This is a movie that is not easy to understand. The flashbacks of the movie itself are enough to make people confused and give up. Too many symbolic meanings are easy to be ignored. What is more important is that you must have a certain philosophy and legal knowledge, and be profound enough. Only with insight can you understand the lines and plot arrangements.
Jack Bolton, a reporter, is the narrator of the story and the protagonist of the story, symbolizing public opinion. The masses of us are public opinion, each of us is Jack Bolton, and each of us was an idealist at first.
"Looking for something, a great truth or a pair of glasses, you have to believe that it is beneficial to find it. I found something a long time ago, and I still don’t let it go. My life’s success is all Relying on him, it is a principle that I can become what I am now... Some things are better to be unknown... There is a book called idealism... "What
Jack finds refers to the rules for judging things. This It was what the judge taught him. The slingshot and shooting mentioned many times in the movie represent the rules and judgments based on the rules. The judge judges the justice according to the rules. Even if the judge is wrong (the chandelier is broken by aiming at the eagle), he will laugh at it. It is acceptable to comply with procedural justice.
In the following story, Jack seeks evidence from Judge Iwin and forces the judge to commit suicide with the rules he has learned. As an anarchist mother, he tells him that he killed his father, Judge. This paragraph implies that public opinion is originally the illegitimate child of justice and anarchy liberalism. Judicature teaches the rules of judgment of public opinion, which could not harm public opinion, but public opinion killed justice with this rule.
Jack, who symbolizes public opinion, grew up with ANNA, the daughter of ADAM, the son of the former governor, who symbolized truth, goodness and beauty. ANNA, symbolizing beauty, was Jack’s lifelong pursuit. Jack was able to obtain her but not. Public opinion coexists with truth, goodness and beauty. Truth, goodness and beauty are the pursuit of public opinion. Public opinion can achieve truth, goodness and beauty, but not. Beauty has been played with by the power symbolized by Governor SPARK. ADAM, a symbol of perfection, was also persuaded by JACK to serve SPARK. Public opinion whitewashes power, links power to harm the truth, goodness and beauty, and becomes the pimp and accomplice of power.
Public opinion naturally sympathizes with the weak and pursues justice. Jack and SPARK were attracted to each other since they had the same pursuit-justice. Power itself is not good or bad. Power can be used to do good or bad things, but the operation of power is dirty, so it needs judicial control. When SPARK had to act according to the rules of power operation, the honest and upright SPARK no longer existed. He had become controlled by power and became a servant of power.
At the end, ADAM shot SPARK and then was killed, the blood of the two became one. SPARK of honesty and integrity, ADAM symbolizing truth, goodness and beauty, they also have a common pursuit. They are originally one, they are all idealists, and together become victims of the operation of political power.
Yuan 2011.4.28,
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