Chapter 491: The World Situation
As for the tearful smile at the end, thanks to Su Yun's early planning and painstaking operation, the viewing experience in the regions where the film was scheduled to be released gradually transitioned from a lot of discussions to three relatively large subsequent reviews.
The subsequent evaluations of these three larger areas are generally divided into three viewpoints.
Under Su Yun's manipulation, two of these three viewpoints are just "little tricks" that add fuel to the fire, freeing people's attention from those obscure metaphors and focusing them on those "emotional struggles" that seem particularly exciting.
Because of this relationship, those who like Ivan think that, in Zhong Yao's heart, Ivan is actually a partner in adversity who walks hand in hand with her in war and suffering. It's just that her emotional sensitivity may have been affected by her "immortality", so she is overly "slow to realize" all emotional details.
In this regard, people who like Ivan's school have the so-called "original scene" as the certification of the plot: in this movie, when Zhong Yao saw Ivan coming to find her after he grew up, the scene of Romulus coming to find her in the past flashed vaguely in her mind.
The long-gone white moonlight and the new partner in distress, this kind of flashback contrast seems like the "ex" and the "new love", isn't this enough to be called ironclad evidence?
And the most crucial thing is that it was not until Ivan was abandoned by his relatives and then died of illness that Zhong Yao once again "behind the scenes" and felt the same grief as when Romulus left. It was also at this moment that she suddenly realized that she had once again missed a precious and beautiful relationship...
This disguised crematorium mode of "my lover left me long ago and I just realized how deeply I loved him" is actually a sadomasochistic love story that the general public likes very much. It is extremely melodramatic but also attractive enough that it is hard to stop watching it after just a little bit of watching...
Furthermore, there are the memories of one or two generations of Chinese and Soviet people, most of whom have personally experienced the journey hand in hand in the past years…For a while, apart from being shocked and disturbed by the "funeral" at the end, the rest of Ivan's fans were mostly filled with regret for these two "partners in adversity."
However, they are a nation of warriors that have been forged in the ice and snow, so although it is hard to accept, most people who support this couple think that they are not only "partners in need" but also "couples in need."
Therefore, they decided to contribute to the role of "The Queen" which is their representative character - if we add up the plots of the two movies so far, from the young Ivan to the adult Ivan, he undoubtedly has the most scenes!
And judging from the main plot of the second part, Ivan, the character who shared weal and woe with Zhong Yao but ended up falling in love and killing each other, is obviously the "first male lead"!
Especially when Romulus suddenly died in the previous part, Zhong Yao did not cry nor travel a long way to go there. She just held back her tears and looked in the direction of the ancient Roman Empire, as if the wind accompanied by the faint sound of camel bells could bring her thoughts to the distant place...
In this part, when Ivan passed away suddenly, Zhong Yao not only attended his funeral in person, but also shed tears for him quietly when no one knew!
And that ambiguous smile when the shameless Tom forced her to hold his hand - maybe Zhong Yao knew the real reason why Ivan left, so she planned to inherit her "late husband's" will, and continue to fight against Tom, the shameless upstart who smells like the sea...
Although this view undoubtedly aroused the rage of Romulus fans who supported his childhood sweetheart, unfortunately the gap in strength between the two factions was too large in every aspect, and the current channels for private information transmission were not developed enough. After fighting hard for a short period of time, Romulus' fans could only retreat gradually in disgrace.
Just as the "old guys" are hard to beat the "new guys"; just as the "old guys" are gone, but those vague traces can always inadvertently become the sparks that ignite a new war.
Yes, although Romulus' fans have withdrawn, they are still like the country that inherited the ancient Roman Empire, and are good at fanning the flames and stirring up discord. After several rounds of tug-of-war, the ones who are now fighting head-on are Tom's fans, who hold the opposite opinion. They continue to maintain a polar opposite posture and continue to go back and forth with Ivan's fans, refusing to give in to each other...
However, compared to Ivan's fans who mainly focus on the "tear marks", this group of Tom's fans focus more on the "smile" that appears at the same time as the tear marks but is obviously opposite to them.
Therefore, fans who like Tom, the upstart who only started to gain popularity in the later stages of the series, all think that their representative character is the superhero who saves the beautiful princess from the ice and snow devil.
The opponents have contrived "flashback comparison" evidence, and of course they also have solid plot evidence: a little after the middle of the plot, when Ivan began to change his attitude and treat Princess Zhong Yao harshly, it was Tom, the hero who bravely stood up for justice, who took the initiative to lend a helping hand to Princess Zhong Yao who persevered in hardship and danger!
