An Analysis of the Documentary The Last Mountain God

film analysis of the documentary The Last Mountain God

The Last Mountain God, directed by Sun Qingtian, fully shows the ancient mountain culture and pure spiritual life of the Oroqen people by interviewing Meng Jinfu's family, and also shows the spiritual life, beautiful wishes and pursuits of the new generation of Oroqen people completely different from those of the old generation. The following is an analysis of the documentary "The Last Mountain God" that I helped you organize, for reference only, hoping to help you. Film analysis of the documentary The Last Mountain God 1

Film analysis of the documentary The Last Mountain God:

The film takes us into the emotional life of Meng Jinfu, the last generation of Oroqen people living in Xing 'an Mountains, and his wife Ding Guiqin. In just a few minutes, we have not only learned about the ancient primitive hunting life, that is, the integration of man and nature, but also seen the historical changes, inheritance and development of a national custom and culture. Its characteristics are as follows.

1. Create vivid and distinctive characters with concrete and touching details

The director and director of this film used many details such as characters' actions, objects and language to show the characters' hearts and characters, and created a plump and distinctive image of Olunchun's old man. When Meng Jinfu's gun is too old to find the same type of bullets, he still insists on not using lassos and clips in hunting, which reflects the excellent quality of Oroqen people who do not "dry up and fish", protect the ecological environment and care for their lives. He never hurts the trunk when cutting birch bark. When someone cuts down a big tree, he is infinitely sad and unhappy, which reflects the deep feelings of Oroqen people and nature.

When summer comes, he shaves himself with a dagger and plays with the ducklings on the shore with his wife, which not only shows the integration of man and nature, but also reflects the childlike innocence of the two old people. When the reporter asked him whether he liked to be on the mountain or under the mountain, he said, "It's comfortable on the mountain, but not at home. You catch a cold at both ends every three days." But when asked whether the mountain is good or the settlement is good, he replied: "the settlement is good." This detail reflects the ambivalence of the old man's inner world towards historical traditions and customs and the changes and progress of the times.

A lot of details show us a vivid and touching image of an old Oroqen man, the last mountain god, flowing in his blood.

Second, the expressive technique of cross-editing combined with the sharp contrast of black-and-white and color images

highlights the ideological changes and life changes of two generations of Orrens people, and further shows the theme of cultural changes of a nation in the process of inheritance. For example, the tent where the old people lived was originally the residence where the Oroqen people lived, but it became a place where Guo Baolin and Ge Xiaohua's younger generations created a national customs garden for tourists to experience the ancient national customs of the Oroqen people; Birch boat, a daily tool originally used for hunting and fishing, has been put to new use and made into exquisite tourist souvenirs. Meng Jinfu, a mountain god, is nomadic and hunting, while Guo Baolin is domesticated by his family. Lao Meng Jinfu rode a horse, while Xiao Guo Hongbo rode an "electric donkey". Meng Jinfu's unwillingness to change guns reflects the hunter's skills, while Ge Xiaohua's skill is to further master the knowledge of tourism culture management. In an interview with reporters, Guo Hongbo, a new generation, firmly said that he did not want to live in the old forest life of the older Oroqen people. They pursued a more modern ideal, reflecting historical progress and a better life.

For these details, the director enhanced the distinctiveness of detail contrast with black-and-white and color contrast techniques and cross-montage editing skills, which made the theme of the film more prominent, and also made the audience strongly feel the change and development of a national culture in the historical change. The new generation is inheriting their own national cultural spirit and developing their own national culture with brand-new lifestyles and more advanced concepts.

Third, the promotion and display of many plots, or the way of Ding Guiqin's recollection and narration, or the way of narration with narration

makes the incomplete and loose plots compact and clear, deepens the theme and permeates the emotional power. For example, when this film traces the death of Meng Jinfu three years ago, it is full of nostalgia for this last mountain god. Ding Guiqin, his wife, sat by the river where they often went, thinking of his partner, mumbling, "He's gone. He got cerebral thrombosis because he was tired of being a kayaker." When he is well, he will go to the mountains again. Only when he gets into the mountains will the old man become as excited and happy as a child. When the old man left, his wife did not send him at the traditional funeral, but buried him beside his parents.

These reminiscences make people deeply emotional and impact our emotional world, which plays an important and indispensable role in deepening the theme. In addition, the skillful application of editing skills by the film director makes the film unique in style, such as contrast editing, which makes different images set off each other and emphasize each other through the opposition in content and form between shots, scenes or paragraphs, thus expressing a certain moral effect or highlighting the essential characteristics of things.

