First of all, when the police in the film negotiated with one of the black bosses, they mentioned the Paris riots in 2005.
The Paris Riots in 2005 I. Causes
At about 5:20 in the evening on October 27, 2005, three boys from Clichy Grove, north of Paris, ran into a substation to escape police chase, but were shocked by electric shocks. 15-year-old Banu and 17-year-old Ziad died on the spot, and another boy was seriously injured and admitted to the hospital. The police denied that they had pursued the two boys and they went there to investigate an attempted robbery. 2. Developments 1. After the riots in Île-de-France, hundreds of angry teenagers took to the streets, burned cars and trash cans, smashed shops and a fire station, and clashed with the police. The teenagers involved in the riot threw stones at the police, who fired tear gas to fight back.
The 2000-square-meter warehouse of the French Overseas Chinese Association's vice-huichi was burnt down in the riots, and all the newly arrived leather bags were burned. Another 9,000-square-meter steel structure warehouse of a Chinese businessman surnamed Liu was burned, mainly storing luggage, jewelry and silk.
On November 4, small acts of violence imitating the riots in the suburbs of Paris appeared in the southern French cities of Toulouse and Ris, and the northern cities of Lille and Dijon. The rioters burned 5 cars, while in the southern city of Marseille 11 cars were rioted. Was burned in. Nearly 900 vehicles were burned across the country that night, including nearly 600 in the Paris region, and a total of 253 persons involved in the riots were summoned. On the morning of November 5th, about 2,000 to 3,000 people from the city of Ao Nai Jungle, a suburb of Paris, participated in a spontaneous parade, calling for an end to the riots in a silent manner. Participants in the parade included people of all ages and lasted nearly an hour. The French Ministry of the Interior announced that at least 918 cars were burned across the country that night. The police arrested 186 people . The riots spread to downtown Paris, the French capital, where rioters burned 28 cars in downtown Paris. The police found a den of petrol bombs in an abandoned building in the Evry district in the south of Paris that night. The French Ministry of Justice said on November 6 that more than 20 teenagers involved in the riots had been sentenced in Paris. A French police spokesperson said that the rioters burned more than 1,400 vehicles that night and clashed with the police, causing 36 police officers to be injured. Jane-Jacques Nair, who lives in the northern suburbs of Paris, was attacked and beaten to death while trying to put out a fire in a trash can outside his house. On November 7, Eric Raoul, the mayor of the city of Lancy near Paris, announced that the city had imposed a curfew on that night. That night, 1173 cars were burned across France, 330 people were arrested, and 13 police officers were injured. On November 8, after a special meeting of the French government's cabinet in the morning, it announced the activation of the emergency law enacted in 1955, authorizing local governments to impose curfews and prohibit public gatherings for 12 days, and the police have the right to raided places suspected of possessing weapons. Later, the town of Amiens in northern France announced a curfew. Starting from midnight that night, people under the age of 16 are forbidden to go out from 10 am every night to 6 am the next morning unless accompanied by an adult. Orleans in the west of Paris and the city of Savigny Anzhi River in the south of Paris also announced curfew measures respectively. French officials said that the number of vehicles ignited that night fell to 617, and 280 people were arrested. On November 9, French authorities imposed a curfew in Paris and more than 30 cities and towns. French Interior Minister Sarkozy said that 120 foreigners were convicted of participating in the riots, so they will be deported immediately. On November 10, French President Chirac justified the use of the state of emergency law to quell the riots and said that the top priority now is to restore law and order. Later, the French Ministry of the Interior announced that it would suspend the investigation of eight police officers. Two of the police officers were charged with assaulting a young man who was arrested in Xinting City, a suburb of Paris, and the other six were police officers who witnessed the incident. The incident was filmed by a French television station 2 camera. On the night of November 11, more than 380 vehicles were burnt down. Two policemen were injured and 162 people were arrested. In the southern town of Carpentras, gasoline bombs were thrown at a mosque, and the mosque was slightly damaged. Paris will ban all public gatherings from 9 a.m. GMT to the night of the 13th on November 12 to prevent possible riots. At about 5 PM on November 12, there was a riot in the Place de Bellac in the center of Lyon. Fifty young people attacked the kiosk and damaged the motor vehicle. Shoppers evacuated the area hastily. Most shopkeepers closed their doors and closed business. Police issued Tear gas was fired to disperse several groups of young people who were making trouble, and two arrests were carried out. On November 13, a survey conducted by IFOP, a well-known French public opinion survey agency, showed that 71% of French people believed that President Chirac could not solve the fundamental social cause of the riots. Nearly a quarter of French people believe that the right-wing leader Pang Le can achieve this goal. On the same day, the Lyon police banned the public from holding any public gatherings to prevent people from taking the opportunity to make trouble. But another 284 vehicles were burned across the country at night. 115 people were arrested and imprisoned. On November 14, the French cabinet meeting submitted an application, hoping to extend the state of emergency for three months to deal with the riots. For the first time since the riots, French President Chirac made a direct televised speech, saying that the riots showed a crisis of identity. On November 15, the lower house of the French parliament approved the government’s proposal to extend emergency powers for three months. On November 16, the upper house of the French parliament debated and approved the government’s proposal to extend emergency powers for three months.
