The Way Home: After Viewing "Snow Road" | Around the Hearth·Winter Art

In the blink of an eye, it was winter. The snow has passed and the weather is starting to get cold. In my memory, winter is always the purest season, when snowflakes fall one after another, decorating the whole world in holy white. However, such a beautiful winter, for Ying Ai and Zhong Fen, who were in the midst of the raging war, was a hell-like pain, torment and torment. In the blink of an eye, decades have passed, and the falling snow has long buried the blood and crimes on this land. Only the way home, the thicker the snow, the more clearly you can see it.

"Snow Road", directed by Li Najing and starring Kim Sae-lun and Kim Heung-ki, was released in South Korea in March 2017. It is a work filmed by South Korea's KBS TV station to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of South Korea. During the war of Japanese aggression, 14-year-old Cui Zhongfen and Kim Young-ae were taken to the Japanese comfort center after experiencing double social and family changes, where they suffered inhuman physical and psychological damage. At the end of the war, Ying Ai and Zhong Fen escaped from the comfort station and embarked on a difficult journey home in the swirling snow. Different from the same type of films, "Snow Road" does not use a lot of visually striking shots, expressing a strong accusation against the aggressors through the inhuman behavior of the Japanese army. On the contrary, "Snow Road" closely revolves around the lives of the two girls, recording their experiences along the way and the stories after the war, and narrating that tragic history with a calm attitude.

1

Life and death choices and the courage to live

 "Just live like a cow and a horse for them!"
"I just want to go back alive!"

On a piercingly cold morning, Ying Ai escaped from the comfort station alone while the guards were unprepared and walked onto an endless ice surface. Her eyes no longer gleamed with the light of the former self-confidence, replaced by a firmness that did not match her age and looked at death like a home. Except the clothes on her body have become tattered and her once clean face has been scratched with scars, Ying Ai seems to be the same Ying Ai, stubborn, tenacious, and has not changed at all. She lifted the heavy stone with her slender arms and used all her strength to smash it hard against the frozen lake again and again. "Bang!" The stone finally smashed a deep hole in the lake. Ying Ai walked towards the entrance of the cave without hesitation. The smoothness of the ice did not slow her down at all. For Ying and Ai, living is even greater destruction and torment. In the eyes of this fourteen-year-old child, such a grand subject of life and death seems to have already had an answer. Born into a wealthy family, Ying Ai almost never made mistakes in her previous life. Until she was deceived and taken away, she was the girl who was doted on by her family and envied by outsiders. However, the inhuman abuse completely collapsed the British and Irish belief system. The ideals and dignity she pursued turned to ashes overnight. She couldn't accept a self who was ravaged and despised at will, and she didn't have the courage to face the endless violence and trampling in the future. The meaning of "alive" has long been blurred in the cold comfort station. The water was hot, and the daily life of lingering made her exhausted. Is this kind of life still alive? In the cage that sees no light, Ying Ai's soul is dead, and the hole on the lake is her best home.

Compared with Ying Ai, Zhong Fen's desire for life is much stronger. She didn't seem to fully understand the cruelty of war. Every time she took the contraceptive pill from the guard, she nodded slightly to the guard, and then said "thank you" softly. Compared with the mature Ying Ai, Zhong Fen is more like a child who has not yet experienced the world. She is not yet ready to face the cruel and cold reality alone. For her, it doesn't matter why she lives, but living itself is the most important thing. She wants to work hard to live because there are family members she cares about and her long-cherished brother in her hometown. The power of yearning and love is enough for Zhong Fen to overcome her inner fear and bravely turn the thorns of the road into flowers.

Zhong Fen chooses to live, Ying Ai chooses to die, but the seemingly opposite choices require the same courage and determination. Choosing to live is to ask yourself to grit your teeth and persevere in the face of the intensifying devastation in the future, and not give up any hope of living; choosing to die is to see through the tricks of fate, and to give up life with clarity and determination. A brutal war pushes two fourteen-year-olds to a fork in their lives, forcing them to make choices that many people never have to make in their entire lives. Although reality did not give them the right to choose between life and death, and Ying Ai failed to commit suicide in the end, her steadfastness and Zhong Fen's perseverance were silent indictments of the cruel war.

2

shimmer in the dark

The noble-born Ying Ai looked down on Zhong Fen from the very beginning. The innocent and naive Zhong Fen looked a little stupid in Ying Ai's eyes. And Zhong Fen's admiration for brother Ying Ai made them almost "dead enemies" for a while. However, the advent of war changed everything. After experiencing the devastation of beasts, Ying Ai collapsed, and Zhong Fen's optimism and full of hope are undoubtedly a beam of light in Ying Ai's life. The illiterate Zhong Fen asked Ying Ai to read "The Little Princess" for herself, recalling the good times in her hometown with Ying Ai, and encouraged Ying Ai to live strong no matter how difficult the moment, and don't give up hope of life. With the company and support of Zhong Fen, Ying Ai gradually got out of the intense emotions at the beginning, and gradually gave up the idea of begging for death. Instead, like Zhong Fen, she began to learn to protect herself and began to work hard to live strong. Two lonely souls, just snuggled together in the dark, bringing a little bit of warmth to each other.

