抱歉啊，要交作业所以写英文的。不喜勿喷
I rate this film 8/10.
The more I thought about it, the more I like it. When I just finished the film, I did not like the ending, it felt too fairy tale-ish and it ended quite abruptly with the heaven dream. After a couple of hours of thinking, I think I like it more with an understanding that makes sense to me, and maybe only makes sense to me.
2 things I like a lot about the film. The amazing acting of the kid and the tramp and their relationship. Then I will talk about the ending a bit.
The acting was flawless, especially the kid. It was vivid and grasps the attention very well. I felt very engaged throughout the film and didn’t feel that no words was an issue at all. I really like the pace too, it has a main stream of the story and a lot of cute little branches such as the kid cooking and acting like a mom instead of a kid, the kid was walking towards the tramp after throwing rocks at the windows while tramp was kicking him away because the police was after them, the fighting scene with the buff guy and etc. Definitely a lot of laugh there. I personally am not a big fan of slapstick style in comedy, and maybe this is an early film of Chaplin, the style doesn’t dominate the film, which works great for me.
I love how the director is depicting the relationship with the kid. Normally I would think a parent- child relationship goes like this: the child needs more physical care from the parent (like feeding or dressing), and the parent needs more emotional love from the child (parents ask more for a kiss). While in this film, they are really equal. The kid and tramp cook in turn, the kid actually acts like a mom when he cooks. They have the same share of food, one scene even shows that the kid wouldn’t start eating without getting exactly the same share of food. They even partner up for the window repairing business. Emotionally, a lot of scenes show how loving the kid is towards the tramp. The kid asks for kisses before bed, he kisses his toy and makes his toy to kiss the tramp. In most cases tramp is reacting to those affectionate moments but when the kid was taken away, he really tries all he can do to protect the kid, which was very touching. (Even more when I think there’s limited protection in making the film when the tramp has to walk on the roof and jump onto the car).
So, I am really fascinated by the very equal parent-child relationship that the director creates. They are like partners, one needs another just as much as the other does. It’s not a cliche “the parent gives everything to the child” story. (Or maybe that’s just my Chinese parenting cliche). If the kid loves tramp just because he is a provider, then it would be easy for the kid to transit into the new rich family, but since they have this strong partnership bonding, it makes the audience wonder what would happen after the kid reunions with his mom.
That’s a good lead to talk about the ending. It started with the dream of tramp of being in heaven. The entire village becomes heaven and he was still a tramp. Then the kid wakes him up and sets him up to be an angel too. I think that means the kid brought him happiness that he never had before, it’s like heaven for him. Then evil minds come in the paradise, and unlike the first fight he got with the buff guy- when he won, he lost this fight. The policeman shot him and the entire village was against him. The kid was crying hard when he dies in the dream. I think it’s an indication that after the kid goes back to his rich family, the tramp will suffer from the loss. Then it ended like a fairy tale reunion when the mom and the kid welcome the tramp in their new home. It seems a happy ending but it makes me wonder what the tramp’s life is going to be. He might be financially better off, since no more child to raise and the mom is likely to support him in certain level, but is he going to suffer from losing a partner in life? I think the sadness overweight the happiness for tramp.
Overall it’s an entertaining and engaging film, it makes me to think about the dynamics in parent and child relationship and what a great person the tramp is: to love and trust wholeheartedly and let go when it’s better for the other person.
蓝光
