"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive."
—James Baldwin
turbulent and icy consolation
foreword
1995 may have been the darkest and eerie year in recent French history. In a series of violence and demonstrations, the summer heat was extremely turbulent; the ensuing repression and resistance made the winter of that year extremely dark and piercing.
The film "La haine" (Chinese name: "Angry Youth"), which I want to talk to you about today, is based on real events that happened in France in 1995. It is one of my favorite films.
Twenty-three years later, this story that happened in a foreign country is still as sharp and relevant as a knife in today's China.
About Narration
This movie is impeccable to me personally, whether it is the plot, conception, soundtrack or the performance of the actors. But what I like most about this movie is the repeated narration at the beginning and end. The narration dissects and runs through the entire film, but is independent of the entire film.
The video begins with a narration:
C'est l'histoire d'un homme qui tombe d'un immeuble de 50 étages. Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute, il se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : « Jusqu'ici tout va bien.. .Jusqu'ici tout va bien...Jusqu'ici tout va bien. »
Mais l'important, c'est pas la chute. C'est l'atterrissage.
The translation roughly means:
This is a story about a man who fell from the roof of a fifty-story building. In the process of falling, the man kept comforting himself and said: "So far, it's okay... So far, it's okay.. So far, it's okay..." But the important thing is not how to fall, but how to land.
The word "La Chute" in French means both fall and fall. Humans are just a symbol here. Starting from the death of the protagonist Vincent, the film not only implies the collapse of human beings, but also satirizes the collapse of society. At the end of the film, this narration is repeated, but it is changed to "C'est h'histoire d' une société qui tombe...", is it the fall of man that leads to the collapse of society, or the fall of society that forces man collapse? The director leaves this question to all the audience.
People always like to be high-sounding and comfort themselves by saying that the result is not important, just enjoy the process. In fact, when they said this, they had already accepted the expected result. The real fear comes from a blank slate of results. Only by being prepared to deal with all the endings can you enjoy the fun of the process calmly.
I don't know if it's a coincidence or why, but Camus has a work that happens to be called "La Chute", which tells about his helplessness and pessimism after gaining insight into the world. All Chute is lost until l'atterrissage is not known.
About the movie
The following content may involve spoilers, mind misreading.
The film tells the twenty hours of three Parisian suburban youths after police in Paris wounded a civilian, Abdel, during a riot.
For the first time, the film exposed the lives of Parisian suburbs to the public eye. Before this, the poor without money and status had never been able to attract social attention, let alone sympathy.
As soon as the film came out, it became world-renowned and won
-European Film Award 1995
- Cannes Film Festival (Palm d'Or) 1995
-Cannes Film Festival (Shadows) 1995
-César 1996
Waiting for the awards of the film industry that year and even today.
About imagery
At the beginning of the film, Saïd faced a group of police alone, giving people the illusion of "one to ten", then he slipped behind the police car and secretly wrote "Saïd baisse la police (Saïd fuck police)" and ran away. On the other hand, Vicent kept simulating himself in front of the mirror arguing with others to find courage. The tone of the film is thus set, young people and society are full of anger and hatred, but have nowhere or the courage to vent.
The three protagonists of the film: Saïd is timid and greedy for cheap. When he went to the hospital to fight with the police, he saw some reporters bite the bullet and act as a standout just to gain face; Vicent is impulsive and has a good face, and when he encounters himself, he is always bluffing or talking big Come and give yourself a face; Hubert is calm and knowledgeable, but the same drugs and fights. They are all ordinary people in life, just like me and you around me. They abused the rulers on the top of the building; they were driven away by the police like the city officials drove the street vendors... Everything is a microcosm of Paris back then, and it is also a microcosm of the world around everyone in China today.
The clock divides each scene of the film, and the sound of the clock in the background gives people an unusual sense of urgency, and also implies that conflict and anger are about to explode like an explosion.
Avenging the wounded civilians to seek justice runs through the entire film. As a figurative support, the pistol lost by the police in the riot is the clue of the whole film. A pistol is a symbol of force, a lost pistol, the right of no lord. Vicent picked up the pistol and wanted to use it to kill a cop for justice. Hubert asked him, "Is it enough to kill a cop?" Of course not, but for Vincent, at least it was even. Many times, for the people at the bottom, what they are looking for is not absolute fairness, but relative fairness that is tit-for-tat. Under the unfairness of the general environment, absolute fairness is a luxury. The vested interests also often use the concept of stealing in exchange for indulgence of their atrocities, which in turn punishes the oppressed who seek justice. How similar it is today is vivid in my eyes.
Chased by police in Paris, Vincent hides in a movie theater, where the narration happens to say:
"You are a dog on the road, every foot I want to step on your face"
The police in Paris at the police station use the abuse of Saïd and Hurbert as an example of training new police officers. The new policeman was heartbroken, and finally lowered his head in guilt.
"The abuse is easy, the hard part is stopping in time."
The author's deliberate coincidence is a vivid record of the atrocities of those in power.
