Some movies are simple, and they are not afraid of simplicity. For a story without suspense to be fascinating, it must successfully mobilize people's simplest yet most sensitive emotions. James Cameron is very successful in this kind of thing -whether it is "Titanic" or "Terminator", it is a sentence that can tell the plot clearly, but it makes people want to stop, and it has been repeatedly hit. Today is "Harry Brown" again.
Of course, "Harry Brown" has nothing to do with James Cameron's movie, it keeps reminding me of "Smash the Wolf". First, they discussed the same topic: the contradiction between legal procedures and extrajudicial police. In "Slaying the Wolf", the police have been unable to grasp the criminal evidence of the gang, so that in the end, only through illegal violent means can the criminal "rectify the law." And Harry Brown, played by Maurice Joseph Micklewhite , fell into emotional desperation after his friend was killed, and at the same time resented the incompetence of legal methods and began to lynch. This is a typical conflict between a legal society and a moral society. Western political power is established in a whole set of Above the Law , so legal procedures are not only a way of doing things, but also a manifestation of the system itself. What it achieves is a process of "just" solidification of the concept of nothingness. Therefore, it must have a rigid side: because the accuracy of the procedure represents the rigor and fairness of the law, the destruction and negligence of the procedure is equivalent to destroying the integrity of the entire system. At the same time, because of its transparency, this system also has the inevitability of being countered: without evidence, the police cannot prosecute the murderer, and the murderer knows how to get out. Therefore, morality plays a "complementary" role at this time. This is why there is Robin hoodSuch a thief: His image represents a certain social expectation that the law is powerless, and this expectation is based on mainstream values. It is emotional and completely ignores procedures and logic. Therefore, its implementation often only needs to be "what the people want" to be established. What Harry Brown did was undoubtedly illegal, but emotionally he was on the side of the audience. Therefore, Harry Brown cannot be regarded as law enforcement, nor can it be regarded as justice in the legal sense, but it is the "justice" that many people hope for. Using violence to control violence is the best way to satisfy the victim (the audience’s psychology in the cinema). This is why the ancient criminal law is often full of bloody and violent methods of execution, and they like to execute them in public: these treat the prisoner to the victim. The "performance" of the recurring evil act is the climax of the trial and the "comfort" for the victim. But at the same time, the law has changed from ensuring justice through procedures to maintaining social stability through "entertaining" victims. Therefore, this image of moral perfection is not only the expectation of the lower class victims, but also easy for the ruler to use. A typical example is Bao Qingtian.
The second similarity between "Harry Brown" and "Breaking the Wolf" is their handling of this controversial subject matter. They all chose to avoid the complicated philosophical discussion as much as possible and instead guide the audience's emotions. The direct approach is to make the whole story without any suspense, thereby avoiding the audience's sway. Through a clear display of the crime process, the suspects were placed on the opposite side of the audience in advance, thus confirming the correctness of the protagonist's position. Under this premise, whether it is a lynching or a violent killing, the audience will only be hooked and throw the evidence and reasoning procedures out of the blue. Wouldn't it be pleasant to watch Maurice Joseph Micklewhite shoot a sodomy in the head with a pistol?
But "Harry Brown" is still better, because he touches more social reality and touches the level for discussion. In contrast, the world of "Slaying the Wolf" was made too "fairy tale" by Wilson Yip Wai Shun , thus losing its cruelty and extended reading-this is also a major feature of Hong Kong police films. In addition to the discussion of the law, Harry Brown also touched on issues such as elderly people living alone, social ethos, the proliferation of drugs and weapons. These contents are carried by the light and shadows, and are carried forward and backward through many symbolic lens languages, forming detailed support beyond the main line of emotions. For example, the black underground passage, the dripping faucet, the contrast between the lonely burial ceremony in the cemetery and the passing luxury funeral convoy.
"Empire" magazine's evaluation of the film is "The film once again explained: Maurice Joseph Micklewhite is the king of the cool." One word tells the soul of the entire film. Simple stories, strong emotions, this must be achieved by a powerful performance engine. Maurice Joseph Micklewhite's performance made things like "pretending to be cool" uncomfortable: because he is cool itself. Without sunglasses or double guns, even a blessed body and slow pace can't stop his powerful aura from covering the entire screen. Looking at his revenge, it suddenly reminded me of the old kael in "up" : a handful of old bones, playing airplanes, climbing airships, is it easy.
