Because I have a lot of leisure time recently, I began to calm down and observe the classics of film history, which was really eye-opening and happy. It also feels like decades later, the film hasn't improved much.
Although I have seen fewer new films, if I were asked which new film was the best, I would like to recommend this film first— and its strength is not something that can be summed up simply by winning the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the nomination for Best International Film at the Academy Award.
《Miserable World》
First of all, it's a one-shot movie. That is, once you start, you may be tempted to read it.
For me, "doing it all in one go" is one of the hardest criteria for watching a movie at home to see if a movie is good enough. After all, at home, unlike the movie theater, there are too many things that interfere with your attention, such as the phone screen lights up, don't you want to know to see what's going on?
I read Les Misérables in one sitting. I didn't use my phone, I didn't go to the toilet, I didn't even drink water.
In the process of watching it, it reminded me of the nervousness when I first watched the Brazilian film "City of God", and the sense of powerlessness and despair brought about by the Similar Theme of the French film "Angry Youth".
"Les Misérables" tells the story of a "police bandit" in a black immigrant community in the northern suburbs of Paris, but at the same time, because of its distinct and strong documentary style, it makes you feel that you are actually watching a documentary that follows the whole process, witnessing how an insignificant and even laughable theft case has evolved into a "youth anger" that has swept through the entire community.
The film's opening is heartening: in 2018, the French football team won the World Cup, regardless of skin color or class, Parisians joined the warm and harmonious sea of celebrations. This beautiful scene has also become the source of material for the film's poster.
However, we will find out later that it is undoubtedly ironic to use this scene as a poster, because this is the only beautiful moment in the film.
In the sea of celebrators at that time, there was a teenager named Issa running. He wore the French flag and cheered for winning the title.
But the next time we saw him, it was at the police station, and the "crime" was stealing a chicken raised by a Jeep... For Issa, who is keen on petty theft, his father has long been desperate.
However, Issa, who can't stop, will also do something "earth-shattering".
Meanwhile, the patrol police unit in charge of policing Issa's neighborhood welcomed a new colleague, Luz, a white police officer from the province who had just been divorced and had a son. Because of his hairstyle, his teammates gave him a nickname, "Big Back".
In Les Misérables, the role of the "big back" is very important. First of all, when he first arrived, the audience quickly learned about the situation in the community as he began to work.
It is a poverty-stricken immigrant precipitous area with a complex ethnic, creed and occupational composition and a prevalence of criminals. Previously a scourge of drug trafficking, it is now plagued by prostitution caused by Nigerian immigrants.
Not only that, but it's also full of ex-terrorists, black-robed people from all over the world, ex-convicts who want to reinvent themselves, jeeps who run circuses, vendors who specialize in fake goods, and religious groups that co-opt young people.
Almost 15 minutes later, Les Misérables has completed the preparation and background of the main characters. As for the other big role of the "big back", it will be closely related to Isa's new "crime".
This time it was the Pugissai who were unlucky.
Not long after the "big back" went to work, a group of gypsy circus strong men angrily approached the community boss "mayor" because one of their "treasures" (sorry, I have to sell it) was stolen! Witnesses said it was the children of the community who did it. The half-naked Purgysai brown man holding a gasoline barrel and a knife and axe stick made a strong statement: do not take back the "baby", vow not to collect troops, and burn and splash the community with blood!
Fortunately, the "big backs" arrived in time to avoid a scuffle. After persuading the gypsies to go, the "big back" and "mayor" soldiers went to find the "baby" in two ways.
The "big back" colleague who deeply understands the habits of the children in the community, through unexpected methods, actually made the ghost find clues and troublemakers .
Yes, it's Issa again.
In the process of solving problems with people such as "Big Back", the audience can actually deeply feel one point: in such a community, how can children grow up healthy or even safe?
Poverty, chaos, danger, discrimination and exclusion are commonplace everywhere. For example, when the "big back" colleague took him to familiarize himself with the situation, he randomly stopped several girls waiting for the bus on the side of the road, and used their hands and feet on the pretext of checking drugs, and they were not inferior, and the girls could only dare to be angry.
However, as the "big back" colleague expected, these girls are not completely "clean". Just like Issa, in such an environment, how can you completely get out of the mud without staining?
Issa was just the unlucky kid who was a little distracted and unlucky.
The advantage of "Les Misérables", in addition to the sense of presence in one go, lies in the extreme twists and turns of the plot development, full of explosive tension at all times.
Compared with the "treasure" that Issa stole, the whole process of his accidental arrest truly reflects a major chronic disease of French society: immigrants cannot truly integrate into mainstream society, resulting in serious mutual distrust and confrontation between the two sides.
Issa's theft was an accident, Issa's injury when he was arrested was an accident, Issa's injury implicated another innocent boy, and the way Issa was punished by the Gypsies was an accident, but the appearance of the "evil child" and the "evil police" behavior in order to deal with the "evil child" were not accidents.
To some extent, "evil children" vs "evil police" are the inevitable outbreaks under the accumulation of long-term contradictions between large and small.
The impact of "Les Misérables" by tense conflict is not only the creation of plot tension and the endless emergence of violent scenes, but more deeply, it makes the audience see the hatred that has no choice but to escape, and the despair of having nowhere to escape. The viewer can clearly see that apart from pity for Issa's "big back", almost no one is right, but seems to be able to understand and even agree with their choices.
The last 10 minutes of the film are undoubtedly one of the most exciting high-energy passages in film history.
In this passage, all the contradictions spiral out of control in the direction of both bizarre and perhaps the most tragic ending. All the hatred, grievances and anger have turned into a "bad boy" battle against the "evil police", and the biggest suspense is deliberately stopped by the director on Issa...
Simply breathtaking!
To be fair, whether it is the theme or the technique, "Les Misérables" has nothing new and surprising, but in more than 90 minutes, it vividly allows the audience to experience a shocking, absurd and desperate experience, through the seamless switching of multiple perspectives and multiple scenes, making an in-depth but unsolvable analysis of the "identity" contradiction at the bottom of French society.
In the film, a community leader once said: "What if only by venting anger can we exchange listening?" ”
But what can anger be exchanged for?
As the "big back" replied, "The worst thing is that no one cares." ”
Thinking back to the "family from all over the world" scene at the beginning, how fragile this "Les Misérables" is.