天堂孤影1986

Actually this is one of my assignments from my foreign teacher who recommended us to watch and ponder on the film. I use plain language to share some of my thoughts here with you and hope you guys will enjoy it!

Feel free to comment!

Questions:
        How to understand the characters in the movie Shadows in Paradise?
        What does the ship which is going off at the end of the movie symbolize?

Possible Answers:
        After watching the film first time, I felt it a comedy with happy ending. However, when I watch the film a second time, I feel depressed, and I have a totally different feeling from the first time. I regard it as an ideal dream of the working class rather than a simple comedy of the workers. This film reminds me of The Flies, which we’ve read last semester. Both of the film and the article are talking about the stories of the same class, the lower working class, which has nothing glamorous but unique. As we all know, paradise represents a bright and joyful image, so how come there are some shadows in paradise? This is the question occurred to me when I first read the title of the movie. Trying to understand the film and the theme, I approach to the understanding of the characters first.
        In the movie, there are two main characters and four other characters. I’d like to divide them into different groups according to the different criteria for the sake of better understanding of the characters.

                 Attitudes towards Life

1.Positive: Make a change
2.Negative: Stay in comfort zone

        According to the attitudes towards life, I categorize the characters into two groups: make a change and stay in comfort zone.
    What I’m most impressed by this movie is that the characters’ desire to make a change. Firstly, the coworker of Nikander, who had a dream to travel around the world with his wife, wanted to run a company by himself. He was fed up with the current job for twenty-five years and he was longing for change. He was so positive towards life, but he worked too hard and prepared a lot for his dream. He even died when he was working. This makes me think of those events in nowadays society, which are the premature deaths of the elites in society. As we all know, if we want to gain something, we have to pay the price sooner or later. However, those premature dead people are working too hard to stand. Although they are positive towards life and willing to make a change, they overwork to make up the lost. Their attitudes towards life should be appreciated, but their method of wealth accumulation should not be complimented. As Confucius has said, enough is as good as a feast. We should be satisfied when we have enough sources. This is probably a correct method of making a change.
        Secondly, the main character, Nikander, is also a member of the positive group. He was willing to be a foreman when his coworker suggested him to be and he learned English after work in order to improve himself. He kept on trying, kept on making a change even he was only a garbage collector, a blue-collar worker. Even though he hadn’t a decent job, he kept everything of his life in order: he went to work on time every day, cooked dinner for himself, and folded his clothes tidily. In my opinion, arranging one’s daily life in order itself is a kind of positive act. The others may have held him in contempt, but the most important thing is that he never looks down upon himself and he is always positive towards life.
        Last but not the least, the partner of Nikander, a jobless person who was arrested in the jail before, was positive as well. He was willing to work and wanted to make a change in his life. He began changing from getting a job, helping Nikander, visiting Nikander when he was crossed in love and taking care of Nikander when he was in the hospital. They were trying to make a change in their life and struggling in the working class.
        In this movie, the characters, though in the inferior status and lower working class, I think are optimistic towards life except Liona’s attitude was controversial.
        Liona went through a lot but she seldom took action to make a change in the previous half of the movie. When she was fired for no reason, she chose to steal the money box and avoid the reality. She requested Nikander to drive her out of the town. In my viewpoint, if she really wanted to make a change, she should use some practical and legal methods rather than this illegal and negative means. Because she must know the result that she would stand accused of theft by the police after she returned home. That is to say, she must know this act will not work and all these would be in vain at the start of her plan. So what’s the point doing this if she really wanted a change in life? She could have appealed to law or the Labour Union for getting a reasonable reply of her unemployment. But she didn’t. From this aspect, she seemed to be negative towards life because she just tried to avoid the cruel reality.
        However, taking her act at another thought, she was still trying even when she was sure to fail. She attempted to make a change and get hold of her own life, though the method she adopted didn’t work. Thus we may interpret this act as a positive attitude of her deep heart from this aspect. What’s more, she was still positive towards life when she chose to leave with Nikanda in the end. This was also an act that she tried to make a change in her life. Probably getting on the ship with Nikander was a signal of revolution.
        To sum up, Liona had both of the positive and negative attitudes towards life which made her attitude controversial. Above all is how I understand the characters from the perspectives of attitudes towards life.

                 Social Status

          1.Upper Class
          2.Lower Class
        
        This movie is mainly talking about the life in the lower working class. The major characters are just like the representative of the lower class in society. They don’t have decent job or well-paid salary, let alone the high-class network in society. They looked more serious and sober. Liona, was the most typical characters of the lower class. She seldom showed a smile on her face, probably because there was nothing worth smiling about in the life of lower class. We know the life of the lower class from her. She was fired the third time for no reason; she turned to steal for revenge because she was unemployed; she had to live in Nikander’s house for accommodation; she had to find a job with the help of men; she had to eat hamburger besides the road rather than have dinner in the restaurant. Those people in lower class had something in common with her.: they haven’t got steady jobs and networks to help.
        Like Liona, Nikander was also a typical character in the lower class. He was looked down upon by the waiter in the restaurant and the manager of the shop because his dress and job. Through their life, we know the life of lower class is full of bitterness and prejudice. This environment is like the shadows existing in society. Anything glamorous doesn’t belong to them. We’re usually attracted by the paradise, the halo of upper class; however, after watching the film, I know that we can’t overlook the shadows, the dark side of society.
        Unlike the lower class, the people in the upper class enjoyed the well-paid salary, stable job and the better quality of service. The manager of the clothes shop could be categorized into this group. He could offer Liona a job; he could have dinner in the restaurant and never bother whether there was a seat or not. The people in upper class enjoy the privileges and live a more comfortable life than those in lower class.
        This is how I understand the characters from the perspective of different social status.

