Speaking of this documentary, you may not be familiar with its director, but I still want to mention that "A Calligraphy Lesson" that I wrote before is also his work.
I can't say for sure anything else, but in him I see sincerity.
This documentary, in the director's own words, is "a documentary made by a layman, a documentary without a director, a musical instrument, and all the backgrounds**In other words, it is not a mainstream documentary.
Whether it's the editing side, the style or the feeling of the picture, it's all 90s, not dazzling at all, not exciting at all;The photographer was originally a driver, and he was forced to "pretend" as a photographer halfway;The first time he touched the tape recorder, he only learned to turn it on and off, and at the same time he had to act as a light and an external linkThe director is shooting a large-scale documentary for the first time.
However, none of the scenes in this ** are acted, all of them are captured, there is no director at all on the scene, even the director himself is shooting, all ** are completely original, every note!And the instrument that created these notes was only one thing: an authentic ancient Chinese instrument: the Zhongruan. Supplemented by vocals and effects.
You think it's a band, but it's actually just one person: the folk musician, Xiaohe. The opening song is from folk singer Zhong Lifeng's "Blackbird, You Are **" and was specially recorded for this **, and the ending song is still from Xiaohe, "A Tree in the Forest".
You see, a documentary appeared.
In fact, before seeing the name, I still used my inertial thinking to imagine: craftsmanship must not pursue excellence, that must not reflect the spirit of craftsmen, and that must not live the fairy wind and bone ......
It turns out that this is not the case, the so-called craft, but it is just a skill to survive, it is indeed beautiful, but it is difficult to return to the market, it is not hundreds of students there to learn, but once the inheritor is no more, the craft will disappear.
The old man who made the umbrella died, and there was no one to make an umbrella anymore;The last handmade paper of the two grandmothers meant that the local papermaking technique was also lostThe potter's uncle guarded his ancestral 400-year-old pottery house and refused to give the land to the developer, but he was worried that one day he would be gone, and the pottery would slowly disappear.
The director took me to witness the step-by-step production of handmade products, China's "craftsman spirit". The extraction and stitching of the sheepskin raft, the stitch and thread of the carpet, the chisel and knock of the musical instrument, the relaxation of the pottery, the hammer of the knife, and the pull of the old man of the umbrella. On their wrinkled faces, we saw their focused eyes during production, and their smiling eyebrows and eyes, giving people the strength of **.
The impact of industry has slowly eliminated all the inefficiency, and we are not clinging to the so-called traditional crafts, but we are sorry that these cultures are difficult to adhere to.
Gorky once said, "The disappearance of a craft represents the disappearance of a small museum." "The persistence of craftsmen is not only to make a living, but also to protect cultural inheritance.
And in my opinion, finding craftsmanship does not mean that traditional craftsmanship should rise again and return to the market, which is indeed too difficult. Instead, it is necessary to make a documentary and preserve it, so as not to let some excellent skills of Chinese tradition become empty talk and completely annihilate in the process of the times.
The business of sheepskin rafts, which is supported by tourism, has indeed long been detached from its actual use value, and I don't know whether it is a blessing or a sadness to let it exist. The production of pottery has also developed into a tourist attraction, and the traditional handicraft industry is barely surviving on the support of the tertiary industry, which is indeed the sorrow of an era, but it is irreversible.
We are powerless to stop the changes of an era, and the only thing we can do is to support traditional craftsmanship and let it survive with dignity. Maybe the more people who pay attention, the slower the craft will disappear. Hayao Miyazaki once said, "Everything that is built with heart has a soul of its own." "They are arrogant and shining, defending their last dignity, rather than taking a word of praise indifferently.
The mission of craftsmanship is to be needed, but when we no longer need it one day, will it be more empty ......