Is it bad to admit your fate?
You can be comfortable, hide in your own small world, grow vegetables, raise pigs, read books, drink red wine.
Why not?
A man named Henry Charle said no.
In the 1930s, Henry Charlele was charged with theft and murder and sentenced to life in prison.
He felt that he had been wronged, so he decided to escape from prison and regain his freedom in his own way.
In his 9 years in prison, he tried to escape from prison 8 times.
One of them was successful, he fled to the forests of Colombia, settled in a primitive village, and got married...
But the regional and cultural differences still made him uncomfortable, so he decided to go out, and as soon as he went out, he was arrested and taken back to the nightmarish French Guiana prison.
Again and again, he escaped like an undead Xiao Qiang, giving him the title of "the strongest fugitive on the surface".
In 1969, he wrote an autobiographical novel based on his own real experiences, which soon became a bestseller and caused a sensation.
The following year, France finally declared him innocent. Nearly 40 years of grievances have finally been washed away.
Another 3 years later, the movie "Babylon" based on his real experience was released.
Years later, his experiences and films became a legend.
The film uses images to show the harsh hardships of Henry Charlemagne's 9 years in prison.
The earliest prison break movies originated in the late 1950s, when World War II was over and society recovered, even in prison, living conditions improved a lot.
So "Babylon", which is set in the 30s, is more difficult than most prison breaks.
Also different from the general prison break film, the realistic material gives "Babylon" a strong sense of realism.
If you have seen many prison escape themes beforehand, at first you will think that the male protagonist Babi is not in a hurry because he wants to observe the weakness of guyana prisons.
Just like the three elements of prison escape in "Golden Cicada Shell".
Familiarity with the layout;
Figure out the rules;
Help inside and out.
Before entering the prison, he sought help.
Luis Degas, who was arrested for counterfeiting coins, could not find whether there was a prototype in history, anyway, it was a very rich man, many prisoners also knew about it, and heard that he hid the money in his stomach, so it was inevitable that some people would want to make money and kill them.
The more robust Barbie conditioned on the protection of Degas, hoping that Degas would help him escape from prison. The partnership between the two doesn't look like Stallone and Schwarzenegger in "The Golden Cicada Is Out of the Shell.".
The cast that plays Barbie and Degas is no less than Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
Steve McQueen, Hollywood's top tough guy superstar of the '60s and '70s, starred in another prison break, The Great Escape, 10 years before Babylon. In the remake of "Victory And The Great Escape" 18 years later, Stallone became one of the main actors.
When playing Barbie, Steve McQueen shows more of a mental toughness. In order to surpass him, the 2017 remake version, Charlie Hannham borrowed Bell's skinny skills to interpret Barbie's two years of confinement and a tragic halving of food.
Dustin Hoffman, the god of acting.
"Rain Man" plays a mentally handicapped patient;
"The Kramer Couple" plays an ordinary white-collar worker who is married;
"Graduate" plays a young person who has just graduated from college;
Basically, what is acting is like, and the two-time Oscar emperor is his strength certification.
Degas, played by him, knows at a glance that he is a Sven, and the way he speaks and his looks and actions are given a strong personal character.
Put it this way, in all of Dustin Hoffman's other works, there is hardly any trace of Degas.
Degas and Babi are one and the same, and their combination is different from Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
The way to escape from jail is also very different.
Babi didn't rush into action because he didn't have a chance. He also doesn't need to know astronomy and geography, he just needs to have Degas's mobile wallet, and then find someone who can cooperate and bribe him.
In general prison break films, jailbreak actions are often the climactic part.
"Babylon" begins the prison break in the first act, and in the 70s, the plot is very fast-paced.
Of course, he couldn't have escaped so quickly.
When I first entered the prison, I actually buried the foreshadowing.
The first escape from prison, the penalty of living alone for two years;
The second time, another five years of fines.
The first time he escaped from prison, Babi did not know what the concept of a solitary house was, which was "the newborn calf is not afraid of the tiger".
The second escape from prison, Babi, who almost starved into a mental illness in his solitary room, is still "unrepentant", which reflects his determination to become a ren if he does not succeed.
Throughout the film, he tells the story of his indomitable will to lose repeated battles, unsuccessfully escaping from prison, and vowing not to give up.
Others are using technology in jailbreaking;
He was escaping with his life.
A lot of reviews say the film is about freedom.
Babi living is a typical embodiment of "not free, better than dead".
But if that's all there is to it, The Classics of "Babylon" may be greatly reduced. Because there are so many movies with similar themes.
Maybe I watched too many freedom-related movies and involuntarily associated with freedom.
Just the finishing touch is, "You have committed the most terrible sin of being human, and I accuse you of wasting your life!" ”
This is the scene that appeared in Barbie's dream. It means that this is a kind of condemnation of himself.
Since the theme is freedom, why didn't the script just write it, committing the crime of not being free?
Presumably because the core is not freedom.
It's life.
The script specifically set up a male number two like Degas, just to help Barbie's prison escape?
By the end, when the two people were white, the reason was more obvious.
Degas accepted his fate.
Compared to Barbie's idea of escaping from prison, he values the vegetables he grows more.
Babi remains unyielding.
Even though he was already gray-haired, he didn't look like he could succeed anymore.
Degas is a negative side of Barbie. Most people will be like Degas, who can't fulfill their wishes and don't do it. Isn't it also a kind of happiness to be a mediocre person who has food and drink every day?
Why confess your fate?
Obviously you still have a life to use.
If you are not doing what you want to do and moving in the direction you have set, it is tantamount to wasting your life.
To waste one's life is to commit a crime.
If you have committed a crime, you will go to jail.
Not getting the life you want is not just another kind of cage.
It's not so much that Barbie is pursuing freedom as he is pursuing the life he wants.
He is the representative of the denial of life.
He jumped forward and proved with his actions that as long as he was alive, there was no excuse to confess his life.
No wonder some people think That Babylon is greater than The Shawshank Redemption.
Exactly which is the best jailbreak movie in history is a matter of opinion.
One thing is for sure, in terms of realism, the degree of authenticity, "BabiLong" is better.