Even if it is a Mexican drug lord, a family tycoon in the southern United States, or an Italian gangster godfather, Shi Yi Shi Bian will not let them go, and will not let anyone go.
"Zero Zero Zero" is actually about a bumpy business carried out by three-party Mexican sellers in Monterrey, US New Orleans middlemen, and Italian buyers in Parabria, mixed with blood and tears, love and hate, sorrow and grief Happy boiled ups and downs, life is different from the world.
Mexico: Officer Manuel - a deadly cog under the drug wheel
Since the trade line is a closed commercial loop from production to transportation to exchange, let's start with the production side - Mexico.
The Mexican side as my favorite line is entirely due to Harold Torres' splendid rendition of Manuel. In fact, in the first episode of Manuel, we couldn't see him, because his cold and mysterious face was all hidden under the police uniform, but the embarrassment and unease he gave us lingered for a long time. In fact, Manuel went from a government special forces officer, to killing his superiors and his comrades, to defecting to the Leyla brothers, to leading the army he cultivated, revenge, and finally resounding through the power pool of the Mexican drug empire. The arc is quite complete in this show. On the one hand, his success is due to his ruthless style of behavior, and on the other hand, it is also due to his compassion for the world.
Manuel's brutality is reflected in his unblinking marksmanship when performing his mission, his merciless framing of his teammates when he is suspected by his superiors, his strength with a big stick and a hammer when he tortures prisoners, and when he trains the army, he is in a daze. devil command. But what he did was by no means to serve the film's dramatic image depiction, or to satisfy the audience's voyeurism of violence and blood, but to be a killing machine nurtured in the land of magical realism in Mexico. ( I wrote an article here about the spectacle of death under the Mexican drug war, the visual scale and psychological scale are a bit large, be careful )
But Manuel's warmth cannot be ignored. He would stop to pray a eulogy for a little girl who was accidentally shot; he would sympathize with his teammate's widow to help financially and emotionally; A "devout" believer who fears God. And Manuel's attitude toward religion leads us to ask what exactly is he after? What was the driving force behind his popularity with Raleigh? As someone who fears God so much and is willing to surrender himself to God, why is he closed on moral choices? Did he use his devotion to God to offset his blood-stained hands?
In fact, the reason why Manuel is such a complex character is that Mexico is in a geopolitical state of interpenetration of justice and evil . A well-known political analyst in Mexico said that Mexico's drug economy has a clear government background. The huge profits obtained from the production and sale of drugs eventually enter the fields of consumption and circulation through various channels. The government has withdrawn currency through market tax management and other means, and enriched the treasury to deal with huge foreign debts. For the Mexican government, illicit revenue from drug sales could temporarily ease the socioeconomic crisis. But in some places, the government has not provided basic living security to the people. So in some towns, drug cartels replaced the government and took over the governance of the community. The profits of drug trafficking will be returned to the local community through investment in education and medical care, while some local residents regard drug trafficking groups as "food and clothing parents" who create jobs and provide income. In this way, the drug lord and his guerrillas guide the values of the class.
Black and white are not antonyms at all in Mexico, where the collusion and contradiction between the government and the cartel, the cartel and the Self-Defense Forces, and the Self-Defense Forces and the government have become the economic system, political order and cultural form of Mexico and even the entire South American country. In the 2015 documentary "Drug Land" directed by Matthew Heineman, it was presented quite naked.
So, when Manuel took over the Leyla Empire and became the overlord of a drug dealer, could his fundamentally shaky beliefs be enough to take on the heavy responsibility of blood and tears?
New Orleans, USA: The Lynwood family - the conservative south washed by the storm
Now that the goods are ready to be dispatched, Emma, the eldest daughter of the middleman, made her debut, but lost her father and her own younger brother Chris in this bumpy delivery voyage.
