story structure of the film
Regarding the story structure of the film, Jiang Wen himself summed up the three stages of Muzhi - " people to objects" , "people to people" and "people to heart" . These three stages of Muzhi are also the three parts of the film's story.
01. The man-to-object stage (Zhang Muzhi's period of the gangster)
The man-to-item stage is also the stage of Muzhi's gangster, Zhang Muzhi wants money to survive.
In the movie, Zhang Mazi (Muzhi) and his brothers grab a train in the mountains, but they get nothing. Through the words of the captured Master Tang , I knew that being the county magistrate is a way to make money, so I decided to pretend to be the magistrate and enter Goose City .
It was only when he arrived in Goose City that he realized that the most powerful person here was not the county magistrate, but Huang Shilang. If you want to make money, you must not only join forces with Huang Shilang and oppress the people. Moreover, it is still "kneeling" to make money, because the big head is still Huang Shilang's.
The upright Muzhi not only wants to make money, but also does not want to bow down to Huang Shilang and oppress the people. In his words, he wanted to "make money while standing".
So in order to make money, Muzhi stood on the opposite side of Huang Shilang, and the movie opened the core of the story, that is, the prelude of the two-person fight.
02. Human-to-human stage (Muzhi and Huang Shilang fight)
Muzhi and Huang Shilang confrontation, Master Tang "mediate" in the middle. The three of them form a mysterious "iron triangle".
- The first round: a contest with jelly sellers as a gimmick
The first round of the fight between the two sides is that Mu Zhi used Wu Juren to beat the jelly sellers. He interrogated Wu Juren at the county government and forced him to kneel with a gun.
Muzhi's play not only established his official prestige in front of the people, but also occupied the advantage of public opinion. The most important thing is that if you hit Huang Shilang's martial artist, he hit Huang Shilang in the face. This move is Muzhi's retaliation for the dismay that Huang Shilang began to give.
So how did Huang Shilang fight back?
First of all, let's look at the location. Muzhi tried the case in the county government office, but Huang Shilang chose the tea talk hall outside the county government office. There is no doubt that this is a challenge to the authority of the county magistrate, and it is also a declaration to the public that Huang Shilang's status in Goose City is still higher than that of the county magistrate.
Let's look at the characters again, Mu Zhi tried Wu Juren and borrowed it from Wu Juren who beat and sold jelly. And Huang Shilang counterattacked, and also used jelly.
The former has won the hearts and minds of the people by selling jelly.
The latter tried to "return the same way", using the jelly seller to create public opinion, slandering Xiao Liuzi after eating two bowls of noodles, but giving money for a bowl. The actual purpose was to lure Xiao Liuzi to commit suicide and anger Muzhi, thus breaking the image of "good county magistrate" that Muzhi had just established.
Therefore, after Xiao Liuzi died, Mu Zhi wanted to kill Hu Wan, only to be stopped by the master with "killing heart".
This back and forth, both sides used violence. Huang Shilang's violence is obvious, making people dare not speak out. The violence on Muzhi's side, forcing Wu Juren to kneel with guns at the beginning was "justice" and won the hearts and minds of the people; later, Xiaoliuzi used guns to force the sellers of jelly to tell the truth, although their purpose was also justice, but what they got The result is not justice, but puts himself at the forefront of public opinion. In the first round of
, Muzhi's side gained the advantage of public opinion with the tragic death of Xiaoliuzi (because the jelly was still jelly, and Xiaoliuzi ate a bowl of noodles). It also turned the confrontation between the two into a positive.
At this time, for Muzhi, making money is no longer important, and eradicating Huang Shilang is more important.
- Round 2: Hongmen Banquet
Muzhi pretended to go to the banquet, and its real purpose was to assassinate Huang Shilang. The whole banquet was held in a sometimes calm and sometimes tense atmosphere. Seemingly chaotic and disorderly, in fact everything is orderly. The banquet scene
takes the death of three of Huang Shilang's subordinates (Hu Wan, the jelly seller, and Wu Juren) as the nodes of the plot development.
The first node: Muzhi told Huang Shilang that he did not want to make money from the poor, but only wanted to make money from the rich. In Goose City, the richest man is Huang Shilang.
But for Zhang Muzhi's move, Huang Shilang responded that Zhang Mazi had stolen a lot of his money, and transferred the gun to Zhang Mazi.
At this time, the jelly seller is dead.
The second node: change Huang Shilang to fight back. He told Muzhi that if he wanted money, he could go to suppress the gangsters, and questioned Muzhi's ability and courage.
At this time, Muzhi blew the code and got a response from his brothers. It hinted that Huang Shilang, Zhang Mazi couldn't get in this impregnable tower, but he could.
At this point the second person dies (actually suspended animation).
The third stage: Muzhi promised to suppress the bandits, and the two sides agreed that the money will be divided into half. Huang Shilang presented two diamonds as a welcome gift to wish a successful cooperation.
The last person dies (also suspended animation).
At this Hongmen banquet, Muzhi gave up on assassinating Huang Shilang. This is a rational return, because he knows that as long as he is assassinated, his brothers' lives will not be saved.
