“A Dedicated Life”

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Driven by my curiosity about a writer’s story, I chose the film “A Dedicated Life” (全身小説家). I was not disappointed because the documentary gives a very detailed and truthful description of the writer’s life.

Japanese writer Mitsuharu Inoue must have been writing very captivating stories; otherwise, what else about him could have caused women to fall head over heels in love with him, given his mediocre appearance? And I wonder why these admirers of his did not mind talking in front of the camera about their secret love for him. Well, Mitsuharu Inoue gave fascinating talks keeping his audience totally enthralled. His charm was probably due also to his easy-going manner and the cheerfulness with which he carried himself even in his struggles against cancer attacks.

Mitsuharu Inoue must have been an admirer of Director Kazuo Hara himself, trusting and respecting him so much that he had allowed his own life to be filmed in such detail that even close-ups of the surgical operation are displayed on the screen. In fact, the camera has been following him almost everywhere. The movie ends with him retiring to his bedroom after bidding his friends goodbye. Could that shot really have been taken on the last day of his life? Or is it an editing technique of the director?

Though documentaries are sometimes criticized for not telling the truth, I have no doubt about the truthfulness of Mitsuharu Inouemust’s story as described in the film as the director has been careful to take in even very small details.

難忘的靈修體驗

我們十位主日學導師和四位小導師，共14人，於7月21日在香港坪州嚴規熙督會-聖母神樂院進行了為期兩天的退省。這是一次非常難忘及有啓發性的靈修體驗。

就個人而言，我在幾方面獲得了很深刻的啟發。由於神樂院位於山上，我們有機會與大自然親密接觸。一棵掛在樹上的巨大蜘蛛網給我們的印象非常深刻，特別是盤踞在中央的網主，在陽光下形成了一幅美麗的畫面，簡直讓我們著迷，我們每次走過該處時，都忍不住停下來好好看看它。那不是唯一的一個蜘蛛網，還有一些掛在其他樹上。我們停留的第二天早上，看到一隻被蜘蛛吞下一半身體的鳥兒，簡直嘆為觀止，自然生態的現象令我們嘖嘖稱奇!

有一位導師在床尾發現了一隻蜥蜴，另外兩位小導師在臥室也看見一隻蜘蛛，害怕得不敢就寢。我們可能會覺得這些小生物令人不安，但有沒有意識到其實反而是人類通過無休止的活動，干擾了他們的生活棲息地呢? 另外，當我沿著一條小路漫步穿過樹林時，被各種各樣的大型植物所吸引，這些植物在過度開發的近郊地區確是難得一見，這一切都提醒我們要好好珍惜大自然!

我們的靈修導師是一位八十一歲的莊神父，他引導我們參閱聖經亞毛斯先知書8:1-14和路加福音13:1-8的經文，思考為甚麼有時我們聽不到天主的話語。 他還解釋說，天主不會故意造成災難，但衪允許這樣的事件發生，作為對我們不願意悔改的警告。 他微弱的聲音幾乎聽不到，我們不得不豎起耳朵才能理解他。 但他後來表演了幾個小魔術，為我們帶來驚喜，他的智慧和傳福音的熱情，確實感動了我們。 因此，我意識到，當我們做福傳工作時，所需要的不是了得的口才，而是要以自身作則和對使命的奉獻精神。

莊神父也提醒我們修和聖事的重要性。 他首先安排我們進行一個團體的悔罪儀式，然後我們輪流辦告解，我己有一段時間沒有參與修和聖事，事前有點猶疑不決， 但神父讓我明白如何在沒有恐懼的情況下面對自己的過錯。 天主通過他向我說話，安慰我，並引導我找到正確的方向。 我下定決心，從現在開始，我會多參與修和聖事，通過自我反思，尋求和天主相遇，讓我可以保持內心的平靜。

我們從這次退省得到很好的啟發。感謝我們的主日學校長組織了這項活動，我也感謝我的同工在整個活動期間的照顧。 當然，最重要的是感謝天主對這次靈修的祝福和引領。

Reflections on the film “Taste of Cement”

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From a recent lesson on “film review writing”, I have learned that we can pay attention to the details of a movie to identify some of the filming techniques used by the director to enhance the message he wants to deliver. And that was what I was trying to do while watching “Taste of Cement”, a feature documentary about the lives of Syrian construction workers exiled in Beirut. The movie was the right choice for this first attempt of mine as there is not much that happens and there is even hardly any dialogue.

According to Mr. Ka Meng, our lecturer, sound effects contribute much to the impressiveness of the movie. I am well aware of the use of roaring sounds of drilling, often mingling with equally deafening sounds of bombings, to highlight the contrast between the two different scenes, the construction site on one hand and the war-torn region on the other. The contrast is meant to show a continuous cycle where structures are erected in one place and demolished in the other. The sounds are merged as to be seamless, which is bitterly sarcastic.

Another sound-related contrast also serves to engage the audience emotionally. While there is the thundering noise of construction work in the daytime, there is dead silence in a ramshackle living quarters just beneath the tower where the Syrian workers spend the night speechlessly, staring at television and telephone-screen images of the war raging on back in their homeland.

