Detachment

************這篇影評可能有雷************

And I am walking down the hallway to the class.

How many of you have ever felt the weight pressing down on you?

I have.



The film finally ended, after one and a half hours. The word 『DETACHMENT』 appeared, followed by deep dark and heavy silence. I looked into it, saw my face reflected by the screen of my laptop. There were tears in my eyes, and I just didn』t notice that I cried.

If you have ever seen someone crying, right there in front of you. You don』t know what happened to him or her, and you want to say something to make them feel better, but you find yourself speechless.

I remember, once I was in the subway, everywhere was crowded with people, I could hardly stand. And there was a young lady, dressing tidily, wearing glasses, stood close to me. She just stood there, with her face covered by hairs. It was twenty minutes after when I found she was crying, silently, but with her shoulders shaking.

Have you ever cried for some reason, sometimes? Nothing happened and you are just walking along the street, suddenly you feel so sad, like there is something hit you, tears come out without control, you feel embarrassed and dry your face quickly. If you have, you will know.

Everybody cries.
Henry Barthes cried, he cried in the night bus, tears wet his face, also wet his sad looking.
The fat girl cried, she staggered along the corridor, howling, feeling despair.
艾瑞克a, the young prostitute cried, she screamed loudly, prayed for being companied, being with someone and fighting against loneliness together.
Dr. Parker cried, lost her control, shouting in helplessness and anger, feeling everything she did was meaningless.
 The headmaster cried, standing behind the microphone, sitting behind the table, and tears destroyed her makeup.

In the movie, everyone seems so sad, fails again and again in their life, fails for everything. They all seem unhappy. When chalks sweep on the blackboard, you feel you drop into the movie too, and you are a part of it, the story drowns you slowly and finally you feel it’s just so real. The pain is so real, the tears are so real, the failures are so real.

Why do people cry? Why are there always tears in our eyes? Why do we feel so helpless? Why do we feel we are failing? What are we crying for? What are we suffering?

 We are used to be judged, by the experience in our childhood, by our traitorous behaver when we are young, by whether we are overweight or slim, mediocre or beautiful, by our family, by our work, by everything relevant or irrelevant, by the world. And the truth is, we have no choice, no matter for Henry Barthes in the movie, or us in real life.

Henry is just a common good guy, wears big suits, goes to work by bus, looks after his grandpa, sometimes gets angry and regrets when calms down; he shows respect to females, tries to be nice to everyone. And just like others, he suffers, for the dark memory about his childhood, about his mother’s death, about the fact that his grandpa is his father. Life is different, but pain is always the same.

Yes, life is painful, but there are still lights. Many people give up waiting for it, like the fat girl, she got tired, out of hope, and she left. But most people believe it, like 艾瑞克a, although she lost everything she had; and finally she got a warm hug in the golden light of summer sunset.

And there are other people like Henry, instead of waiting for it, he creates it.

That’s why in my views, this movie is not about education, not about youth, not about a good man’s good behaver, but about the pain in our life and how we cure ourselves, how we find the light, the hope from the cold, dark world. And that’s what we call detachment.

I』ve been thinking, why chalks? Perhaps, the movie is just a lesson, it tries to teach us something. No, I don』t think it’s the word 『DETACHMENT』, it’s too difficult.

But 『believe』 perhaps. Believe what we believe in, even though sometimes, we feel the weight pressing down on our shoulders, even though life is a mess, even though tears come into our eyes.

Just believe. And you will see.