At the 55th Chicago International Film Festival just past, his new work "Balloon" won the best screenplay award of this festival. As a Tibetan director,
seems to have appeared more and more frequently in our field of vision in recent years. Looking at his works and experiences, Wanma Caidan seems to be slowly moving towards a path of his own master.
There are always many different things to dig in the land north-northwest. The killing, vastness, and the fusion of civilization and untapped barrenness make the art here always have a natural sense of mission. The same is true for the director there, as is Wanma Caidan.
Directors in the Northwest region like to tell stories from their hometown, because the film's record of that piece of land does not seem to be mainstream and can give the director a more independent perspective. For example, Li Ruijun likes to talk about people's feelings in the Hexi Corridor area, and Wanma Caidan turns the magic of Tibet into a stylized language. What
they share is that there are always deep contradictions in the story: nature and people, life and people, and people and people. The
reflected in Wanma Caidan’s works reflects a kind of ambivalence of Tibetans: not only longing to escape from the harsh real environment, but also holding great sympathy for the Tibetan culture and religious culture that is slowly eroded by modern culture. , I hope to maintain a pure humanistic outlook.
Wanma Caidan likes to portray various marginal roles in his works, such as people who are obviously out of line with the world, people who have been almsgiving in ancient revenge fantasy, and women who are in a period of conflict and transformation between modern civilization and traditional culture. Wait. By showing the impact of the above-mentioned characters under modern civilization, let them wander and suffer in reality and ideals. From this point of view, Wanma Caidan is more like a writer, building a "Macondo" in western China.
Wanma Caidan's fascination with hometown themes and reflection on culture are inseparable from personal growth experience.
Wanma Caidan, who grew up in Qinghai, recalled the scene when he saw people from the power supply station come to the village for the first time when he was a child. “Before that, no outsiders set foot in the village. It was like foreign things that suddenly broke a tradition. , The original way of life and thinking has changed."
This kind of nostalgia for "tradition" has always existed in Wanma Caidan’s heart, whether it is after quitting his teacher’s job to go to Lanzhou for university, graduate school, or go to For further studies in Beijing, he has experienced environmental changes time and time again in the nearly 20 years away from Tibetan areas, traveled to a more civilized world time and time again, and was shocked by reality.
and Wanma Caidan take the initiative to go out to meet this cultural contradiction. The people who have been living in Tibetan areas and abide by ancient customs passively accept the invasion of modern civilization in the changing environment-when the meaning of life is changed. , What should people do here, caused Wanma Caidan's thinking.
In addition, what makes Wanma Caidan nostalgic is the declining religious culture in Tibetan areas.
Wanma Caidan was reincarnated as the uncle of the Nyingmapa monk by his grandfather because of his love of writing when he was in school. He was a person of knowledge and status. But when he returned to his homeland from a foreign land, he found that the audience who believed in gods and fate seemed to be gradually decreasing, the wheel of history was advancing, and the gradually materialized lifestyle changed people's beliefs.
So Wanma Caidan added all this to his movie.
In the movie "Taluo", Wanma Caidan uses the environment and the changes in Tibetan clothing to reflect the changes in life and culture in Tibetan areas:
A shepherd who does not even have a generation of ID cards uses the chanting style at the beginning Standing in front of the big characters "Serve the People", he recited Mao Zedong’s quotations in his tone of voice; after the couple
came to live in the city, they went to the photo studio many times to take pictures. The set of the photo studio was changed from the Potala Palace to Tiananmen Square and then changed As the Lady Liberty, the Tibetan robes on the couple were replaced with popular suits.
But even if it changes again, the previous experience of shepherding makes the Tarots laugh most naturally when holding a lamb. This is also a manifestation of the ambivalence of the Tibetan identity after the cultural shock.
"Taluo" uses black and white colors throughout the film to show the protagonist's simple and simple thinking and contradictory worldview under cultural conflict.
At the same time, the use of a fixed camera to match the erratic position of the characters in the screen and the 1:1 settlement shows that Taluo is uncomfortable.
Through the movie, we saw the shepherd walking down the mountain, even though he wore a suit, but his conservative thinking remained unchanged. In Talo’s words, "I know who I am." But when I met and listened to TibetanWhen rap, a hair salon girl with leopard-print earrings and smoking menthol cigarettes, Talow still couldn't help but develop lust. This is also the impact of modern civilization on Tibetan culture, only to realize that the things that hold on to are so fragile. There is a very absurd scene in the
movie: Tallo is willing to give his 160,000 savings to the little girl in the hair salon. After discovering that he was cheated, he cut off the braids he had made when he was young, and wanted to say goodbye to the past, but unexpectedly discovered that there was no more Braids can't even get an ID card.
This is actually a portrayal of the true experience of Tibetans in the vortex of cultural change: whether it is Wanma Caidan himself or the heroine Yang Xiucuo of the story, they are eager to "return" amidst cultural collisions, but find that their spiritual hometown has changed beyond recognition.
From "Quiet Mani Stone" to "Taluo" and then to "Break Down a Sheep", Wanma has spoken in depth about the impact of modern civilization on Tibetan culture. When the driver Jinba finally took off his sunglasses and looked at the sky, the sky full of vultures was replaced by the roar of airplanes, and the tradition seemed to disappear. In the
movie "Battered a Sheep", Wanma Caidan has improved his aesthetics with the help of Wong Kar Wai. The 4:3 frame and the blurred contrast tones make the film full of oil painting texture, although it still tells The disintegration of Tibetan culture by modern civilization can be mixed with the magic of dreams and reincarnation in the absurdity. Through a taste of rebellion, it is hoped that social groups can embrace new changes.
"Battered a Sheep" is an improvement of Wanma Caidan’s aesthetics. With the help of Wong Kar-wai, the 4:3 frame and the blurred contrast tones make this movie full of oil painting-like texture, although it is still It is an abolition of tradition, but more dreams and the magic of reincarnation are mixed in the absurdity, and through a taste of rebellion, it is hoped that the social groups can meet new changes. The driver, Jinba, is a rebel. Because of his identity as a driver, he walked out of the Tibetan area and went to other places. After he killed a sheep, he asked the monk to save his life because of his kindness to life, reflecting the religious deity that the Tibetan people have always upheld. Relying on cultural foundation, this is an inclusive charity. But in the modern environment, when encountering traditional vengeance, the choice is to incorporate it into a dream to realize it. From the perspective of reality, it is to break the cycle of vengeance, and to forgive mercilessly to let the enemy live. In fact, these reflections are not the acceptance of the new culture in the philosophical sense of the Tibetan people? To absorb the new ways in the new culture to eliminate the negative effects of exclusion and seek coexistence. Like the vultures replaced by planes in the burial of dead sheep. Looking at conflicts from a religious perspective, Wanma Caidan's approach appears more powerful.
In the new work "Balloon", Wanma Caidan's personal style and the topic of exploring cultural contradictions continue and become more straightforward. The family planning slogan on the wall of the health clinic in the movie, grandpa's fear of IVF on TV. The fertility belief, which occupies the highest position in religion, has been greatly challenged. From the beginning of people facing contradictions, to the cultural facing contradictions, to the religious traditions facing contradictions, Wanma Caidan's exploration is getting deeper and deeper.
Under the new wave mode slowly opened by his generation of Tibetan filmmakers, films about Tibet will be seen with everyone, not only discussing Tibetans but also our own sense of confusion in the rapidly changing environment.
