Zhang Yimou's legal film "Article 20" performed well in the "Spring Festival Stall" in the Year of the Dragon, achieving a double harvest of word-of-mouth and box office. In recent years, with the occurrence of a series of social hot cases such as the "Yu Huan case" and the "Kunshan anti-homicide case", the legal concept of "justifiable defense" has constantly stirred up the nerves of the public and the world, set off a heated discussion in the field, and also caused the legal scholars to examine and reflect on the issue of legitimate defense. In response to social concerns, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Court jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Application of the Legitimate Defense System in Accordance with Law." Against this background, the provisions of China's Criminal Law on legitimate defense have been put on the screen, which is of great practical significance. The movie "Article 20" with its perfect integration of drama, realism and legal professionalism has pushed domestic legal films to a new peakIt embodies art's observation of reality and the rule of law. Many people in the industry have said that they have finally waited for a domestic movie that can be included in the must-see list of legal people. And "Article 20" is not only a must-see movie for legal people, but also an excellent work that has actually made important contributions to the concept of the rule of law and justice in the hearts of the people.
1. Light comedic expression of serious legal issues
The movie "Article 20" artistically presents the justifiable defense clause of Article 20 of the Criminal Law, revolving around the justifiable defense clause, with "the bus driver was characterized as being sentenced for excessive defense in the face of righteousness and bravery", "high school students stopped campus bullying and were unjustly beaten up by classmates" and "village bully** vulnerable villagers and adulterer's wife were counter-killed", three cases closely related to the protagonist Han Ming's prosecutor unfolded the narrative, comprehensively and meticulously presenting the typical scenes and identification problems of justifiable defense in reality.
The case of intentional injury by bus driver Zhang Guisheng was an old case undertaken by Han Ming when he was at the grassroots procuratorate. Zhang Guisheng was originally a "model driver" of the bus, but he was sentenced to three years in prison for intentional injury for stopping sexual harassment and seriously injuring the other party. During this period, his wife died of illness from hard work, and his daughter was also criticized by classmates because of her father's sentence. Zhang Guisheng doesn't understand, why do you have to pay such a heavy price for righteousness and bravery? After Zhang Guisheng was released from prison, he frequently petitioned, and Han Ming, as the prosecutor in charge of the case, tirelessly did his ideological work, and explained the law to him through the scene of the crime: when drinking to stop harassment, it was legitimate defense, scuffling together was a mutual beating, and finally when he hit someone's head with a weapon, it was intentional injury. The film uses Han Ming's mouth to show the audience the mechanics of determining the boundaries of justifiable defense in past judicial practice.
When the case didn't happen to me, the pain was always not so strong, because it was someone else's life. And when the case really happened in Han Ming's own house, he deeply realized the difficulty of being a party to the case (family member). Han Ming's son Han Yuchen injured the son of the director of education, Zhang Ke, in order to stop the campus bullying, and was reported to the police station by Director Zhang because of the lack of evidence of righteousness and bravery. After that, in order to get the other party to withdraw the case, Han Ming's family racked their brains, apologized, found a relationship to intercede, and tried all means. In the end, Han Ming's wife fought and was administratively detained in order to seek justice for her son. Han Ming's family also paid a heavy price in order to seek justice. It was this pain that made him understand how important and difficult fairness and justice are to the people.
The main case of Wang Yongqiang's counter-murder of village bully Liu Wenjing is the most painful case in the film, earning enough tears from the audience. Wang Yongqiang's wife, Hao Xiuping, and his daughter, both deaf and mute, were disabled, and the family had to borrow usury from Liu Wenjing in order to treat their daughter's illness, so they suffered Liu Wenjing's continuous intimidation**. One day, Wang Yongqiang was chained to the door with an iron chain around his neck, and Hao Xiuping suffered Liu Wenjing in the house. As a husband, Wang Yongqiang rebelled to protect his family under such circumstances, beat Liu Wenjing violently and killed him. The procuratorate held a joint meeting of prosecutors, and almost all the prosecutors believed that Wang Yongqiang was not justified defense, because previous cases were handled in this way, only the prosecutor Lu Lingling saw that this was a desperate counterattack by Wang Yongqiang's family, and believed that Wang Yongqiang was likely to be justified defense, and won Han Ming's relay support in the subsequent case-handling process. Through the joint efforts of the two, the procuratorate finally returned justice to Wang Yongqiang's family.
