Conflict of East and West Rap
On September 7, 1996, the rapper who had set the "Guin's World Record" with the highest sales, Tu Pac (2Pac), the representative figure of West Coast rap, was shot in Las Vegas, four times in the body, and He died six days later at the age of 25. But only half a year later, on March 9, 1997, MTV was rated as the third greatest MC in history, and the representative figure of East Coast rap, The Notorious BIG, was also caught in his car. shot. These two tragic murders marked the peak of the rap conflict between the east and west coasts of the United States.
Hip-hop music originated in New York in the 1970s. People at the bottom of society in the Bronx used graffiti, DJ, MC, hip-hop and other elements to interweave the origin of hip-hop culture. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, unlike the East Coast rap based in New York, the rise of the West Coast rap based in Los Angeles not only made great gains in the market, but also caused a confrontation between East and West rap. From the beginning of the song writing, the conflict between the two sides is heating up, the competition between the singer and the record company and the gang background, the situation gradually develops into an unmanageable direction, until the successive deaths of Tupac and Mr. Notorious. It tends to ease.
What is puzzling is that the two murders that have attracted great attention in the society have never been detected, and the murderer and the mastermind behind it are still a mystery. Over the years, there have been many speculations and conjectures about the case, and rumors of Mr. Notorious plotting to murder Tupac have been rampant; Tupac's Death Row Records owner Suge Knight or Snoop Dogg Dogg's revenge for Tupac is also widely circulated.
In 2002, an American journalist, Randall Sullivan, published a book, Abyrinth, which shed new light on Mr. Notorious's murder. He alleges that the successful execution of the assassination and the delay in prosecution of the crime, in addition to the assassination of major West Coast hip-hop figures, was due to the deep involvement of the Los Angeles Police Department from top to bottom. The book points out that there are many police officers and officers in the Los Angeles Police Department who are gang members at the same time, and in order to protect the image of the police department, the senior police officers use procedures to delay the progress of the investigation and related lawsuits.
Much of the content and rationale of The Labyrinth comes from Randall Sullivan's interview with former Los Angeles police detective Russell Poole, which also becomes the main storyline of the film.
More than ten years after the murder, a persevering journalist, Jack Jackson, played by Forest Whitaker, finds the long-retired Russell Ball, played by Johnny Depp. , After a period of running-in, the process of working together to trace the truth behind the murder case.
As the real events developed, Russell Pohl was a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department who was in charge of investigating the death of the infamous man. Since the incident in March 1999, he has been trying his best to find out the truth, but the senior police department prevented him from directing the investigation to the police station. The police officer suspected of being involved in the case, Ball resigned in anger at the end of 1999.
He did not give up because he resigned as a police officer, and continued to investigate as a private investigator. This unremitting pursuit of justice continued amazingly until 2015, when Russell Pohl died suddenly of a heart attack while discussing the case at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office at the age of 58.
The film spends a lot of space to deduce the claims of Russell Pohl and Randall Sullivan (the prototype of the reporters in the film) about the truth of the murder, facing the power structure that intends to cover up the truth, step by step to get close to the core of the truth. Although there is a big gap in scale and detail, it still reminds me of the masterpiece "Who Killed Kennedy" (JFK).
In addition to the elements of suspense and puzzle solving, the director also focuses on describing Russell Ball's paranoia, which is different from ordinary people, and its profound impact on his family and life. This makes the film have more depiction of human nature, which is more warm than pure crime drama films.
However, the film's apparent confusion over the balance of the two makes it a pity that neither direction is explored deeply enough. At the same time, the murder case has not been revealed in the real world and in the original book, which limits the possibility of the movie ending. Therefore, the movie must come to an abrupt end with the fall of Russell Pohl, and there may be unsatisfied movie viewing experience. feeling of regret.
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