Chapter Seventy-Three: Wasteland

  George, who had just recovered from his illness, stretched his waist.

  At 16, George finally had a car of his own. Just as he was getting hooked on racing, an accident changed his outlook on life. The crash happened just days before his high school graduation, and George's lungs were crushed but he unexpectedly came back from the brink of death.

  After recovering from his illness, George was preparing to focus on writing. At this time, a friend from his youth advised him to take the entrance exam for the University of Southern California's film department, where he could not only continue to study writing but also continue to "play" with photography, which he had already become quite skilled at through racing. George went to inquire and was unexpectedly accepted by the school.

  Photography?

  Sounds pretty good.

  He will go to Los Angeles next summer.

  Now he decided to go see a movie, Christmas is the time for "big movies", and the movies are pretty good at this time.

  He bought a movie ticket.

  Fallout

  An initial investment of $20 million, but it scared a group of people. Especially since the investment was made by a little girl.

  But then came Cleopatra, at a cost of $44 million, and everyone's attention shifted.

  "Cleopatra" is quite good, even classic, but somewhat out of place and too artistic, with too few "highlights". It can only be a classic in art, not commercially.

  Due to the failure of "Cleopatra", many investors were scared off and numerous big-budget projects were cancelled.

  And at this time, "Wasteland" is about to be released.

  That Miss Catherine Edson is quite something.

  No matter what the film is like, George decided it's better to take a look. Besides, as a three-hour long film, it's really rare in history.

  Actually many people are also looking forward to "Wasteland".

  After all, the failure of "Cleopatra" was too terrible. If "The Wasteland" fails again, it can be said that all major film plans for the next decade should be cancelled.

  He bought a movie ticket and then walked into the IMAX theater.

  The movie started soon.

  "War, war will never change."

  A hoarse and aged voiceover, the sound is so distant yet so heavy.

  But the screen was still pitch black.

  At this time, the melodious guitar sound started.

  I－thank－God－I‘m－free－at－st……”

  《Free－at－st》。

  As the singing started, the scene also began to gradually brighten up.

  George vaguely remembered where he had heard this song before.

  George's seat was not good, close to the aisle and opposite the black people's seats. Now many places also separate blacks and whites. So the black people's seats were all "special seats" in poor locations.

  They heard this song, first somewhat bewildered, then suddenly a murmur, and finally quickly quieted down again, leaving George at a loss.

  Then he suddenly remembered.

  On August 23rd Martin Luther King's speech ended with this song.

  Far away, it seems like the newborn morning sun.

  The camera gradually zooms in and moves down.

  A hat appeared on the screen. Then the picture continued downwards.

  The whole person appeared.

  A man playing a tune.

  He sat on a scrapped blue small car, behind him was the endless wilderness.

  A gust of wind blew by, stirring up waves of yellow sand.

  Sean Connery

  He stood with his back to the sunrise, fiddling with the guitar in his hand, his eyes were so focused and profound.

  Free at last, I'm finally free.

  When the old Negro spiritual, accompanied by a guitar, came to an end, Sean Connery's eyes suddenly became piercing and at the same time he took down the rifle from his back.

  Then he squatted down beside the car and used it as cover.

  He quickly loaded the bullets into his rifle and then suddenly stood up.

  At this time, the lens is facing the muzzle.

  Time itself was slowing down at this point.

  "Boom!"

  The bullet followed the flame and then shot out of the muzzle.

  However, incredibly, the camera then 360 degrees around this bullet, and followed it as it pierced through the skull of a monster in the distance!

  The bright red dripped down, but this scene didn't evoke any feeling of disgust. It was as if it were a naturally formed work of art.

  The entire film has no music, only a gentle and fluent technique that presents the story in front of everyone.

  Caucasians, blacks and Asians all appear in the film.

  The scenes in the film are abnormally realistic, even those monsters don't reveal any flaws.

  It seems this is the real data of humanity's future, it just crossed through time and space and arrived here.

  Everyone is deeply attracted to movies.

  George was also completely absorbed in the film. Although the angle was bad and although there were blacks beside him, he too had been drawn into the movie.

  In this world, there seems to be nothing more wonderful than this.

  The whole world seemed to have ceased to exist, leaving only this scene in front of me.

  But suddenly, the screen disappeared, and the lights came on instead.

  "Hey, what's up?!"

  According to cinema rules, if a movie is too long, 15 minutes of time must be left in the middle for "intermission" so that people can go to the toilet.

  "Hey! Keep going!"

  "You can't do this! Hey! Keep letting me go!"

  The number of people shouting grew, and they seemed unable to bear being pulled back from that world into reality.

  George also shouted along with them.

  This is too much, such a visual feast, such an enthralling film, how can it suddenly come to an intermission?

  A film like this should be watched in one go to give people the most complete enjoyment!

  The cinema was also at a loss, and in the end they decided to "follow public opinion" and immediately continued broadcasting the second half.

  At the end of the film, Sean Connery left a thought-provoking "A-man" and then left everyone.

  George thought the film should have ended there, but it didn't.

  In the end, Sean Connery walks alone in the wilderness, this scene plays for a full 90 seconds, then he walks onto a broken bridge and gazes out at the distance.

  And at this time, the lens followed his gaze and quickly advanced on the wasteland, then towards the sunrise...

  Then it's over.

  No song, no producer, when the screen froze on the newly born sun, everything was over.

  The film starts without a title or logo and ends in the same way. Yet somehow it feels like this is how it should be.

  It was only then that George realized many people had already stood up and were queuing in front of the toilet, and he also discovered that he himself was urgent to urinate. After all, it had been three hours.

  It's finally his turn, and it feels much more comfortable. It's strange, though - when watching a movie, I don't have this feeling at all...

  He washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror.

  "George... George? Lucas, this is the movie you will make next, this is the path you will follow..."