Of course, as for another reason why he lent a helping hand to the princess, it was actually to win over the princess and let her help fight against the devil.
Also, Princess Zhong Yao was not moved to fall in love with him after such a "heroic rescue", so he was hot and cold about wanting to "teach" the princess, while at the same time supporting the similar stand-in Aju to play with the stand-in joke to stimulate the princess... These little problems are not important at all!
What’s important is that the greatest devil in the world who could fight him has finally fallen into eternal sleep underground, while the beautiful princess has fallen into the hands of the righteous hero. In the final close-up, the princess’s secret and ambiguous smile, is it because she has “escaped” the devil’s entanglement, or is it because she secretly helped the hero fight the devil? Either reason seems to make sense.
Both sides think that they are the real winners, which has brought a wave of popularity to the "Kyushu Past" series. Not only has it boosted the box office of the currently popular "Kyushu Past 2: Forging Ahead", but it has also increased the sales of videotapes and other discs of "Kyushu Past 1: Ancient Country Old Dream"...
While reaping the benefits of money, Su Yun continued to take the opportunity to intensify her efforts in guiding people's thinking, leading many people who watched the movie in the direction of entertainment to death. This saved the relevant departments, which had been troubled by the recent turbulent situation, a lot of energy in maintaining superficial stability and peace.
With a movie that is somewhat related to the current situation but with the addition of entertainment and mythological elements, the situation is not as tense as the real situation, attracting attention in front, which may make it a lot easier for these people when they are "doing things" later.
In particular, the final grand and solemn "funeral" held in the birch forest seemed more like a silent preview.
This preview not only leaves a vaguely visible trace in the surging undercurrent, but also makes people unconsciously mentally prepared for something that they may not even understand clearly.
With the guidance of such a prepared mindset and various forces pushing for it in their own interests, everyone's focus and firepower, both in and out of the play, was basically concentrated on the love-hate relationship between the two superpowers. As a result, China, which had been under siege openly and covertly in recent years, was able to relax and breathe a sigh of relief.
Similar to the real situation, "Nine States Past 2: Forge Ahead" also caught a big fish in such turbulent waters, and quietly gained more benefits than disadvantages in the changes in the situation on both sides - and this is the third and relatively more radical viewpoint that is completely different from the previous two viewpoints.
This view holds that Zhong Yao never thought of being a "queen". From the moment she ascended the throne at the end of the first part to the moment of her funeral at the end of the second part, she was thinking of becoming a "king" or even an "emperor" to continue the glory of her ancestors who had enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity.
Because Zhong Yao's tear marks and smile appeared at the same time, her "status" should be the same. As she has witnessed the rise and fall of many countries due to her immortality, she had actually already predicted Ivan's possible future ending when he began to change his path.
However, the fundamental reason why Zhong Yao did not stop Ivan in the end was that, firstly, she knew very clearly that at this stage, Ivan had already gone astray and it was irreversible; secondly, she also knew very deeply that although the living Ivan had temporarily become her guide, unfortunately, because of the close distance between them, in the end they could only walk hand in hand through a period of wind and rain together, and could never return hand in hand on the road of sunshine.
There is no doubt that Zhong Yao misses this partner who walked hand in hand with her through the difficult years, but this kind of remembrance is only suitable when fundamental interests are irrelevant, and only suitable to be expressed in front of the tombstone with fallen birch leaves.
