It was only after listening to Fan Weiqi's theme song of the same name for the movie The Silent Sunshine Afternoon that I came to know about such a special documentary.
After some understanding, I was apprehensive to find the resources for the movie, but I was a bit surprised after watching it.
The film opens with Lin Huizong talking to his daughter about his wife's upcoming departure.
The daughter says with some hesitation, "It's just not quite where I want to put her."
The father questions, "Did mom tell you where she's going now?"
The daughter thought for a moment and said, "Somewhere nice, I suppose."
The father says, "I'd say Mommy's nice."
The daughter ends up being a little skeptical, then affirmative: "I guess so? Yes."
Yes, the mother is about to transcend the physical body and go somewhere nice.
The conversation between father and daughter is not heavy, sad, or even casual, as if they are talking about the destination where the mistress of the house is about to travel.
As early as more than a decade ago, swimming coach Lin Huizong and his wife, Xu Yu'e **** with the signing of the remains of the donation book, his wife died in 2012, Lin Huizong in accordance with his wife's wishes to her remains donated to the Fu Jen Catholic University School of Medicine in Taiwan to do the "big body teacher".
The remains were sent to the medical school to be embalmed and then stored for use in an autopsy when conditions were ripe.
During this time of storage, Lin Huizong has to drive more than 250 kilometers from Chiayi to Taipei to visit his wife, Xu Yu'e, every month or two.
Even in the cold storage room, he always loved to caress his wife's head through the storage bag, and gently called her "wife" over and over again. He told her about the family: about his son and daughter, about himself, and about other things. ......
He seems to have gotten used to conversing with his wife in this way, as well as her presence in the form of a "big body".
This is not an ordinary documentary, and it's the first time the audience realized that it was possible to look at life from such a perspective.
There are two versions of That Silent Sunny Afternoon.
The short version of the film is 15 minutes long and won the CCDF4 Best International Potential Award and ASD Special Recommendation Award in 2013, and the second place in the New Taipei City Documentary Award in 2014.
The 73-minute long version of the film was released in Taiwan on March 24, 2017, with a Douban rating of 8.3.
The purpose of this documentary is to take viewers on a journey through the perspectives of family members of the "big body teacher" of the dissection class, and the students of the medical department.
The film's thought-provoking life story was selected for the Hot Docs, the largest international documentary festival in North America.
The film changes the audience's impression of narrative documentaries as straightforward, serious, and even cold, with a lot of aesthetic perspectives and perfect compositions, as well as highly saturated warm colors, and even a soothing and ethereal soundtrack, which gives the audience the illusion that they're watching a Taiwanese-style art film at certain moments, and the director seems to be deliberately trying to minimize the importance of the topic of "life and death.
Some people have said that the film's title is "The Death of the World", and that it's not just about the death of a person.
Some people say that this is a documentary about saying goodbye, while others say that it is a documentary to publicize the donation of human remains.
In fact, neither is true.
The origin of the film is that when Taiwan's Dai Ai TV station was celebrating its anniversary, the station gave a few options for titles, one of which was "The Story of the Dai Ai Teacher".
Originally, many people thought that a teacher of anatomy was a "teacher", but they didn't realize that a "teacher of anatomy" was actually a cadaver who taught his students by lying there with his own body.
Perhaps because Chinese people are influenced by traditional concepts, there are very few people who are willing to donate their bodies after death for teaching purposes, so there is a serious shortage of teachers in the medical school.
Chen Chi-han found the subject matter very appealing, and started going to the Tzu Chi Medical College to investigate, and also found interviewees, but then because Tzu Chi decided to make their own film, the collaboration ended in failure.
But Chen Chi-han studied the subject for a long time, and felt it would be a pity to give up on it, so he decided to continue filming it himself, so he called one medical school after another to inquire about it, and finally, through the medical school of Fu Jen Catholic University, he found Lin Huizong, the main character interviewed in the documentary, and carried out a long period of tracking and filming, which provided a profound interpretation of the heart of Mr. Lin's family's journey in the matter of human body donation, as well as their outlook on life. The film is a profound interpretation of Mr. Lin's family's journey in the matter of body donation, as well as their outlook on life.
Although the film deals with the heavy topic of life and death, it uses the artistic expression of a literary film to show as much warmth as possible.
