Summary of a trip to India

Summary of a trip to India | Appreciation | Thinking

1984 color film 162 minutes

Produced by British godwin Film Company.

Director: David Lynn (based on E·M· Forster's novel of the same name and Sansa Rama Rowe's stage play) Photography: Ernest Day's main actors: Judy Davis (played by Adela Quest), Victor Banaji (played by Aziz Ahmed), Peggy Ashcroft (played by Mrs. Moore), james fox (played by Fielding), Eric Guinness (played by Golden Globe), etc.

The film won two Academy Awards, namely 1985 Best Supporting Actress and Best Composer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts of America, Best Film and Best Director of the New York Film Critics Association, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in hollywood foreign press association.

abstract

In the 1920s, English women Miss Adela Quest and Mrs Moore, the mother of her fiance Ronnie, went to India from London to visit Ronnie. India was a British colony at that time. Ronnie is a judge in Chandrapur, India.

The two ladies arrived at their destination Chandrapur after a long journey. Along the way, endless fields and colorful exotic scenery attracted them. Mrs Moore, who is over 70 years old but open-minded, is friendly to India and eager to have a real understanding of India. Adela also wants to know about the "real India", but with the curiosity of westerners, she has never left Britain after all.

But since arriving in India, almost all British locals have advised them not to associate with Indians, saying that "the difference between East and West is a cultural problem". Ronnie also became arrogant and bureaucratic when he came to India. In fact, all British officials in India do this. They don't care about Indians at all. They only live in the narrow circle of English clubs and do everything according to the habits of the British Empire. Mrs Moore dismissed the racial prejudice of her compatriots as the result of power and superiority.

On a moonlit night, Mrs Moore sneaked out of the English club for a walk alone, and then unconsciously walked into the Islamic mosque. In the moonlight, the big dome and arch of the building, the bodhi trees and fallen leaves in the garden, and the sparkling river of the Ganges River complement each other and form a beautiful and sacred picture. She met an Indian doctor, Aziz Ahmed. Aziz is a middle-aged widower, warm and sincere. As soon as he came into contact with Mrs Moore, he felt that she was completely different from the bossy local wives. Aziz told her that there are many crocodiles in the Ganges, and sometimes there are dead people floating. Mrs Moore was surprised that beauty and ugliness could be so wonderfully combined.

Fielding, the headmaster of Chandrapur Public School, is an enlightened Englishman. He has always advocated that the British should communicate with the Indians. Knowing that Mrs Moore and Adela wanted to know about India, they invited them to meet Aziz and a Brahmin scholar, Godbole. Aziz was moved by the sincerity of these British people and enthusiastically offered to show them around the famous Malaba Cave. Ronnie was very dissatisfied with his mother and fiancee's contact with Indians. His racial prejudice disappointed Mrs Moore and hurt Adela. In view of the growing differences between Adela and Ronnie, she proposed to dissolve her engagement with him. Ronnie was shocked by this.

One day, Adela went out by bike and came across the ruins of an ancient temple. I saw happy Buddha statues of various shapes in the weeds, and wild monkeys in the trees came at her. Edra was frightened and left quickly. In the evening, she remembered the Buddha statue, refreshed and took the initiative to make up with Ronnie.

Aziz boldly suggested swimming in the cave, which put him in an awkward position. He was so anxious that he fell ill. Fortunately, his friends helped him prepare tables and chairs, tableware, food and transportation, which made his suggestion come true.

On the day of the trip, Aziz and his friends were waiting for dawn at the train station with big bags and small bags, for fear of missing the driving time. Two British female guests who never get up so early arrived on time. Ronnie asked orderly Anton to accompany Mrs Moore and Adela on their trip, but Adela sent Anton away. Fielding and Kimball had promised to take part in the trip, but kimball missed the train because of the long morning prayers. In fact, Goldball didn't approve of the trip, but he didn't make it clear. Aziz was very disappointed.

When the train arrived at the foot of the Rocky Mountain, Aziz had prepared an elephant for the guests to carry them up the mountain, and a band played along the way. The villagers nearby followed the elephant to watch the excitement. A group of people marched towards Malaba Cave in a mighty way.

In fact, Malaba's caves are just empty caves. There are no Buddha statues, reliefs and religious colors in it. The only value is that they are ancient monuments. However, not everyone can bear the pressure brought by caves-especially those who are in a fragile state.