而伊萬給鐘瑤帶來的最大幫助，不是在那些艱難歲月裏攜手引路，而是讓她再一次無比深刻地明白到“獨立自主”這四個字的重要性。
想要延續祖輩那長享太平盛世的輝煌，首先要做到的第一件事，就是永遠都不能依靠他人。
這一條“長生”與“長盛”之路，哪怕途中有再多的波折和荊棘，她也是依然堅定地、堅持不懈地走下去。
并且可能是永遠都只能一個人努力前行，哪怕偶爾遇到心意相通的同路人，也只是一期一會的過路人，不會有攜手同行永不分離的夢幻結局。
這是她的不幸，但也有可能是她的幸運。
畢竟，牡丹花與梅花盛放之地，距離向日葵與白桦林的輝映之處，實在是太近、太近了。
近到不可能不會在未來的某個時刻出現沖突，近到現在看起來尚還強勢的一方有些許動靜之時，都會給另外一方帶來無可預測的恐慌。
不能完全獨立起來的一方，是很難對抗這樣的動靜變化的，就如同伊萬心意一改就差點讓鐘瑤和她的子民陷入水深火熱的危困之中，若不是咬牙強行堅持下來以及當機立斷的再次借勢度難，可能就真的讓伊萬的計劃得到了實現。
那麽，這也是不能怪外人看來軟萌可愛、實則卻是從古至今都貫徹着于天地相争與人相鬥皆其樂無窮理念的“鐘國”，來一手“你不仁我不義”的反擊了——我把你當好友和大哥，你卻饞我身子和家産，不奮起對抗的話，說不定就真的千年道行一朝喪。
盡管也不是沒有看完電影的人，覺得“鐘瑤”才是結尾那場局勢的真正推手，但無論是在戲裏還是戲外，大家基本都是認識到她現在還沒有那麽大的能量……所以，兩極争鬥之後的兩敗俱傷，才是人們對于這一局面的大衆推斷。
在衆說紛纭之中，一年之末的風雪如期而至，轉眼之間，便又是一年一度的聖誕時節。
而蘇國，突然就在這一年的聖誕節的晚上，伴随着《牢不可破的聯盟》的樂聲，降下了在克裏姆林宮飄揚了六十九年的紅旗。
這一個新十年以來最為震撼的消息，經過高速發展的科技産品，在短時間內傳遍了整個世界。
神州大陸和香江這邊都是臨時加急播出了相關新聞報道，相較起那些為這個消息而笑或者哭的人，更多人則是覺得無比的驚訝。
太突然了。
但這又幾乎可以說得上是一句意料之外、情理之中。
早在當這個國家改變了前進的方向之後，很多人就都預料到這一天遲早就會到來。
只是沒有人預料到這一天會來得這麽的快，也來得這麽的突然。
作為同樣與臨近的這個超級大國接壤的發展中國家，褪去了昔年親密無間的合作回憶之後，就是由過分熟悉而滋生出來的極度恐懼。
在那樣緊繃到極致的情況之下，一點小小的動靜，都是已經讓他們下意識地如驚弓之鳥一般，着手開始了最高級的戒備。
結果也不知道是可笑還是不可笑，精神緊繃到極致驚弓之鳥最終安然無恙，而一向只有小小動靜的超級大國，卻是突然在原本應該代表着溫馨和團聚的日子裏分離崩析。
看着大人們的目光緊鎖在或是彩色或是黑白的電視熒屏之中，這種寂靜到詭異一般的氛圍，便是教最頑皮的孩子都能感覺到，那些游走在空氣和人群之中的窒息和恐慌。
随之而來的，就是窒息和恐慌之後，逐漸回過神來的驚訝和沉思。
而當驚訝和沉思走到最後，先前無論是對于這個國度有着何種心思的人，在這樣永遠無可複制的世紀一刻，大多也都是為之而發自內心地長嘆了一聲。
在千萬裏外得知這個世紀級震撼消息的人尚且如此，那就更別提是在現場親眼所觀、親身經歷這一場變遷的人了。
帶着妻子和兒女的弗拉基米爾遙遙仰望着那一抹紅色的降下，之前在大銀幕裏觀看白桦林中盛大葬禮那未能流出的眼淚，終于也還是在這樣滴水成冰的夜晚，與周邊那些心情複雜到無可複加的淚目人一起，無聲地落了下來。
不知後世對這個世紀級震撼消息會作出什麽評價，但作為親身經歷過繁榮、也親身經歷過衰落的人，弗拉基米爾是十分明白地清楚，這一抹紅最終為何會降下的真正原因——
它，誕生自人類最崇高的理想，毀滅于人類最卑劣的欲望。
在這樣的“震撼”面前，沒有任何東西可以阻擋它的發展，也沒有任何人可以忘記它所留下的記號與痕跡。
他們所懷念的，不是一個強大無比的國家，或者是一個看似無堅不摧的政府，而是那份存于所有人心中的共同信仰，是那個共同的紅色理想。
當開始對昔日并肩作戰的同伴下手之時，這個背叛了理想和信仰的人，就再也不會是曾經那個偉大而又無私的戰士。
昔日的屠龍勇士，終于都還是成為了又一條即将消散的惡龍。
只餘那些親眼見證過輝煌也親身經歷過衰落的人，仍然留在原地，舍不得離去，也舍不得放棄。
因為他們知道，未來終究是會有新的戰士，再次撐起這一片支離破碎的天空——只可惜那時的天空，已經不是昨日的鮮紅。
聖誕節之後很快又是新的一年，開設得早的各種盛會、比賽等看似沒有受到前段時間那個世紀級變故的影響，但只要有細心的人稍微用心去觀察和統計一下，可能就會發現，一種名為“只有逝去方可記得美好”的奇異現象。
大概在這個世間上，的确是只有逝去的“強大”，方可被所有人真正認可為“美麗”，并且真心去懷緬。
