It just hits all the proper spots for me emotionally because I'm guilty of the same things (albeit less worse things witnessed than that rape) and just proceeding going my way - feeling guilty.
We've all been there I'm sure. I suppose unless you have appropriate training, as a civilian your first reaction to witnessing violent acts in everyday life will be denial and shock. Not easy to get past this. Even with proper training, you never know how a situation will escalate and end up like. And on top of possible physical harm come possible legal repercussions too.
Interestingly enough, in Code Unknown's opening, the black guy who stands up for the beggar woman, DOESN'T avert his eyes to the kid just throwing trash at her... and look what happened there.
Indeed. Talk about unforseen escalation and legal repercussions...
In that black guy's case in "Code Unknown" (I don't know if you understand French) another problem is also the way he adresses the police, which could easily come out as aggresive to them (which of course is in line with one of the main themes of the film), but what he witnessed indeed made him angry.
How fascinating is it to see two filmmakers tackle the polar opposite ends of the same "theme" - and both resulting in different consequences... Obviously life is complex and with its own biases and nuances and never black and white.
To compare those two scenes though, I feel the tunnel scene in "Irreversible" is quite "organic" in the way it happens whereas the paper bag scene in "Code Unknown" feels more like a "set-up" to me.
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TermlnatriX
9 years ago
I noticed the whole escalation phenomenon right away - and understood everything that was going on in that scene despite not speaking French and picking up on the nuances of the language and whatnot. But I see this happening everywhere to this day. How NOT only cops react the way they do to "an emotional person" who has every right to be that way if it's legitimate, but how PEOPLE in general react to emotional people. Common sense begins to break down and people turn primal and animalistic or violent. This is why I really liked what Haneke did with this film by concentrating on this very theme of human communication or lack thereof and what it leads to in the heat of the moment.
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Yes, I completely understand you about the "organic" versus "set-up". However, I'm struggling to figure out how Haneke could've organically devised that moment. Maybe I need more time to think about it. But I see the contrivance in his design. But it didn't bother me too much.
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