Zhong Fen accompanies Ying Ai to spend the war days in the dark and depressing comfort station, while Ying Ai, whose life is fixed at the age of fifteen, has been accompanying Zhong Fen for the rest of her life. Zhong Fen walked back to her hometown and became a survivor of the war. However, everything in the hometown has long been different. Zhong Fen, who was alone, lost all support in an instant. She was lost, grief-stricken, and could not see her future path. Because Ying Ai came from a better background and could get more subsidies from the government, Zhong Fen wrote down Ying Ai's name on the identity register with difficulty, and continued her future life as Ying Ai. The two girls are once again connected by fate. The late Ying Ai became a part of Zhong Fen in this way, and she could not give up her whole life. It is precisely because of this that Ying Ai never really left. Whenever the aged Zhong Fen recalls the past or has a nightmare, Ying Ai will always appear by her side, wearing the clothes of the past, with a sunny smile, just like the former Zhong Fen accompanied the fragile Ying Ai, and she is always with her. Zhong Fen's memories of the past opened up her heart. Zhong Fen has never been married in her life. She is alone and alone, but she is not alone, because Ying Ai has never left. She is still fifteen years old and has been accompanying Zhong Fen to her gray hair. Without Zhong Fen's encouragement, Ying Ai might have died long ago; without Ying Ai's company, Zhong Fen would not have lived the rest of her lonely life into a warm appearance.

At the end of the film, in a forest that has just snowed heavily, the early morning sun pours down through the cracks in the branches. The elderly Zhong Fen and the young Ying Ai held hands and walked slowly along the snow-covered forest path. Zhong Fen is finally about to say goodbye to Ying Ai, who has accompanied her all her life.

Ying Ai: "You live your life very seriously, right?"

Zhong Fen: "Of course."

Ying Ai: "I have worked hard all these years alone."

Zhong Fen: "I've never been alone. You've always been by my side."

Ying Ai: "Now I'm really leaving."

Zhong Fen: "I'll go to you soon and wait for me."

Ying Ai: "Okay."

Whenever I see this conversation, I can't help but cry. Zhong Fen and Ying Ai, two girls with very different backgrounds and distinct personalities, do not belong to the same world. However, the sudden war made their fates intersect, making them from "enemies" to close friends and even relatives; let them accompany each other, achieve each other, and become the most important roles in each other's lives. Two pure girls, clinging to each other like this, walked through the war-torn years together, and walked out of that unbearable past. When the performance of life came to an end, Zhong Fen and Ying Ai finally came to say goodbye. At that moment, all the reluctance and helplessness turned into a few simple and calm greetings, as if it was just a temporary goodbye. Decades passed in a blink of an eye, Ying Ai had long since passed away, but she never really left, and Zhong Fen was also by Ying Ai's side, and gradually lived into what Ying Ai yearned for - sunshine, simplicity, and purity. Perhaps this is the power of companionship.

3

way home

"Zhong Fen, when you look at this snow, it reminds me of my hometown, my mother's cotton. It's really warm, and it feels as soft as this snow, remember?" Ying Ai, who was seriously injured, stretched out her blood-stained hand. On the snow next to me, I gently stroked it, as if I had returned to my hometown, covered with the white and soft quilt my mother beat, and I felt extremely warm between the ice and snow. Ying Ai, who has always been so strong and brave, no longer has the strength to support her. She chose to stay and let Zhong Fen walk the rest of the way home for her and those who were unknown. "Ying Ai, I'm afraid alone." "You're not alone, everyone is with you, let's go!" Ying Ai used her last strength to push Zhong Fen away, but Zhong Fen, who was uneasy, finally left. After a few steps, he turned around and found Ying Ai who was "sleeping". "It must be very cold..." Zhong Fen sprinkled the snow around Ying Ai little by little, and her tears fell. In this way, Zhong Fen set foot on the way home alone, while Ying Ai lay in the white snow of a foreign country forever, staying at the age of fifteen forever.

"It's snowing so beautifully, it always reminds me of the past." Whenever snowflakes float in the sky again, Zhong Fen always thinks of the beginning of everything, the once poor but happy and warm little home, and the mother who loved her so much. The younger brother she misses day and night, and the elder brother she secretly admires. She and countless of them should have felt the life of a girl and enjoyed the gift of youth at the most blooming age of a girl. However, the raging war cruelly deprived them of their birthright, making them struggle to survive what should have been the best time in their lives. A few years later, the war was over, and the heavy snowfalls covered countless pure and beautiful souls, washing away the blood and crimes that once happened on this land, but the scars left in the hearts of the victims were not. can never be healed. This is the pain they can't get out of their whole life, and it is also a nightmare for a lifetime. Waking up from the dream, the unforgettable fear will always linger in their minds, and they will not leave for a long time. To this day, when the comfort women survivors are interviewed and recall their past experiences, they are still old and unable to hold back their tears of sadness. That painful memory is engraved in the old man's memory like a knife, which can never be forgotten or let go. The cruel war has sacrificed countless fresh lives, strangled countless beautiful souls, and dismantled countless happy families. That is a shame for a country, and it is a tragic history that a nation should never forget.

At the end of the movie, when the old Zhong Fen was walking in the snow again, her mother's voice suddenly came from her ear: "Zhong Fen, hurry up! Zhong Fen, hurry up!" The young self just ran past him like this, running towards the anxiously waiting mother in the distance. Mother hurriedly smoothed her messy hair, and walked towards home with Zhong Fen hand in hand. Decades passed in a flash, Zhong Fen never saw her mother again, never felt the warmth of maternal love, and was alone on the road for the rest of her life. However, this beautiful memory has always supported Zhong Fen, letting her continue to walk forward in the white snow and finish her final life.

It's another winter, and the Northland is snowing again. The former witnesses grow old day by day in the alternation of seasons, and leave one by one, and they have never been able to wait for a sincere "sorry" in their lives. Today, that icy world has been filled with pure white snowflakes. But even so, the marks left by Ying Ai, Zhong Fen and countless others along the way will never be erased by the heavy snow and will never be forgotten by us.

We will always remember.

Text|Shen Shuyi

Figure | From the Internet

Reviewer | Mu Tao Rongrong

WeChat editor | Yao Yinan

matters editor | sona

Around the Fire (ID:weilu_flame)

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