"Public Enemy Number One": an epic robbery and extortion in the name of the Revolution
I guess this is the best description of the day of robbery and extortion as the most ambitious movie, after watching it, it is easy to misunderstand, what is this guy Merlin? Everything he did had a certain degree of social representation to some extent, did it really represent a trend of thought at that time? In fact, in French society at that time, there were indeed some people who called Jacques Merlin the "contemporary Robin Hood", that is, his behavior had a certain social basis at that time. Jacques Merlin called himself a revolutionary, an epic crime, in my opinion, epic.
I prefer to have a movie called "Crime Movie" because it's more than two, 4 hours long Jaco. The various criminal details of Merlin and his private life, and more importantly, the film spans the 60s of the 1970s and covers countries such as France, Canada and the United States, and is deep and wide enough to make people understand and think about that particular era.
In the 70s and 60th centuries, the major Western powers experienced rapid development, and after World War II, they once again fell into the quagmire of stagnation, the spread of various social trends, sexual liberation, anarchism, communism and ideology coexisted, and the old overseas colonial empire brought their independence, and France also experienced this history. In the early 1960s, the War of Independence took place in Algeria, an important overseas colony of France. This is the beginning of the film and the historical context in which Giacomelin killed Arabs as a French soldier. And the director seems to want to tell us through this incident that Jacques Merlin believes that the change in the Algerian soldiers has begun. This experience gave Merlin a deeper understanding of violence and weapons, and as he later said in court, he had a lot of weapons because he felt unsafe, only to reassure me.
We know that during the Second World War, France became a puppet state in Germany, a sense of national shame in France, which after the humiliation of the defeat in the war and the Indochina War, all the national pride that disappeared in France, coupled with the impact of the economic crisis, intensified by two-level differentiation, and the resurgence of anarchism, our "Robin Hood" will not stay in the film, which is why the matter of his father in wartime has helped germans to meditate. Gradually, in Merlin's mind, he gradually developed his own worldview and values, that is, contempt for all state apparatus, contempt for all authority, and advocating the breaking of this system." When he was in prison in Quebec (Canada was also a French colony, mainly French, and still had strong feelings of independence), he experienced inhuman abuse, which further strengthened his thinking. So he became even crazier.
We have reason to believe, Giaco. Merlin is not a thief in the general sense, he has a certain thought and belief, the inappropriate words "not afraid of hooligans, afraid of hooligan culture", when a thief has his own faith, all his madness will not be surprising. Sexual freedom, anarchism, and even communist ideologies can all be found in Merlin's shadow when we see Jacques. After Merlin managed to escape, he drove back to Montreal, claiming to be the most highly defensive prison inmate, which was the ultimate in arrogance. It was definitely not a brother, but he was again something we could call "ideal", and he always wanted to break the "system", which was the state, and he took it for granted that he was revolutionary, in a very violent and crazy way. This may also explain why later, when he robbed the bank, there were generally at least two or more consecutive robberies, because in his mind, the bank was a symbol of power and a rich class, and he wantonly trampled on this symbol, only in this way could he be satisfied to the greatest extent. This can be confirmed from other places in the movie, such as escape, he cheerfully gave him help ten thousand yuan, but also in the river, his life to exchange for a bag full of money thrown into the river without mercy, it can be seen in his mind is not really in the money but must be interested, through this extreme way of expressing ideas. Another example, when his first wife was in a state of affairs because he was trying to prevent further crimes," the police report mentioned, he became insane and almost killed, when beloved by his wife, it could not only be used to explain the violent temper, he was indeed in a sense a "revolution", "revolution" is without any emotional bondage.
When a person's behavior is supported by a certain thought or belief, his behavior becomes very determined! Al-Qaida often attacked Dutch operations instead of a river, in fact for religious reasons, which was applicable in Jaco. In the same way, Merlin could explain why he repeatedly robbed and forgot about it even in prison.
As we said, Merlin had a lot of confused thoughts, which were a microcosm of the Westerners at the time. In fact, he was depressed and very free. This is also reflected in the way he releases their emotions through sex by exchanging women, which is actually a normal human need. By ethical standards, it is impossible to be satisfactory.
Jacques Merlin became the "number one public enemy", and when he became a true revolutionary, he was met with a lot. But he also knew that his "revolutionary road" would not last long. He had made everything ready for his destiny. His bottom line is never to go back to jail because it represents the system he hates, and that system is exactly what he wants to break.
Throughout the film, Jacques. Merlin barely killed innocent people, except for the police on behalf of the state apparatus, even the armed enemies of the original partner Guido (Gerald dePardieu), Guido accused his wife of cruelty, he said it was different, in fact in his mind, was not the same thing. At this point, we can see more clearly why Jacques and Merlin have the title of "Modern Robin Hood." In a sense, he does represent some people's contempt for the authorities and the state's unfair apparatus.
Everything has two sides, this thing in Western countries is human rights, it emphasizes human rights, so in order to make Jaco. Merlin often evaded the death penalty and criminal sanctions repeatedly, and if in the eyes of Westerners, China that "changed and did not pay attention to human rights" has long since left the police. This is reminiscent of Stephen Chow's "lover", "Mao Shunjun, why mention the police", when he shows more deception and Chow Sing Chi's deep respect and humility, this is definitely not a simple prank. But in Western ideology, the communist regime is even more ruthless, because we do not talk about "human rights" and ignore human life. There is no criticism of the Chinese police, but this means that there are two sides to everything, and there are some advantages to China's powerful state apparatus. This is unmatched by Western countries.
In the end, Jacques Merlin was killed by the cops he had been fighting, and that was what he had been waiting for. When we see the blood on his face "Modern Robin Hood", are we disappointed with the loss? If so, then the director estimates that in a fluke, I think his goal was achieved, and the director's version of "Blood Thirteen Police Station" made Francis. Ricket seems to be good at this operation is closed in the style of a film documentary, and the film is undoubtedly very successful at this point.