At the 76th Venice Film Festival, "I Complain" won the Grand Jury Prize for its meticulously crafted image-shaping power.
But because of the public opinion problems of director Roman Polanski, "I Accused" was pushed to the forefront for a while.
Some people pointed out that "I Indict" is Roman Polanski's self-excusing for the pedophile sexual assault case 43 years ago.
So is this the case?
What is "I Complain" about? Is it dissatisfaction caused by the content of the work itself? Or is it dissatisfaction with the director's own love of the house and the Wu style?
The following I dismember my accusation in the form of a broken cocoon?
"I Indict" is adapted from the infamous Dreyfus case at the end of the 19th century, which is a famous wrongful conviction in history.
In 1894, during the Franco-German Cold War, the French army "eavesdropped" on a German letter and found that there was a spy planted by the German army in the artillery barracks, and D was his code name.
Dreyfus was the only Jew in the artillery battalion, and his name began with D.
Suspicion and discrimination, the military superiors decided that Dreyfus was the spy.
Dreyfus was arrested by senior officials on the charge that the handwriting on the letter was similar to that of Dreyfus, and Dreyfus was exiled to Devil's Island.
This French Dou E-style grievance turned around when Picard took over as head of the French Ministry of Military Intelligence.
When contacting the intelligence, carefully Picard found that Dreyfus's handwriting reappeared in the letter of the German ambassador, and only realized the problem.
Since then, Picard, holding the only remaining glory of the French army and the suffering and truth of Dreyfus, began the road to fight against corruption.
If you taste the movie "I accuse", you will definitely think that this is a movie about racial discrimination and the redemption of others.
but
The issues presented in "I Complaint" are not so superficial, we have to acknowledge Poland Romanski's extraordinary sharpness and extraordinary image-making ability.
The theme of "I Complain" is to drive power and the masses together. We can see in the movie that the masses and the powerful are two groups with enormous power, and they are linked through the media and control the fate of individuals.
The use of audio-visual language in "I Complain" is perfect. We take the opening scene of the film as an example to show the enormous power of military power.
A good film opening can bring an excellent narrative atmosphere and powerful image shock to a good story.
Obviously, the opening of "I Indict" is textbook level.
we can see
The opening scene was fixed in such a neat composition, the sky covered with dark clouds, the solemn and solemn building, the front is a neat and uniform phalanx, and the back is the Eiffel Tower straight into the sky, silent.
The landmark buildings explain the environment and create a chilling and suffocating atmosphere. The age of sound endows the silent with its own unique tension.
With the slow entry of a pair of knife-wielding soldiers, the sound and picture are synchronized. The sound of footsteps resounded. The soldier walks to the golden section line on the right side of the screen, and the camera starts to pan to the left, and then stops when it connects with the officer on the horse. We are like the audience watching the scene, watching a marching ceremony.
Here, let me explain the brilliance of this passage of Roman Polanski.
Human physiological vision tells us that we are accustomed to viewing from left to right, and when viewing from right to left, discomfort is inevitable.
This clip ingeniously uses the panning lens to simulate the perspective of the onlookers, and then uses the moving long lens from right to left to create an extremely bitter viewing experience for the audience, and finally uses the footsteps to simulate the heartbeat to create a feeling of powerlessness that suppresses suffocation.
The subsequent trial process can more intuitively demonstrate the enormous dominance of the military power.
Dreyfus was escorted by soldiers with knives to the officer as military music played
After being convicted of treason, he violently ripped off the military rank hanging on his clothes and broke the matching sword, letting Dreyfus cry and struggle, but there was no response, only the laughter of the officers and the anger of the crowd.
That's right, this is the charm of audiovisual language.
Using costumes and horses as props, the judges are always in the dominant position on the left and above, and then try to compress the proportion of Dreyfus's human paintings, which brings a strong sense of depression and guilt to the audience.
The words Dreyfus spoke were like being sucked away by a black hole.
Just like an article I read when I was a child, "The Hole", no matter how much you shout at the hole, there will be no echo.
This is what Roman Polanski wanted to show the power of military might, oppressive and irreversible, as if something happened, the decision of the military was everything.
The individual is small, helpless, pitiful, and weak in the group.
Then we look at the power of the people.
