"Prison" has always been a unique theme in film and television dramas, and the life scenes depicted are the farthest away from the audience, so they have a certain spectacle and taboo, so they can also arouse the audience's interest in watching movies.
There is also no shortage of classic masterpieces in film history that have left a reputation for the theme of "prison", such as the American drama "Prison Break", which made the genius young Man Mike Schofield deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; the audience should always be hopeful not to be institutionalized By the uncrowned king "The Shawshank Redemption"; "The Miracle in the Green" that shines in the dark cell.
In 1987, Hong Kong also released a "prison theme" film, which was produced by New Art City, directed by Lin Lingdong, and gathered stars such as Chow Yun Fat, Zhang Jiahui and Zhang Yaoyang.
The film minimizes romanticized fantasies about the enclosed space of the prison, where there are no gifted prisoners with superior intelligence, no secret plans laid out for decades, and no hunky inmates with special functions.
The prison in the film is the closest to reality, the law of the jungle is the only law here, ganging is the best means of self-protection, and any naïve act of trying to protect mingzhe is a lonely palm, and it will eventually be isolated to death. A short 100-minute film sketches out an all-encompassing and detailed "prison panorama" for the audience.
First, the prison ecological chain of layers of containment
Prisons are a very hierarchical small society, different classes have different powers and responsibilities, and the management of prisoners in prisons and the order of self-management of prisoners rely on this strict hierarchical order. From top to bottom, they are:
The first class, the "Justice of the Peace". The name, which is somewhat unfamiliar to mainland audiences, actually derives from a special judicial support system in Hong Kong during the British colonial period.
The "Justice of the Peace system" originated in the sixteenth century britain, the English name is: Justices of The Peace, abbreviated as J.P., which translates to "peaceful and just man" or "justice of the peace", and was later officially named "Justice of the Peace". Most of the early "Justices of the Peace" were British, and in 1883 Huang Shengcai was appointed as the first Chinese "Justice of the Peace".
The earliest "Justices of the Peace" were all highly regarded by the British government in Hong Kong, with the power and duties to stop all kinds of illegal assemblies, order arrests, enter houses and searches, issue arrests, preside over declarations, accept complaints, and inspect homes and prisons.
In the history of Hong Kong, they even had judicial power. This is also the real reason why even the warden in the film has to be jealous of the "Justice of the Peace".
The second class, the warden. He is undoubtedly the highest core of power in the prison, and he has a vote of management, including the chief of the correctional section, the head of the security team, and the director of the prison hospital, all of whom are directly responsible to him. He is also the top supervisor in the prison, visiting the cell every day to receive complaints and reports from prisoners.
The "Justice of the Peace" and the warden belong to the highest class in the entire system, far away from the low-level prisoners, and have little contact with them, so they are gentle and courteous throughout, hoping to maintain superficial harmony and stability.
The third class, prison management. The prison management, including the security captain Killer Xiong, has a daily job of managing prisoners and ensuring that everything in the prison is working properly according to regulations.
Because they have to deal with scheming and wild prisoners all day long, they will do whatever it takes to maintain order, trading with gang leaders in prison, teaching or framing new prisoners, which they can use.
The fourth class, prison guards. This class is the most vulnerable group in management, and the image displayed tends to be both benevolent and cruel.
Because they have the most contact with prisoners on weekdays, many old inmates have mingled with them, sometimes handing over a cigarette and sending something. When supervising prisoners' meetings with relatives, they are always on the sidelines and asked to hug and hold hands.
But on the other hand, because of their lowest status in prison, the guards always act only according to orders, and in the face of fights between prisoners, they will never come forward to stop them without the orders of their commanders, and when they are ordered, they will raise their sticks and beat them without mercy.
It can be said that these prison guards not only exude a compassionate and friendly side of human nature, but also have indifference and cruelty after being "materialized" by the prison system.
The fifth class, the prisoner boss. Represented by big silly, big cat and silly label. They are generally prisoners who have served a long time, because they must have enough time to win over a group of hardcore brothers around.
At the same time, they themselves must also have the strength to cover one side, either they can fight and resist, or they have a strong relationship with the security captain, or they are extremely moralistic.
These big guys who naturally appear among the prisoners have become intermediaries between the prison guards and ordinary prisoners, and the prison guards can easily obtain all kinds of gossip in the prison by asking these big men, but they must also give them some privileges and preferential treatment accordingly.