On the train to Paris, a huge billboard reads "The world is yours". Will young people really have a future in a chaotic social order? This is the question in the movie, and it is also the question of many Chinese young people. The billboard appears again before the end, and Saïd changes it to "The world is ours". Angry society and young people are eager to change the status quo and seek future sovereignty, but the repression of the state apparatus and the brutality of society are pulling the reins around our necks.
about contradictions
Three people were watching a hip-hop performance in an abandoned factory building. The child ran in and said something happened. Everyone left, and only one person who was standing upside down continued to perform a head spin. In a chaotic society, everything is like a dislocated vortex, and everything is paradox and contradiction.
The three hated the police the most, but they asked the police for directions in Paris. At first they thought the police in Paris were very kind and treated them with honorifics, but they were abused by the Paris police for fun. Many times society gives you the illusion of goodwill, just to humiliate you in order to be more convenient to approach you. There is no joy in tormenting a hopeless man, and the joy of chaos and order is to keep pushing people from hope to despair, just like Sisyphus.
The news of the wounded young man's death is posted on the screen at the end. The three people regained their friendship in the fight with the street gangsters. Vincent did not have the courage to pull the trigger in the end. The farce seems to be over here.
The gun finally stopped being a tool for revenge and became a weapon to protect friends.
At 6 o'clock, dawn has come, Vincent handed the gun to Hubert for safekeeping, the three said goodbye, and everything seemed to have returned to normal.
The police car came and accidentally killed Vincent in the farce of public revenge.
At 6:01, the most sensible Hubert raised the gun Vincent gave him, and the police faced him.
After one shot, society collapses and the story ends.
Mr. Lu Xun said:
Despair is vain, just like hope. If I still have to live in this "fantasy" which is unclear and not dark, I will still seek the sad and misty youth that has passed away, but it might as well be outside of me. Because if the youth outside me disappears, the twilight inside me also withers.
About background music
Background music. As the music that runs through the beginning and end, Boy Marley's "Burnin' And Lootin'" is the finishing touch. It's a pity that the lyrics of this song may be too sensitive, and the translation has disappeared into the black hole of 404.
With lyrics and translation:
This morning I woke up in a curfew;
This morning, I woke up with a curfew
O God, I was a prisoner, too - yeah!
God, I'm a prisoner
Could not recognize the faces standing over me;
I do not recognize the face standing before my eyes;
They were all dressed in uniforms of brutality. Eh!
They all wore brutal uniforms.
How many rivers do we have to cross,
how many rivers we must cross,
Before we can talk to the boss? Eh!
before we can talk to those in power
All that we got, it seems we have lost;
All that we gained seems to have been lost;
We must have really paid the cost.
we have to make them pay
(That's why we gonna be)
(that's why we will)
Burnin' and a-lootin' tonight;
To burn and loot tonight,
(Say we gonna burn and loot)
(We will burn and loot)
Burnin' and a-lootin' tonight;
Burn and loot tonight
(One more thing)
(And one more thing)
Burnin' all pollution tonight;
burn up all the filth
(Oh, yeah, yeah)
(Oh yeah, yeah)
Burnin' all illusion tonight.
All illusions burnt out tonight.
Oh, stop them!
Oh, stop them!
Give me the food and let me grow;
give me food, let me grow;
Let the Roots Man take a blow.
Let the people at the bottom rise up against it.
All them drugs gonna make you slow now;
All these drugs will dull;
It's not the music of the ghetto. Eh!
This is not a slum dirge.
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight;
cry and mourn tonight;
(Who can stop the tears?)
(Can anyone stop the tears?)
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight;
cry and mourn tonight
(We've been suffering these long, long-a years!)
(We've been suffering from this all the time!)
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight
cry and mourn tonight
(Will you say cheer?)
(Will you cheer for it?)
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight
cry and mourn tonight
(But where?)
(but where?)
Give me the food and let me grow;
give me food, let me grow;
Let the Roots Man take a blow.
Let the people at the bottom rise up
I must say: all them - all them drugs gonna make you slow;
I must say: all people - all these drugs will slow you down;
It's not the music of the ghetto. It's not a ghetto dirge.
We gonna be burning and a-looting tonight;
We're going to burn and loot tonight
(To survive, yeah!)
(For survival! )
Burning and a-looting tonight;
We're going to burn and loot tonight
(Save your baby lives)
(In order to make future generations live better)
Burning all pollution tonight;
Burn all the filth tonight
(Pollution, yeah, yeah!)
(filth, yeah, yeah!)
Burning all illusion tonight
Burn all illusions tonight
(Lord-a, Lord-a, Lord-a, Lord!)
Lord
Burning and a-looting tonight;
We're going to kill, burn, loot tonight
Burning and a-looting tonight;
We're going to burn and loot tonight
Burning all pollution tonight.
Tonight we're going to burn up all the filth
"It's not really talk about burnin out the city, or burning down. But burnin out certain things in our minds to live in I-one harmony."
—Boy Marley
I want to write too much, but I am short of words.
The world is chaotic, try to be strong.
(Public Number: Reading Clinic)
Text | Pillows
Video/Music/Picture | Source Network
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