In the midst of the masses, the fool, the imbecile, and the jealous, freed from his sense of ineptitude and ineptitude, will feel a cruel and short-lived but great power. ---- Gustave Le Pen
Roman Polanski tells us
The power of the crowd is unexpected, a terrible, ignorant, massive, mixed violence.
Li Shimin came to the conclusion that "water can carry a boat, but how can it capsize."
The scary thing is that in Roman Polanski's films, it is the great power who uses national pride to control a terrible force that moves with the wind.
And "I Complain" shows this in just a few strokes.
Let's take a look at these three mass video descriptions arranged by Poland Romanski.
1. The opening of the movie is also the first appearance of the crowd. Under the heroic patriotism, the crowd shows the power of their public opinion. Although they don't know what happened, some of them don't even know what the event is. Moral superiority makes them fearless.
2. For the second time, after Picard exposed the crimes of high-ranking military officials, the author Zola published my accusation in the newspaper. The crowd scolded Zola as a thief, and the latter had to flee France. This time it really shows the violence and force of the masses. We can see the rioting behavior of the masses.
Burn books, smash windows, protest.
3. For the third time at the gate of the court, the masses showed a right to vote and support. Water can carry a boat, and how can it be overturned. This is reflected in the natural human rights, that is, the power of democracy.
These three times, without exception, the masses sided with the army.
Master the art of influencing the imagination of the masses, and master the art of ruling them. ---- Gustave Le Pen
Obviously, what Roman Polanski wants to show in "I Complain" is how ordinary individuals seek truth in the gap between two forces, and pursue justice in the union of power and the masses.
"I Complain" spends a lot of video to construct the corruption of the system and the ignorance of the masses.
Deliberately build a claustrophobic space, connected by narrow corridors, like an unpredictable maze.
The most intuitive manifestation is in the segment when Picard just entered the secret service. The secret service is like the most invisible place in the army, it is some unspeakable secrets.
The rotten stench and filth that can be smelled through the screen stand in stark contrast to the dignified architectural exterior and disciplined army. It symbolizes the glory on the surface and the ugliness on the inside.
More interesting details, when Picard handed over for the first time, he talked about whether the statue of Apollo is a replica or not a fake, suggesting the production level of fake documents and the behavior of seeking personal gain.
The contradiction of Colonel Henry, in the court that convicted Dreyfus, Colonel Henry revealed secrets without hesitation, but when Picard rehabilitated Dreyfus, he strongly objected, but General Gon Reaper said that the army could not reveal important secrets and documents , which is the most intuitive point of contradiction.
These evidences all confirm the internal corruption of the system.
But I don't know if you noticed?
The content expressed in "I Complaint", the truth that it intends to show, is very similar to Roman Polanski himself.
He was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, Samantha Gaymore, after a modeling shoot.
Polanski described the trial that year as "I'm a mouse, a mouse played with cats." The "cat" he was talking about was the media and the judge.
Sexual assault is an extremely bad social incident. In addition to Polanski’s famous identity, the media and shouting will not give him any opportunity to defend himself, and the judicial independence that should be upheld (in public opinion) has not been fully achieved. Judges Changed my mind a few times in the swing.
That's why Polanski went on the run (he heard a judge would overturn a plea bargain and re-sentence him to jail).
Polanski also said that "I Indict" somewhat mirrored his own experience of being convicted:
My work is not an antidote. However, I must admit that I am familiar with the persecutions that appear in the movie, and it gave me a lot of inspiration.
In court, there is a line that says: "If my handwriting matches the letter, I am guilty; if my handwriting does not match the letter, I am equally guilty.
This line is not only the voice of Dreyfus, but also the voice of Roman Polanski.
As bystanders, we are just like the masses in the film. We don’t understand the cause and process of things at all, and the information we get is only a by-product of media processing. In fact, we don’t understand the hidden meaning or difficulties at all.
Some people even said that they didn't know about it without this "I Complaint", then we are the group of people who have a short-lived cruel power.
As Bergman's "Masquerade" tries to tell us, our knowledge of the world and of others exists only in the media.
Maybe
Roman Polanski is a convincing liar, a pervert who sexually abuses children
Maybe
He's just a wronged Dreyfus, desperate for Picard's redemption.
But all this is unknown
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