Friday words: When I learned that "LesMiserables" was nominated for the 2019 Cannes Palme d'Or, I thought it wasanother film based on a novel. We know that Les Misérables has been remade manytimes since its inception, so what makes this 2019 one different? What made itwin the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and nominations at manywell-known film festivals?
After watching the movie, I found out thatthis is a "modern version of Les Miserables," which is not based onthe adaptation of the original book but a postmodern reflection based on theoriginal book. The first thing director Raj Leigh said when he attended theCannes Film Festival was thathe wanted Macron to watch Les Miserables asa film just for him, just like François Ruffin's book "A France You Don'tKnow".
It can be seen that this film wants toreveal a deep-seated problem in modern France. Many people say that 157 yearsago, Victor Hugo wrote "Les Miserables" in the 93rd block of Paris,and 157 years later, Raj Leigh made "Les Miserables" in the 93rdblock. 157 years later, what has changed in France? France in the Hugo era wasa society in which the state apparatus was stronger than individualism; asociety advocating harsh punishments and strict laws; and a society that blamed"sin" on poverty. As for France, where the director is now, Francenow worships individualism, freedom, and equality and is a society wherediverse cultures blend and coexist with multiple ethnic groups. the world "?will analyze and solve the confusion for the readers one by one.
1. Does the director's subjective lensreally favor the "bear children"?
Many people don't understand why it isnamed "Les Miserables." There are no characters like Jean Valjean, noFantine, and no Bishop Milliere. There is a series of troubles caused by"Bear Children". What puzzled some viewers is that the director alsomade the bear children carry out a revenge-style violent resistance at the endof the film. Many viewers think that the director is looking at the problemfrom the standpoint of a "bear child," which is outright partialityfrom a perspective. Friday Jun believes that the director's real intention isexactly the opposite. The film's success lies in its objectivity. The fact isthat the lens does not "beautify" anyone. The only role of the lensin the film is that of a calm recorder.
Why do you say that? Because if you watchthe movie carefully, without going to the movie with preconceived notions, youwill find that the director deliberately used a lot of documentary-like methodsto shoot. Carry the camera on your shoulder and follow the character'sfootsteps through the maze-like 93rd block. It often uses the lens to directlyaim at the character's face, which amplifies the character's inner emotions andmakes the tension more intense.
Teens on Block 93 close-u. Why did thedirector shoot it as a documentary? Because he strives to remain objective, herecords the perspectives of the characters in each category of identity. Thereis a child's perspective: When they stare at the police, the camera is alwayson their faces, giving expressions of disgust and disgust, expressions ofresistance and explosiveness. In their eyes, the French police are a group ofpeople who "bully the weak.
The director also gave the perspective ofpolice patrols, and what they saw is that the 93rd block is full of poverty,violence, sex, and drugs. What they saw was that those "bear kids"had no future and were troublemakers. From the police's perspective, the cameraoften shows the pictures of all beings. What you see is a group of childrensneaking around there, and what you see is some people who are always ready todo bad things.
Of course, in the small group of"three groups" in the police, the perspectives of white policeofficers, black police officers, and the new "big back" policeofficers are also changed. The "big back" police officers are mainlyobservers, observing how white and black police officers govern in thisneighborhood in an unfamiliar environment and observing the complex socialrelations in this neighborhood. The white policeman is racist. He hates AfricanAmericans, Islam, and other immigrants. The French team won the World Cup, andhe would rather let players from other countries win the award and also hopethat the African-American players in his country will win the award. From hisperspective, anyone in Block 93 is "untouchable" and does not deservean "apology" from the police.
From the perspective of a black policeofficer, this is where he grew up. He was sympathetic at times, ruthless atothers, and used force to conquer the people here; at others, he becameentangled in the conflict between law enforcement and crime, and he becamelost.The "big back head" police officer is different. He is new. Herepresents fraternity and democracy, but also weakness and obedience. For thefirst few minutes, we mainly observed the entire block from the perspective ofthe "big back head." Of course, the director did not focus on theconflict between the police and the bear children. What the director wants toshow is the whole picture of Block 93. A small social group in the balance ofpower He wants to show the buildings standing here and there, the noisystreets, the crowded markets, the dilapidated swimming pools, the greenfootball fields, and the loneliness, helplessness, and crime in the narrow anddim staircase.