Tourists and spectators have entered the gloomy cave. The echo in the cave is so loud that even when everyone holds their breath, they can hear the sound like thunder. Aziz naughtily shouted "Mrs. Moore", which made Mrs. Moore dizzy. She hurried out of the hole to have a rest. When people continued to look at the second cave, Mrs. Moore didn't keep up and suggested that not so many people should enter the cave at the same time.

Aziz and the tour guide led Adela away, and Aziz took Adela up. Adela suddenly asked Aziz if he loved his wife. Aziz said that the two had never met before marriage, but because they were men and women, and they were very young, they had a good relationship. Adela asked him if there were other women besides his wife. Embarrassed Aziz hid aside and found an excuse to smoke to calm himself down. Adela waited for a while, and then went into the hole alone. When Aziz finished smoking a cigarette, Adela was no longer there. He longed to hear her name in every corner. At this time, Adela saw Aziz's figure in the dark cave, heard the echo of her name, and suddenly became impulsive. ...

Later, I saw Adela running down the hill. She was black and blue, crying and shaking hysterically, saying that Aziz wanted to flirt with her.

Things got worse. Aziz was arrested by the police because he tried to rape white people before he knew what had happened. Neither Fielding nor Mrs Moore believed Aziz would do such a thing. Local residents who are familiar with Aziz also believe that honest doctors must be wronged. This incident almost caused a confrontation between Indians and British people.

Fielding ran around trying to clear Aziz's name, but in vain. Goldball takes a detached attitude because he thinks that no matter how hard he works, the result will be the same. Mrs Moore was badly hit and exhausted. She has booked a return flight and left Chandrapur sadly. Golden Ball silently folded her hands at the railway station to bless her. However, before she arrived in London, she died on the boat. People held a sea burial for her.

The colonial authorities believe that colored people have been drooling over white women, and Aziz's criminal motive is more, because he found several magazines with half a piece of women under his bed, and he wrote a letter to his friend who runs a brothel in Kolkata, saying that he wanted to see striptease. It is said that the telescope he found in the cave of Malaba Mountain was his murder weapon, and that it was Aziz's premeditated intention to take Anton away by Adela.

Aziz's friend invited a famous lawyer who advocated freedom movement from Calcutta for him. However, lawyers did not play a role, because things changed dramatically again.

On Adela's way to the court, the car was surrounded by angry people. Some people wore monkey costumes and made faces by sticking their faces to the window. Adela went to court without soul. Outside the court, the crowd protested Ronnie's sending away the witness Mrs. Moore and shouted "Mrs. Moore"; There was a faint thunder outside the window; The room is stuffy and hot. Adela seems to be in the cave again. When the prosecutor asked her, she said that it was not Aziz who suggested going into the cave alone, but Mrs Moore who suggested it. In fact, Aziz didn't go into the hole. Subsequently, she dropped the charges. Aziz was acquitted. The crowd held Aziz high like heroes to celebrate his victory.

White people and Indians looked down on Adela, only Fielding took her in and sent her away.

A kind passenger on board sent Fielding a telegram informing her of the death of Mrs Moore. Fielding couldn't bear to tell Aziz the bad news when he was in high spirits, so he just said another sentence: Please give up Aziz's claim against Adela. Fielding believes that the whole incident was actually caused by racists fanning the flames, and Adela was used, but it was good for her to correct her mistakes. Aziz was furious and said that the British were still on the British side.

Aziz gave up his ideas and moved to a remote mountainous area far from British rule to practice medicine. A few years later, Fielding took his new wife, Mrs Moore's daughter, to visit Aziz in the mountains of India. Aziz was very moved. The shadow of the Malaba incident began to fade away.

One day, Adela, who was alone in London, received a letter from Aziz, in which he said that the shadow of the Malaba incident had gradually faded from his mind. He told Adela that he had moved to work in the mountainous area, where it was snowing. With mixed feelings, Adela looked up at the window. Raindrops hit the glass windows and brick roofs, and thunder was faintly audible.

The nightmare of the trip to India is finally over.

Distinguish and appreciate

David Lynn, a British director, is known for his works such as Meet Me Late (1945), Tears of Lonely Star (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), Guihe Bridge (/kloc). After Ryan's daughter (1970), he kept silent about 14, and didn't return to the Jianghu until 1984 to direct this mountain mining work. A Passage to India is his last work. Movie master 199 1 died in April. "A Passage to India" is not as classic as the above-mentioned business cards, but it is also very popular. It was nominated by 1 1 of the Academy of Film Arts in that year, which is equivalent to Mozart's nomination in that year.