(The above information and pictures are from Wikipedia)
Two: My own impressions (I think mine is not a film review at all, just some thoughts)
The film begins with the disappearance of a lion.
The owner of the circus found that his beloved little lion was missing, so he went to the boss of the local community. When the conflict was about to escalate, the police came to stop the conflict and promised the owner of the circus that the lion would be found. So both families backed down a step. The police started looking for lions in order to resolve the conflict. It was found through social software that the person who had stolen the lion cub was a black boy in the local community. But in the process of hunting down the boy who stole the lion, the police accidentally injured the boy, and the whole process was captured by another child's drone. At this point, the incident has become more complicated. Once the video is exposed, the work of the police may not be guaranteed, and it may cause protests from black groups.
Therefore, the police had to ask the community gang for assistance to find the drone and the boy who took the video. The drone boy was chased by the police and fled to another gang boss in the community. Eventually all the forces in the boss's sandwich shop were assembled. After the new policeman negotiated with the owner of the sandwich shop, the owner gave the video to the police. At this time, the matter seemed to be resolved, but conflict broke out within the police. Regarding the video solution, the three held their own opinions and broke up unhappy. In the evening, the new policeman gave the video to the black policeman who opened fire, and let him decide what to do with the video. The problem seemed to come to an end here, and the three patrolled together again.
But the matter is far from over. The drone incident seems to be solved perfectly, but there is a big crisis in the calm. From the point of view of the black boy, he just stole a gypsy circus lion cub and was hunted down by the police and was severely injured by a flash shot. In the end, he was taken to the circus by the police and was humiliated and intimidated. Dissatisfaction continued to accumulate in the boy's heart, and he planned to retaliate against the police later. He assembled other youths and children in the neighborhood who were dissatisfied with the police to avenge the police and the gang boss.
And the film ends with the confrontation between the police and the boy during the riots.
When reviewing the entire movie, it can be seen that the director examined the entire incident from a neutral perspective, without taking sides. Like Spike Lee’s panoramic presentation of the black community in “Do as it should be”, this film also fully displays the local black community in Paris and also shows how the violence in the community is gradually escalating and Complicated. The film uses the disappearance of a lion to involve the seriousness of racial issues, tearing away the warmth from the surface of the issue. The director tried to tell us in two hours that racial issues seem to never be resolved, as long as human society exists for one day, this issue will be there. Will accompany us like a nightmare.
At the beginning of the film, it was pointed out that a black child who stole a chicken was caught and was taken to the police station (this is also a foreshadowing for the child below to steal the little lion. The little boy steals the chicken to feed the little lion) and shows the local black gangs fighting each other. Fighting for control of the community, taking drugs and trafficking in drugs (interesting here, the police said, this is the den of drug dealers, but after the Islamic people came, they drove the drug dealers away. But the drug dealers were gone, and prostitutes came again. I think Islam should not allow prostitution, so there has been a fight for spheres of influence before here, but it is under the banner of religion) to collude with the police.
The film’s description of the police is even more complicated. The film focuses on three police officers. The three police officers each have their own meanings. First of all, the new policeman. He is like a fisherman who ran into Taohuayuan by mistake. All felt strange, puzzled and even angry, and at the same time he represented a sympathetic and conscientious white man who participated in this series of events. The two local policemen stood completely opposite him.
First of all, the local white policeman is like the typical villain in the previous Hollywood movies. He discriminates against black people and seems to be a racist. He didn't want the black players of his own country to get it), he was selfish and cold, his first reaction was not to send the child to the hospital when he shot a black child, but to grab the video and think of protecting himself. He colluded with the local gang, no matter how you look at it, he is not a good policeman. But from what he said to the new policeman, it can be seen that he was not like this at the beginning. Perhaps he experienced too many local blacks and police violence. He became the most violent believer and was full of blacks. disgust. This kind of disgust was mixed with his own discrimination, which caused him to distrust and doubt black people from the bottom of his heart.
The most complicated role is the black policeman in the film. He grew up in a black slum and was an immigrant, but he shot the black child. He himself may have been oppressed and insulted when he was a child, and the object of discrimination has begun to oppress and insult others in order to protect his own interests when he grows up. But he was sympathetic, and his inner struggle could be seen from the cry of his mother after he returned home.