In fact, when I first opened the first episode, in addition to being impressed by the show's rather grand and stunning cinematography and narrative editing, I was particularly looking forward to the performance of Dane DeHaan's character. Because it can be seen that the director's preference for this role, not only Dai Hanhan is set up as the noble son of the Linwood family, but also suffers from genetic diseases such as Huntington's syndrome and hearing loss, and also has lip reading skills. These "welfare" should make Dai Hanhan's character aura particularly shine, but the series did not choose to unfold his personal redemption, but used the tragic death of the seventh episode to serve the completion of the eldest sister's entire personality, so that she made a deal in the last scene. The great picture of the film has become the swan song and highlight of realism and romanticism, and made me realize that my eldest sister Emma is the backbone of the American line!
From her single-handedly walking in a man's world, taking care of her family's business empire in every detail, crawling through a hail of bullets on African soil, and finally facing the pain of losing her father and brother alone, her growth is an unbearable lightness of life. , is the inevitable road to Nirvana. And it is definitely not accidental that Emma can become the final witness of this zero-sum game. On the one hand, feminism is striving to find posture and status in such "male violent films" ( here I also have a detailed article discussing the role of women in The article about the status of gangster movies from the edge to the main battlefield, welcome to poke ), is also the only way for American southern conservatism to adapt to economic and social changes. Although the Lynwood family, as a standard white family in the southern United States, should maintain their attachment to the country and family, and the traditional values of subordination to class, race and power, although Chris is the only male heir in the last family, due to genetic diseases, he can only Relying on the eldest daughter Emma to entrust the important task, at the same time, under the current economic situation where the profiteering industries are rotated, they do not stick to the legacy industry, adhere to all the principles of currency circulation, seize all possible partners, regardless of gender, national borders and Race. This is their critique of the "rationality" of American Southern conservatism, ditching racism, parochial localism, blind meritocracy, and simple combative ways of doing things.
Of course, someone should have noticed a twitch on Emma's face at the end. If we infer that Emma also suffers from Huntington's syndrome, then in addition to being a huge blow to the Lynwood family, it also proves that the entire southern United States Conservative static will usher in unprecedented shocks.
Italy: The old godfather - the mafia that gave way to money and no longer family and emotions
Finally, the goods are finally handed over to Italy. The old godfather is not complacently basking on the warm Mediterranean coast of Italy, but the family struggles and factional struggles he is in are equally bloody.
In fact, if you are a gangster movie lover, the gangster image we are familiar with must be a tough guy with flesh and blood, cruel to outsiders, and tenderness to his family. This is the classic gangster image that has been taught to us by the grand masterpiece "The Godfather" trilogy. ideology. In such gangster movies, men need to go into the world single-handedly, like beasts, always alone. The environment they are in is full of dangers, and they need to be vigilant and ready to fight at all times. But the mafia here is Domino, a half-blind old man who is imprisoned and old-fashioned, and his grandson, although he is strong and young, is a villain who forgets about profit and steers the rudder. This completely subverts the halo of the godfather from the screen image. ( There is also an original article about gangster movies and gangster image changes, please click )
And when the old Domino got involved in killing his grandson, it was the fetters of family and emotions he swore he would abandon forever, and surrender to the code of conduct under the modern business system. Under such gang rules, the purpose of its existence is to maintain social order, ensure the power of the ruling class and the stability of the social environment. When all countries in the economic globalization society are committed to the implementation of import and export trade, the mafia no longer focus on managing the local market environment, they also begin to trade around the world, in order to obtain a large number of wealth accumulation. With the development of society, the mafia leaders' pursuit of status and prestige has become more and more intense, and they have begun to work on combining legal and illegal businesses to seek greater security.
However, this goes back to the same problem revealed by the work "The Traitor" directed by Mark Bellocchio in 2019. After the sacred and noble legend of the godfather faded from its halo, the former glory was washed away by the rapid economic development, especially The development of science and technology has made the commercial chain and industrial chain more closely linked and distributed more comprehensively. Will the culture of the mafia still have a living space?
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