"Freedom is a very simple concept, and that's probably why it's so easily thrown away."
Director: Francis Annan
Writers: Francis Annan, L.H. Adams, Carol Griffiths, Tim Jenkins
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ian Hart, Daniel Webb, Nathan Page
Genre: Drama, Crime
Country of Manufacture: UK, Australia
language: English
Length: 106 minutes
Master language
I learned that this movie is still quite emotional. My New Year's holiday was at home facing four walls for more than a month. The movie is based on real events, and the narrative method of the plot is straightforward. In the single-line narrative plot, the plot can be easily finished, roughly like South Africa's "The Shawshank Redemption". That's why I'm going to tell you about this movie in an intensive way.
I was a little disappointed that the movie didn't describe the real life scene in the prison at that time, and there are some problems with the logic compared with "The Shawshank Redemption", but it is a real event that makes it impossible to criticize. Perhaps life is often less logical than imagined. At that time, Tim, Stephen and Mark walked out of the high-security white men's political prison in Pretoria in this way.
Background introduction
Apartheid in South Africa was enforced by law in 1948 and was officially abolished in 1994. The system classifies all South Africans into: "white", "black", "coloured" and "Indian" and marks their ethnicity directly on their ID cards. Among them, non-white people will have a pass for inspection when entering and leaving white residential areas. And at the time, blacks were not allowed to go to college or learn technical knowledge. Likewise, Asians are classified as "people of color" and are similarly restricted in life and politics.
1970
If they could do it all over again, they would still put down the flyer device without hesitation and let the flyer fly again. South Africa was in its 30th year of apartheid, and white people, privileged by law, had decent jobs, a comfortable life, the right to higher education, and dedicated bus routes, while non-whites—especially blacks—had only Being able to live in a designated residential area and working in low-paying jobs, his demands are ignored, his life is trampled, and he can only work hard all day long.
Under such circumstances, the struggle across races of skin color has intensified. Although the two male protagonists came from high-status families in Kochi and lived a carefree life, they still devoted themselves to the struggle with the South African government without hesitation.
Their actions, in the eyes of white people, betrayed their country and race, so the two were sentenced to 12 and 8 years in prison, respectively. Stephen was unwilling and tried to escape while waiting for the prison car, only to receive a beating.
can't sleep
After being imprisoned, the two male protagonists want to escape when they enter the prison. Although the prison conditions are much better than most prison movies, the detention of innocent people will always be unjust.
Prison senior Dennis was sentenced to 60 years in prison. He knew everything about this prison and introduced to the two when he released the wind: "The wall is 20 feet high, outside the wall is a public street, the bottom of the wall is covered with barbed wire, and the wall is equipped with There are searchlights that open from morning to night, and there are Boers with guns at the sentry." He saw that the two male protagonists wanted to escape from prison. Although he was not optimistic, he still encouraged them to live with this dream. (Master deduces that there has been a prison escape in the prison, but it was unsuccessful.)
After Dennis left, the male No. 3 Mark walked towards the two people who were thinking, and at the same time tried to join the action of the two male protagonists. When the master saw his positive words and deeds, he thought that Mark was a spy sent by the prison authorities, but he didn't expect that he really wanted to escape.
He also pointed out the key point of escape - the door.
Prometheus
Open the door for what? Open the door with a key.
How to make a key, make it out of wood.
Tim draws the design of the wooden key day and night, based on the impression of the key every time he visually inspects it. And secretly used scraps from the prison workshop to make a key. Tim's visual modeling-centric unique technique creates a good sense of tension, and while there is no obvious villain chasing it, it still gives the audience a sense of tension.
In the process of stealing materials, prison guard Menier inspected the workshop. He found the male protagonist's abnormality and checked his water bottle very carefully.
When "Harry Potter" finally opened the door to the cell with a manual key, he found that there was another door that was opened from the outside.
This door opened from the outside not only has no key, but also has no lock to the inside. The male protagonist told the other two about the current difficulties, but he did not expect to inspire the three people's desire to escape from prison. Tim made all the keys on Menier.
The master guessed that the key style at that time was relatively simple, so that the male protagonist could make all the keys of a prison on Menier.
The small climax of the movie finally came on the 100th day.
While in jail for 100 days, Tim experimented with a homemade door key while cleaning. Unexpectedly, half of the key was broken in the keyhole due to excessive force. Tim tried desperately to dig out the key, but the lock could not be restored to its original appearance.
By the time Menier locked the door, maybe he had worked long hours in prison, or maybe he didn't want to add a stain to his career, and only used his own key to restore the outer door to its original state when he closed it.
I personally think the most thrilling part is this one:
Tim used the broom and the rocker of the prison workshop to make an extension arm with a runner bearing, plus a groove at the end to connect the key to the outer door. On a moonlit night, Tim quietly experimented with the little window by the bedside.
Prison break movies always have a little surprise. Tim was afraid of what to do, and the key fell to the ground due to too much force. Coincidentally, there seems to be the sound of prison guards patrolling, so he intends to use chewing gum to retrieve the key.
The master was relieved for Tim when the gum stuck to the key, but then the key and gum fell to the ground. When the gum stuck to the pole, the key fell off again. Seeing this, everyone was sweating for him.
In the end, the key was successfully retrieved.
Master remembered that the most fearful thing in elementary school is getting up at night to do homework and being discovered by family members. In order not to be discovered, I can only use the weak light of my mobile phone to finish my homework in the quilt. The master was scolded when he was discovered, but it is not so simple in the movie. "Harry Potter" has to pay the price of freedom.
panopticon
"Freedom is a very simple concept, and that's probably why it's so easily thrown away."
During one of Tim's medical outings, he discovers the expanding outpost, and the escape trio accelerates their plans. For this plan, they configured 39 keys for 15 doors. After countless adventures, they determined the correspondence and route of the keys, and also arranged a temporary hiding point. Tim and his party plan to invite more comrades to go with them, but not everyone is willing to accept their invitation.
Like Shawshank, in Pretoria, a number of prisoners are "institutionalized". Compared with the prison life we imagine, life in Pretoria is relatively comfortable, and even the pressure of life is much less than the outside world. The prisoners were allowed to visit each other during their breaks, exercised, had their own private space and were allowed to own some crafts.
But the long-term imprisonment has made them completely disconnected from society. Even if they are released on parole, they cannot integrate into the lives of ordinary people because they are out of tune with society. In the end, they can only choose suicide to understand their inner pain. The same goes for them in the white men's political prison in Pretoria.
In addition to this, the old man Dennis thought he was a prisoner of conscience. He and Mandela were tried together and served their sentences together. To escape now is to betray his former comrades in arms.
dawn
The escape started on a hot afternoon. The trio faced 15 doors, used 39 keys that were stolen, slipped from the cell into the corridor, went downstairs and entered the storage room to hide for a while, then passed through the management room, opened the last 5 doors and 5 switches, and then through the empty yard.
When they crossed the gate of the prison, they quickly changed into their prepared clothes, greeted the guards outside the prison by the way, and went straight to the taxi.
The escape trio deliberately chose non-white taxis to travel to Johannesburg. They felt the long-lost sunshine, the wind on their faces, and laughed out loud with their comrades in the prison. They crossed the city, crossed the grassland, crossed the border, passed through Mozambique and other countries, and finally arrived in London. They participated in the ANC again without hesitation, and continued to oppose apartheid.
Even ahead, what awaited them was a life in exile and the biggest manhunt in South African history.
Text|Master
First published in Feisha Walking Milk-Writing about drinking, writing about food, writing about Hong Kong dramas, writing about model unions, writing reviews
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