The opening scene of the film, where he feeds a stray dog, shows that Lin Huizong must have been a caring and warm person, but when his wife was alive, she was the one who took care of the house and the children, and he was too busy with his work and the world to communicate with his wife, and his life suddenly changed after she passed away, and it was then that he realized that there was still a lot of things he hadn't told his wife.
More than two years, his wife's departure brought him pain, seems to have returned to calm, in front of the camera, he talked to his friends and laughed, and even laughed in the face of his friends flirting with his wife to do the big body teacher thing, but the close-up camera exposed his smile after the facial micro-expression, revealing is still the heart of the bitterness.
As daughter Lin Yingru recalled of her mother: There was a big shock when she left, that she had to get used to life without her, and suddenly realized that our lives had been so well taken care of, and that there was no more of that after she left.
Because the whole family was busy the day my mother left, no one was sad. It wasn't until after the body was sent to the Auxiliary Medical School, when life went quiet and there was one less person in the house, and they suddenly felt lost, that they realized there was so much they hadn't had a chance to say to their mother.
The funeral, which was delayed because the entire process was not completed, left the family feeling as if something had been left unfinished, while Lin Huizong seemed to have temporarily adapted to the current state of life.
The daughter has some grudges against her father, so she doesn't really appreciate much of what he does. She, her brother and her father are usually at home in a state that makes outsiders look a little strange, usually never eat together, under one roof each busy, and there is not much verbal communication.
The daughter has something to discuss with her father, actually will be expressed through the letter.
But as the storage period for her mother's remains expired, and her anatomy teacher was about to start an autopsy class, Lin Huizong's family began to think about where the end of life was. What does it mean to be "alive"? Mrs. Lin's departure and the imminent opening of the autopsy class have led to an opportunity to ease the relationship between father and daughter.
Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan is a Catholic Pontifical University founded by the Roman Catholic Church and is directly under the Vatican's Department of Education.
The university's unique Catholic Church background makes the donation of the "big body teacher" even more sacred, and every step of the process strictly follows the Catholic rituals, allowing the audience to perceive through the lens of the medical school of these groups of beneficiaries of the piety of this matter and respect for life.
Nearly a quarter of the population of Taiwan is Buddhist, and the Mid-Yuan Festival ritual is very solemn in Taiwan, where the medical school's churchmen pray for the large body of teachers and some of the dead animals.
They say, "This is the part where we feel we can use our beliefs to integrate with some of the ideas of the general public".
So it's surprisingly unobtrusive to see footage of churchgoers and ordinary believers singing hymns with crucifixes, with both crucifixes with images of Jesus and traditional Buddhist offerings on the tabletop, and even incense candles burning next to them.
Similarly, the solemn ceremony before the autopsy of "Mr. Big Body" was done in a Catholic ritual atmosphere, with incense burning.
The essence of the Catholic doctrine is "self-sacrifice, dedication, so that human beings can get rid of suffering and sin to achieve eternal life" and a kind of "great love". What Mr. Daisuke accomplishes is to fulfill such a "great love" in accordance with the Catholic doctrine
This collision of Eastern and Western cultural beliefs is accomplished in the "great love" of the Catholic Church.
This clash of cultural beliefs between East and West was accomplished in "great love".
"Big body teacher" in the dissection before the need to have a very grand ceremony, so a long time ago the anatomy teacher began to students before the dissection of the ideological education and counseling, she taught students how to go to the "big body teacher" family communication, in order to understand the "big body teacher" family.
The purpose is to let students understand that you have to dissect is not just a cold corpse, but to contribute their own remains to them as a teaching tool for a living person, so that students cognizant of the value of life, otherwise, even if it is on the dissection table, but also "with the cut market pork is not much difference.
This is what Chen Zhihan thought at the beginning of the film: "People are generally alive to contribute to the world, but the teacher of the body is dead to begin to play a role in the impact, which is very wonderful. These medical students didn't know Mr. Big Body, but according to the rules, the summer before the anatomy class, the students have to visit the family of Mr. Big Body, so when Mr. Big Body becomes the family of someone you know, what kind of mindset will you have to look at him? This just fits into my thinking about the doctor-patient relationship."
Thus, the meaning of education has changed from the pursuit of knowledge to the reverence for life, and the "teacher of gross body" under the scalpel is no longer just a cold cadaver, but a friend or family member of a friend's family, which stimulated the students' thinking about the "doctor-patient relationship" in their future work. "
As a teacher of physical fitness, the teacher is no longer just a cold body, but a friend or family member of a friend.
