The second volume is full of glory and splendor in the capital, and the spirit is full of energy in the foggy city. Chapter 346 Premiere (10)

Subtitle of this chapter: This is a movie!

"The last rose of summer still blooms alone, while all her lovely companions have faded and died."

"There will never be a single flower beside her again."

"It reflected her rosy and beautiful face."

"Sigh and grieve with her."

The song is called "The Last Rose of Summer" and is a very famous Irish folk song. It can be called the Irish version of "Jasmine Flower".

Just like when you mention Irish music, many people immediately think of the melody of "What a Beautiful Jasmine Flower." This is probably the most popular Irish lyric song in the world.

Its original title was "Young Man's Dream". Thomas Moore, a famous Irish poet in the 19th century, became interested in it and rewrote the lyrics for it, changing the name to "The Last Rose of Summer".

And Miss Ethel Merman is worthy of being called "the greatest actress on Broadway in the 20th century". She made this song, which is already a bit "SAD", even more "sad".

As the mournful and ethereal singing and the mournful and lingering music played, the curtain gradually lit up...

It is also the famous DreamWorks opening credits, with the title following the credits - "Famine Ophans"

The titles fade away and the movie officially begins.

Above the sea level, the sun revealed a golden edge, and the light finally drove away the darkness, illuminating a piece of colorful (black and white) stained glass.

In the glass, Mary, holding the Child in her arms, gazed compassionately at the altar below. Kneeling before the altar was an elderly priest, praying. He was so thin he was practically a bag of bones. Seeing the sunlight streaming in through the window, he made the sign of the cross and struggled to stand up, supported by a cane.

He staggered towards the bell tower, climbed up, and with all his strength pulled the rope that hung the bell, and the bell rang (wobbled)...

The panting priest leaned on the railing of the bell tower, looking down at the dilapidated village awakened by the bell.

Following his gaze, the camera entered the window of a farmhouse. Three skinny girls, their already large but lifeless eyes wide open, huddled together like three broken dolls, all looking starved to death...

No need to ask, these are the three heroines.

Lillian Gish, born in 1893, plays the eldest sister, her younger sister Dorothy Gish, born in 1898, plays the second sister, and Eva Huntel (Chandler), born in 1901, plays the youngest sister..

Of course, they play roles that are much younger than their actual ages.

As we all know, white women develop puberty earlier. And according to the script, they were so hungry that even their female secondary sexual characteristics were not very obvious. Coupled with the effects of makeup and costumes, it was not at all inappropriate for them to play teenage girls.

Lillian Gish, who is now 28 years old, looks ten years younger on the screen, like an 18 or 19-year-old girl.

Don't forget, she was a master at pretending to be young. The heroine in the 1919 play "The Falling Flowers" was also a girl of this age.

After hearing the bell, the three sisters finally regained some vitality.

The eldest sister played by "Ms. Lover" was the first to move. She hugged her two younger sisters and encouraged them with her smile and eyes to climb up from the dirty straw together.

They helped each other tidy up their tattered black mourning clothes, and then went to the backyard together, where there was a grave with two simple crosses on it.

This is a clear indication that their parents have passed away and they have become "Famine Ophans".

The two crosses were crookedly engraved with the names of Mr. and Mrs. O'Fearghail and the year they died - 1848.

This further indicates the historical background of the film, the Great Irish Famine.

It should be explained here that the O' in O'Fearghail is the Gaelic word for "son of someone". The English variant of this surname is Farrell.

And Farrell translated into Chinese is... Farrell.

Our Master Yuan can be regarded as paying tribute to "Nowhere Has It To Do with the Mainland".

So, these three sisters are the daughters of the Farrell family.

They mourned silently at the grave for a while, then turned and went into the house, loaded all their belongings - a dirty quilt and a few wooden bowls - into a cart , and then pushed the cart out of the farmhouse gate with difficulty and joined the crowd of people fleeing famine outside the gate.

I have to explain here that before the Great Famine, due to the heavy exploitation by the British, the Irish economy was so poor that they were almost forced to rely on barter. Therefore, they had no property at all.

They walked together to the small square in front of the church.

At this time, the priest also came out of the chapel, with a .

He took out small potatoes from his knapsack and distributed them to the children in the crowd.

Three girls in black walked up to him, their faces filled with anticipation. The old priest smiled kindly and took out a small potato from his shriveled bag and handed it to them.

The three Farrell sisters all had expressions of surprise and gratitude on their faces, and each of them carefully ate the poor little potato, one bite at a time.

The bright morning light shines on the old priest, just like the loving Holy Father, which makes people feel a surge of hope in their hearts. Perhaps under the leadership of this loyal and kind-hearted priest, these hungry people will find a way out?

That should be it!

Just then, a dark cloud floated in the sky and the light dimmed instantly. When everyone subconsciously looked up at the sky, the old priest fell to the ground without warning.

A villager who looked more respectable came up, felt the priest's pulse, and shook his head to the people around him.

A village woman silently picked up a blanket, walked up and covered the priest with it.

Everyone took off their hats and lowered their heads to express their condolences to the respectable priest.

The three sisters' faces showed expressions of astonishment, sadness and self-blame.