The lion is a symbol of authority or power in the movie. The act of stealing lions has the meaning of offending authority and challenging the original power. And the injury to the boy is similar to the suppression of the new forces by the old forces during the iteration of power. When the boy fought back at the end of the movie, all the young people who participated in the riot were young people, and they were not only fighting the police, but also the two groups of gangsters who came to support the police. This is very similar to the ending of "City of God". One faction declines, and the other faction will rise quickly, not only younger but also more ruthless, and leaving no room for it. It's like reincarnation, generation after generation reincarnation, there will never be a day before.
We cannot easily judge the characters in this movie by right or wrong or good or bad. The whole incident is unsolvable, in other words it is unavoidable.
What is behind this is the impact of French immigration policy on foreign immigrants. In the article "The Dilemma of French "Republican Model" Immigration Policy" (Su Liang｜2015-11-10), it is written in the article: "France’s immigration policy and other countries It is different from the multicultural development model of the "national melting pot". France adopts a unique "republic model" to weaken the ethnic consciousness of immigrants in an institutionalized way, and emphasizes citizenship based on the "individual-government" contract with the country and region as the center. Bring commonality to assimilate foreign ethnic groups instead of highlighting the diversity of ethnic groups.
In other words, immigrants must abandon their own language, culture, and religion, and accept French culture and language in order to integrate into the local society. What the French government hopes is not the coexistence of cultural diversity, but attempts to weaken ethnic characteristics. Therefore, in the French government statistics, race or ethnicity is avoided as the basic statistical unit. The French census never uses skin color to conduct surveys, but the result is not Knowing how many blacks, how many whites, and how many yellows there are in France, through this approach, to prevent immigrants from feeling isolated and excluded. This approach has been questioned by many. Demographic expert Patrick Simon once asked in an article in Le Monde, what about race or ethnicity as the basic statistical unit to measure the degree and negative effects of social discrimination in order to oppose discrimination against new immigrants? What about anti-discrimination? And after the war, with the beginning of the 1960s, a large number of immigrants from the Maghreb region, the former French colony of North Africa, entered France. Larger differences in language, religion, and culture challenge the government's immigration policy. The French found that new immigrants have neither the desire nor the ability to complete assimilation under the "republican model". Such a policy has also brought more and more social problems to the country and has sparked controversy in the political arena. The right-wing parties demanded changes to the laws and regulations for granting nationality and doubted the loyalty of new immigrants to the country; the left-wing parties demanded that the social environment be improved and specialized agencies were set up to help "assimilate" immigrants. However, they all believe that immigrants’ inability to integrate is affected by culture, religion, or traditional family relationships. The troubled immigration policy of the "republican model" did not bring France a uniform national identity as it envisaged. Using "assimilation" as a guise and a policy of "no difference in skin color" as a cover, instead of promoting the development of multicultural symbiosis, this practice has deepened ethnic antagonism. "A major consequence of racial antagonism is the rapid increase in violence. The most famous example is the 2005 Paris riots mentioned above. This incident is also regarded as the bankruptcy of French immigration policy. One policy has been widely questioned, and other European countries have begun to examine their immigration policies.
This contradiction is also reflected in the movie. The beginning of the movie was the 2018 World Cup victory parade in France. Everyone, black and white, cheered and celebrated for the victory of France. There was harmony, and the little black boy also participated in the victory parade, wearing the French flag, I think At that moment he also thought he was a Frenchman. However, the display of the police station and the neighborhood in the back and what happened to the little boy later made the harmony in the front the biggest joke. This contrast also seems to tell us how difficult it is for immigrants to integrate into French society. Trevor Noah said in "Naturally Guilty", "In any society where racial discrimination is a common practice, racial integration not only questions the injustice of this society, but also exposes the fact that this society is not functioning well and is illogical. "It's easy to have a pleasant appearance on the surface, but it's not that simple when it really touches the interests of different races."
The ending of the film quotes Hugo’s sentence in "Les Miserables", which echoes the name of the film, and also points out the core idea of the film. It makes us think about what caused all this, not black or white, but The colonization problem left over from the discovery of geography is the discrimination of one race against one race. The ultimate evil result of such a social environment is the vicious circle shown in the film. Race antagonism causes a lack of trust, and the lack of trust exacerbates racial antagonism, and this antagonism nourishes violence, and especially social inequality, immigration In particular, the poverty of African immigrants has contributed to violence. All it takes is a weak flame, and the crime will be like a prairie fire, unending, forming a huge momentum, prolonged and repeated. And this kind of violence will arouse public resentment towards black protests. How to deal with such practical problems is not only a problem for the French government, but also a problem for all mankind in the context of globalization.

  

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