As in addition to medical students outside of the nearest person to the teacher of the large body, in-depth medical school anatomy class filming, for the filming staff is a very high impact life education, filming when they found the corner of the anatomy room there is a cabinet full of all kinds of tools, there are electric drills, saws, hammer .......
"Without really seeing it, it's hard to believe that five or six young people would have to use all their strength to saw through a skull, and that they'd have to work very, very hard to cut the body open, and it looks like they're automobile repairmen".
"Standing next to the dissecting table, the biggest shock is to see a dead person, lying on the dissecting table very fragile to accept the mercy of many people," they heartily exclaimed, "It turns out that life can only be like this in the end, but this is already the limit of what the remains can exert This is already the limit of the influence this remains can exert."
After the film, Chen Zhihan's view of life has changed a lot, he confessed: "In the face of frustration, I would like to think that the life is bitter, but also so, easy moments will want to think about how life can be more profound?"
Details determine success or failure, this sentence is fully embodied in this movie.
There are no classic images or shocking shots; this movie simply follows Lim Hwee Jong's family through an event. However, a great deal of detail underpins the entire movie.
About the title:
The title of "That Silent Sunshine Afternoon" is the result of Chen Zhihan's summer research at the Fu Jen Catholic University Medical School, where the medical department's autopsy class was held on Monday afternoons, and every time he passed by the Zhongmei Hall in front of the medical school, he could see a large area of sunshine falling on the entire campus, shrouded in a tranquil atmosphere. The feeling was similar to the atmosphere of the anatomy class, and he felt so good that he named the movie "That Silent Sunny Afternoon".
The English title, The Silent Teacher, seems even more apt.
About the language:
The Taiwanese language sounds slow-paced and has a kind of uncontested softness, mixed with some Minnan dialects, including Lin Huizong, including Lin Yu-Ru, including medical school anatomy teachers and students, giving the audience the feeling of being face-to-face with the one who is using Ta's experience for you to tell you a detailed story about the story of life. The story of life.
Even if the topic is related to death, the whole movie doesn't hear any words like "death", "passing away", "passing away", "death", "death", "death", "death", or "death".
Even when it comes to the topic of death, we don't hear any words like "die", "pass away", "leave this world" in the whole movie, but use the Buddhist term "passing away" instead of the straightforward "death".
It seems to have eased the oppression of "death" in a roundabout way, and replaced it with a longing for an "afterlife".
On the montages and close-ups:
Celebratory shots with traditional Chinese elements, including incense burning, tributes, and a mix of Catholic elements and rituals.
Exterior shots of swaying weeds, birds flying by at dusk, rain on car window panes, and the tile-blue sky at the beach ......
These shots, interspersed throughout the story, give the viewer a glimpse of the years, as if time is slowly flowing by, and at some point the sadness of the story itself is suddenly forgotten.
The montage in the movie always triggers the audience's infinite reverie through the quick cut of the lens, which enhances the infectious power of the movie inadvertently.
On the day before Mrs. Lin's body is about to be dissected, the always optimistic and witty Lin Huizong finally can't hold back his tears. Echoing his tears are the water droplets in the storage bag of his wife's body in close-up, which arouses infinite ****ing emotions in the audience.
After the autopsy was completed, the gauze-wrapped remains stood alone with their threads floating in front of a disembodied background, which inevitably made the audience feel a sense of sadness about the fate of the "Big Body Teacher".
About the Characters:
The details of the characters in the movie are also an important element of the emotion.
For example, the lyrics of the song that Lin Huizong sang with his friends at the KTV, "I really love you, my love, please help us to be reunited as soon as possible," were sung in a very sincere way, which was a true reflection of Lin Huizong's heart.
In the film, there is a Xu Yu'e on the anatomical table in the top angle of the facial shots, you can see that the face is somewhat collapsed, the skin has been gray color, the kind of "face like ashes" of the real sense, so people can not help but feel the bottom of the heart have a tremor.
Just as the director himself shot this footage of the original intention: It's hard for you to look directly at a person who has been dismembered like this, and I knew that even her face would be dissected off in the end, so I wanted to keep her complete appearance for the last time, because I've been interviewing her family for a long time, and I heard a lot of her story, although I didn't talk to her, it was as if she was a friend. So the only thing I could do for her was to keep his face intact for the movie .