In addition, there is actually a hidden line buried here. Why did Huang Shilang "glare at him" when he started to say that the money of the two major families was three or seven cents. But when it comes to the money to suppress the bandits, Huang Shilang is the masterMove to half points?
This is undoubtedly a huge benefit to tempt Muzhi to promise to suppress the bandits. We also learned later that in the name of suppressing bandits, Huang Shilang asked Zhang Mazi to kill five good county magistrates before and after. And Muzhi was the next target Huang Shilang wanted to kill.
- The third round: the contest between the two sides as "snag bandits" (killing chickens to retrieve eggs, kidnapping people at funerals)
After giving out the diamonds, Huang Shilang immediately summoned his subordinates and asked them to pretend to be bandits and break into the county government office, trying to get rid of Muzhi. quick.
But Muzhi escaped because he slept with Master Tang, but the county magistrate's wife died in her sleep.
Taking advantage of the death of Xiao Liuzi and his wife, Muzhi held a funeral and asked the whole city to attend. At the funeral, he asked his brothers to kidnap the two patriarchs and Huang Shilang (substitute) as hemp bandits, and pay a huge ransom within three days.
, who got a table of ransom money, didn't choose to stop, so he left. Instead, let the brothers give money to the poor as hemp bandits. Muzhi's behavior, in addition to the connotation of "robbing the rich to help the poor", is actually the most important thing to "launder" the hemp bandits and smash the rumors of stealing money before.
In order to break Muzhi's situation, Huang Shilang first pretended to be a hemp bandit and took back the money they had given to the poor. Not only that, he also bullied women. This undoubtedly made the "hemp bandit" notorious once again, and public opinion turned to him again.
later tried to create a "snag bandit" fire scene, causing the county magistrate to die tragically. However, Muzhi used Hu Wan's body to smash it back into the game, and forced Huang Shilang to invest 1.8 million to suppress the bandits.
Muzhi went out of the city to suppress the bandits, while Huang Shilang asked Zhang Mazi to ambushed with a bomb, and the struggle between the two sides reached a fevered stage.
The last second child and Master Tang both died tragically, the real Zhang Mazi Muzhi killed the fake Zhang Mazi.
03. People-to-heart stage
Muzhi has since the first stage and wanted to grab money. In the end, I just wanted to grab Huang Shilang's money. In the end, at a heavy price, Huang Shilang grabbed 1.8 million yuan, and he could have returned to the mountains and continued to be his Zhang Mazi.
But Muzhi chose to follow his heart and returned to Goose City. The reason for this is also the factor of revenge for Xiao Liuzi, wife, second child, and Master Tang in order to kill Huang Shilang.
But the most important thing is to do justice in the heart. As Mu said to Huang Shilang later, money is not important, and Huang Shilang itself is not important, but it is very important without Huang Shilang.
At this stage, Muzhi and Huang Shilang's fighting style is essentially a fight for people's hearts. Whoever gets the hearts and minds wins.
is also a psychological confrontation. Zhang Muzhi not only wants to get rid of Huang Shilang's body, but also destroys his "heart".
- In the first round,
Muzhi distributed all the 1.8 million silver to the people, and the people of Goose City took all the money at night. But the next day, when Huang Shilang's carriage came, the money was thrown out again.
The people want money, but Huang Shilang is so powerful that the people have succumbed to the lustful power. At this time, Huang Shilang was very important in the hearts of the people of Goose City.
- In the second round
Zhang Muzhi chose to fire the gun this time, and the people also took it away at night. This is like what Huang Shilang said, taking money is greed, taking guns is anti.
The next day, Huang Shilang's carriage still pulled out to close the gun, but because the horse was beaten to death by Muzhi. The anger and resistance in the people's hearts were ignited by him. When
shouted "Gun in hand, follow me" seven times, people responded. Just when Muzhi thought he had won the hearts of the people, when he rushed to Huangsilang's Diaolou, he realized that only fifty geese followed.
At this time, Muzhi finally realized that the common people would not follow suit.Risky, only whoever wins will they follow.
- In the third round,
Muzhi hacked to death Huang Shilang's substitute Yang Wanlou in front of the people, but the real Huang Shilang became a substitute. Let everyone think that in this battle, the county magistrate won. The people before
who dared to be angry and dared not speak, broke out in an instant, and rushed to the front of the capture of Huangshilang's Diaolou.
It can be said that in the battle between Muzhi and Huang Shilang, in essence, he lost. As a righteous party, it can only use lies to win the superficial victory.
This is the same as "The Dark Knight", Batman in order to maintain the victory of justice and save the soul of Gotham City, and bear Harvey's crime and become the dark knight.
What are the two things that Master Tang said to deceive Muzhi?
- The first thing
The first thing should be that Master Tang secretly colluded with Huang Shilang. The death of the second child, and the identity of Muzhi's Zhang Mazi would be exposed, all because he passed the news to Huang Shilang. The reasons for
are the following three points:
First of all, in the film, when Muzhi arranged for the second child to go out of the city, the camera specially gave Master Tang an eavesdropping shot.
