One day more than forever - Greek movie "Eternity And A Day"
If I give you an apple, it will rot
If I give you a rose, it will wither
p>
Giving you grapes will crush them
Give you my tears
——Albanian boy
If you leave tomorrow, today you What will be done? The doctor has told you that when you can't stand it anymore, you should go to him. Everyone knows that it will only make the rest of your journey less painful. It is impossible for you to return to this world and continue your unfinished journey. Poetry, when the sun rises tomorrow, you will not sleep on the deck chair. Maybe the neighbor will still play the same music, but it has nothing to do with you. The waves may still hit the beach in front of your door, but only the empty room is listening. Echo, you have to say goodbye to all this, only mother is still calling in your dreams: Alexander, Alexander.
If you were to leave tomorrow, what would you do today? You're leaving your dog with your daughter, but you're so estranged that she doesn't even want to know where you're going, and your son-in-law wants to sell the old house by the sea, and there's nothing you can do about it. You leave your wife Anna's letters to your daughter, which contain everything about love. Maybe you think this is the only thing that can be called a legacy. You still hold your dog and leave sadly. This is an indifferent world. Fortunately, you have decided to leave. Unexpectedly, maybe it is God’s arrangement that you meet a wandering Albanian boy. Your life It was rewritten from then on, even though it was only for one day.
If you were to leave tomorrow, what would you do today? Looking back on your life and your history, you tell the young man about your father. Is he Solomus? This Greek poet who grew up in Italy returned to Greece for the cause of independence for his motherland, purchased words from ordinary workers, and finally wrote "Ode to Freedom" in his mother tongue, which is sung as the Greek national anthem to this day. A teenager was trafficked by smugglers in Greece, and you took the risk to rescue him. He faced danger from the police and soldiers at the same time. You wanted to send him back to Albania, so he described to you how a group of teenagers crossed the blockade and how to avoid landmines. , you saw human bodies hanging on the barbed wire on the foggy border, so you decided to take him back to Greece. When the young man huddled in the corner and sang softly: "The wandering bird is mourning in a foreign land/Lucky foreign land, I miss you/Covela, my little flower." You finally understand your father, Covela, this is Words you would pay for.
If you were to leave tomorrow, what would you do today? You recall the day when your daughter was one month old, the joyful gathering of relatives and friends, your wife was so beautiful, the sun was so bright, you went to the sea and danced on the beach, Anna did not want to be separated from you for a moment, and you were always in a daze. When you asked her: tomorrow What is it? Anna replied: One day more than forever, you didn't hear clearly, one day more than forever! She ran away happily, and she declared in her letter that as long as you stay with her for a whole day, that day will actually be forever. Mom was not old at that time. She liked such cheerful scenes. On the last day of your life, you must go and see your mother. She no longer recognizes you, but she still says: Alexander, Alexander.
If you were to leave tomorrow, what would you do today? One of the street children in Albania had an accident. It was Selin who led them through the minefield. Although he was a few years older, he was still a child. They burned his clothes and each said a farewell word, oh. , Sailin, when you set sail to the sea and reach the other shore, oh, Sailin, they sighed like this, every child grows up into an adult in an instant. Finally, it was late at night, and the boat carrying the children would arrive in two hours, so you and the boy who was given to you by God, the boy who sold you words, went to take a circle bus together. The child looked at the bus excitedly. At the night scene outside the window, you watched the crowds going up and down. The car passed the political station, and the demonstrators dispersed. A young man carrying a red flag came up, but he fell asleep soon; the car passed the music station, and the strings were played. Music trio, you heard familiar music again; when the car arrived at College Station, Solomos got on the car and poured out his unfinished poem to you:
The last star after dawn
Heralds the coming of the rising sun
Neither fog nor shadow can stain it
The cloudless sky
The breeze soothes all living beings
p>Like words deep in my heart
Life is sweet
And
Life is so sweet
If tomorrow You will leave, and tomorrow's sun has risen. You once again come to the seaside of the old house, reciting the words you bought from the boy: Covera/Exile/I/Late Night/Exile/Covela /Cofra, you saw your beautiful wife again. You decided not to go to the hospital to wait for death. You faced the sea full of hope and told a poet's final arrangement. Soon, you will be with your wife in another place. A world embraces you, and there will always be someone to sell you words. In that foreign land, there are still melody you are familiar with. The only thing you have to do is to do your unfinished work in this world and wait for that day to come.
Postscript:
We were once so familiar with Albania. The Manakis brothers who were born here were film pioneers in the entire Balkan Peninsula, and we still remember "The Eighth Is a Bronze Statue", which once made us A moving ode to heroes. In 1998, when Angelopoulos shot this film, it was a different place. Before, Uncle Hoxha completely destroyed the country's traditional culture. After that, the guerrillas destroyed the country. Pushed into the abyss, in the southern Balkans, a group of teenagers escaped from their homes. They squatted down, threw stones, then squatted down, threw stones, and passed through the minefield in this childish way. They came to their relatively wealthy neighbors. In Greece, he makes a living by cleaning car windows, or rather begging. Like in any other country, young street children are always the prey of criminals. Faced with the bleak life, the director seems helpless. He is against the police. Rough approach and unable to give better suggestions. In this movie, the Albanian boy, together with the gloomy mist of winter, constitutes the absurd scenery of this world, and is the background for the protagonist’s decision to leave. And this boy, like the apricot yellow clothes he wears, stands out in the gloomy world, starting from his first The first time he smiled shyly at Alexander, later the grandfather and grandson hugged each other and cried. What he brought to the world was hope and dreams. The poems he blurted out were not only the milk of his mother tongue, but also the nutrition of the future.
Angelopoulos once again showed his poetic talent in this movie. If anyone uses the concept of poetry to make a movie, it is Angelopoulos, just like "The Journey of Ulysses" "" is a tribute to the Manakis brothers. This is a film that pays tribute to the Greek poet Solomos. Therefore, many poetic elements are used in the film, not just in terms of language, but fundamentally poetic. The characteristics of the film, the flowing rhythm, soothing like a pastoral, changing scenery rather than a simple montage, achieving the effect of singing three sighs, opening a door, and outside the door is the beautiful wife of thirty years ago, along a road River, standing on the bank of Solomos returning to Greece. Only poets are like this, jumping to the distance that your accident can just reach. In addition, the imagery used in the film also shows that Balkan folk songs and sea songs have already Deep into An's bones, the passengers on the bus, the firefighters following the bus, the flames burning clothes, and the barbed wire fences on the border have all become readily available images, paired with the tearful music, which makes people intoxicated both physically and mentally. .