Complete Interpretation of Scenery in Fog by Theo Angelopoulos in Issue 16

Scenery in Fog is called "Silent Trilogy" together with Journey to Cesar Island and Beekeeper.

The director is theo angelopoulos, who was born in Greece and is regarded as the last movie master in the world. His works have won many awards at international film festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Chicago and Europe.

Together with Polish krzysztof kieslowski and Spanish Pedro Almodovar, he formed the last "Master Front" of European films.

Deeply influenced by ancient Greek philosophy, mythology, poetry and literature, An Zhe Roboulos always bases his film aesthetics on Greece, which not only innovates the film language, but also integrates European reality, history and art into fables, and reconstructs a European utopia world in a quiet, intellectual, melancholy and painful way.

Its first novel, Reconstruction, is set in the poorest area in northern Greece. Young people left the countryside to work in Germany, and an immigrant went home to visit relatives, but was killed by his wife and lover. The film reconstructs the facts at a slow pace, not focusing on the plot, but reflecting the decline of Greek culture from the cause and motivation of the incident. Most of the later works are mainly about reconstruction, which is mostly related to vagrancy.

Under the smoggy weather in southern Europe, people are trying to find the root of their spirit, and the physical and mental pain reflects that Europeans are deeply influenced by the Cold War in the 1970s. It is in this creative background that An Zhe Lopoulos used images to express the loss of contemporary people.

As a "silent trilogy" which mainly describes people's wandering experience in the journey, Scenery in Fog is undoubtedly the best one. The film tells a story about finding a father in the late 1980s. My sister Ulla and my brother Alexander accidentally learned from their mother that their father, whom they had never met, was far away in Germany, and they were determined to embark on the arduous road of finding their father. Every night, Alexander and Ulla go to the railway station to watch the train bound for Germany, because they believe their mother's lie: their father lives in Germany. In order to strengthen her brother's faith, Ulla told him the story of God's creation of light in Genesis.

One night, they finally dared to jump on the train to Germany, and then a series of experiences were on the two young children, binding their fate with the cruelty of the adult world. There were flight attendants who kicked them off the train, uncles who told them they were illegitimate children, truck drivers who sexually assaulted Ulla and Orestes, itinerant artists who brought them temporary warmth, and soldiers who gave them money. During this period, Ulla had a vague feeling for the troupe actor Orestes, but the latter was gay. Until the end, they reached the border, and Germany was on the other side of the river, but where was the end of the journey? Can they reach Germany?

Desolate station, train, waiting room, hotel, truck, motorcycle, touring troupe, expressway, giant mine car, unfinished bar in winter night ... Two children who are looking for their husbands, with hope and despair, and those condensed lights, desolate streets, foggy rainy nights, step by step towards the "big tree" hidden behind the waste films in fantasy and reality, looking for and losing.

The film uses a lot of long shots, middle distance and fixed seats, trying to create the protagonist's smallness, loneliness and helplessness, as well as the hope of finding his father. The lens is also full of poetic rhythm. For example, this snow scene, except for the figure of brother and sister running, the rest of the scenery and passers-by are still, and the romantic sadness also spreads, forming a touching video poem.

This will always be an endless story, because every time my sister Ulla recites the Bible to her brother Alexander? In Genesis, everyone is interrupted by his mother's nudge at the door and a light penetrating the darkness through the door. Just like their subsequent journey, "father" and "Germany" are just metaphors throughout the film. Whether it exists or not, it is as difficult to reach as a dense fog. It may be an ideal paradise in children's minds, or it may be a destination. The journey of two children is like a tree faintly visible on a broken film, full of hope and unknowns.

In the western context, there is a capitalized father-God, who created light and darkness, the universe and everything, and then created human beings, who were born in foggy scenery. Later, he was expelled from the Garden of Eden and scattered all over the world, which is why for thousands of years, human beings have never stopped returning to their parents' paradise and seeking eternal life. The title of the film "Scenery in Fog" is actually to find a father, which is the place where human beings return to their birthplace, that is, to their hometown.

Odysseus, the hero of the Odyssey, after drifting at sea for more than ten years, overcame all kinds of difficulties with firm belief and moved the gods, and finally returned to his hometown. (The reference to the Odyssey is also mentioned in the film The Reader) The process of returning home is the process of ending wandering, which is similar to the "wandering thoughts" repeatedly sung by Tang Priest after a disaster or by Chinese people in ancient poems. Returning home needs to overcome many difficulties, firm faith and firm courage, and the light of human nature comes out in layers of tempering. The process of returning home is also a noble process of human nature, a process of struggle between free will and fate, and a process of human nature moving closer to divinity.

