"Zodiac" is a new film released by David Fincher this summer. In line with the respect of "The Seven Deadly Sins" and "Fight Club" and the respect for myself, I also have high hopes for this film. Knowing in advance that this is not a movie that punishes evil and promotes good in the traditional sense, I focus more on the protagonist's narrative process of constantly searching for clues, constantly approaching the truth, and constantly getting into trouble.
The killer proclaimed himself the "Twelfth House", cold-blooded and arrogant. Purposeless and non-selective actions are frequently taken against innocent residents. Every time a massacre is created, a letter with a password and the victim's blood coat will be sent to the local newspaper and police station to provide clues. For a while, everyone was in danger, and the entire San Francisco area fell into a panic. The five counties and counties that were connected to the place where the incident occurred even imposed a curfew... One of the "San Francisco Chronicle" ace reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) who received one of the letters was responsible for following up and investigating the case, while the rookie manga illustration Robert Graysmith (Jack Gyllenhaal) was responsible for The curiosity about cipher letters also took the initiative to participate in the incident. In addition, two detectives from the San Francisco Police Department were in charge of the case, so the four men started a 30-year nightmare investigative career around the assassin who never showed up.
The atmosphere at the beginning of the film is rendered best. On the National Day eve of July 4, 1969, although the atmosphere of the festival was magnified by seemingly lively fireworks and colorful lights, the gloomy picture easily dragged the tension of the audience into the gloomy atmosphere. Then, the murder happened. The murderer killed a couple in a calm, even somewhat awkward way. A bullet hole left behind was the only clue to the scene. Unwilling to be anonymous, he took the initiative to report the case and sent a letter with clues asking for the password to be printed on the front page of the newspaper. Although the password was quickly deciphered by a couple of history teachers, however, There is no name, no motivation, and the content of the letter does not provide any valuable clues.
Homicide cases occurred one after another, letters were deciphered one by one, and the police invested a lot of manpower, but the case never progressed. The judicial system, social order, and legal authority of the United States are all subject to unprecedented suspicion in the face of this murderer.
The film is very long, nearly three hours. Because it is based on truth, the film does not deliberately create a thrilling atmosphere, no stimulating scenes, no Hollywood humor, no beautiful women, in addition to simply confessing the protagonist’s broken marriage due to the investigation of the case, it does not even involve feelings. Therefore, if you watch a movie with an exaggerated murder theme, you will feel disappointed because there is no dramatic plot and the inability to distinguish between the high and low passages. In the past three hours, the story has always narrated the process in a simple, even plain tone, like the gray background of the film, reminding me of the rain that runs through the seven deadly sins, like the tragedy of the characters in the play. Destiny seems to never stop. So in my opinion, the purpose of the film is not so much to describe the process of a murderer who has never seen him committing a crime, but more like a film reflecting the fate of a few small people in a protracted and unsettled case. Over the years, the clues of the accumulation of sand into the tower, the peaks and turns approaching the truth, and the confusion and despair again and again, and then the years passed and the years passed.
Due to his near-paranoid obsession with investigating the case, Robert Greysmith’s entire life has undergone earth-shaking changes, constantly receiving silent threatening calls, family crisis, work stagnation, marriage breakdown, and his originally introverted and gentle temperament. Becoming more and more irritable.
At one time, like the male protagonist, I thought the most likely murderers were the projectionist who has one of the few basements in San Francisco and the Arthur Ray Allen who wore a scope sign watch, because these were once the Zodiac. Clues that have appeared in the letter. In the past 30 years, countless suspects have appeared, and they have been overthrown one by one. Survivors and eyewitnesses have different descriptions of the perpetrators, and there are many impostors. Except for the fact that the murderer was a white man between the ages of 30 and 45, there was no turning point in the incident. The most likely murderer, Arthur Ray Allen, also died of illness in 1992. The police also ruled out his suspicion in subsequent DNA tests. This pending case was finally banished into the dust of history.
This is a movie with no ending, because the case itself has no ending. This is the truth expressed in David Fincher's films. The true nature of this world has never been black and white. Most of the time, they are rendered in helpless gray.
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