Swedish documentary Nostalgia (I no longer know my home)

In the 1970s, in a series of liberation movements about identity politics in the West, the first-person film came into being as an image form of personal self-expression. It is actually a major revolution to let the camera face its own life, not others'. Writers who used to hide behind the camera came to the screen to tell their own stories. Now, what we see is no longer the story told by the author, but a meta-story about the author himself. Facing the author, the audience seems to feel the long-lost truth. Similarly, the author "I", as the narrator of his own story, seems to have found the cheapest and most sincere means of expression.

Homesickness (although I don't know where my home is) 20 14 is a first-person documentary. The musician Viktor in the film is not only the protagonist, but also one of the screenwriters of the film, and also the narrator "I" from beginning to end. Is this a story about him? The first non-organic shot of the film focuses on Victor. By peeking at its mottled tattoos, we seem to hear the echoes of distant troubled cities and touch the rebellion engraved on our souls.

Accompanied by the vague images conveyed by music and a series of interlaced materials, the narrative begins with a road to return home. It's like an interesting time journey. The four seasons change like a shuttle, which suddenly brings the audience into a different world, the quiet countryside of Finland. There, Victor who came home looked like a stranger, and his striking tattoo was somewhat out of tune with rural life.

Then, the film tells the real protagonist of the story through Victor's mouth, his grandfather, Eero M? Ntyranta), Finnish national hero, Olympic skiing champion. Yes, this first-person film didn't tell the story of Victor, and it successfully started a narrative transformation. Empathy refers to any unauthorized entry into the story space caused by the narrator outside the story. The story about his grandfather, Arro Mantranta, actually started through Victor's return to his hometown, which was divorced from the story. Returning home has become an unauthorized intrusion here. That time trip not only brought us to the home of the protagonist and grandfather, but also seemed to penetrate the media of film narration.

Victor, like the narrator of God, sits next to his grandfather in the film. Obviously, he is not satisfied with just being the narrator of his grandfather's story. He wants to cross the narrative boundary and prove that this is also Victor's own first-person film, a "I" film about "him".

More importantly, the story of Alero Mantranta's grandfather is an image study of Victor's family ethnography. This is an anthropological research method with family members as the research object. Researchers often write familiar cultures by talking with family members, observing and collecting historical documents of family members.

Victor's description of his grandfather is to complete the family ethnography with images as words. We can see the interweaving of various materials in the story of grandpa introduced later. For example, grandpa's old photos, TV interviews in those years, Victor's quiet observation, interviews with grandparents, old videos at home, and even the reappearance of some mysterious scenes ... It is these video materials of different specifications that span half a century that have collaged a portrait of my grandfather for us.

However, the selection of materials is not chaotic, and most of the words are related to my grandfather's feelings for his hometown. Whether it is the nationality choice faced by childhood to avoid war, or the quiet life in the late career because of confusion; Whether it is some scary rural memories or labor skills that only local people can understand, my grandfather's persistence in the countryside and land is faintly revealed.

This persistence stems from the belief in the return of nature and the awe of observing the laws of nature. Compared with the depression and gray hesitation of grandson Victor lost in the late capitalist city, grandpa's village is obviously lively and colorful. He said he was fed up with the fast-paced life, so he stayed for decades.

Between the narratives about grandfather, the film deliberately inserted some discordant images about Victor, including black and white images of him playing guitar and singing, and some random family videos with poor quality. The addition of these images has a certain fracture and destruction effect on grandfather's narrative. The audience just immersed in the story is separated from the montage and replaced by a decadent and rambling poetry.

This kind of poetry comes from the conflict between two completely different images, one is regular, logical and rational, and the other is abnormal, aimless and sentimental. We seem to get a glimpse of Victor's loneliness and helplessness in big cities through this poetic collision. And how is this different from us who are sitting in front of the screen and enjoying the convenience of fast-paced life?

This first-person film, which should be personalized, actually reveals the anxiety of many urbanites: should we think about ourselves, should a busy and fulfilling life exist like this? Like many people in China who were eager to go home, Victor quickly fled back to his city, just as he avoided thinking about the above problems. Maybe the tattoo home should never be in the countryside.

At the end of the movie, Victor seemed a little emotional when he chatted with some friends about his grandfather's country anecdote. This is not like the previous home video, but more like a performance to express some emotions. In order to sublimate the theme of the film, this emotion is obviously necessary. However, as a journey to express your true self in front of the audience, is this deliberately sensational practice really appropriate?

Documentary, even the so-called first-person documentary that directly faces the audience and strips the author's media, can't fully show the truth. Documentary is actually a feature film, which can only be relatively true. When we learned from the tribute speech at the end of the film that my grandfather had died in 20 13, this late news might explain why Victor was so emotional before. This logically non-causal plot seems to have reached a tacit understanding. Before that, Victor was an actor Victor.

Back to the title of the movie Homesickness: Does Victor really feel homesick in his confusion? I think, in today's European integration and globalization, homesickness is no longer based on a fixed land, it may just tell people in the land we miss. Perhaps, with the disappearance of the people I miss, my homesickness will eventually disappear, and I no longer know my home (although I no longer know where it is).