David Lynn chose A Passage to India as his first play for a reason. E·M· Forster's novel A Passage to India was published in 1924 and adapted into a stage play in 1960. Many filmmakers want to put it on the screen. Satyajit ray, an Indian film director, wanted to make this film in the 1960s, but he didn't get it for various reasons. 1970, Foster reached an agreement with British producer John Bradborn to put a passage to India on the screen. Unexpectedly, Foster died before signing the contract. It was more than ten years before Brad Born bought the copyright and raised enough money. Some companies insist on having a cave scene before investing, and some companies don't agree to let 77-year-old actor Peggy Ashcroft play Mrs Moore. In a word, it was the 1980s when everything was ready. Brad Born invited David Lynn out of the mountain. 1983 ends shooting, and 1984 ends shooting.

Foster's novels are full of humanistic spirit. His novels have also been put on the screen, such as A Room with a View and howards end. In A Passage to India, British colonists are full of racial prejudice, arrogant and rude, and Indians are kind and sincere, but naive. There are contradictions between them, and this gap is not formed in a day, nor can it be eliminated in a day. David Lynn put the novel on the screen. He was 80% loyal to the original, but in the original, he greatly strengthened the lash of British colonial rule.

Since the publication of A Passage to India, critics and readers have wondered what happened in the cave in Malaba and whether Aziz had cancer. This passage in Malaba Cave is the * * * part of this book. However, the book is very obscure and doesn't clearly write what happened, which makes this problem a mystery for a long time. David Lynn's biggest change to the original is that he attacked British colonial rule more directly than the original, and clearly told the audience that the cave incident was an unjust case and the result of colonial racial prejudice. The plot of the film is as follows: (1) Before that, Adela had sexual impulses when he saw the joyful Buddha and the monkey; (2) It was Adela who sent Anton away, not Aziz who testified in court; (3) It was Mrs. Moore who advised Aziz and Adela not to go into the cave with many people, instead of Aziz's premeditated abandonment of everyone as the court said; (4) Adela took the initiative to ask Aziz about his love life; (5) After Adela ran down the mountain, Aziz didn't know that she had gone down, but he called her from the cave. (6) The court claimed that Aziz knocked down Adela with a telescope in an attempt to commit violence. In fact, after Adela ran down the mountain, Az found a telescope at the mouth of the cave. The most crucial scene is that after Adela entered the cave alone, he saw the figure of Aziz at the entrance of the cave in the dark. He shouted, "Miss Quest!" "Adela didn't respond, but you can feel from the expression on her face that she is in a state of mental confusion, which is the same as when she saw the happy Buddha before. The next scene is: a burst of water by the pool (actually an elephant is playing in the pool). This metaphor shows the physiological changes of Adela at this time. The audience has reason to believe that everything is caused by Adela's own sexual fantasies (of course, people with racial prejudice around her are also indispensable). This will find a reasonable explanation for Adela's sudden withdrawal of charges in court.

A Passage to India, like many films by David Lynn, is about people who are far away from home and go to a foreign land to test their understanding of the world and themselves through a trip. Mrs Moore and Adela went to India to learn about the East. As a result, one was exhausted and the other returned to England with a bad reputation. It was a disappointing trip for Mrs Moore. No sooner had she arrived at Chandrapur Railway Station than she met her son Lonnie. However, Lonnie didn't come to meet her specially. He mainly came to see his superior officer. Ronnie's arrogance to the local people and flattery to his boss made her uncomfortable. English clubs have completely preserved a set of customs of the British Empire. At the beginning of every activity, everyone stood up and sang "God Save the King", which made her very helpless. When she told her compatriots that she didn't have much contact with the locals, they replied, "This is your luck!" "At the garden party, she asked the Indian lady to say a few words in Hindi to her, but all she heard were foreign words like Hyde Park and Waterloo. Fortunately, Fielding invited her and Adela to her home and introduced them to two local intellectuals, kimball and Aziz, but Ronnie flew into a rage. Adela proposed to dissolve her engagement with Ronnie, but it was soon resumed, which puzzled her. Finally, I had a chance to visit the cave in Malaba, and the accident happened, which deepened the contradiction between Indians and British people. For an old man in his 70 s, this series of unhappiness is really unbearable. The kind Mrs Moore paid the price of her life.