               Attitudes towards Love

         1.Confused
         2.Persistent

        The love story served as a main thread through the whole movie. To understand their attitudes towards love is of great importance. Liona was confused about love when she was in the crossway to make a decision between the manager and Nikander. These two alternatives represented bread and love, the permanent topic in our reality. She was so confused that she didn’t know which to choose. Bread or love, that is a question. Liona first was a realistic lady when she chose the manager, the bread in life. Because she knew she could not live without a job and money. I quite agreed with her first decision. After all, life is cruel. However, she finally looked into her deep heart and found out the real answer, the true love in human. She chose to believe in the power of love so she took an act to leave with Nikander in the end. This is her final decision and attitude towards love.
        Concerning love, Nikander was everything that Liona wasn’t. He was persistent, faithful and loyal to love. He let Liona live in his house for shelter; he gave the money back to the manager of supermarket for Liona; he never gave up Liona even when she had another man. His persistence towards love won Liona’s heart eventually.
        This is how I understand the characters from the perspective of attitudes towards love.


        After analyzing the characters in the movie, I have a better understanding of the theme. The ship also which is going off at the end of the movie makes me think a lot. I have to say the director of the film is a genius because he leaves enough space for the audience to ponder and reflect after watching it, especially the ending part, a marvelous job.
        When the ship was sailing out in the end, the audience may think where were they going? How was the future life of them? These are the questions I think about. I believe many other people may think alike.
        On the surface, the ship with Liona and Nikander on it symbolizes the happy ending of the couple. They finally got together and went for the honeymoon. They took an act and made a change in their life regardless of reality. They may probably have a romantic cruise or a fantastic journey. However, is life really so simple? Does their destination really exist? This ending makes me think of the happy endings of the fairy tales. As we all know, the endings of the fairy tales are like this: from now on, the prince and princess live a happy life forever. Nothing more is described about their future marriage life. But we can guess their life full of pressure and trivial daily troubles. They are the noble so they must be under the pressure of royalty and public. What’s more, they have to deal with those daily necessities let which they seldom concern about before marriage. They have to face to the reality after all. Can they live a happy life forever? That ending just can cheat those children who have never taste the bitterness of the life.
        Similarly, Nikander and Liona are like the prince and princess, who have to face to the reality and have to struggle in the shadows of society after their cruise. Life is never so simple that we can find a place without troubles and tensions. The ship at the end of the movie is like our life, which is dynamic and full of uncertainties. Nikander and Liona wish to be happy and out of pressure from work and society. The ship which was sailing away, like floating up to the paradise, can symbolize the hope of a new life, the paradise in their heart. In their minds, the ship will lead them to the paradise, where they can be away from the shadows in society; nevertheless, that place doesn’t exist. Wherever we are, whoever we are, we still have to tackle those troubles in life. The lyrics of the song at the end of the film “life itself is painful” also tell us the essence of life lies more in its bitterness than in sweetness.
        We don’t know what’s going on in their life, but their future is open to our predictions.
        Maybe they will live an undramatic life in the future and everything will like the same as usual when they are back. Liona may be busy with finding a new job; meanwhile, Nikander may do the routine garbage-man work everyday. Although their life is full of dull work and uneasy things, they might still feel very happy and satisfied in deep heart. As we all know, the definition of happiness varies from person to person. Happiness to them may mean the satisfying feeling in their heart rather than wealth and reputation.
        Who knows maybe they will live a dramatic life? Nikander and Liona may find some commercial opportunities during their journey and they might run their own business in the future. Very soon, they may gain a huge amount of money and climb up to the upper class.
        What’s more, maybe they live in a much more miserable life than before. Liona may probably lose the job and have to struggle in job searching when they are back. Society is competitive and tough. If there is no vacancy for her, she won’t probably earn a living. The same case may also happen to Nikander. He is only a blue collar in the lower class and he might be fired someday for no reason like Liona. Then their life will be a mess and miserable.
        The ship gives me a lot of imaginations and these are the three possibilities I can think of about their future.
        Back to the ship, it will lead us to far shore, but we will never know where is our destination and when will we be there. Our life experience is like the ship, sailing in the endless ocean, fighting with the storms, waiting to get to another shore without clear destination. Like Lin Yutang said before, life is like a dream. Everything is changing on the way, but the most important thing is that Nikander and Liona have found out the things that worth cherishing in their life, which is love.
        In a nutshell, the ship symbolizes our life, which is full of ups and downs, and filled with uncertainties. What’s more, the happy ending of the main characters is just a dream and the place where they leave for is the paradise in their hearts, which doesn’t exist.