The film "Article 20" was planned by the Supreme Procuratorate and uses a melodrama to reinterpret the legal provisions. If not grasped correctly, the film may fall into an awkward position: it may be a little more vivid than a TV special, but more pale and blunt than a feature film. Judging from the final effect, Article 20 has some regrets in a tightrope state, but on the whole it has achieved a relative balance. Through three emotionally appealing and authentic stories, it makes the complex legal concept of "legitimate defense" tangible and tangible, thus effectively highlighting the humanity and emotions behind the law, and reflecting the true face of society in subtleties, reflecting the people's simple and sincere desire for fairness, justice, and sincerity.
Through the "intertextuality" of the three cases, the arc of the protagonist is outlined
Although Article 20 shoulders the heavy responsibility of "popularizing the law", it is still attentive enough at the plot level, and selects three cases to complete the process of argumentation with emotional strength on the theme. In the first case, Zhang Guisheng, a bus driver, was convicted of intentional injury because he acted bravely in the name of justice, and after being sentenced to three years in prison, he insisted on petitioning and finally died in a car accident; in the second case, Wang Yongqiang was bullied, injured, and threatened by the bully Liu Wenjing, and then he resisted angrily with scissors in his hand. The third case is that Han Yuchen, the son of prosecutor Han Ming, came forward after seeing Zhang Ke's bullying on campus, but Zhang Ke's father called the police to file a case, which seemed to delay Han Yuchen's future.
The three cases involved different families, including bus drivers, farmers, and well-off urban families. The film strives to make the subject matter have a broad social radiation surface, so that the theme has a certain degree of realistic universality, and can arouse more audiences' personal feelings and deep thinking. The film also establishes a clever internal connection between the three cases, which strongly promotes the development of the plot and completes the thematic expression.
Zhang Guisheng's case is a "past completion" case, which shows the far-reaching impact of an inappropriate trial on the parties and their families, as well as the negative social effects brought about by it; Wang Yongqiang's case is in the middle of the "present tense" and is facing different directions of prosecution; Han Yuchen's case is in the early stage of the "present tense", and Han Ming and his wife Li Maojuan are actively campaigning to eliminate the case in the "bud" state. From the perspective of intertextuality, these three cases can be regarded as the three stages of a case, and in each case, we can see its causes, developments, and consequences by using the other cases as mirrors. All three cases were handled by Han Ming or had a stake in him. In this way, the three cases can have a cumulative or intersecting emotional effect on Han Ming, and he will anticipate various consequences with the help of past cases in the cases at hand, and when reviewing the cases he has completed, he will imagine whether there are more possibilities when the cases are prosecuted because of the reality of the situation.
The main plot line of the film is the trial of Wang Yongqiang's case, which is extremely complex and special, involving issues such as rural governance, cracking down on rural underworld forces, and the protection of the disabled. In the prosecution stage of this case, the film meticulously presents the differences and contradictions within the procuratorate due to different ideas for handling cases and different understandings of the law. Chief prosecutor Han Ming could have directly prosecuted Wang Yongqiang for intentional homicide in accordance with custom and tradition, but because of the consequences of Zhang Guisheng's case and the anxiety of his own Han Yuchen case, he began to re-understand the essence of "legitimate defense" and reflect on the mechanical dogma and simplicity of previous precedents.
Starting from the authenticity of the character creation, if the film makes Han Ming incarnate as a "messenger of justice", with a natural compassion for the heavens and people, stand up for Wang Yongqiang, actively resist the pressure of the outside world, and become an indomitable fighter, although he is hot-blooded, it is easy to appear false because of his high profile. When Han Ming felt guilty because of Zhang Guisheng's case, and his son was deeply involved in similar cases, he was able to empathize with the situation of Wang Yongqiang's family, and then push him to complete the reinterpretation of the legal provisions, and was even willing to use his own efforts to overturn the existing precedents, truly realize fairness and justice at the legal level for Wang Yongqiang, and highlight the temperature and human feelings behind the boring legal provisions.
