The film certainly shows the hypocrisy and numbness of the contemporary French middle class, but it points more to their oblivion of historical crimes and to the existence of black immigrants, albeit veiled.
George's "crime" against Majid as a child was to trick him into killing a rooster, and then tell his parents that Majid scare him. As a result, his parents gave up the plan to adopt Majid, causing Majid to enter an orphanage and not receive a good education in his life.
Majid's "killing chickens" has become the best metaphor for the "immigrant threat theory", or, in other words, the best metaphor for the exclusion of black people. Majid is black and the chicken is a symbol of France.
The deeper and broader background of Majid's "chicken killing incident" is the death of his parents. Majid's parents were Algerian immigrants who died in the French government's crackdown on Algerian immigrants in 1961. At that time, thousands of Algerian immigrants in Paris took to the streets to support the independence of their motherland, Algeria (Algeria has always been a French colony. France once promised to allow it to be independent after World War II, but it broke its promise and continued to squeeze Algeria), Hundreds of people were crushed to death, their bodies thrown into the Seine.
The elderly George's mother has forgotten Majid and the "chicken killing incident", just like the French middle class has forgotten the 1961 crackdown (the French government has not recognized the crackdown until 2012.) , forgetting the French crush on Algeria.
George's mother lived a rich and tasteful life, owning a large house with three or four floors, and the walls of the room were covered with oil paintings. George, 50, has become a TV host, and his bookshelves are full of videotapes and books, and he and his wife Anna drink two sips of red wine when they eat noodles. When George went to see his mother, the conversation between the two revealed that the family was very happy, and distant relatives would say "you really gave birth to a good son" to George's mother. The wealthy French middle class enjoys the happiness of life.
The middle class enjoys not only material things, but also art. George's TV show "Round Table" discusses literary and artistic works.
In stark contrast to them is Majid, who is still living in poverty in middle age. Should his "down and down" also be borne by the lying George? A more realistic brushstroke is that Majid's son went to the TV station to find George, and was told by George that "this is not the place you should be".
Majid was ultimately wronged and cut his throat in front of George, just as he once cut off the neck of a rooster. Letting Majid and Rooster die in the same way is the director's best response to the "immigrant threat theory". These immigrants will not kill the "Gallic Rooster", but will be killed by those white middle-class people who will be wronged first and then was killed. This is also the best metaphor for the living state of immigrants: they have always been weak, and they have to cut themselves off to prove their innocence.
The film "Hidden Camera" is a mystery film, and audiences have been wondering who actually filmed George. Some netizens found a screenshot of the movie and clearly saw George's son and Majid's son talking at the school gate, so they identified them as the culprits.
But I don't think so, the director may not be able and does not want to reveal the mystery by using such a weak identification method. More important than the candid shooter is the candid shoot itself. It is better to say "recording" than "candid photography". The penultimate long shot, back in 1961, is also a fixed camera, "recording" the process of Majid being taken away. The last long shot, back to the present tense, is still a fixed camera, "recording" the process of leaving school for George's son's school. How similar are these two “records” to the “candid photography” of the candid photographer, it can be said that Haneke simulated the perspective of “candid photography”. The simulation from this perspective is the best way to use techniques to support the text. The "record" of 1961 reminds people not to forget the crimes they committed in the past, and the "record" of school dismissal has the effect of "shooting at education". suspected. We only see educated George threatening Majid, but we never see Majid posing a "threat" to George.
(two long shots at the end)
Of course, the connotation of the film is not so "simple". Abandoning Majid as an individual, the director may have a negative attitude towards immigrants and the middle class. The conflict between the black guy riding a bicycle and George is the best manifestation. In this idle pen, no one is more lovely, we only hear The black guy yells "shut your beak" to George. In this detail, the director reproduced social contradictions without making judgments.
As an Austrian director, Haneke was able to cut the head of the French middle class with such sharp images and texts, and won the "Best Director Award" at the French Cannes Film Festival with this film, which not only reflected his directing skills, It also reflects the inclusiveness of French cinema. And in 2012, when the French government acknowledged the repression, is it also related to this film?
Algerian National Liberation War
In the mid-19th century, France conquered Algeria, turning it into a raw material base and strategic rear. During World War II, in order to fight the Axis powers, France promised the Algerians that they would be allowed to become independent as long as they helped France win the war. After the end of World War II, France got its wish to become a victorious country, but France, eager to repair the wounds of the war, not only failed to fulfill its promise, but intensified the oppression of the Algerian people.
Patriots from all over Algeria secretly established the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action (renamed the National Liberation Front after the war) in March 1954, established guerrilla armed forces, and decided to launch a major uprising in November of that year.
On September 19, 1958, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Algeria was proclaimed. In June 1960, the negotiations between France and Afghanistan began. While negotiating, the Algerian National Liberation Front led the People's Liberation Army to repeatedly break through the "Morris Line of Defense", which was 300 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide, and smashed the enemy's strategic policy of "sticking to key points and completely blocking it", March 18, 1962 , the French government was forced to sign the "Evian Agreement" with the Algerian Provisional Government, recognizing the Algerian people's right to self-determination. On July 1 of the same year, Algeria held a referendum. Independence was declared on July 3. On September 25, the country was declared the Democratic People's Republic of Algeria, and the war of national liberation achieved the final victory.
1961 French crackdown on demonstrations
On October 17, 1961, thousands of Algerian immigrants in Paris took to the streets to protest the French government's "curfew" on Algerian laborers and to support Algeria's independence movement. French police were ordered to carry out a bloody crackdown.
According to reports, in 1961, dozens or even hundreds of people were killed in this peaceful demonstration. Some of them were killed by bullets, others by the smashing of their skulls with the butt of a gun or a pickaxe. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the Seine. At that time, French officials claimed that only three people were killed in the self-defense of the police.
According to a report by Radio France Internationale on October 18, 2012, French President Francois Hollande officially acknowledged on the 17th in the name of the "French Republic" that on October 17, 1961, the French police carried out a "bloody repression" on the Algerian demonstrators in Paris. . Hollande's move broke France's 51-year silence on this historical event.
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