The film implants a lot of comedy elements in the process of carrying out the three-line narrative. For example, Han Ming, an "old professional", quietly patted the leader's ass, saying that his idea was the result of figuring out the leader's meaning; "Living father" Han Ming thinks that the four thugs beat his son like this too lightly; Han Ming and Lu Lingling, two current colleagues and ex-lovers, met at noon to experience the massage chair for free and chat about the case, and were "captured alive" by Han Ming's wife Li Maojuan on the spot. Deputy Tian mistakenly thought that Han Ming had already known that he had taken the first step to reveal that he had a crush on Lu Lingling, and wanted to find someone to find Lu Lingling's ex-boyfriend Han Ming. Also, when Han Ming and Lu Lingling went to Wang Yongqiang's village to collect evidence, the commissary "comedian" couple was watching another movie "Man Jianghong" directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Lei JiayinThe details of this "fairy linkage" also make the comedic effect of the movie full.
For such a serious legal issue as justifiable defense, the director chose to express it in the form of light comedy that the masses like to see, which on the one hand fits the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival, and on the other hand, it may also take into account that if the topic is too serious and heavy, the audience is narrow, and it cannot achieve the expected commercial effect of commercial films and the value of law popularization undertaken by legal films. "Compared with the large-scale exaggeration and deformation of traditional comedy, light comedy has the characteristics of being more down-to-earth and life-oriented. "Presented in the form of light comedy, it not only avoids vulgarization and excessive entertainment, but also edutains. The film uses vivid cases to explain in simple terms "what is justifiable defense" and "how the law recognizes and treats justifiable defense" in an atmosphere of laughter and tearsThe interpretation of the profound legal issue of justifiable defense and the legislative spirit and the concept of the rule of law carried behind it have played a better role.
2. Reflection on the boundaries of legitimate defense and value questioning
During the negotiation process between the parents of the two sides in the Han Yuchen case, there was a comedic scene in the film. Director Zhang said: "If your son wants to raise his noble hand by one centimeter, this eye will be gone." Han Yuchen's mother Li Maojuan replied: "Isn't this still a centimeter away?" Director Zhang's lips trembled, and he was speechless. Yes, if Han Yuchen raises his noble hand by one centimeter, it is very likely to cause serious injury to the other party's eyes, even if it proves that he stood up to stop the bullying, can he still be recognized as legitimate defense? Paragraph 2 of Criminal Law article 20 stipulates that where legitimate defense clearly exceeds the necessary limit and causes major harm, criminal responsibility shall be borne. In past judicial practice, there is such a judicial misunderstanding: "Once the result of defense is serious, it is directly declared that the defense is excessive or even denies the defensive nature of the act." "According to previous judicial practice, if Han Yuchen raised his noble hand by one centimeter to stop bullying and caused injury, it is very likely that he will be found to have intentionally injured or defended excessively. After laughing, the audience couldn't help but think:Is the distance between justifiable defense and excessive defense only one centimeter? Isn't this a bit difficult for defenders? This is the first time that the audience has reflected on the boundaries of justifiable defense, mutual assault and intentional injury after Han Ming explained to the bus driver in the film that the boundary between legitimate defense, mutual assault and intentional injury was aroused.