Even if they are all big guys, they have different personalities. For example, the big mi in the film is a big guy of the left and right Fengyuan type, he on the one hand to win over his brothers, on the other hand, he tries every means to please the security captain Killer Xiong, and he does not hesitate to betray the newcomers.
Silly Biao, on the other hand, acts on the principle of "righteousness", and the reason he co-opts his brothers is to unite against the arbitrary prison guards and protect the interests of his own people.
The sixth and final class is the ordinary prisoners, represented by Ah Yao and Ah Zheng. They each represent two groups of ordinary prisoners. Ah Zheng represents people who are knowledgeable, experienced, and flexible, and do not want to pick up a big banner and occupy the top of the mountain, but only want to protect themselves and rely on the philosophy of living in the world that endures the calm and calm for a while, and survives this period of prison life.
The newcomer Ah Yao, on the other hand, represents that those rookie newcomers who have not yet completed their ideological transformation and want to use their values in the outside world to treat people in prison will inevitably be taught a lesson.
Second, Zhuang Jiayao - the growth history of the rookie in prison
Chuang Ka Yew is one of the protagonists of the film and the clue character of the whole story, and the screenwriter allows the audience to use such a character who knows nothing about prisons and is full of worries and fears to introduce the story and walk into the high-wall iron net, which is undoubtedly a delicate design.
Ah Yao, who has just arrived, because he does not understand the "rules", has repeatedly suffered difficulties in prison and encountered walls everywhere, making it easier for the audience to see himself in it, and experience purgatory torture with the characters to achieve growth and transformation.
Ah Yao was originally an art designer of a company, one day his father's fruit shop was harassed by assholes, in order to stand up for his father, he went forward with several hooligans who took things and did not give money, and as a result, in the dispute, Ah Yao kicked a jerk on the road, and the asshole was killed in an accidental car accident. Ah Yao was also sentenced to three years in prison for manslaughter.
When he first entered prison, Ah Yao, like a child, did not understand anything, he trusted the prison guards and doctors like a teacher, believing that they were more trustworthy than the prisoners who committed various crimes around him, and he did bad things with a kind heart, and he was innocent in conscience, so he did not relentlessly cooperate with the prisoners around him.
So, after Ah Zheng came to the hospital, he dropped three cigarettes from his body, and he asked Ah Yao to help him hide it, but Ah Yao looked at the doctor and was cowardly indifferent. However, he didn't know that Ah Zheng, who had been here much longer than him, had his own set of easy ways to deal with it.
Later, Ah Zheng also deliberately asked the doctor to exchange a fatter piece of pork in his lunch for Ah Yao's leaner pork, so as to give Ah Yao a chance to get off the horse. This also made Ah Yao understand that it is far from surviving to be an obedient "good boy" in prison. Therefore, after Ah Yao broke out in the prison, he willingly followed Ah Zheng.
But in order to survive in prison, Ah Zheng still needs to learn too much. After being transferred to the laundry room to work with Ah Zheng, Ah Yao once again unknowingly provoked a fire. He saw a big guy in the prison, Dami's subordinate, Xiao B, take the scissors that Ah Zheng used to work, and he pointed at Ah Zheng in person, only to be threatened by Dami.
This time, Ah Yao suffered another loss of Geng Zhi, and he thought that in prison he could still speak like he did outside, and the road was uneven.
As a result, the prison boss Dami ji hated himself. Soon after a routine cell search, Da Mi framed Ah Yao for betraying his silly brother, saying that the utensils found in the water room were his little brothers. As a result, Ah Yao was taught a lesson by silly biao that night.
But Da Mi did not want to let go of this "nosy" Ah Yao, and he continued to harass Ah Yao in the laundry room, saying that in order to compensate for his brother's imprisonment, Ah Yao had to pay tribute cigarettes to compensate. However, Ah Yao happened to be because he learned that his girlfriend was going to study in the UK when his relatives visited, so his heart was also very upset.
Just as Dami came to threaten, the two had a head-on conflict, and a group of dami's younger brothers rushed up, and Ah Zheng also joined the battle in order to protect his little brother. The two men were defeated and seriously wounded in the face of the crowd. This time, Ah Yao understood again that after that, when facing provocations, he could not be arrogant, and those who could be resolved through negotiation would never use their fists.
