Call of the wild

Call of the wild

Dogs are the closest and most loyal friends of mankind. Movies about dogs are the easiest to succeed at most, and some have earned tears (emotions), such as Hachi: A Dog's Tale, and some have earned money, such as A Dog's Purpose.

However, this adventure movie about dogs did not earn tears or money, but caused huge losses that could be as high as hundreds of millions of dollars. It is based on Jack London's phenomenal novel of the same name in 1903.

Speaking of this original novel, it comes from a lot. According to the survey published by UNESCO, Jack London is the most translated American writer in Europe, and The Call of the Wild ranks first among his 50 works and is the most read American novel in the world.

This book is not only the content of the designated reading course for American teenagers when they are studying at school, but also a must-read bibliography for liberal arts in our national universities-anyway, I am a must-read in college. I remember when I graduated from college, my classmates gave me an autobiographical novel Martin Eden by Jack London.

With such a good mass base, it has naturally been adapted into film and television works many times, including the version starring clark gable in 1935, which is called a handsome one.

It can be said that The Call of the Wild is the story of the greatest dog in history. And this dog, too, has a lot to offer. It is a hybrid of St Bernard dog and Scottish Shepherd Dog, named Buck. It is huge, its height and weight are comparable to those of normal adults, and its speed and strength are beyond people's imagination. It is just what people in Tao Jin, Alaska need most.

It turns out that it is also a mistake for dogs to look like Gao Fushuai. Buck used to live in a judge's home in the south of the United States, and he was pampered. The whole town was his territory, and he was arrogant and arrogant. As a result, they were deceived by domestic servants and sold to the north to do manual work of sledding and sending mails. In the words of their owners, they delivered love, hope and warmth.

Buck finally became the leading dog through cruel competition with his own powerful strength, but lost his job because of the emergence of the telegraph system, was sold again, and almost died of abuse by his new owner.

Fortunately, Buck met a man, John, who ran away from home because his youngest son died of illness, and accompanied him on a gold-seeking journey, and established deep feelings with him. However, in the vast and silent wilderness, Buck's dormant animal primitive instinct was awakened.

Obviously, this is the theme of "survival" in Jack London's novels: life always gains meaning and strength in the process of struggling for survival. While expressing the natural law of "natural selection, survival of the fittest", it also reflects the social reality of the change of living environment, revealing the changes of animal instinct and human nature.

Disney, who has always been good at dealing with animals and making live-action animation, after acquiring 20th Century Flowserve Pictures, intends to turn this work into its own Fantasy Forest, throwing 135 million US dollars and making a fake dog that is more real than a real dog through CGI technology.

However, it is this artificial dog that has become a failure of this film. Yes, it seems to be tall and strong enough, and all the movements it makes are highly difficult gymnastics movements, including drifting in snow, drifting on the river, even catching fish in the water and catching birds in the air, which is unbelievable.

But you see, Buck's eyebrows are too clear, just like a woman's eyebrows. The most important thing is that its emotional reaction, whether it is the hurt of self-esteem when it is sold, the sadness when it leaves its owner, or even the sadness when it recalls the past, is too real, and its rich expression is simply the essence of the play.

As an age story in the original book, dogs in the gold rush era are more like human slaves, being exploited and abused. Therefore, in order to show the modern audience, the film must be harmless to people and animals, and take the dog as the companion of human beings, adding a lot of emotional factors, which makes it appear warm and moving, thus weakening the cruelty of reality and making a serious and profound literary work become a family movie.

Buck was cheated, sold and trained in a childish way (Hal, the bad man, was simply too low and stupid, and looked ridiculous). Buck learned how to sled and strive to be the leading dog, and he was more cheerful than cruel, but he dedicated several frightening scenes such as avalanche on the top of the mountain and ice crack on the water surface.

If the first half is still a freezing world, which can still reflect the harsh environment of survival, then in the second half, as the season enters the summer, the lens of Oscar-winning photographer janusz kaminski presents a vibrant natural scenery. How can there be the evolutionary conditions of death in the original book and the painful struggle of later generations?

The original book said, "The cold seems to freeze the heart of nature." "In a temperature of MINUS 65 degrees, a person can't live as long as he lies in the snow for a few more minutes." However, the film shows warmth and romance, the animals are happy, the river is crystal clear, and the gold rush has become an easy task.

John's broken heart and sinking emotions, just like the revival of all things, can't be cured. What is the pain and loneliness? In other words, a person's heart is broken, his feelings are numb, and he only relies on his beard to pull slag.

77-year-old Harrison Ford plays John, the father of a few years old, which is not completely convincing. Although he used to play a tough guy or a powerful man in his heart, and although John's narration runs through the film like the original, Harrison Ford speaks in his trademark, lazy and tired tone, which is a gruff voice that is half roaring and half wise.

In order to express the warm feelings of interdependence between man and dog, Buck defeated the bad man Hal, made John live, and finally returned to nature and life, which made the audience give up emotionally. However, the "wild call", in the end, is the dog heard the call of nature or listened to people's persuasion?

In the original book, it was precisely because of John's death that the last bond between dogs was broken and the restraint was lost, which made Buck willing to listen to the call in the animal world, and restored the nature of hunting and became a real wolf dog.

"Its cunning is the cunning of wolves and the cunning of wildness; Its wisdom is the wisdom of the sheepdog, plus the wisdom of St Bernard dog. All of this, together with the experience gained from the most ferocious group, makes it as daunting as any creature roaming in the wilderness. "

But the film understates this process and even ignores the past. Buck and Wolf seemed to be brothers who had been separated for many years, and they came together when they met. What's more, Buck led the wolves to invade the black bear's territory and scared it away directly-the roar of the big black bear was just a bluff? Indeed as expected bear kind!

In a word, the audience expected to see how bloody or bloody the competition between animals was, which was shaking and thrilling. However, they watched an episode of Animal World or Man and Nature hosted by Zhao Zhongxiang, and the picture was as mild as the dubbing commentary-after all, there was still some loss or disappointment.

Let's take a look at the end of the original book. I suddenly feel that Buck is tall and tall:

"People may see it running in front of the wolves, crossing the pale Yue Hui and the faint Northern Lights. It jumps and jumps far higher than its partners. When its huge throat growls, it sings a song of the young world, that is, the song of the wolves."