To show this, it's impossible for thedirector to just focus on the teens and the police. Therefore, the directoralso gave the perspective of gypsies, black people, Islamic believers, and evenparents in the 93rd block. Gypsies' "survival of the strong", blacks'"group victory", Muslims' "religious influence" and so on.Gypsy In this film, everyone's point of view thinks they are right, and theshots of each point of view are filled with the language of their ethnic group.This is objectivity. However, after seeing the perspective of every type of personin the 93rd block, when the camera recorded the outbreak of "a bloodycase" from scratch, and when the forces represented came out one by one,you suddenly found out what was missing.
Yes, the perspective of representing thegovernment is missing here. There is a "mayor" in Block 93, but this"mayor" is the black boss who collects protection fees. And the realmayor, the forces representing the government, never intervened. black mayorThe balance of forces in the 93rd block has formed a mixed immigrant society.Contradictions and hatred, violence and conflicts are staged every day. No onewants to break this balance and let this seemingly "balanced" societycontinue to operate under the guise of democracy. But, who has thought aboutchildren? In Block 93, where all parties are balanced, no one considers thechildren's expressions. Therefore, the director also gave young people theopportunity to express themselves. Giving young people a perspective does notmean that they are partial to young people.
2. Multi-line and cross-narrative,unresolved multiple contradictions are "Les Miserables."
The famous French sociologist GustavePonler said in "The Crowd": "National character is the sum ofthe innate commonalities of a tribe, but when several individuals gathertogether with a purpose, certain new characteristics that are not used fornational character emerge." The movie confirms this statement from thevery beginning. We saw that France won the championship at the 2018 World Cupfinals in Russia. Everyone flocked to the Champs Elysees and cheered in frontof the Arc de Triomphe. At that moment, Africans, Middle Easterners, Asians,etc., all held the French flag. They are proud of France. The camera focuses ona child named Issa, who is full of joy and passion in the eyes of him and hisfriends. At this time, four words appeared in the title: Les Miserables.
The story of the feature film is actually amulti-line intertwined plot, but it revolves around a main line. The main plotrevolves around Issa stealing a baby lion from the Gypsies. Just imagine whatwould happen if a child cast a lion in a circus in China. What happens toparents, teachers, neighbors, and social media? Maybe the child was pressed byhis parents as soon as he came into the house with the lion in his arms, andthe little lion found it; maybe the sharp-eyed aunt of the neighborhoodcommittee "caught the child to justice" on the road... If the childran into a hidden place mischievously, then if there is a place to hide thelittle lion, then people in the whole city may help to find it. That is to say,the incident of "losing the lion" will never happen in China, as theincident in the movie. Then "Say Stealing Gypsy's Little Lion" in the93rd district of Paris, the capital of France, is much more complicated. Howcomplicated. Let's take a look at the following multi-line narrative.
1. The first thing gypsies do when theylose a lion is not to call the police, but to bring a group of people to thebig guy in the 93 block to ask for it. And he never said that what he lost wasa lion, and he kept arguing that his "son" was lost.
2. The black boss has been collectingprotection fees in the 93 block, but he doesn't want to worry about thechildren's bad things. He hates the police blackmailing him and looks down onhim. He was furious when the gypsies asked him for a "son." andfirmly denied knowing the "son" of the Gypsies. So the two sidescould not argue, and they were about to use a knife.
3. The police came and found out that thereason was that a lion was lost. The police asked the black boss to find thelion. The black boss did not dare to resist on the surface, but he would not goto the lion at all. So the police had to find clues on their own. Asked aboutthe religious leaders in the 93 block, they were educated for no reason, butthe lion was still not found. Neighborhood "religious chiefs"
4. The police found out that Issa stole thelion. This child, who has been stealing chickens and dogs, is a headache. Itried to find this child, but everywhere hit a wall. The other children werehated and scared to run when they saw the police. Parents see the police fullof anger and yell and drive away. Issa's parents don't care whether Issasteals; they only care about their own investment and financial management. Thepolice finally found Issa at the football stadium. When they were going to takehim away, the children surrounded the police, and finally the policeaccidentally "hit" Say... However, it was photographed by a drone...
Another kid's drone When things developedhere, the "lost lion incident" suddenly turned into a "conflictincident between the police and African American children". Nature haschanged, the situation is more serious, and it may turn into a large-scalesocial demonstration if we are not careful. Later, "Big Back Head"chatted with religious leaders and learned that the "2005 riot inFrance" was also a tragedy caused by the police's pursuit of three boys,and finally turned into a nationwide demonstration.