At this time, not only was the sun blocked by dark clouds, but thick fog also appeared around the village. The entire atmosphere of the film suddenly became spooky and had a bit of a horror movie feel.

Everyone mourned for only a short while before walking out of the village, which was like the underworld, like zombies.

From here on, there is the long shot that was later praised as the "movie version of Guernica"...

"Orphans of Famine's place in film history is unquestionable. For those of us working in this field, director David Griffith's use of various camera languages is still worth learning and pondering even in the 21st century..."

"This shot begins from the perspective of the three sisters, following their progress to show the tragic situation they see on the road to escape..."

"The old man who collapsed on the roadside, just like the priest at the beginning..."

"The little boy sitting next to the overturned car, unable to cry, waiting for death..."

"A frantic mother coaxing her dead baby into breastfeeding..."

"The man who smoked his cigarette silently beside his wife and children and then jumped into the river to commit suicide..."

"The scenes shrouded in fog create a desolate and eerie spectacle, reminiscent of Picasso's famous painting 'Guernica,' depicting the devastation of the bombing. It leaves one feeling breathless. It's said that when it first premiered in Dublin, the audience was terrified, and the venue of several thousand people fell silent..."

"Following the Farrell sisters, the camera came to a mass grave where countless crows were pecking at human corpses. From here, the first long shot ended and the second long shot immediately began, this time the perspective turned to one of the crows."

"The soaring crows look down at the crowd below, allowing the audience to see that this escape route is paved with corpses..."

"This should be the first aerial shot in film history, and this surreal film language brought great shock to the audience at the time..."

——Excerpt from "Ten Movies You Can't Miss: An Appreciation of "Orphan of Famine""

Shocking, this is the only word that can describe the audience who have never seen this movie.

Even the two crown princes beside our Master Yuan were dumbfounded, not to mention those Irish "bumpkins".

The crow flew and flew until it landed on a virtual map. It then "flew" from near Dublin, Ireland, all the way to the center of London, Britain.

Finally, the crow landed next to a Union Jack. This was, of course, a perfectly obvious metaphor, comparing the British to scavengers feasting on the bones of the Irish.

As the camera zooms in, we see a landmark building that everyone knows: the Palace of Westminster on the Thames, or the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben.

Through the crow's eyes, the audience can see that a grand meeting is taking place inside.

This magnificent scene and those fat-headed congressmen formed a very, very, very sharp contrast with the previous scene.

There was a sudden uproar in Kroger Park.

But that’s not all. These sanctimonious congressmen took the stage and gave passionate speeches.

One said the potato blight wasn't anything to be afraid of. All it would take was to remove all protective tariffs on grain imported into Britain and Ireland to lower the price of bread. After all, even the poorest people in Britain could afford staple foods other than potatoes.

One said that we British should stick to Adam Smith's doctrine, alleviate the Irish famine through self-help, and interfere as little as possible with the operation of the free market.

One said that the benevolent and generous Queen Victoria had donated a full thousand pounds.

One said that Irish Catholics were lazy and morally corrupt, and that the famine was God expressing his displeasure with the Irish.

"asshole!"

"fart!"

"I'm so pissed!"

"Let them all die!"

Now the noise grew louder, and after a short while it became a rhythmic cry:

"Kill the Limey!"

"Kill the Englishman!!"

"Kill the English!!!"

Our Master Yuan looked back upon hearing the sound and thought to himself, the ancients were not deceiving me.

Looking at these indignant Irish people, you will know that the story of the Seres revolutionary soldiers shooting at the actor who played Huang Shiren was not a fabrication.

Hey, why are these Irish people looking in my direction?

He followed everyone's gaze and saw a "Huang Shiren"...

This Huang Shiren is not an actor, but a genuine British Crown Prince.

"Kill the English..."

Not only Yuan Yanshu knew about this, but most of the audience in the venue also knew about it, so they all focused their attention in this direction.

Not to mention the Prince of Wales himself, even the usually courageous Master Yuan felt his hair stand on end. He finally understood what it meant to be "criticized by thousands of people and end up with nothing."

Because if you were surrounded by thousands of angry people, you would be beaten to death even if you were not sick.

But the future Edward VIII cannot die in this situation, otherwise he will explode on the spot.

Our Master Yuan knew he had to step in to calm the Irish people present. Otherwise, if the situation dragged on any longer, even if any of the thousands of spectators started to get angry, the situation would be absolutely out of control.

Thinking of this, he immediately whispered in the Prince of Wales' ear: "Your Highness, wait for me to finish speaking and you can say a few words too!"

As he said this, he took out a small iron box and swallowed another poor katydid alive.

This way he has both a loud voice and strong jumping ability.

Then he jumped onto the stage and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen..."

“It’s a movie!”

“This is a movie!!”

“This is a movie!!!”

"And I... you all know me. I'm the screenwriter of this movie, Neo Yuan."

"When I wrote this script, I felt what you are feeling right now..."

"I myself also hate the Englishmen whom you all hate..."

"But this is a movie after all!"

"And the Prince of Wales is a guest I invited here, just like everyone else."

"So please calm down."