Hide in my shadow Two brothers whose names differ in one letter and are almost indistinguishable in pronunciation. But one of them, Chen Jang Chou, is a budding student and the pride of teachers, and the other, who asks to modestly call him A-Cho, is a boxing bully with no special aspirations in life. Their father A-Wen, a driving instructor, always said he had only one child, confessing in court that he and his wife had failed to raise A-Cho - so let him now be re-educated by prison for complicity in an attack on a person.
Differences in the worldview and fate of siblings are often explained by the different attitudes of parents in childhood. The story shown in this film is just such a case. A-Ven always encouraged his beloved son, as if pushing him to take his place in the sun. "Catch the moment - choose your way" - thick notebooks with this name he gave his son every year.
The expression "place in the sun" in this film means more than just a beautiful description of success. The sun here is a philosophical concept, which the viewer is hinted at by Chen’s passion for Jang Chou by the ancient Chinese thinker Sima Guang. A distinguished historian, politician, and philosopher, who lived a thousand years ago, believed that heavenly predestination was identical with human nature. And if you turn away from predestination, you will be punished. By pushing one of his sons forward to success, so to speak, in the sunlight, A-Ven seems to be disturbing some harmony. And when he ignores the other son, he certainly avoids being a father. In my opinion, this is the root of the tragedies that have happened to every brother.
Do you really need success in life? Which is better, a place in the sun or a place in the shadows? Chen Jang Chow describes his place in the spotlight of family, teachers and fellow students as being in the sun – eternal, continuous, bright and warm. Is it not easier to hide under the shadow of your parents, boss or loved one? Oh, if only in the shadow of this young tree was someone dying of heat! How the almost desperate Xiao Yu appeared in the shadow of A-Cho, prompting her chosen one to sprout into the light of the sun through prison ties and humbly accept her father and husband’s predestination.
In cinematic terms, Chun Munhun’s directorial work is truly amazing. The film incorporates themes from the director’s previous works – the problem of responsibility for the son from the Soul, the criminal themes from the Happy Way, the influence of the ghosts of the dead from the Fourth Portrait. In place of the previously filmed stories came the novel, in which the solar threads woven the theme of heavenly harmony. In their shimmering light, it will become clear that the trials that fell to A-Ven's lot were prepared by his own stubbornness, and the spiritual humility that A-Ven's wife constantly shows will receive its reward in the form of his son's gratitude in the last, warmest scene of the picture.
9 out of 10
Original