The cumulative editing method, with snow-covered mountains, rough Oroqen hunters, mysterious mountain worship ceremony, quiet family life and so on, tells people simple stories about mountains and Oroqen old people. The accumulation of forest, snow, hunting, wind burial, etc. seems to be a visual poem written with light, color, movement and rhythm. They all praise a theme-the change, development and glory of the Chinese nation's history in inheritance. Documentary The Last Mountain God Film Analysis Part 2

The documentary The Last Mountain God is the masterpiece of Zengtian Sun, the director of CCTV. It is an excellent TV work that won the TV documentary award of "Asia Broadcasting Union" and the special documentary award of the 9th "Parnu" visual anthropology TV Festival. This work, created in 1992, not only shows the attachment of the older generation of Oroqen people to the traditional mountain life, but also shows the pursuit of modern civilization by the new generation of Oroqen people, reflecting the psychological change process of Oroqen people from hunting life to settled life and the resulting ideological and cultural collision, revealing the profound theme of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Undoubtedly, this theme has great historical and practical significance, but the theme is presented by truly recording the hunting and worship activities of Meng Jinfu, the protagonist, and showing his daily living conditions. The Last Mountain God shows the unique living customs of Oroqen people. These refreshing pictures reflecting folk customs take us into the Oroqen people living in the depths of Xing 'an Mountains and, more importantly, into their rich inner world.

At the beginning of the documentary, Meng Jinfu, the hero, chopped the bark with an axe at a distance of about one meter from the root of a big, old deciduous pine tree. The sound of "cracking" the axe chopping the tree is very pleasant, and the tree is very fragile after being frozen in winter, so this clanging sound will be produced when cutting it. On the tree with white stubble exposed, the image of the mountain god "Bai Nacha" was painted with black charcoal, and then the title "The Last Mountain God" was introduced by worshipping this statue. This beginning is very attractive, it makes us feel mysterious and mysterious, prompting us to find out.

Meng Jinfu tied a red cloth belt on the tail of the hunting horse, which is the custom of shamanism. Oroqen hunters are famous for their love for horses. In Qing Dynasty, Oroqen people were called the "Horse-making Department", and horse hunting played a very important role in Oroqen people's hunting activities. They regarded excellent horse hunting as a treasure. Oroqen horse has been cultivated, domesticated and trained by Oroqen hunters for a long time, forming a unique breed and special temperament. Oroqen horse is generally small, but it has strong carrying capacity and fast speed, and is especially good at galloping in Tatou Dianzi. It is not afraid of gunshots and can satisfy its hunger with the blood and meat of wild animals. Horses, like hunting dogs and guns, are inseparable from Oroqen hunters for a moment. Oroqen people and horses have special feelings, so some people call Oroqen people "a nation on horseback" and Oroqen horses "a boat in the mountains".

As the last shaman of Oroqen nationality, Meng Jinfu brought us more amiable and approachable than an unpredictable and out-of-touch god. "Shaman" is a Manchu-Tungusic language family, originally meaning "a person who dances wildly because of excitement", and later became a general term for shaman wizards. Shamanism is a primitive natural religion. Shamanism belief and shamanism culture of Oroqen nationality are primitive religious forms formed in the process of the formation and development of three worship consciousness: nature worship, totem worship and ancestor worship. When shamans practice witchcraft, they should wear costumes, hats and drums and dress up as gods who are different from ordinary people. Shaman's witchcraft is mainly to jump into the gods, which has three situations: treating people, teaching new shamans, and holding worship ceremonies.

In the film, Meng Jinfu and his wife are hanging pots and cook the meat in the Xierenzhu (also known as Cuozi, a residence made of birch stalks, birch bark and animal skins, where Oroqen people lived before they settled). By the burning bonfire, he begged Vulcan for peace and happiness. Oroqen, the god of fire, said in English that "it is like a mountain through Europe". Oroqen people think that fire is a great god in nature. Fire is precious to people in the primitive hunting and production era. Without fire, how can we spend the long cold night? How to cook meat without fire? In addition, fire can drive away wild animals. People in Oroqen usually light bonfires next to Xierenzhu on the morning of the first day of the first month of each year, and then hold a ceremony to worship Vulcan. On the fifteenth night of the first month, the old man Meng Jinfu sang to a round of Leng Yue and begged for blessings. This is in worship of the moon god, who is called "Bieya" in Oroqen language and "Bieya Bo Rukan" in Oroqen language. He bowed down to the moon god and prayed that the moon god would give them prey.

When a new day comes, the hunter wakes up with the mountain forest. The big forest is empty and vast, and the distant mountains are mysterious. The hunter rode his horse to the jungle, and Meng Jinfu hit a wild boar. He tried his best to drag his prey in the snow, and the white snow shed red traces of blood. According to the custom, the hunter should put the blood of the first prey on the lips of the mountain god, because the prey was given by the mountain god, and worship: Please bring me good luck again.

however, they are not so lucky, and they have been in vain for days. Meng Jinfu and his hunting companions came to the old pine tree again, bowed down to the mountain god "Bai Nacha" and offered cigarettes to the mountain god. Once again, we saw a close-up of the mountain idol in the film. It began to snow in the forest. Meng Jinfu aimed his gun, but there was no prey to shoot. The trees became thinner and thinner, the animals became less and less, and the mountain gods gradually drifted away. He sat on a fallen tree, absorbed in thought, showing helplessness, loneliness and confusion. Oroqen people who hunt for a living really have to put down their beloved guns and bid farewell to the day when they used the mountains as their home all day. It is a very painful choice. But in order to keep the harmony between man and nature, we should stop shooting fewer and fewer wild animals, and of course, Oroqen people are no exception.

