——————————————There is a risk of spoilers in the film review, please watch with caution—————————————
Anyone who has watched "The Wire" in its entirety, I
believe it will be Admired by the ambition and talent of the main creator, David Simon,
his ability to thread the needle
in it is probably unmatched in the film and television industry.
In his eyes, society is an intertwined organic life, and
everyone's life is interlinked.
His multi-line narrative method is not the kind of ingenious multi-line narrative method that was popular in the past few years
. Apart from the ingenious structure of the surprising structure, there is nothing special about it.
For him, the structure is only a formal necessity. What
he really focuses on is to strip the social structure
and tell the audience scene by scene.
His point of view is sharp, but in addition to the sharp criticism, it is still full of humanity. .
As a mini-series, "Black Utopia" is a bit awkward in its positioning. It
inherits the colors and expressive techniques of "The Wire" that cares about the people at the bottom, and
uses the vision of multiple characters to piece together the Ukiyo-e of Yonkers City.
However, due to the length limit,
most of the The space inevitably revolves around Nick Wasicsko, and
the interspersed interspersed with other characters sometimes seem a bit abrupt and out of focus,
which interferes with the overall rhythm and
weakens the dramatic conflict of Nick's main line to a certain extent.
The soul of the epic was put into the genre of sketches,
some of which could not be displayed and lacked in finesse.
On the contrary, Bruce Springsteen's music was unexpectedly in tune with the show, which nourished the atmosphere at the right time.
a dream come true
If it weren't for the fact that the Republican Angelo Martinelli has been re-elected six times, the Democrats may not have sent Nick as a surprise soldier
in the case of a dead horse . , not to mention the fledgling Nick, even other senior Democratic congressmen may be taken lightly by Angelo. No one wants to fight an uncertain battle, because for politicians, the rules of the game are: losing two elections means the end of your political career, and the political party will cast a vote of no confidence in you from now on, losing the support of the party's forces, and it is almost impossible to run independently, especially It is in the grassroots political circles that the cost of finding a rookie is obviously lower than that of continuously cultivating a defeated army. Coincidentally, being mayor of Yonkers has been Nick's dream since he was a child. It is conceivable that the city councilor is only a stepping stone for him to cut into the political arena. For the recruitment of the Democratic Party, Nick can't ask for anything. Yonkers, the capital of whites , has always been an area dominated by white residents. Even under the influence of the anti-racism wave in the 1960s, the proportion of overall white residents has always remained above 90%, as a minority of African Americans. , Latino residents gather in the border suburbs in the southwest of the city, because the vast majority of public housing is located in this area consciously or unintentionally , it is a last resort for ethnic minorities with severe economic conditions, but this area is full of violent crime , drugs, prostitutes, homeless, the problems are so many that form a modern penal colony with a mix of social class and racial discrimination.
In 1980, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People formally filed a lawsuit against the city government of Yonkers.
Judge Sand's indictment totaled 670 pages,
and proposed that the city government build a building in the east area of Yonkers. 800 homes were mandated for public housing,
and Yonkers began a near-endless battle.
In 1987, during an election in Yonkers,
Judge Sand ruled that there was no room for change in public housing policy.
Angelo knew that any further appeal would be deceiving himself at best.
In addition, the years of lawsuits have made Yonkers's reputation for racial discrimination spread far and wide.
Neither he nor Yonkers have the capital to continue to fight.
Angelo decided to bite the bullet and implement the court order. ,
I did not expect that he far underestimated the tenacity of the citizens of Yonkers (this lawsuit has been raging for 27 years, finally in 2007).
The strong backlash from the public caused him to unexpectedly lose the election,
giving Nick a narrow victory of 1,466 votes.
Nick, who wins the election, seems to have a bright future, but he does not know that this is the beginning of all tragedy.
Yes, this is a typical teenage success story.
The shadow of reality
Nick encountered a political problem like the fictional Baltimore Mayor Tommy Carcetti in "The Wire
"
.
Surprisingly, after Nick understood the imperative of public housing policy,
he dared to go against mainstream public opinion and immediately overturned his own political views.
"That's not what a leader should do, a leader's job is to lead the people."
"That's not what a leader's supposed to do. A leader's supposed to lead."
Nick did show his precocious leadership style,
but unfortunately, lacking in skill,
the more he did it right, the faster he would ruin his political career.
The policy was finally implemented, but he also completely became the target of public criticism.
He was even re-elected by his fellow Deputy Mayor Henry Stallone who turned to the Republican Party and
ruthlessly defeated Nick on his way to re-election.
Ironically, just as the citizens of Yonkers were expressing their racial affiliation with their ballots,
New York City, across the water, elected a black mayor, David Dinkins.
Nick was neither a hero, nor a martyr, nor a saint.
In a short period of ups and downs as a mayor,
he fell to the bottom of his dream.
He became extremely eccentric, insecure, self-willed, capricious, and made enemies everywhere for no reason.
He was desperate for solace. He can only go to his father's grave alone and mutter to himself.
He is more like a childish child,
trying to learn the rules of the game in the world, but he is always out of place.
He yearns for freedom, but the world traps him in a prison.
The grassroots politicians in small towns
dreamed of being members of Congress , but in the
end no one stayed,
but they were pawns in the chess game of political parties and people's interests.
What happened to us yesterday, what will our day be like?
In 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (son of Governor Mario Cuomo when Nick was then mayor),
Announced that the city of Yonkers will invest $27 million in the construction of a public housing project, which
officials say is one of the key projects to revitalize the southwest district of Yonkers.
Is this the new look that the world is looking forward to, or the restoration of an old disease?
Show me a hero.
Rest in peace, Nick Wasicsko.
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