Such characters do not stand on the commanding heights of morality, but enrich the shaping of characters through "moral advancement" again and again, so as to arouse the emotional resonance of the audience to the greatest extent. In contrast, the film has a symbolic tendency for the portrayal of Lu Lingling, her sympathy and concern for Wang Yongqiang, which is different from ordinary people and common sense, is a little abrupt and deliberate, and lacks the necessary foreshadowing;
The film outlines a touching "arc light" on Han Ming, who begins to have a deeper understanding of the law from a prosecutor who follows the rules and regulations of the law, and has a more humane insight into the nature and purpose of the law. At this time, Han Ming surpassed the "mediocre evil", the character image appeared intimate and touching, the trajectory of psychological transformation was also clearly visible, the related "incentive events" were solid and moving, and the audience also conformed to the value orientation of the film in the identification psychology of the characters.
The emotional narrative is full, but the comedic expression is lacking
The film is good at creating a full emotional atmosphere in a specific ethical situation, and through a considerable amount of emotional rendering, it completes a deeper inner touch and ideological shock to the audience.
For example, the film uses the restraint and nervousness in the actors' expressions to amplify Zhang Guisheng's despair and unwillingness after his release from prison, which makes people feel pity. Especially after Zhang Gui died in a car accident, his minor daughter tried her best to restrain her tears because of pain and self-blame, which was also moving. These situations undoubtedly formed great moral pressure on Han Ming, and they were a strong emotional stimulation for the audience. Especially in the case of Wang Yongqiang, in terms of character setting, the film arranges the image of Liu Wenjing, an evil and cruel village tyrant, on the one hand, and on the other hand, Wang Yongqiang's wife Hao Xiuping and daughter Juanjuan are set as deaf and mute;
Through this full emotional narrative, these parties who were hurt by the "Article 20" law made it impossible for Han Ming to be indifferent, and he realized that the right thing has a price, but there is a price, and it must be done. After witnessing what happened to Zhang Guisheng, Han Ming realized that the prosecutor "is not handling a case, but a person's life". When dealing with Wang Yongqiang's case and his son's case, Han Ming further realized that the law is never a cold article, it is a natural principle and a national law, but it also has human feelings. If the law does not meet the people's expectations for fairness and justice, then such a law is both incompetent and indifferent.
At the final hearing, Han Ming moved the crowd with affection, understood the reason, and turned the tide, seemingly to overturn the previous unreasonable precedent, but in fact to save four women: Zhang Guisheng's daughter, Hao Xiuping and her daughter Juanjuan, and Han Ming's wife Li Maojuan, who was detained for impulsiveness. There are also two minors among these four women, who will grow up and have different emotional attitudes towards this society, and even establish different values because of these judgments. In this way, the film concretizes Han Ming's behavior not only as saving helpless women, but also as saving the next generation and saving the values and social atmosphere of the whole society. It is precisely in this kind of artistic treatment that a legal education, which was originally a bit high-profile and empty, becomes concrete and touchable in the narrative of moral emotion.
The film is ambitious, and it should be in a serious atmosphere, allowing the audience to see the helplessness of the victims, see the difficulty of justice, and then clarify the necessity and urgency of redefining "legitimate defense". However, in the context of the Spring Festival "family carnival", the film needs to insert a considerable proportion of "comedy" segments, and this part of the content is mainly arranged within Han Ming's family. How to keep serious and profound issues from being disturbed and diluted by comedy elements, and how to make the strong and full tragic narrative not be truncated and turned by comedy elements, all test the artistic skills of the main creator.
When completing the comedic question, some of the dense dialogues provided by the creator seem to be meaningless. For example, regarding the fact that Han Ming and Lu Lingling were lovers in college, his wife Li Maojuan was jealous and went crazy many times. Regarding how to deal with Han Yuchen's apology, the husband and wife also broke out many quarrels. In these quarrels, the parties seem to be deliberately avoiding the important and trivial, trying to avoid the core issues, but quarreling over some inconsequential trivial matters, these small quarrel scenes do not help the development of the plot, and are even more unnecessary for the expression of the theme.
Can a film with such a heavy theme as "popularization of law" or "judicial theme" be compatible with "comedy" or "popularity"? In fact, Zhang Yimou's earlier "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit" gave the answer to a certain extent. Comedy does not have to be achieved by shaking off the baggage lines, it can also be achieved by capturing and condensing the absurd landscape in real life, and analyzing the contradictions and complexities of the characters, so as to ask more profound propositions. From this point of view, it has to be said that it is a pity that Article 20 has produced a separation and disagreement between content and form.
Text: Gong Jinping (Professor, Art Education Center, Fudan University)
Figure: Data map
Editor: Guo Chaohao