It was an unfortunate trip for Adela. Her own fragility cannot withstand the impact of eastern culture. When she went to India, she wanted to know about the East, but she didn't expect to meet her fiance at close range. This trip coincides with her mental journey. She felt the distance from Ronnie and proposed to break off the engagement, but because of the influence of oriental culture, she withdrew her proposal. But in fact, she doesn't love Ronnie, so when she saw Chandrapur in Malaba Cave, she thought that the Indian man around her didn't know whether she loved his wife or not, so she asked the ambiguous question. She didn't mean to make fun, but a series of two ambiguous questions created an awkward atmosphere, and Aziz avoided this question to calm himself down. Adela himself was distracted by his contacts and lost control. When she ran down from the mountain, she saw that her face was full of scratches and she was in a semi-coma state. The audience didn't hear her accusing Aziz, but she was surrounded by the wives of a group of British officials, and the reliability of what they said was questionable. Ronnie became the dominant figure on this issue.

The plot of A Passage to India revolves around the relationship between six characters. In addition to the above two people, there are two British people. Lonnie is a typical English colonist. Fielding represents an Englishman with a sense of justice, opposes colonial rule and advocates friendship with India. The two Indians in the film, Golden Globe and Aziz, represent the eastern philosophy and democratic thoughts of Indians. Jin Qiu, an old scholar of Brahmanism, believes that life has reincarnation, good and evil have cause and effect, everything is predestined, and it is useless to resist. He had a premonition that the trip to Malaba was doomed to failure, but he didn't laugh. He just stayed out of it and tried to extend the morning prayer to avoid attending. He knew Aziz was wrong, but he didn't want to fight because he thought the result would be the same anyway. Perhaps it is this forbearing philosophy that has kept India under colonial rule for a long time.

Aziz is a western doctor, influenced by the west and democratic. He didn't like English colonists very much. He once said that British men will become bullies after staying in India for two years, while British women only need six months. There is a scene in the film that fully proves this point: one night, a British major invited Aziz to make house calls. After a long journey, Aziz rented a carriage to go to the major's house, but the servant told him that the major was not at home. The major's wife and her girlfriend walked out of the room talking and laughing. Without even looking at Aziz, they got into the carriage he hired and drove away, leaving Aziz alone in the dark, because the servant had turned off the lights at the gate since the master went out. It is conceivable that after such humiliation, Aziz naturally surprised Mrs. Moore, who regarded him as a god. Fielding invited him to his home, which made him even more flattered-this was the first time he had entered a white man's home. So when Fielding's tie button suddenly broke, he took off his tie button without hesitation and gave it to Fielding (which added a racial prejudice to Ronnie). When he saw Aziz's collar turned over, he said to Adela with disdain, "Look, this is an Indian. I'm neatly dressed, but I don't know how to use a tie button! " After several contacts with Fielding, Aziz regarded him as a confidant, showed him pictures of his dead wife without reservation, cared about his marriage, and even revealed to him that he liked women with big breasts. Aziz is so naive. White people give him friendship, and he gives him ten points. Without considering their own actual conditions, they rashly invited two female guests to visit the caves in Malaba. He was as excited as a child when he went on a trip. When the train started, he climbed out of the carriage, grabbed the door in one hand and shouted, "I'm douglas fairbanks!" " "Sitting on the elephant's back with two British ladies, he was even more flattered, saying that he felt like an emperor. His enthusiasm kept rising, and then suddenly dropped to freezing point. After his arrest, he calmed down and was disappointed with all the British people. Fielding wrote to him twice after returning home, but he didn't reply. It was not until he saw his only daughter, Mrs Moore, become Fielding's wife that his heart was broken.

David Linsu is famous for his preference for exoticism. A Passage to India was filmed in India, Nepal and Kashmir in the Himalayas. Like his past masterpieces, the scenery of this film is unparalleled. Whether it is remote mountains, near water, barren land, green earth, rocky peaks, temples in the moonlight, stormy nights or snow-covered villages, they are not shot for curiosity, but part of the story, almost a symbol of a character, a chaotic and unknowable external world and the inner world of the characters he describes. Almost every film of his brings great visual enjoyment to the audience, so it is no wonder that they are all applauded and sold well.

A Passage to India lasted nearly three hours, but the audience never thought it was such a long film. The whole film is done in one go, and there are no extra shots. This skill is related to David Lynn's scissors background. When editing in the early years, I was fired by the producer because I cut too much. But this did not make him give up his harsh editing habits. What he kept in his hand must be amazing or novel and unique. He once said: "I can cut a shot mercilessly, even if it is a good shot, as long as it affects the fluency of the film." More than ten years of editing experience made him edit in his head when he was directing. Therefore, his movie consumption rate is very low, and his movies are rigorous and smooth. In David Lynn's films, meaning is not mainly expressed through dialogue, but through images. A Passage to India edited by him is naturally a masterpiece.