In reality, nine out of ten things in life are lacking or imperfect. The real smooth sailing, healthy and happy life, is something that can not be achieved.
The movie "A Little Red Flowers for You" shows how to strive for perfection in a life of shortcomings.
First of all, in the movie, cancer is a symbol that "creates" a lack of life; it is also a symbol of life's variables.
At the beginning of the movie, the main character Wei Yihang appears in the cancer operating room. Although he was cured this time, this only means that, in general, there will be no recurrence. So, the opening of the movie makes people feel a hint of depression.
Wei Yihang's cancer, will it come back? No one can say for sure.
In the movie, the focus of the camera is on the cancer. The old man in front of the hospital has a daughter with cancer; the wife of the wig store owner has cancer; and Ma Xiaoyuan, a patient in the group, had cancer years ago.
As the plot advances, the camera changes, allowing the audience's heart to rise and fall with the health changes of the characters in the movie. From the beginning to the end of the movie, the audience is constantly gripped by the effects of cancer on the characters. We are left at times encouraged by the new upturn in the characters' lives and saddened by the deterioration of their health.
Secondly, cancer is relentless. The entire movie is filled with human warmth, both at home and away from home.
Wei Yihang's mother, because of the care of her son's illness affects the promotion; his father was originally "an ordinary employee in an ordinary unit", because of his son's treatment, his own gastric problems are delayed treatment.
But the family has no complaints about him. This is not only because Wei Yihang is their son, but also because of their warmth towards the lives of the terminally ill.
As the drama unfolded, Wei Yihang's cancer really came back, and Wei Yihang's grandmother preferred to sell her own house to cure him; his mother always bargained with people in order to save money; and his father drove a private car for people in order to save money.
These episodes are all steeped in the love and warmth of loved ones for Wei Yihang.
Ma Xiaoyuan, the heroine, lives in a single-parent family. Her mother left her home early in life, leaving her with her father, who is a car washer.
Cancer, for her, seems to have patronized her earlier. According to what she told Wei Yihang, she developed second-degree cancer at the age of five.
Fortunately, the father was kind to his daughter. As you can see from the footage, Ma Xiaoyuan is almost spoiled as the "boss" of the car wash, and even her father has to "obey" her arrangements. In other words, this is a father's way of pampering his daughter, but it's also a family member's way of warming up to his daughter.
Wei Yihang and Ma Xiaoyuan met by chance. The two met at a meeting of members of a "patient group" organized by the owner of a wig store.
Because the phone fell into the arms of Ma Xiaoyuan, the two met in an unfriendly atmosphere. Ma Xiaoyuan is cheerful and invites Wei Yihang to take part in another "anti-cancer" video.
But Wei Yihang felt hypocritical and refused. The two of them have been working together for a long time, and they have a lot of fun together. They ate "skewers" together and went to the outskirts of the city to "understand" the sound of nature. When they were eating buns, Wei Yihang saw a picture of the lake in his dream.
He told Ma Xiaoyuan. When Wei Yihang's cancer recurred, Ma Xiaoyuan was also concerned about him. In order to realize his long-cherished wish, with the help of his family, he and Ma Xiaoyuan were able to travel to Qinghai (they were going to the lake in Wei Yihang's dream).
However, Ma Xiaoyuan's cancer came back when the train was about to reach the last stop. The first time he was in the hospital, he was in the hospital with his own hair, and then he went to the hospital to be the special escort for Ma Xiaoyuan.
But no one can do anything about it, Ma Xiaoyuan still left him.
In the whole process of Wei Yihang and Ma Xiaoyuan's relationship, the director will deal with the relationship between the two as "pure and unadulterated".
Whether it's a disagreement or a meal together; whether it's a "dip" in the Sahara Desert or a square dance with the elderly, the two men's words are full of love and poetry, but never "break" the boundaries of warmth.
As for the old man outside the hospital, his daughter was eventually killed by cancer. Wei Yihang secretly ordered a boxed lunch for him, and asked the delivery boy to tell him that it was from his daughter, when the old man in the camera ate the boxed lunch, but has long been sobbing uncontrollably.
This is a small shot, but it makes the audience cry for it. Needless to say, it was the warmth of the movie's atmosphere that moved the viewer.
Thirdly, what is the message that the movie gives by focusing on cancer? The significance of the impermanent life lies in the "active definition" and persistent pursuit.
Author Bi Shumin said that life has no meaning, but everyone must define it for themselves.
For Wei Yihang, he knew that his illness could recur. At first, he was confused and helpless about this recurrence. He didn't know if he could reach the lake of his dreams in this life.
After meeting Ma Xiaoyuan, his bleak and colorless life took off. He even met with Ma Xiaoyuan and went to visit the lake together.
In the course of his interaction with Ma Xiaoyuan, he becomes interested in "parallel space" - in fact, as the end credits say, Wei Yihang believes that in this "parallel space", "there is no sickness or death". "There is no sickness or death. The group of patients didn't exist either. He and Ma Xiaoyuan live happily and joyfully together. Until eternity."
It is this belief that reconstructs the "meaning" of Wei Yihang's life, allowing him to reinvent himself and emerge from his old, self-absorbed self - a meaning that goes far beyond his physical "cancer" battle.
Fourth, the red flower becomes a symbol of happiness in the movie. It is used throughout the movie.
Wei Yihang and Ma Xiaoyuan got on well and came to Ma Xiaoyuan's place. There is a sincere exchange between them. Wei Yihang said, he grew up afraid of people, walking to the side; ride in the car to sit in the last row, hours in kindergarten did not get a small red flower.
In the footage, Ma Xiaoyuan took a pen and drew a small red flower on the back of Wei Yihang's hand. This is both an echo of the title of the movie and Ma Xiaoyuan's comfort to Wei Yihang.
Later, when Ma Xiaoyuan's cancer recurred, Wei Yihang was always by her side, and once when he rode his motorcycle to take Ma Xiaoyuan through a tunnel, the pattern of a small red flower appeared on the back of Ma Xiaoyuan's hand.
Undoubtedly, the audience can guess that this is Wei Yihang's way of comforting Ma Xiaoyuan by drawing it for her. From the advancement of the plot, it can be felt that at this point, Wei Yihang and Ma Xiaoyuan are already confidants who have made friends with each other.
What surprised and touched the audience was that at the end of the movie, when Wei Yihang came to the lake and the grassland in his dream, he found that in the field of vision in front of him, a large group of sheep had a "red flower" printed on them.
This is the flower of hope, but also the flower of happiness.
The movie was broadcast on October 2 on CCTV 6 channel. The story is not complicated, and several groups of characters are vivid and evocative (e.g. Wei Yihang's parents; the wig store owner; the old man outside the hospital; the grandmother who waits for her granddaughter to come home in the rain).
With sincere and simple emotions, it portrays a pair of lovely young boys and girls who face terminal illnesses and how to explore the meaning of life.
How was the movie? Tear-jerking and touching.
Don't believe me? If you are not hard-hearted, watch it and see if you will shed a tear.