(The above two paragraphs refer to the film review "Always on the Road" by Douban netizens who "sleep late and get up late")

Back to the beginning of the film, on the vast ruins of industrial civilization demolition and reconstruction, Alexander shouted to a person who imitated seagulls to spread their wings and fly: Hello seagulls! Mr. seagull casually threw out a sentence: it's going to rain, and my feathers are going to get wet. Many scenes and stage dialogues with this sense of ceremony in the film also outline that the splendid ancient Greek culture is gradually declining under the attack of modern civilization and ancient civilization, and people's spiritual world becomes blind and empty in the cracks. Unlike Mr Gull's official flight, Ulla and Alexander are the witnesses of this "flight". He squatted on the barbed wire and said to Mr. Gull, I'm going to Germany. A simple farewell became the only witness to the beginning of their journey, and their biological mother didn't know it. Mr. Seagull said: You go to Germany every day; The station salesman said, why are you here every night? It is not difficult to see from these onlookers that this is a long-planned journey, and the mother can't give them a real family atmosphere and home.

After successfully boarding the train for the first time, the two brothers and sisters huddled in the corridor of the carriage, and a letter to their father explained the origin of the whole story. It is this father who has never met before but misses him very much, a topic they have talked about countless times, mother's incomprehension and young Alexander's imagination of his father, which has become the only motivation and hope for a long trip. Just like the letter said: sometimes when I come home from school, I hear a burst of footsteps behind me, but when I turn around, I find no one there. I don't want to be a burden to you. We just want a chance to get to know you, and then we'll turn around and leave. If you want to reply to us, please accompany the sound of the train, Tata, Tata ... The sound of the train has become the only support for the two brothers and sisters to live together, as if the father's response came from the depths of the railway track.

After arriving at OINOH station, she was kicked off the train by the flight attendant because there was no ticket. Ulla lied that she had found her uncle and sent it to the police. The police took them to their uncle who worked in the factory, but this relative claimed that he hadn't contacted his sister for many years, and he didn't want to be involved or take responsibility. The film tells the truth in the tone of an uncle: the whole thing is a big cover, there is no father or Germany at all, and the mother can lie to hide the fact that they are illegitimate children. As for why it is Germany, it may just be to give children an imagination about their father.

After my uncle told the truth, Ulla still didn't believe this fact and firmly believed that my uncle was cheating. In the police station, it is snowing heavily. At this time, when the director used the staff to go out to enjoy the snow, he specially set up barrier-free passages to let them get back on the road. Snowflakes fell from the sky, and passers-by and everything around them were still, except Ulla and Alexander who were running in the snow.

After the second successful train ride, the same carriage and corridor, but the content of this letter has changed.

Yes, how strange, terrible and incomprehensible the world is!

After being driven off the train for the second time, they witnessed a bride who escaped from the wedding in the snowy street and a horse dragged to death by a car. Alexander stood in the snow with tears in his eyes. This is also the only time he cried in this movie because of the death of an animal, but later he became determined and calm and began to mature.

Later, on the road in the wild, they met the touring troupe Orlister. This is a man whose direction has been changed by the wheel of the times, as he himself said: You seem aimless, but your goal is firm. And I'm just a aimless snail crawling around. I used to think my goal was clear, but now, the only thing I know for sure is that I will join the army in a few days.

Good Orestes gave them a ride, but Ulla didn't tell Orestes where they were going. She just looked out of the window and said simply: Far away.

The fate of Ernest is the same as that of his troupe. From the constant cancellation of performances to the sale of troupe costumes, and finally to his motorcycle, it implies the fate of Greek art, which is also like the morning star of victory dawn. Time flies, no matter how the times change, they still inherit the stubbornness in the artist's bones. And the theme of art dying, the director also spared no expense in pen and ink, which is reflected in many shots.

When Ulla fell asleep in the car and Ernest went to the theater, young Alexander began his exploration of the world alone. He wandered in the empty streets, listened attentively to the uninvited violinist in the restaurant, began to earn money to buy sandwiches, walked past the small body of the flag-raising honor guard, and began to observe the society bit by bit until he saw seagulls again, ran to find them and reunited with his sister and Ernest.

After the trip, it was a foggy day with wind and rain. Brother and sister hitchhiked on the empty highway, only to find the sheep in the tiger's mouth. The truck driver was a sadist who longed for food. The next day, he silently abused Ulla in the carriage. The handling of this scene is very different from our common Korean crime movies. There was no struggle or roar, only a red bar mitzvah and a few days of serious illness.

Third train ride, same carriage, same corridor, third letter.

When I met Orestes again, the handsome young hero gave Ulla beautiful and hazy care and warmth, which should be the happiest time in her journey, but this ignorant feeling, like a big hand with a broken index finger hoisted by a helicopter on the river, could not be reached; Just like the withered civilization of ancient Greece, the inner ideals and pursuits of the three people, helpless and confused, finally disappeared in the light and darkness at night, and the song ended in a breakup.

On the fourth bus ride, they got money from the platform soldiers, bought tickets and came to the border. In the darkness, a beam of light, a boat, a gunshot, we came to the end of the journey-the tree in the debris, and the fog dispersed. The fable of Genesis was told again, only this time it was told to my sister by a little boy.