Finally, in the "strike" protest against the high price of the big guys in prison, in the face of the threat of the security captain Killer Xiong, Ah Yao would have succumbed to the authority according to his usual inertia, and went to the toilet with him, and the popularity was threatened and lured.
But even if Ah Zheng on the side stopped Ah Yao and said never to go, because Ah Zheng knew that if Ah Yao went to the toilet, the killer Xiong would repeat the same mistake and put the charge of informing on Ah Yao's head, and then it would not only be a big guy who would retaliate against him, but all the big guys in the prison, then this young man would never want to get out of prison again.
This time, Ah Yao learned from Ah Zheng that even if it is an authority at a critical moment, in order to protect itself, it must be offended.
At the end of the film, After experiencing three years of prison baptism, Ah Yao has become more mature and stable than ever. He has grown from a rookie to a true social person. I believe that prison left him not only a body of pain, but also the experience and truth of dealing with the world.
Third, Zhong Tianzheng - cunning and principled old prison friend
If Ah Yao is a clue-like character in the film, then Ah Zheng is undoubtedly the soul of the whole film. When he first appeared, he played a plaster splint on one leg and carried a crutch, but Zhou Runfa showed the vitality of the character of Ah Zheng from his bones.
In the eyes of the audience, the shot of Ah Zheng entering the hospital ward seems not to be a patient with a lame leg, but a dancer full of artistic atmosphere, confidently strolling on his own stage. Looking at this person, you will feel that he will not be overwhelmed or crushed by anything.
The appearance of Ah Zheng not only saved Ah Yao's prison life, but also saved the audience who were looking forward to a wonderful plot. Just imagine, if the whole movie only shows Ah Yao in prison like a headless fly in prison, running through walls and living a difficult life, although the film can also reflect part of the truth of prison life, it is also too boring and dull.
Fortunately, with such a cunning, shrewd, flexible, and witty character as Ah Zheng appearing, the plot later in the film has become worth looking forward to. Seeing Ah Zheng's acquaintance with Ah Yao, the audience can actually guess that the two brothers and sisters are going to go through a tortuous and difficult purgatory journey like Virgil led Dante.
After Ah Yao and Ah Zheng experienced a vicious fight in the laundry room, the two were locked up in a single room, during which Ah Zheng arranged for his prison guard friend Ah Qiang to send a plastic chair with his engraved words to Ah Yao in the next single room.
It says two sentences: Bear with the wind and waves for a while, take a step back from the sea and the sky. This is Ah Zheng's Taoist philosophy of life, and it is the secret of his ability to navigate the various forces for many years.
But although Ah Zheng taught Ah Yao in this way, he did not carry this truth through the whole process. In the cell war that breaks out at the end of the film, in the face of the provocation of Dami and killer Xiong, the grievances and anger that Ah Zheng has accumulated in prison for many years have completely exploded.
Ah Zheng not only locked Dami's throat to death, but also bit off one of the ears of the killer male, who was the captain of the security team. At this time, this prisoner who was in a frenzy and the previous Ah Zheng, who had been smiling and smiling all day and had a slippery voice, were almost like two people.
So what exactly prompted Ah Zheng to give up self-protection and sacrifice his life to risk his life? That was the brotherhood between him and Ah Yao. The ending song of the movie, "Light of Friendship", celebrates the precious friendship of brotherhood and brotherhood.
When Ah Yao first met Ah Zheng, he was still a stupid boy who had never known the world and did not know the depth, but Ah Zheng could see hope in him, and he could see the yearning for goodness, justice and the outside world. So the two gradually became the best friends.
In the "strike" incident, the killer Xiong originally planned to frame Ah Yao, but the brilliant Ah Zheng saw through his ruse, and in order to protect Ah Yao, he did not hesitate to set himself on fire and let the killer Xiong frame himself for informing.
In addition, in the cell battle at the end of the film, Ah Zheng knows that the two of them are fierce tonight, and if they don't fight to the death, no one may be able to get out alive, so he completely releases his violence and wildness to fight with Dami and Killer Xiong.
It can be said that all the choices that Ah Zheng has made from beginning to end are in rational thinking, but there is only one thing he does based on his own emotional judgment, that is, to become brothers with Ah Yao.