The whole incident escalated from a civilcase to a criminal case at once. At this moment, the police, black bosses,religious leaders, and teenagers have entered another role. In order to solvethis matter, the police had to go to the drug dealers to help out. "War"is about to start. A war was about to break out in the restaurant of thereligious chief. At this time, the novice police "big back" stood up.From a bystander's point of view, he calmly had a conversation with thereligious leader, one of the few police communications with the public. Thistime, the communication was successful.
Unexpectedly, such a tense moment wassolved in a few words by a new policeman. It's not how smart"Dabeitou" is, but he knows how to listen and think from the otherside's standpoint. However, this does not bring the light of the day because alarger contradiction is still brewing, and everyone in this community is fullof anger and hatred. In the subsequent outbreak, we also saw that the smallvictory of the big back was just the beginning of another tragedy. Themulti-line narrative is to show the point of view of the people on each thread.Each of their gangs thought they were right. Children always say, "Hedidn't do anything." The black boss will always think that this site ishis. He has the right to charge fees, and has the right to regulate how anyonehere does business and how to live, and the white police believe that he is thelaw...
Therefore, the forces on several narrativethreads have never communicated seriously with each other, and may never beable to communicate. Because they are opposite and balanced. Mutual restraintand mutual existence No one seems to think the block is collapsing. Thiscontradiction is unresolved. The advantage of a multi-line narrative is that itallows us to see how the people on each line live, and it shows the people wholive on each line without any bias. They are intricately intertwined in the 93block, restraining each other. Some people survive by fighting hard; others bytheir money; and still others by their religion.Everyone's way of livingaffects the lives of others, so this is a complex social ecology. Why is suchan ecosystem formed? The director threw the question to President Macron.
3. Is it necessary for the "BearChild" to take revenge?
Readers, let's first consider why the kidsin Block 93 are "troublemakers." Many viewers who have seen the moviewill think that every adult has a duty to keep them in check. But what if theydon't listen? Let's imagine a child living in a place where violence is used tosolve problems and fight hard to gain status. Even the prostitutes living inthe cars on both sides of the street need the consent of certain forces. Thedrug dealers are not far away, and the police "take care of" them.Stop preaching to children that parents don't care about their children. Manypolice officers see their children as scrutinizing criminals, not to mentioneducation. Schools are missing in this movie...
What kind of person is he capable ofbeing?Does he think that people have to rely on violence to save face? Look atthe attitude of children towards the police. Isn't that the attitude of adultstowards the police? The teenagers in the 93rd block are afraid of the policebut hate the police. They know better that the police dare not do anything tothem because democracy and freedom in French society have been deeply rooted inthe hearts of the people, and children have great rights and freedoms. This"freedom" is dangerous for children who have lost their education,and this "freedom" is harmful for children living in thisneighborhood.
All these things that are missing, all thatis played out in the adult world, are seen by teenagers. They imitate andlearn. They are being "educated" by any gang on the block, and no onelistens to them. The children's final choice of revenge is exactly what happensafter more than an hour of film foreshadowing. The Beginning of Issa's RevengeIn the last poetic shot, Issa holds a burning wine bottle to throw at thepolice. At this time, Dabeitou picked up the gun and pointed it at him. Issa'sanger was still burning in his eyes. When Dabeitou begged him to let go of hisanger, there was a trace of hesitation in Issa's eyes.
This hesitation was the kindness thatDabeitou once held him and wiped his wound, and it was also the feeling thatDabeitou wanted to save him when he was stuffed into the lion's cage by thegypsies. However, if the big back dares to shoot, then this kind of thoughtwill disappear. Issa will fight back. Will Issa's anger subside if he puts downhis gun? Issa's eyes engulfed in darkness in the disappearing footage? How willit end? This is an open ending. This is the source of contradictions in Frenchsociety.
Concluding remarks
Friends, please remember that there are nobad crops in the world, and there are no bad people, only bad farmers. --VictorHugo, "Les Miserables" Many people don't understand why the wordsabove Hugo are added. Who is this condemning? Who are the peasants? It'sactually obvious. If the 93 community is bad crops, if the children are"bad people," then the lack of the French government, the lack ofguardians, and the lack of education are the most terrible things. Becausewithout the joint efforts of farmers from all sides, it will always be a tragicworld with an infinite loop.
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