Since its release on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the movie " Article 20 " has been at the top of the box office. Since the end of the Spring Festival on February 18, it has topped the box office list for several days, and this popularity has continued after the Lantern Festival. On February 26, a special screening of the film was held at the China Film Museum. Co-screenwriter Wang Tianyi was present to explain the creation process of the script, and accepted an exclusive interview with reporters from The Paper after the screening.
"Article 20" poster
Wang Tianyi, born in 1985, is from Changchun, Jilin. He studied at China University of Political Science and Law for his undergraduate and master's degrees. After graduating from graduate school in 2012, he joined the People's Procuratorate of Chaoyang District, Beijing, and is currently the deputy director of the Fourth Procuratorate Department. The Chaoyang Procuratorate has nine business departments. He has served in five departments and has rich experience in handling cases. He has handled many cases involving public figures in film and television and with social influence.
Since 2018, judicial organs have handled a series of legitimate defense cases that have attracted social attention, such as the "Kunshan Anti-Homicide Case" and the "Xingtai Dong Mingang Case" in accordance with the law, so that the legitimate defense clause is no longer "sleeping". During the release of "Article 20", the Supreme People's Procuratorate's public account published two reviews of the film, "Shift and Responsibility" and "The Law is Not Cold Logic." The article pointed out that the reason why the film attracted attention was "just Because this is something that really happens around us people. It seems far away, but it can happen to us from time to time, so it is easy to resonate with it."
In addition to prosecutorial work, Wang Tianyi also uses his spare time to do legal education and publicity work. He also wrote scripts, and some of his works were filmed into short films and plays.
The following is his recollection of the script creation process of the movie "Article 20", presented in the form of oral narration by the interviewee.
Wang Tianyi. The Paper reporter Wang Zhengtu
[Wang Tianyi dictation]
"We are very much looking forward to correctly popularizing the legitimate defense system to the public."
I believe that the general public is no stranger to the "8·27 Kunshan anti-murder case" in 2018. This case was It has aroused widespread concern from all walks of life. Yu Haiming, who was riding a bicycle normally, was provoked by Liu Hailong, a drunk driver, and was hit with a machete. After Yu Haiming grabbed the machete, he stabbed and slashed Liu Hailong many times during the fight, causing Liu Hailong to be seriously injured and died. . The Supreme People's Procuratorate guided the Jiangsu procuratorate to intervene in investigation activities in advance, perform legal supervision duties in accordance with the law, support the public security organs in withdrawing the case, and publicly release it as a guiding case for legitimate defense.
Justifiable defense is an important system in my country's criminal law, which encourages citizens to exercise their right to legitimate defense. When the Criminal Law was revised in 1997, major changes were made to the legitimate defense clause, forming the current Article 20. Article 20 of the revised Criminal Law relaxes the limits of legitimate defense, adds the unlimited right of defense, and stipulates that the right to defend against ongoing murders, robberies, rapes, kidnappings and other violent crimes that seriously endanger personal safety, even if The consequences of serious injury or death do not constitute excessive defense and will not bear criminal responsibility. However, in past judicial practice, there has long been a problem of being too strict or even inappropriate in the application of legitimate defense.
In December 2018, the "Kunshan Anti-Homicide Case" was selected into the twelfth batch of guiding cases released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. From this, we can see that the judicial authorities combined the on-site situation to comprehensively study and judge the possibility and subjective willingness of "Long Ge" to further harm. , Yu Haiming’s behavior was determined to be self-defense. This judgment further clarified the protection of the right of legitimate defense. It was a very courageous and responsible decision at the time. It provided judicial authorities with a reference for handling cases on how to accurately define "ongoing unlawful infringement" and other issues.
In 2019, the Film and Television Center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate began to think about whether film and television works could be used to show how the procuratorial organs correctly identify legitimate defense, thereby awakening "sleeping laws." At the same time, it also allows people to further correctly understand legitimate defense and encourages courageous behavior in society.
"Article 20" stills
In 2020, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Application of the Justifiable Defense System in accordance with the Law", proposing to effectively prevent "whoever makes trouble is justified" and "whoever is killed or injured is justified." erroneous practices, and resolutely defend the spirit of the rule of law that "the law cannot yield to the law." It was at this time that Zhang Tingting, a producer at the Film and Television Center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (co-producer of the film "Article 20"), felt that the opportunity to write a script had arrived.
