Spring Festival movie "Article 20" focuses on the hot topics of "justifiable defense" and "excessive defense", which extends to the thinking and exploration of fairness and justice, ethics and legal principles, and then extends to how to achieve fairness and justice. Discussions on deeper issues such as how to balance the law, reason and sentiment, and how to realize that "the law makes it more costly for bad people to commit crimes, rather than making it more costly for good people to take action."
Boring legal regulations turned into vivid stories
"The law cannot give in to the illegal", this is a classic line from the recent hit movie "Article 20". This sentence and the judicial philosophy it represents appeared in the work report of the "Two Highs" of this year's National Two Sessions. Xinhua News Agency and other media have noticed that the work report of the Supreme People's Court stated that "the law cannot give in to the law" is not a slogan. "Article 20" has been awakened and must continue to be implemented. The work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate pointed out that "carry forward the core socialist values, promote the construction of a rule of law society, and continue to lead the concept of legitimate defense", which aroused widespread attention and resonance.
The title of the movie "Article 20" is taken from the provisions of Article 20 of the Criminal Law. The most controversial aspect of the legitimate defense system stipulated in Article 20 of the Criminal Law in terms of substantive law is the urgency of the time conditions for legitimate defense acts and the appropriateness of the limiting conditions. Due to the constraints of ideological concepts and the influence of judicial inertia, the legitimate defense system in criminal law has not been fully applied for a long period of time. The film is based on real cases that directly address the difficulties and pain points of current judicial practice.
Objectively speaking, "Article 20" is not a movie that covers all age groups. Based on the logic of legal provisions and the social nature of the story, there are certain requirements for the mental age and legal knowledge of the movie audience. How to make the audience sit still in the theater and turn "boring laws" into vivid stories? The three cases in the film involve different families, including bus drivers, farmers, and well-off urban families. A clever inner connection is established between the three cases, which combines joy and warmth with the simplicity and warmth of ordinary people. It is beautifully presented and outlines a realistic three-dimensional group portrait.
On February 21, at a press conference with the theme of "'Concept and Practice of Handling Every Case with High Quality and Efficiency'", the leader of the Supreme People's Procuratorate mentioned the popularity of "Article 20" and expressed that Han Ming , Lu Lingling and other images are the epitome of prosecutors in the new era. Fairness and justice are the soul and life of justice. Representative of the National People's Congress, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and Chief Prosecutor Ying Yong talked about the movie "Article 20" when the Gansu delegation listened to the review opinions and work suggestions on the Supreme People's Procuratorate's work report on March 9, saying that the prototype of this movie It comes from the procuratorate’s handling of “justifiable defense” cases.
The film "Article 20" focuses on the issues of "legitimate defense" and "excessive defense", and extends to the thinking and exploration of fairness and justice, ethics and legal principles. In "Article 20", Wang Yongqiang, who was at the bottom and unwilling to be humiliated, fought back and caused the death of village bully Liu Wenjing, and was forced to start an in-depth contest with his father Liu Bingren. This storyline is also the core point of discussing the issue of "justifiable defense" in the entire "Article 20", which extends to how to achieve fairness and justice, how to balance the law, reason and emotion, and how to realize "the law makes it more costly for bad people to commit crimes" , rather than letting good people take action at a higher cost" and other deeper issues.
This film truly shows the pressure and challenges faced by prosecutors at work: different choices when handling cases may affect their career prospects; when the main leader and the leader in charge have differences of opinion, whether they dare to express their true opinions. The film changes the top-down direction of legal popularization in previous films of the same type. From the perspective of the legislative spirit and the people's ardent expectations for judicial justice, the legal popularization target is appealed to judicial practitioners from the bottom up, and the public represented by the audience is passively The subjects who accept the popularization of law are transformed into the judges of "free conscience".
In the intricate network of social relations, the power of individuals is insignificant. The protection of individual rights is still a major issue. The road to judicial reform is still long and arduous. This is a reality and challenge that must be faced squarely.Fairness and justice are the expectations and needs of the people. This film embodies and visualizes the concept of the rule of law followed by the procuratorial organs in handling legitimate defense cases. On the one hand, it shows our country's judicial progress, the update of judicial concepts and the judicial personnel's adherence to the law. , on the other hand, it conveys the concept that law is the protection of the people and allows people to know more about justice, which has strong practical and social significance.
Source: Procuratorate Daily
Author: Gao Bin