As a shaman, Meng Jinfu is a person after all. He has the same joys, sorrows and rich inner world as an ordinary hunter. In Hubei, Meng Jinfu happily took a group photo with his old mother and children. He shaved with a sharp dagger. He wanted to make himself young, so as to match the beautiful summer. Of course, this detail also contains the nostalgic mentality of the elderly, because this is how to shave in the mountains before settling down. With the cuckoo singing, spring came. Meng Jinfu took off his fur and a winter's troubles and started a season full of vitality. He paddled a birch boat, searched for prey along the river, and "squatted in the alkali field" at night, waiting for the prey to ambush when drinking water. He set up a gun rack by the river and waited quietly, but he returned empty-handed again and again. Together with his wife and other hunters, he made a new birch boat. The film showed us the whole process of shipbuilding and introduced the birch bark culture to the audience. The details of Meng Jinfu and his wife teasing wild duck chicks well show the happy mood, childlike innocence and love of the two old people. On the quiet and beautiful river, he paddled a new birch boat and fished in the net. When we saw the net, we only got one fish.

We saw the mountain gods again, but the old trees were cut down, and the head of the mountain gods was a little blurred. In fact, at this moment, Meng Jinfu's heart was the same as that of the cut tree. His heart was broken and bleeding.

Meng Jinfu lived a settled life in Hubei. He said that he would rather live a settled life than wander in the mountains. But would you rather stay at home or on the mountain? Meng Jinfu said: "It's comfortable on the mountain, but not at home. You will catch a cold at both ends in three days." This language is simple, but through this plain language, we can understand Meng Jinfu's inner contradictions. He likes to settle down but yearns for life in the mountains. Oroqen people have lived in the mountains for generations, and when they get to the mountains, they are like fish getting water. The tradition is deeply rooted in Meng Jinfu's heart and it is difficult to give up. Meng Jinfu's family and Guo Baolin's family went into the mountains again in a birch boat with their luggage, guns and hounds. We saw Guo's daughter teasing the ducklings, so innocent. She learned to play birch whistle from Meng Jinfu, just for fun. She yearns for the outside world, and she longs for modern life. Meng Jinfu, a shaman, didn't teach a new shaman, and no young man would be willing to learn from him. With the end of Meng Jinfu's life, there is no shaman in Oroqen people. People who study shaman culture in the future will never find living specimens again. I wonder if this is the luck or misfortune of shaman religion.

Summer is coming to the cold, and it's winter in a blink of an eye. The old man took his son who was about to grow up and rode on the thick snowfield. When he came to the blurred mountain gods, he bowed down and begged them to bless him. He sang shaman songs. The mountain gods are silent ... The old and the young have two completely different attitudes towards the mountain gods. The old shaman is pious, because he is really worshipping God, and his soul has long been integrated with the mountain gods. His son, on the other hand, has an indifferent attitude towards the mountain god and has no such piety.

Shaman Meng Jinfu presided over the funeral ceremony for the dead old man. What we saw was the earth burial, but the film showed the audience the traditional wind burial custom of Oroqen people, and we saw the coffin hanging on the pine tree. In fact, the Oroqen people have already completed the transition from the ancient custom of wind burial to burial, which also reflects the constant changes in the social life of the Oroqen people in a sense, which also reflects the progress of society.

At sunset, the shaman drum "drummed" and the shaman Meng Jinfu danced shaman dance "armed to the teeth" by the bonfire. He sang shaman songs while dancing.

After the montage, there is a beautiful overhead picture. Meng Jinfu rode into the mountain again along the frozen river. The documentary ended here, leaving us with endless aftertaste. Meng Jinfu's heart belongs to the mountain forest, and eventually he will convert to the mountain forest.

Oroqen people worship nature and believe in primitive religion. The mountain gods in the film are spiritual symbols of many factors such as the mode of production, lifestyle and cultural form of an era. This film delicately shows the harmony and unity between the secular life and religious life of the old shaman Meng Jinfu. Through the ideological conflict between Meng Jinfu's family, the creative staff reflects their pains in the process of transforming from traditional mountain forest culture to modern civilization. Meng Jinfu is at the historical intersection and the transitional period of the times, and he is the only living specimen of shaman, so he is both a concrete person (that is, the object of expression) and an elephant in the film.