The accurate identification of legitimate defense involves the full play of the functions of the prosecutorial agency in accordance with the law. When reviewing arrests, reviewing prosecutions, and initiating public prosecutions, the procuratorial organs need to conduct an overall judgment and comprehensive review of all evidence in self-defense cases, put themselves into the situation of the case, and do not mechanically understand the so-called necessary limits. If there is insufficient evidence or other reasons for blocking that do not constitute a crime, the procuratorate shall make a decision not to approve the arrest and not to prosecute.
Stills from "Article 20"
The Film and Television Center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate has always attached great importance to film and television creations on major procuratorial themes. In the past, the Supreme People's Procuratorate Film and Television Center has participated in the production of works, such as the TV series "In the Name of the People" (2017) and "Inspection Team" (2020) that everyone is familiar with, and they have all achieved good response. So can you come up with an excellent film to demonstrate the legitimate defense system from the perspective of prosecutorial work? Everyone is looking forward to it.
The creative rules of movies and TV series are different. The latter can have a climax in the first episode, and then slowly peel off the cocoons and slowly tell the story to everyone. This is not the case with movies. The plot of the movie needs to be fascinating all the time and must take into account the audience's emotions while watching the movie. The film we created must not only correctly popularize legitimate defense and publicize prosecutorial work, but also make the audience want to watch it and love watching it, and let more people enter the theater, so as to achieve better publicity effects on the rule of law.
"Han Ming is an ordinary person first, and a prosecutor secondly"
In 2020, Enlight Pictures and the Supreme People's Procuratorate Film and Television Center reached a cooperation intention. The first step was to formally create the script. We wanted to find a different approach at that time. First of all, in terms of setting the main characters, they should not be "perfect" images like Hou Liangping, but we should emphasize that they should be interesting to the people. At the same time, the background of the story is set in a prefecture-level city, where prosecutor Han Ming came up from the grassroots procuratorate. In fact, the main characters in the film all have prototypes. When we wrote them, we were based on those ordinary prosecutors with special characteristics. Lu Lingling, played by Gao Ye, has many shadows of outstanding female prosecutors. The same is true for Han Ming, a middle-aged prosecutor. He is an ordinary person first and a prosecutor second.
Stills from "Article 20"
Many images of prosecutors in previous film and television works were either of high IQ, or images of righteousness shouldering the authority of the state. However, in the movie "Article 20", the audience saw another image. A wonderful thing.
Han Ming is a lively, down-to-earth prosecutor who lives close to the people. He also has the troubles of work and the pressure of family life. In the film, Han Ming's son was held accountable for administrative violations because he acted bravely and injured the school leader's son at school. The bus driver he handled, Zhang Guisheng, was prosecuted and lost his life on the way to appeal. Han Ming was short-lived. During this time, I personally felt the urgency of changing judicial concepts. It is precisely because of this that his ideological changes and character arcs can be fully presented, and the characters can finally stand up.
Han Ming’s impassioned speech at the final public hearing was actually from the perspective of the audience, that of the public hearing officer. In normal work, the hearing examiner does not know the story that happened before, but the audience has watched the two-hour movie and has a clear understanding of what happened before. I can sympathize with what he has experienced in work, family, and life.
Stills of "Article 20"
It took more than four years to write the script. The entire creative process is mainly based on screenwriter Li Meng, because I usually have my own job at the Procuratorate. We started chatting, and we often chatted until two or three in the morning at night.During this period, creators from Enlight Pictures and the Procuratorate also participated, including the Supreme Procuratorate Film and Television Center as a co-producer, and producer Zhang Tingting also participated in the entire planning process. The creation of the entire script is a process of "continuous writing and revision". After each meeting, we make adjustments with new questions and goals.
Teacher Li Meng is a full-time screenwriter, and he is responsible for the plot and main line of the entire story. He is very experienced in acting, and he basically controls the handling of character relationships and plot advancement. Following his main line, I design and enrich prosecutorial work and law-related plots. At the same time, I will also be involved in the shaping of the characters, especially the characters of the prosecutors in the movie, their language and daily expressions. During the creation of the script, we had numerous internal discussions, and we all agreed that the internal operating mechanism of the prosecutorial system should not be "written too arrogantly". In the end, the work scenes must be truly restored, and artistic processing should be carried out on this basis.