In the main case, Liu Wenjing's ** against Hao Xiuping at that time had been completed, but his illegal infringement of Hao Xiuping's family continued. After Liu Wenjing **Hao Xiuping, he said on the spot that he would continue**Hao Xiuping and continue** this helpless family. If you look at it from the perspective of "rational people after the fact", you may feel that Wang Yongqiang and Hao Xiuping could still choose to call the police at that time. But as a husband, it is reasonable for Wang Yongqiang to beat Liu Wenjing under such a ** and threat. Moreover, from the beginning of Wang Yongqiang's arrest, no one in the village dared to stand up and testify for Wang Yongqiang, which also shows that even if Wang Yongqiang's family chose to call the police at that time, the villagers did not necessarily dare to risk offending the village tyrant Liu Wenjing to testify, and Liu Wenjing may still not be punished by the law, and then carry out more serious retaliation against Wang Yongqiang's family. For Wang Yongqiang at that time, there was no better choice than to resist on his own, and he certainly had the urgency to take defensive measures. After Wang Yongqiang took defensive measures, Liu Wenjing tried to take a knife from the car, and at this time, Wang Yongqiang and his family were under imminent threat to their lives and health. According to the provisions of paragraph 3 of article 20 of the Criminal Law, a person who takes defensive actions against a violent crime that seriously endangers personal safety, such as being in progress or homicide, and causes an unlawful infringer, is not considered to be in excessive defense and does not bear criminal responsibility. Wang Yongqiang's counter-killing of Liu Wenjing in order to protect his wife and children under the critical circumstances at that time fully complied with the provisions of Article 20, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Law, which provides for the "unlimited right of defense" that can be killed by defense, and is a legitimate defense. However, without the courage of the prosecutor to break with judicial conventions, and according to the past judicial misunderstanding that "whoever injures is justified, whoever dies is justified, and whoever makes trouble is justified", Wang Yongqiang is very likely to be found guilty of intentional injury causing death or excessive defense.
In the many dramatic reversals of the main case, director Zhang Yimou accurately grasped the audience's emotions and put forward the ultimate question of the film. Hao Xiuping jumped off the building in despair when she was forced to sign, and the audience's shock, sympathy and sadness were already in place. Immediately after Gao Ye's output to Lei Jiayin, telling him that his spirit of doing the right thing at the expense of affecting the distribution had always infected her, pointing out how desperate Hao Xiuping was for the rule of law, fairness, and prosecutors as a mother before she chose to leave her husband and daughter and jump off the building, so that Han Ming completely woke up to how great the prosecutor's decision had a great impact on other people's lives and families, which moved countless viewers to tears. Next, Wang Jian, the leader of the Yongen City Procuratorate who has been mentioned many times in the film, finally appeared, and the actor Yu Hewei is considered an "old prosecutor", who has played a prosecutor in film and television dramas many times. Many viewers who often watch procuratorial film and television dramas can't help but smile and suspend their emotions. When the audience's emotions have not completely calmed down, the high-energy output of Prosecutor Han Ming at the hearing at the end of the film hits the heart through wonderful lines and superb performances, pushing the audience's emotions to a climax. The film faces reality with great courage, and through the narrative of peeling off the cocoon, the bloody suffering experienced by Hao Xiuping's family as a typical low-level people is nakedly presented in front of the audience. "The price of life" and "the awakening of colleagues" directly promoted the change of Han Ming's thinking about handling cases, and also raised the film's question of the value that should be truly protected behind the justifiable defense clause.
Behind how the judicial organs determine the boundaries of legitimate defense is the value orientation of judicial case-handling. In the past, the formation of the judicial misunderstanding that "whoever hurts is justified, whoever dies is justified, and whoever makes trouble is justified" is formed because for a certain period of time, our society pursues the goal of "stability is greater than everything else". The dead and injured feel that they have suffered a loss, and often use various means to pressure the judicial authorities to pursue criminal responsibility. In order to give an explanation to the dead and injured and maintain the stability of social order, the judicial organs have adopted the method of strictly restricting the application of legitimate defense, examining and even harshly criticizing the defender from the perspective of a "rational person after the fact", and making the defender bear all or all of the responsibility. The popularization of the Internet has provided an important way for the public to improve their awareness of the rule of law and rights, and the public has a deeper understanding of fairness and justice through participating in the discussion of hot judicial cases, and the awareness of rights protection when their own or others' legitimate rights and interests are infringed is also rising. At the same time, the Internet has provided a wide range of channels for the public to express their voices, so that the aspirations of the broadest masses of the people for the rule of law and justice can be heard. The era of "whoever hurts is justified, and whoever dies is justified" has become a thing of the past. The judicial organs took the initiative to respond to social concerns, re-examined the misunderstandings of justifiable defense in past judicial practice, reversed the tendency of one-sided pursuit of the value of maintaining social stability and order, and returned to the original intention of the establishment of the justifiable defense system - to encourage individual citizens to actively fight against illegal violations when public power cannot be reached in time or effectively protected. The law, first of all, protects the righteous side, not allows justice to compromise with the outcome of the dead and wounded. At the end of the film, through a large monologue by Prosecutor Han Ming, it vividly shows the value trade-offs of judicial organs in the new era when facing legitimate defense problems.