Secondly, before the bandits were suppressed, Huang Shilang just doubted Muzhi's identity, thinking that at least he was not named Ma. But when Muzhi returned from the bandit suppression, Huang Shilang directly called him "Zhang Mazi".
is finally the letter of appointment in Master Tang's pocket. Before, Huang Shilang promised three. But when he was dying, Master Tang said that there were five. It is self-evident how the two extra letters of appointment came about.
- The second thing
Master Tang died when he said "who". Who is he talking about?
Let's first contact Master Tang why he was killed by a bomb; he died accidentally after hearing that the previous pair of Shanxi mother and son were brutally murdered by fake Zhang Mazi.
Why did he lose control of his emotions after hearing the tragic death of the mother and son? When contacting the mother and son again, they claimed to be Master Tang's wife and child. At that time, Master Tang denied it. It is not difficult for us to infer that Master Tang lied. The mother and son were really his wife and son, so when he learned of their death, he lost control of his emotions (many online comments said that the mother and son were liars hired by Master Tang, which is wrong).
This also explains why Muzhi gave the gem to the mother and son, but Master Tang secretly didn't ask for it back (if they are really liars hired by Master Tang, the gem will definitely end up in Master Tang's hands).
Therefore, the "who" in Master Tang's mouth refers to the mother and son.
From the second half of the movie, we know that the place where Master Tang was supposed to take office was Cannes, not Goose City. But the mother and son were looking for Master Tang, but instead of going to Cannes, they came to Goose City, which means that they were deliberately brought by Master Tang. The purpose of
is to deceive the two gems in the hands of Muzhi.
What's in Sister Hua's box?
For this question, many comments on the Internet tend to be the two gems that Huang Shilang started to give to Muzhi. Before jumping to conclusions on this point, let's take a look at the "trace" of the gemstone in the film.
It was originally given to Muzhi by Huang Shilang at the Hongmen Banquet, and then picked up by Master Tang after Muzhi was drunk and dropped. Later, Muzhi took it back from his hand. Shortly after getting it back, the mother and son who claimed to be Master Tang's wife and son approached the door to ask for money, and Muzhi gave the gem to them. The last time the
gem appears in the movie, it was taken from Muzhi after he caught the fake Zhang Mazi. Moreover, he claimed to have snatched it from a mother and son. If you look closely, you will find that the box containing the gems at this time, andThe box that Muzhi sent out before was exactly the same.
Therefore, the gem has never been in the hands of Sister Hua. It is impossible for her to give it to Huang Shilang again. So what was in her box?
Before analyzing, we must understand that this box is for Huang Shilang. Therefore, the change in his attitude before and after the giving is the key to answering the question.
In the previous scene of the brothel show, Huang Shilang and his subordinates were discussing the identity of the gangsters who gave money to the poor. Was it the real gangsters, or were the county magistrates pretending to be? In this regard, Huang Shilang expressed doubts.
Let's watch Huang Shilang's last scene, and the scene has changed by this time. He received information from his subordinates that he was convinced that among the gangsters who sent the money, the one wearing the nine-tube mask was the county magistrate. Among them, there is also a link omitted, that is, Huang Shilang sent his men to monitor the actions of the county magistrate.
Why did Huang Shilang give such an order? It must have something to do with what's in the box. Think of the three-barrel mask on Huang Shilang's head when he received the information (he does not participate in the action, what does he do with the mask), the answer is self-evident.
Did Huang Shilang die?
Many people saw that the clothes Huang Shilang wore when he blew up and killed himself on the watchtower was different from the clothes he wore when talking with Muzhi before.
is combined with the end of the film, Huang Shilang wearing Master Tang's clothes appeared in the last carriage of the train, can't help but guess that Huang Shilang is not dead, but his other double who died. Is this really the case with
? Obviously not.
for two reasons. First of all, at the end of the conversation between Huang Shilang and Muzhi, Muzhi specially gave him a pistol, saying that he was a decent person. The implied meaning is obvious, that he doesn't want him to die very embarrassed. After
, Muzhi specially reminded him when he saw the Wu instructor. To make Huang Shilang decent, if he can't be decent himself, help him be decent.
has repeatedly emphasized that Huang Shilang is a decent person. Before he talked to Muzhi, he was taken out of the watchtower by the common people as a substitute for Huang Shilang, and he also suffered a lot of lynchings during this period. At this time, Huang Shilang can be said to be very embarrassed and very indecent.
So, he will finally change clothes and then die, which is in line with the setting of the film.
The other is Jiang Wen. As we all know, this is a director who combines magical realism and romanticism. In the film, what Muzhi saw Huang Shilang, the train, and the beloved woman, the former brother, are all true?
The ending and beginning of the video are highly similar. But compared to the beginning, it seems more illusory and ethereal. The Huang Shilang that Muzhi saw at this time was just an illusion. He eliminated one Huang Shilang, but there are actually thousands of "Huang Shilang". The movie
, at first glance, is a comedy, but in fact, from the end, everyone left, and only one of the shepherds is left walking on this road. It can be seen that it is actually a tragedy .
Jiang Wen used comedy to tell us a tragedy about heroes.
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