The film "Hidden Camera" started from such a candid shooting incident.
The male protagonist George is a well-known TV host who lives a peaceful life with his wife Anna and son Pierre. But this peace was completely shattered by this videotape.
Since then, the Georges have received a stream of new tapes.
The second plate was wrapped in white paper, and on the white paper was a sketch of a human face with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.
On the white paper that wraps the third videotape, there is a drawing of a chicken with a severed neck.
On the screen of the videotape, a car appeared. It was a rainy day, and the car drove forward slowly, and finally stopped in front of a secluded manor, which was George's childhood home.
In the fourth videotape, the car drives to an unfamiliar street again, and then the camera enters an apartment, walks through a dark corridor, and stops in front of a blue door that reads : Room 047.
The blood-vomited face, the manor of the hometown, the hostile peeps... These series of clues brought back a dusty past of George. He thought he had forgotten, but he didn't.
So George followed the route provided by the fourth videotape, came to the blue door, and rang the doorbell. The door opened, and what appeared in front of George was a haggard, down-and-out middle-aged man. He said, "I can't believe that you are here."
The man who spoke was called Maggie. A story of the past begins... As a
child, George lived with his parents in a manor in the countryside of Paris, France. Maggi's parents were long-term workers of George's family. They were Algerian immigrants. Later, they were shot by the French government during a parade in support of the Algerian War of Independence, and their bodies were thrown into the Danube.
Maggie was orphaned and adopted by the kind-hearted parents of George.
However, the arrival of Magee has made 6-year-old George feel threatened, he is afraid that his parents' love and everything he has will be taken away. So he began to spread rumors, claiming that Magee suffered from a serious contagious disease and often coughed up blood at night; and he framed Magee for killing a chicken with an axe, and threatened himself with this... Finally, these tricks worked, Maggie Ji was taken away and sent to an orphanage. No news since.
Four decades later, at the blue door, the childhood friends met again.
Facing George's questioning, Maggie looked blank, "I don't understand what you're talking about, I haven't done anything. Believe me."
George said, "Stop pretending, who else could you be. I I warn you, if you ruin my life or terrorize my family again, you will definitely regret it!"
Afterwards, George slammed out the door.
Shortly after arriving home, George received a fifth tape.
The content is precisely the dialogue between George and Magee, and the difference is the segment after George left. In the picture, Maggie was sitting alone, feeling lonely all over, as if he had suffered a great blow. Suddenly, he started to cover his face and cry, unable to control himself.
This down-and-out, cowardly man doesn't look like a dangerous person at all.
Just a few days later, George's son Pierre did not return overnight. George called the police, and the police arrested Magee and his son as suspects. In fact, Pierre was not kidnapped, just ran away from home and returned safely the next day.
The freed Maggie asks George to meet.
He said to George, "I really don't know about the videotape. I came to you because I wanted you to be there."
Then, he took out his pocket knife and cut his throat to kill himself. The blood spurted out and stained the white wall.
Until the end of the film, the director did not say who was standing behind the hidden camera.
Maybe it's just George's persecution delusions, maybe it's Maggie's son to plead for his father, or maybe it's the eyes of God. The answer doesn't seem so important anymore.
What is really important is this: the unfortunate thing you have done, an unreconciled hatred, will not fade away with time. On the contrary, it will always follow you secretly, spy on you, and give you the deepest anxiety.
So, after Magee's death, reconciliation is no longer possible. George can only sleep on sleeping pills every day, and repeats the dream again and again: in the afternoon manor, the sun is hot, and a black classic car takes Magee away. He was left in an orphanage and lost what could have been a normal life. And orphanages are icy cold, don't teach politeness, only teach hatred.
For Magee, his life was even more tragic. When he was a child, his parents died, he was framed and sent to an orphanage. Without a good education, as adults, they have to struggle at the bottom of society. I thought it would be like this for a lifetime, but the childhood enemy reappeared and once again framed himself as a dangerous person. Finally, bearing the grievances of a lifetime, no matter how hard it is to suppress, he chose to end his life in front of the enemy to prove his innocence.
And behind the misfortunes of George and Magee is the misfortune of a nation.
During the Algerian War of Independence in the 1960s. The Algerian migrants who marched in Paris were brutally suppressed by the French government. Many Algerians were killed on the spot, some were knocked unconscious, and were later bound by the police and thrown into the Seine River to drown. The death toll exceeded 200. However, this brutal Paris massacre was concealed for 40 years, and it was not until 1997 that it returned to the public's field of vision.
A history that has not been reconciled will brew tragedies that are equally unreconcilable.
As an individual, of course there will be times of selfishness, greed, and cruelty, but what is terrifying is that in an era of distortion and disorder, these evils in human nature will be further magnified and become a breeding ground for sin.
At the end of the film, a long shot of several minutes is aimed at the school gate of George's son Pierre.
We see that Magee's son has found Pierre, and the two seem to be talking about something. However, the director deliberately hides the dialogue, and we can only vaguely see the expressions of the characters: accusing, frowning, smiling, peaceful... complex and elusive.
This is an open ending. Will there be more bitter hatred, or repentance and forgiveness that will continue between the next generation? We don't know.
Of course, this is more of a wake-up call. We don't want our children to live in hatred, so we should pay off the debt of history while our generation is still alive.
In this way, you can really get rid of the "hidden camera" that is monitoring you.
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