3. The true presentation of the image of Chinese-style procurators
The movie is undoubtedly very successful in character building. In the past, the character design of prosecutors in the ** circle of film and television works was basically an elite typeThis time, Prosecutor Han Ming's character setting is an ordinary person.
As an ordinary grassroots prosecutor, in addition to the professional aura, Han Ming may not have other dazzling achievements, no handsome appearance and prominent background, some are the frustration of being "assigned" to grassroots work because they stick to the justice in their hearts and bear the punishment in their college days, some people are middle-aged and are "bent" by work and life (lumbar disc herniation), and some are learned to look at people's eyes and cater to their superiors after many years of working at the grassroots level.
Undoubtedly, this kind of shaping is more vivid and full, and it is also closer to life. In the eyes of the public, prosecutors are an elite group, but it is with the blessing of professional halo that they seem unusual. In reality, most prosecutors are ordinary people like you and me, with small shortcomings and tempers, the same burden of work and family pressure, and sometimes life is a chicken feather.
Han Ming, who went to the city procuratorate to take up a temporary post, pandered to and even flattered his superiors, and it was not harmful to violate the bottom line of principles, and it was also conducive to winning the support of the leaders so that they could carry out their work better. If he achieves results as a result, Han Ming can stay in the city procuratorate smoothly, and his son, who came to the city's key high school to study, can continue to study in the city. These are the most realistic considerations and the most realistic portrayal of a middle-aged person.
Although the edges and corners have been smoothed out by work and life, the most simple concept of justice in Han Ming's heart has never been abandoned. After experiencing the shock of the sudden death of bus driver Zhang Guisheng and his daughter's questioning about justice, and experiencing the first love of college and current colleague Lu Lingling, who once resonated at the same frequency and was like-minded, prosecutor Lu Lingling took on the responsibility of protecting the witness Hao Xiuping alone, and handed over the baton of justice for Hao Xiuping's family to him, Han Ming's "sense of justice to do the right thing at any cost" when he was young was awakened again. As a child's father, he was not qualified to be willful, but Han Ming still gambled on his future for the justice in his heart and the smooth road of his family, and "insisted on going his own way" at the public hearing that Wang Yongqiang was justified in defense. Fortunately, in the end, he won the bet. This is not only a victory for Han Ming, but also a victory for the rule of law.
Han Ming's character design is actually more similar to that of a civilian hero. As opposed to civilian heroes are superheroes with superpowers. Superheroes are born to save the world, and ordinary people make contributions and sacrifices beyond the scope of ordinary people's responsibilities in order to make this world a better place, regardless of personal costs, which is even more touching. It is this ordinary greatness that allows ordinary people to become heroes too. Civilian heroes are real, the ones that can be felt and accepted by everyone the most, and what we need the most around us. The artistic treatment makes Han Ming's highlight moment of defending justice at the hearing idealistic, and there are indeed many "Han Ming-style prosecutors" in real life. It is these ordinary prosecutors who do the right thing at all costs that have promoted the progress of our rule of law little by little.
The movie also restored the real scenes of many prosecutors' work, so much so that many prosecutors said after watching the movie, "It's just playing my daily life". For example, Han Ming has already gone to the municipal procuratorate to take up a temporary post, but he still has to deal with the petition of the parties to the case when he was in the grassroots procuratorate. Because "the case is closed, but the matter is not over", even if the original procurator in charge of the case temporarily leaves his original post, he still has to continue to be responsible for the case. Han Ming not only persuaded Zhang Guisheng, a bus driver who was going to Beijing to petition, to come back, explain the law to him, and tell him why the case was so sentenced, but also asked his old classmates to help him arrange a job and help solve his family's living difficulties.
