Di er shi tiao, internationally known as Article Twenty, is a Chinese courtroom drama directed by renowned veteran Zhang Yimou. This is the first legal-themed Chinese movie that focuses on the issue of justifiable defence. The movie aims to prove the righteousness of Chinese justice, law and politics as it can thus be considered a contemporary propaganda film.
Three stories are told throughout the film. The most important one focuses on a desperate man who gravely injured the bully of a village who had been insulting him and raping his wife for several months. The second case focuses on a courageous bus driver who protected a young woman from two louts but was accused as an assailant and now files petitions in the capital to clear his name. The third and final case focuses on a stubborn high-school student who intervened against a vicious group of intimidators targeting a sole victim in a restroom.
This film convinces on several levels. First and foremost, the movie intertwines emotional, intense and realistic dramatic elements with entertaining, quirky and surprising situation comedy in an overall balanced way. Up next, viewers will easily roots for the brave heroines and heroes of this film and against the selfish villainesses and villains of this movie. The acting performances are particularly strong throughout. The movie has been filmed with calm, focus and precision which makes it a joy to watch on the big screen.
On the negative side, that movie clocks in at one hundred forty-one minutes which is at least half an hour too long. Especially the film's middle section drags on and loses the promising momentum of the exposition before picking pace up again towards the resolution. Sometimes, the combination of comedy and drama elements is slightly inappropriate, unpleasant and wooden. For instance, the movie sometimes establishes a dramatic atmosphere dealing with a relevant topic involving traumatized characters before a joke is suddenly brought up to break the ice. While many viewers at my local cinema were cheering and laughing, such cases rather made me wince and question the audience's judgements.
At the end of the day, the movie's memorable resolution pardons for several flaws in its middle section. Article Twenty thus qualifies as propagandistic but nonetheless relevant legal drama with a few elements of situation comedy that should please Chinese viewers as well as international audiences who care about justice, law and politics. This film might not be Zhang Yimou's finest hour but it underlines the consistent quality of his cinematography in recent years.