There is also a scene showing an undersea wreckage accompanied by soft sound of breathing. It could be the breathing of the cameraman. It could also be the young worker seeing the wreckage in his dream. This is a depiction of the workers’ disturbed state of mind, always haunted by memories of the horror scenes of war.

Where camera shots are concerned, I am much attracted by wide shots taking in the crane moving across the wide span of the blue Mediterranean Sea in the background. Often the sea is shown through a small square of light that is the open window occupying a tiny portion of the big span of dark taking up the entire screen. The young worker says that the window is the only means through which they seek connection with the outside world. He has mentioned more than once a picture of the sea he had seen in his childhood. The sea is thus a sign of his homesickness.

Close-ups of the eyes, or only one of them, are used from time to time. Every pair of eyes looks empty, showing the workers’ feeling of helplessness and hopelessness about life. And in the eye there is the reflection of the war scene. The footage from the mass bombings in Syria intercut with scenes of construction in Beirut is particularly horrifying. So whatever they are doing, they cannot rid themselves of their nightmares about war. 

This is a very sad movie, demonstrating war in its sad reality. The closing credits end with this remark: wishing you a life without war, which leaves a pain in the audience's heart long after we have left the cinema.

Book Review - “The Buried Giant” by Kazuo Ishiguro

“The Buried Giant” is of a different genre from any of Kazuo Ishiguro”s books I have read. It tells an interesting, unpredictable and mysterious story that keeps the reader hooked to the very end. 

The story revolves around several characters, who, though originally unrelated, become all involved in a series of incidents associated with a she-dragon known to have caused mass amnesia throughout the land. The description is, for the main part, about an old couple, who set off on a journey to visit their son, whom they have not met for years. There is a warrior sent on a mission to slain the sea-dragon. A twelve-year-old boy entrusted to his care has a true warrior’s spirit well matched by his gift as a hunter. There is also an old knight, who asserts his true loyalty to King Arthur, his uncle, and is later found out to be actually the dragon’s protector. 

“The Buried Giant” is more than a simple suspense story with scary scenes of violence surrounding the attempts to kill the she-dragon. As it happens in post-Arthurian Britain at the time when wars between the Saxons and the Britons have finally come to an end, there is a very careful description of vengeance and enmity still lingering. There are thus conflicted feelings between the Saxon warrior and the Briton knight. They can be friends at one moment and foes at another. Even the monks in a monastery where the old couple seek medical help are divided in their political orientation.

Though this is not a children’s story with a moral lesson, I am aware of a message implied. The she-dragon is believed to have cast a mist over the villages, causing everyone to be oblivious to some past experiences. The killing of the she-dragon thus means the restoration of lost memories. However, as the mist used to cover both good and bad memories, memory revival may have adverse effects. The dragon killer warns about the threat of war as the Saxon communities are ready to make their conquest.

I am most impressed by the description of the love between the old couple. They have been sentimentally attached to each other all the while because their past wrong has been long forgotten. Nevertheless, even after the mist has been removed, and they remember what wrong they have once done to each other, their love for each other remains unchanged. As the old man says, God will know the slow tread of an old couple’s love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.

This is an exceptional novel. I enjoy it greatly.

Reflections on the movie “Old Beast”

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In the picture the old man looks unkind, probably even scary, not the least likable. In fact, Old Yang first appears to be a worthless father, spending long hours gambling in a mahjong house, leaving his paralyzed wife unattended at home. He also fools around with a woman years his junior. It seems reasonable for his children to be on very bad terms with him. The movie name “Old Beast” thus seems appropriate for an old man so detestable and despicable.

But, as the story progresses, the reasons for the conflicts between the old man and his children gradually unfold and in the end he turns out to be the victim, rather than the cause, of the family’s misfortune. Undeniably, he has to face up to his own faults. But this does not justify his children’s violence, however minor it is, in dealing with the case. And they should not have turned completely oblivious of the help Old Yang has offered them. By including such details, I think, the director intends to highlight the injustice in society.

In fact, Old Yang’s family is conceptualized metaphorically to draw attention to the phenomenon in society. What happens to them throws light on some problems arising from people’s attempts to get adapted to the social changes that have come along with urbanization in certain regions of Northeast China. It is interesting to see Old Yang’s friend, and then Old Yang himself, dragging a sick camel along. And the camel is later replaced by a dairy cow, which is deemed more economically efficient. These symbolize the gradual disappearance of pasture land to give way to real estate development.

The family members talk with one another as if discussing a business affair, each concerning himself merely with his own gains. This is typical of the attitude of the general mass of people in that region. Even the woman from whom Old Yang borrows the phone speaks cynically. And the two real estate salesmen’s barbaric acts are abominable! I don’t remember a smile on anyone’s face. And the only time Old Yang ever smiles happily is when he gets the news about the arrangement for his wife to undergo an operation. So urbanization and development has come at a high cost: society has become less caring and sympathetic.

“Old Beast” is a very good movie, doubtlessly another of my enthusiastic recommendations.