等到懷緬完之後，就是用力再在這個墳頭上幫忙加固幾分，讓這個已經陷入永眠的“強大回憶”，再也無法爬出來。
這是很難得的、整個地球村都差不多共同認定的一個理念。
所以在對于這一份已經陷入永眠的“強大回憶”的後續懷緬裏，已經取得階段性勝利的那一派系，就是能用一種前所未有的“大方”姿态，去将一些有點分量卻又無關緊要的東西，第一次分配給那些被他們一直明裏暗裏壓着、如無意外應該就是永遠都無法得到它們的人。
尤其是那些勢均力敵到差不多的獎項競争對決，擁有決定權的那一方，就大多都是選擇了繼承蘇國大部分遺産的那個新的國度。
絕大多數時候，文藝的本質都是為其藏于背後的政治服務，而一旦到了需要“服務”的時候，就是可以完全改變那些一貫以來的規則和潛規則，将有限的公平暫時放出來，供以世人觀瞻。
不管是真心還是假意，不論是名副其實還是名不副實，終歸是像個任人裝扮的小姑娘，用精致無比的外表去遮掩腐朽不堪的內裏。
直接的，間接的，無一例外——
1992年3月30日，美利堅加州的洛杉矶音樂中心又再一次迎來新一屆的奧斯卡頒獎典禮。
這是新的一年，亦是新的十年，更是新的時代。
在這個電影黃金時代的尾巴，每一次的奧斯卡頒獎典禮都确實是文娛界的一場盛會，會盡力為“創新”這兩個字，做出一定量的努力。
例如今晚就出現了第一部 獲最佳影片獎提名的動畫長片《美女與野獸》，也例如執導《街區男孩》的約翰·辛格頓，成為了首位獲奧斯卡最佳導演獎提名的非裔美利堅人，并且也同時創下了最佳導演獎提名人的最小年齡的新紀錄。
當然了，相比這種止步于提名的對象，最令人大開眼界的，莫過于是歷史性地以恐怖片的題材獲得最佳影片的《沉默的羔羊》——它直接在這一屆的頒獎禮上，橫掃了最佳影片、最佳導演、最佳男主角、最佳女主角以及最佳編劇這五個重量級獎項，成為這一屆頒獎禮的最大豐收者。
而在衆人的複雜目光之中，本屆奧斯卡終生成就獎，并沒有落在之前被認為是“大熱門”的喬治·盧卡斯那裏，而是選擇了已經更換國籍的瓦西裏·蘭諾沃伊。
但這個出演了《戰争與和平》、《鋼鐵是怎樣煉成的》、《安娜·卡列尼娜》等在前蘇國和華夏等地方都鼎鼎有名的影片的國寶級演員，卻是沒有出席這一次的頒獎典禮，只由受邀前來的朋友黑澤明導演，上臺代替他來領取這份榮耀。
不過，接下來的另一個獎項的頒發，就更是令人矚目——
“第64屆奧斯卡金像獎，最佳外語片是——《九州往事2：砥砺前行》！”
這個名字一出，甚至都要比之前橫掃五個重量級獎項的《沉默的羔羊》，都要讓人感到震撼！
But this is just like when Vasily Lannovoy defeated Giorgio Lucas and won this year's Oscar for Lifetime Achievement even though he did not come to receive the award. Although there were many discussions on and off the stage, in the end no one questioned or raised any objections.
As for Su Yun, who seemed reluctant to accept the award, she also said something meaningful and memorable when she delivered her acceptance speech: "...I have always believed that it was the best and worst period."
"In order to prove that they are better than others, people at that time would spend all their energy and effort to develop everything that can be developed..."
"There is an old Chinese saying, 'The general trend of the world is that after a long period of unity, there will be division, and after a long period of division, there will be unity.'"
"When confrontation is futile and even counterproductive, a new era of a community with a shared future for mankind has arrived."