Tolstoy left a famous quote at the beginning of his masterpiece "Anna Karenina": "Happy families have the same happiness, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." However, I think that rich people have their own way of living, and poor people always follow the same path.
"Jerusalem" is the third film directed by South African director Ralph Zeman. The story is set in the Hillbrow district of Johannesburg, South Africa. The film opens with a gang leader, Loki, being arrested by the police. We already know what the movie is about when a female reporter puts a tape recorder in front of Loki and the camera zooms to a teenager selling gadgets on a country train: a black man, a poor black man, for the sake of In order to survive, in order to break through the sky in South Africa, which is dominated by white people, step by step toward depravity, sinking into the hell of the underworld. And finally, after gaining wealth and status, he was punished by the law and sang the last elegy of his life.
Indeed, Loki was originally a poor country youth, and he had the opportunity to go to college. But the heavy burden at home could only make him stare at the university admission letter. When he saw a gangster in the village living in a big house and making all kinds of beautiful girlfriends because of his robbery, he decided to go to sea. Together with his friend Saini, he robbed various styles of cars for the gang, and finally added a TV and stereo to the home, and his younger siblings also had new clothes and new shoes to wear. When he was tired of the days of risking his own life, the last sale was lost. He had to leave the country with Saini to hide in Johannesburg.
ten years. Rocky and Saini have lived in Johannesburg for ten years. They worked hard every day to make money, but in the end they were robbed of the car by the land grabbers, and the two of them were still poor. With blood on his face, Loki looked at the bustling city outside the window, knowing that he had no choice at all. He asked Saini to take out some of the money he had, gathered a group of men, registered a real estate trust company, and started a new life in Hillbrow. Hillbrow is a slum where people from the bottom of society live. The cramped, dilapidated building was crammed with large numbers of black residents, with broken windows, disrepairing elevators, and clogged water pipes. But residents still have to pay rent to white homeowners on time and face rising rents. Rocky called on the angry residents to hand over the rent to the trust company he set up, and then he came forward to negotiate with the white homeowners.
Speak up for black people and help the poor. In the blink of an eye, Loki became a local hero, and the trust company's earnings soared. Loki never intended to negotiate with the white homeowners. He procrastinated meeting with them as much as possible, and when the white homeowners compromised and repaired the house, Loki's men would disguise themselves as the white homeowners and destroy everything. Eventually, white homeowners couldn't afford to lose and had to put their properties up for auction. At this time, Rocky's people will come forward to buy these properties at a low price. So Loki realized his dream and drove a BMW Seven Series. Not only that, but Rocky even had a white girlfriend and bought a luxury mansion in the suburbs. No more betrayal by a black, poor hero.
Rocky eventually fell into the French Open. But it has nothing to do with his backplane behavior. During a gang fight, Loki's friend Saini was shot and killed. In order to live a good life, Loki can tolerate many things, including harassment and humiliation by white police. But Saini was the most important friend in his life, and he couldn't let him die in vain. So he summoned his men, broke into the enemy's chassis, and both sides fired at each other with various weapons. He finally killed the enemy, but also because the battle was too huge. The police dispatched all the police to arrest him. He finally told reporters about his life.
You might think that's the whole story. But the director has something to say. Rocky didn't die in prison, he escaped with the help of his lawyer, accountant and girlfriend. Driving his snow-white Mercedes sports car, carrying a carload of cash, standing on the beach with the bright sunshine, planning to spend 1 million or 6 million to buy a seaside villa. At the end of the film, the director's last sentence sounded: Adapt or die (survival of the fittest, elimination of the unfit).
Jerusalem is a holy place for the Jews, a place of redemption. Hillbrow is a ghetto, a complete hell, but here is where Loki found his redemption, his hope, his life, and this was his Jerusalem. People often accuse the rich of cruelty and ruthlessness, but sadly, the path of a poor man out of poverty is often not against the rich, but to join them and stand in the ranks of oppressing the other poor. As for the rich, they are used as targets, as reasons, as smoke. As the saying goes, where there is class, there is struggle, where there is struggle, there is opportunity, and where there is opportunity, there is class.
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