For example, when many people gather at the door of the procuratorate to ask for an explanation, the leaders and prosecutors who come forward to solve the problem have to use both soft and hard measures. As a realistic film, these details of the film are handled very delicately, and the operating logic of the system in reality is presented to the audience in a quiet manner, bringing everyone a deep reflection. Does the film criticize this phenomenon? There must be. Compared with the help afterwards, Zhang Guisheng's family needs a statement and a fair one more than aftermath. As for the parties who gather the crowd, it is also debatable whether their demands should be satisfied. However, while criticizing the film, it also has a certain tolerance and understanding of this Chinese-style golden mean to resolve social contradictions, and follows the creative logic of warm realism as a whole. This is already the case, the difficulties of the masses are imminent, and social contradictions are on the verge of erupting. Someone has to solve these problems, and sometimes it is helpless to do so.
In addition, the family life of the prosecutor presented in the film is also very realistic. As a family member of the prosecutor, Li Maojuan took on the heavy responsibility of taking care of the family, and when Han Ming was needed to come forward, he returned the chain. For example, because of her son's injury to a classmate, Li Maojuan asked Han Ming to apologize to Director Zhang. Han Ming was delayed because of his work, which caused Li Maojuan's dissatisfaction. And when her husband needed her to help take care of the witnesses because of his work, Li Maojuan still took on this task without hesitation. In reality, because of the busyness and particularity of the work, procurators may need their families to bear more family burdens, and it is inevitable that family members sometimes complain, which is also human nature. However, just as Han Ming's wife finally understands and supports her husband's work in the film, the vast majority of prosecutorial family members in real life also understand and support the work of the other half. They are the heroes behind the prosecution of glory.
The film presents the audience with an objective and fair image of Chinese prosecutors through the case handling stories of Han Ming and Lu Lingling. Unlike the common law system, which has a single function of prosecuting crimes, Chinese law requires prosecutors to uphold an objective and impartial position, and prosecutors must not only prosecute crimes, but also prevent innocent people from being criminally prosecuted. This means that the job of prosecutors is not to pursue criminal punishment and punish the guilty under criminal law, but also to try to find evidence of innocence and prevent innocent people from being wronged. That's why prosecutor Lu Lingling twice returned the case to the public security organs for supplementary investigation in the film, risking the risk of handling the case to investigate and collect evidence and protect witnesses, just to find evidence that Liu Wenjing went to get a knife to prove that Wang Yongqiang was justified in defense. That's why it appeared, Han Ming tried his best to disagree at the hearing, to persuade the hearing officer, to persuade the leader, and tell everyone:"The law is that it costs more for the bad guys to commit crimes, and it's not for the good guys to do it at a higher cost. ”At this moment, the image of Chinese-style prosecutors represented by Han Ming and Lu Lingling stands, and the theme of the movie stands.
IV. Conclusion
Since 2017, in the face of high concern in the online field, the judicial organs have taken the initiative to take responsibility, and a number of cases have been recognized as legitimate defense in accordance with the law. Scholars have also worried about whether activating the justifiable defense system will become a "sporty" or "short-lived" practice. In 2020, the "Guiding Opinions on the Lawful Application of the Justified Defense System" issued by the Supreme People's Court and the First Session of the Supreme People's Court clearly stated that those who meet the requirements for the establishment of justifiable defense shall be resolutely determined in accordance with law; It is necessary to conscientiously prevent the erroneous practice of "whoever can make trouble is justified" and "whoever is killed or injured is justified," and resolutely defend the spirit of the rule of law that "the law cannot yield to the lawless." And this film and television work, which has been prepared by the Supreme People's Procuratorate Film and Television Center for four years, once again sent a firm signal to the whole society:"Law, we can't give in to lawlessness." It is foreseeable that this concept will become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with the popularity of the film, and the prosecutor will also have more confidence and courage when judging whether the case is justified defense in accordance with the law.
The author is Hu Yuqing, a postdoctoral fellow at China University of Political Science and Law).
*: Prosecutor's **Justice Network (ID: JCRB ZYW)].