It is no exaggeration to say that the new American film "Luce" is the most important black film in recent years. The film nominated for the 35th Sundance Film Festival Jury Awards makes people think about it, and the more you see it, the more chilling your back is.
Because the film didn't give an answer until the end, but it threw out one after another "unsolvable" social symptoms. "Luce" directly refers to many issues in American society, from race to gender to violence and education. These injustices and discrimination push the audience into the dark abyss step by step, forcing you to stare at the evil in it up close, and to stare at the fear without escape.
After the film was released, it caused huge controversy in North America and China. North American audiences think that the views presented in the film are too extreme, while domestic fans have doubts about many plots. However, film critics gave praise to the film overwhelmingly, and some even called the film "the most important American film in the past decade . "
At present, the freshness of the film on Rotten Tomatoes is as high as 91%, and the audience score is 78%;
IMDB only gave a score of 6.9, but the Metascore scored by experts has 72 points .
We must know that the current hot movie "Joker" has only 59 points, while Lee's "Gemini Killer" only has a poor 38 points. It can be seen that professionals are extremely fond of "Luce". "Luce" caused controversy, and at the same time it was recognized because the content and topics it covered were too rich, but it only raised questions without giving answers . It takes the audience into the darkness and the box, but has no ability to bring light into the box or lead the audience out of the darkness.
Luce is the actor in the film, a black teenager adopted by a white American couple. He came from a war-torn country and had no hope of life at first, but was adopted by a middle-class American couple when he was a few years old.
The husband and wife carefully cultivated, gave him a worry-free life, and allowed him to get the best educational resources. Luce lived up to expectations and became an outstanding student in the United States. He has become the pride of high school, a star in the eyes of his classmates and teachers, and some classmates firmly believe that he is the next "Obama".
But Wilson, the school's history teacher, recently discovered the "abnormality" of Luce. She found prohibited flammable fireworks in the cabinet where Luce kept personal belongings, and found that Luce's thesis had extreme recognition of violence and may have the character nature of a "dictator tyrant". Because Luce believes that the direct way to change human behavior and will is to resort to violent suppression.
Wilson informed Luce's parents of two things, hoping that they would take countermeasures. Teacher Wilson could not have imagined that the student who had wanted to make a big thing had brought the whole incident to an uncontrollable danger.
The story uses seemingly ordinary trivial things as the entry point. Through the advancement of the narrative, Luce’s character and character level are continuously enriched, and the disguise of political correctness has been removed, allowing us to see the horrible truth—that is, civilization cannot eliminate discrimination caused by discrimination. Gap, the influence of education on human nature seems to end in failure.
Luce is just a symbolic representation of American social problems, one of the most conspicuous symbols, he can see but cannot touch, because he can't stand the test, he is a scab of a bloody wound in human nature.
The film discusses racial and educational issues. Two white couples adopted a black child and worked hard to change him and make him a "perfect human." The subtle relationship between the three is repeatedly presented in the film. From suspicion and hostility to understanding and identification, his father looked at the adopted children and his black female teacher with white stereotypes.
He is unwilling to cultivate monsters who believe in violence by himself, but he is unwilling to make irresponsible remarks to his son because it means his failure to educate Luce.
But Luce's mother stepped from trust to doubt. After reflecting and struggling, she finally chose to keep her mouth shut, with one eye closed. In the end, Luce’s parents actually knew the truth of the whole incident, but for the sake of "political correctness", for their own face, and to protect the excellent symbols of this society, they chose to sacrifice their teachers, cover up the truth, and use lies to go. "Making God".
The film puts Luce in the critical period of graduating from high school, which is undoubtedly meaningful. This is a period when a person is in the intellectual and emotional stereotypes, moving from high school to university, which determines Luce's future. So everyone from the teacher to the principal protected him to avoid getting him caught in scandals and affecting his application to top universities. Because Luce's future is closely related to them. No one wants to bear the responsibility of stigmatizing "idols".
If Luce fails, someone will magnify racial prejudice and make his white parents and the entire school bear the consequences of failure. From this point of view, the price of lies is undoubtedly too small. But Luce is obviously imperfect. He has a gene of violence that cannot be changed. Education has given him an intellectual advantage, and he has learned to hide his heart and overcome pressure. The climax of the film was his speech as an outstanding student representative. He thanked his parents, the school, and the United States at the same time!
But all this is a lie. When he was rehearsing alone, he questioned the behavior of his parents, and he even hated this white name. Lu Si means light and hope in English . But through the film, we have seen the dark side behind this outstanding student.
At the climax of the film, Mr. Wilson, who was framed for losing his job, said to Luce: The United States has put you in a box . The light in the box is limited. Some people can see the light, and some never see the light for life.
Obviously this box, and the person who controls it, made a choice . Luce is a black man who can see the light, and his classmates and the mentally ill sister of Mr. Wilson in the film will all be abandoned and ridiculed by society.
Luce's classmate was a student with athletic talent, but was expelled from the team because of illegal drugs, and lost his scholarship. His future was rewritten. But the truth is that Luce has taken drugs with him many times. His classmates told the truth, "Why should I be punished, because everyone thinks you are the future Obama".
The younger sister of Mr. Wilson was arrested in public because of her crazy behavior, regardless of her nakedness, and the people around her desperately filming her as a joke. This is the scariest part of the film "Luce", which gradually reveals the dark side of a good student defined by society.
From the teacher, to his classmates, and finally to his family members, he was aware of his inner shadow, and one of the scenes was impressive. My mother saw through Luce's lies and tactics. She remembered him when she was a child and said that he would be surprised every time he saw a gift. Luce replied: "I'm just good at acting surprised."
Then Luce showed a weird and sly smile. The mother can no longer see the true heart of her son, whether it is a pretense or true love. The child she has educated for many years has become abominable and terrifying at this moment.
But for Luce, he is also a victim of society. In this box, under the existing laws of survival and social operating rules, he wants to change from a black child with a slurred name to Luce who is recognized by whites. This is the only way for him to end up.
When we watched Luce's speech with a graceful smile but angrily in his heart, we feared a society in which he would control the future. When he really becomes a leader and rule maker one day, how will he build his "box" and distribute the sunlight inside?
The first scene of the film is to open the cabinet with secrets, but at the end it is to close the cabinet. Whatever happens when we learn the truth, we still choose to remain silent or even act as accomplices.
People can no longer know what is in it, and this is the most disappointing part of the whole story. The first picture is his humorous speech, and the last picture shows him running into the distance with anger. This should be the scariest social fable this year!
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