This is a film with a strong religious color. When I saw the title, I thought of a similar seventh seal. If Bergman questioned and discussed the root of faith and the existence of God in The Seventh Seal, then Seven Deaths shows what the world will become if we lose faith.
New york in the film is gloomy, damp, dirty and chaotic, and there are a series of murders, which is simply a hell on earth.
When two generations of policemen, old and young, chased the murderer, it felt like a detective film. The horror and gloomy crime scene of the murdered person made people nervous at the beginning of the film. In the third case, they suddenly realized that the murderer preached by killing, and in the name of God, he was punishing the seven sins that Catholicism thought would be robbed forever: gluttony, greed, laziness, anger, pride, lust and jealousy. The religious significance of the film begins to appear here, and it is emphasized more and more in the course of the plot, especially in a passage near the end of the film, where the murderer strongly complains that he was chosen by God to punish those who are guilty.
It seems that movies only show the world the depravity of human nature, and those who are guilty will be punished. In this way, the film has the warning significance of moral advice, and people may reflect on whether they are guilty or not after watching it. However, the film doesn't seem to give a clear explanation about what caused these people to commit crimes, which made the murderer unbearable and punished them by killing in the name of God. Is it because of the lack of faith? In the west, the Enlightenment discovered rationality. Since then, rationality has gradually been pushed to the supreme position, and people's self-awareness has been expanding, fully affirming human rationality and beginning to despise God. In modern times, rationality with science and technology as the core has destroyed the spirit of religious belief, thinking that human beings with omnipotent science and technology feel that rationality can realize everything. Yes, rationality represented by science has indeed promoted the rapid progress of western society and completed the process of modernization. However, rationality has increasingly become the shackles that people bind themselves. According to Zimmer's point of view, the development of society depends more and more on "rationalization" such as efficiency, calculation and punctuality. Such rationalization is actually a kind of materialization. Money and business value have become the only yardstick to measure all values, and the relationship between people has become increasingly indifferent because of the power of money. The film constantly shows the cold reality of modern cities. For example, William mentioned that women who encounter rapists should not call for help, but call for fire fighting to attract attention; David and Tracy, cheated by the landlord, live in a house where the subway keeps shaking; The landlord regards the tortured tenant as the best tenant, because he will receive the rent in the mailbox regularly.
Old William's attitude is actually the representative of modern urbanites. He hates the world. After witnessing a street robbery, he got into a taxi. The driver asked him where he was going. He said, "Far, far away … I don't know this place anymore …" "The attitude he chose was to escape. His psychology was exposed by David in the conversation with David in the bar. David also said that he would not do this, knowing the evil in this world, but still insisting on fighting it. William didn't object, his idea was true. He realized that he should also face the world positively and could not escape, so he went home and smashed the alarm clock that made him feel more lonely. Finally, when the police officer asked him where he planned to go after retirement, he said, "nearby, I am nearby." "However, David's persistence is not blindly optimistic, because he has motivation and belief, and that is love for his wife. In the film, you can see David holding his wife and saying, I love you very much ... But William's insistence is a bit reluctant, and it is only a personal act.
This is a desperate movie. It shows people the evil and indifference of the world, but it doesn't tell people how to avoid the deterioration of this situation. Is it to keep the goodness of human nature and convert to God? However, Tracy, who has a beautiful human nature created by the film, was finally brutally killed by the murderer. The film shows the darkest side of the world, and the bright and warm side is completely covered. The love between David and Tracy can be regarded as a ray of light in this dark background, and finally disappeared because of Tracy's murder. Where is the way out for people? At the end of the film, the old police officer William quoted Hemingway as saying: The world is a beautiful place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part. This ending is too unconvincing. This world is not a good one. How is it worth fighting for?
In addition, we also saw an interesting phenomenon in this film. It is Pozmann's viewpoint repeatedly expounded in Entertainment to Death and Childhood Gone. The appearance of new media has changed the way people know the world. Young and old policemen William and David represent two generations influenced by different media. Old William grew up in print media. He should have been born in the 1920s and 1930s, when television was not popular. David obviously grew up watching TV. So they showed two completely different ways in handling cases. Printed matter is composed of words, which need the brain to decode, remember, echo, summarize and abstract constantly when reading. It is a typical logical thinking process. Old William is good at discovering details and making logical reasoning on this basis. When encountering problems, he even looked through classical works, showing a calm and cautious investigation style. Television is a combination of light, shadow and sound. People can easily understand the popular words and pictures on TV. David, who is used to seeing images that are biased towards visual experience since childhood, is noisy, impulsive, irritable, glib and full of swearing. When investigating the case, he also looked at several scene maps endlessly. Old William gave him some Dante's books, and he cursed and threw them into the drawer.
In addition, when old William went to the library to look up information, he met a group of idle colleagues. They stay in the library all the year round, only drinking and playing cards. When William asked them why they didn't study knowledge, they laughed at their literacy, then turned on the record player and played Bach's aria on the G string. In the quiet and peaceful melody, old William was thinking and they continued to play cards for fun. The knowledge and elegant music of sages are ignored by people. In such a plot, this piece of music is like the funeral music of the degradation of civilization.
In addition, Morgan Freeman, an old black man, has really excellent acting skills, especially when he finally answered a police officer's question about what to do after retirement, his expression and voice all said "Now, I am here". The first time I saw him was in The Shawshank Redemption, and I felt that he played a really good black prisoner. I heard that he also played "False God", so I will definitely look for a chance to watch it in the future. Then there is Pete, who is very handsome, although the young policeman he plays is impulsive and reckless.