In 2022, director Zhang Yimou decided to take over the script. Needless to say, director Zhang Yimou's artistic achievements in China and even internationally. When I was a child, I watched his films such as "Red Sorghum" and "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit". In recent years, I watched his work " on the Cliff" three times in the theater. He made the suspenseful spy film uniquely beautiful. For the movie "Article 20", the director put a lot of effort into it. The original title of the movie was "Justified Defense", which was relatively straightforward. To ordinary viewers, it seemed like a propaganda film to popularize the law. The director later personally The title of the film was finalized as "Article 20". This not only highlights the topic, but also sells the subject to the audience, which can arouse everyone's interest.
"Article 20" director Zhang Yimou on the set
"We know very well that this movie will be watched by tens of millions of people."
The movie "Article 20" is "Zhang Yimou's work". He is not only a director, but also a screenwriter. Director Zhang Yimou made on-site adjustments to many lines. For example, there is a scene in the film where Lei Jiayin and Ma Li 's family play poker. This scene was proposed by him, and many of the lines were also the actors' on-the-spot reactions. When good actors come together, when so many outstanding creators come together, new sparks can always be created.
It can be said that the director was not bound by the script in handling many life details in the film. After understanding the character settings, he redesigned some designs. Including the school leader played by Zhang Yi and , the director believed that he could not be portrayed as a purely negative image. When a father learns that his son has been injured, it is only natural for him to want an explanation.
Stills from "Article 20"
Director Zhang Yimou gave me the impression that he is full of energy every day. He enjoys discussing legal issues with me and respects the professional advice I give. During the script revision stage, he told me, "mark all the places that cannot be changed in red" and "mark as little red as possible." I made corresponding adjustments according to his wishes. For example, the film mentions the time limit for prosecution and the scene of a joint prosecutors meeting. These must be retained. The movie is rigorous and accurate in showing the prosecutor's work process and working mechanism.
During the creation of "Article 20" stills
, someone on the crew once asked whether the self-defense plot could be made "controversial". I said this would definitely not work. The case must be a definite case of self-defense, without any ambiguity. In the presentation of the case, there cannot be any flaw of "untimely defense".
The movie clearly shows that after Liu Wenjing (played by Aruna) raped his wife Hao Xiuping ( played by Zhao Liying) in front of Wang Yongqiang (played by Pan Binlong ), he told Wang Yongqiang that if you don't sign the document, " "I will come and rape your wife next time" and even threatened "I will kill your whole family". These all show that this kind of bad violation is continuous on the whole, which is why Wang Yongqiang had to fight Liu Wenjing. Then Liu Wenjing went to the car to get the machete, with obvious intention to continue the murder. Under this situation, Wang Yongqiang found the scissors and stabbed Liu Wenjing to death.
We know very well that this movie will be watched by tens of millions of people, and many legal professionals will use a "magnifying glass" to examine the plot. If there is a legal error or logical error, it will have a great negative impact.
In July 2023, the movie started filming in Langfang, Hebei. Because I have a job during the day, I can only go to Langfang on weekends during the filming period to meet with the director and actors as a legal consultant. The crew hopes to restore the real case handling scenes and status as much as possible, and is particularly considerate in placing all scenes related to prosecutorial work on weekends.
"Article 20" director Zhang Yimou on the set
Last summer was extremely hot, and the filming on set was very hard. When I arrive at the scene, I usually sit next to the director. Sometimes everyone doesn't even bother to eat. The director is very rigorous in showing details. For example, when he filmed the interrogation scene in the detention center, he would ask me, where should the suspect sit? What to wear? Do you want handcuffs? There was a line that said, "Do you want to review and prosecute?" I told him that in such a situation, the prosecutor's language was "This case can be prosecuted." This is the language we use at the scene of the case, and we cannot speak in layman's terms. We will communicate a lot about details like these.
Prosecutor Han Ming's six-minute long statement at the end of the film is undoubtedly the most touching part of the film. When we were creating lines, we drew on many famous sayings from within the judiciary. For example, "What we handle is not a case, but a person's life." This is a famous saying by Liu Zhe, a third-level senior prosecutor of the First Procuratorate Department of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate. And the sentence "The law makes it more expensive for bad people to commit crimes, not for good people to take action" is also an aphorism that everyone in the judicial field has long been familiar with. As a screenwriter, what you have to do is how to arrange and design the many golden sentences in our legal system, and how to express these wonderful contents layer by layer. Of course, Lei Jiayin's performance was so wonderful. He was completely from the perspective of ordinary people, and his emotional performance also "penetrated" the hearts of the audience. Many friends reported to me after watching the movie that this scene not only made the audience cry, but many people couldn't help but spontaneously applaud.