During the autopsy, a burst of laughter erupted from the students in the autopsy room, which many felt was a deliberate move by the director, leaving the audience with some questions: on the one hand, they thought it might be a reflection of some people's less-than-serious attitude towards the autopsy, and on the other hand, they thought that, in the depressing work of dissecting the human body, the students were in greater need of emotional stimulation, and not necessarily a way to get rid of the pain. The first is that it is not necessary to maintain a serious attitude at all times, but it is necessary to maintain a serious attitude at all times.
Not many people can get over the death of a loved one in a short period of time.
And the body of the loved ones can be donated to do "big body teacher" this matter, even if this is the wishes of the deceased relatives, even if they have signed the consent form, but in the face of the body of the relatives will be done "big body teacher" the moment, many people are The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new one, and you'll be able to do that.
Because I don't want to give up, because I can't get over that hurdle in my heart.
Even the anatomy teacher in the movie, the face of the camera also frankly say their inner thoughts, her father was alive with her to go to her college to do the "big body teacher" intention, she said to her father: " I have no choice, your daughter ", "I've been a teacher for so long, but I'm still sad when I see a big body teacher. If you, father, are going to be a big body teacher underneath the students I'm teaching, I'm still going to touch them, so I can't accept it. "
When her mother brought up the same topic with her, she tried to avoid it.
This issue is very realistic and cruel, basically everyone can not pass that hurdle in the heart, loved ones have passed away, the living life has to go on, can not live their lives while thinking that they once sent the remains of their loved ones to the medical school's dissection table knife by knife to be cut to the face.
Speaking of his family, Chen Zhihan said, "I realized I can't either! That's how I learned that it's really hard for people to let go when they haven't really faced death, so when I filmed Mr. Lin Huizong, I was worried about whether he and his family had really let go ."
In 2017, there was a short film on the same subject, Mr. Big Body.
The 15-minute film is about an unusual family in Shanghai's Jiading district whose elderly mother is seriously ill and intends to donate her body after her death, with the eldest son arguing that he has to respect his mother's wishes, the second son disagreeing, and the daughter, who is a doctor, navigating the dilemma. Volunteers came and went several times with the agreement, and how it was finally resolved is not clear in the film, but the answer may be in the granddaughter's conversation with her mother, "Grandma is so courageous." Regardless of how old the children are, the old mother still made a final disposition for her own body.
The new crown epidemic in Wuhan, many netizens concerned about the A Nian girl's grandmother also left, A Nian's mother after the death of her grandmother became the first to donate the remains of the patient's family, it is because of this first, there is a second, third, until April 5, Vulcan Mountain Hospital a **** there are 28 donors of human remains. These donors, because they themselves suffered the pain of losing a loved one, so they do not want anyone else to be like them.
Nen has said that after the donation, her mom was also suffering from a mixture of guilt, pain and relief.
But it is because of these selfless teachers of big bodies and their families, as well as medical researchers, that speculation in many cases has been confirmed, the use of artificial lungs brought forward, and techniques and methods of intubation improved. It was this that led to the seventh edition of the Diagnostic and Treatment Program for Pneumonia Infected by Novel Coronaviruses, which allowed the neo-coronavirus outbreak to be most effectively controlled in our country.
The survey data shows that only 56.29% of netizens are willing to follow the wishes of their relatives to donate their bodies or organs, and 41.2% of netizens believe that the deep-rooted traditional cultural attitudes are the main reasons that prevent people from donating their bodies or organs.
Perhaps it was all of this that contributed to Chen Zhihan's original intention to make the movie at the time:
"I want to use this movie to talk about what it really means to be alive? Is a living being that has a breath, a heartbeat, a pulse, is it really alive?
Life is not about breath and blood, it's about spirit and impact.
Should the doctor thank the patient for the experience he has given him, and should the patient thank the doctor for his contribution to society?
Death is a subject that comes up for everyone, and in the presence of death, everyone is at a loss.
I also want viewers to be able to think about the use of their bodies while they are still rational, and to tell everyone around them who cares about them to make the best decisions. "
That Quiet Sunny Afternoon is a documentary that makes you rethink how you think about life and how you understand death.
Images from the Internet