Wolves and sheep. Mass demonstrations like popular protests are the most obvious indicator of social problems brought to a critical level. It’s just that people don’t go to protest actions – they need a common problem that can unite people even according to the most diametrical views into a single mass. We already have visual experience. Everyone will always be unhappy with something, and from the hopeless insolubleness of their problems there will always be a need for such events. Unfortunately, the masses of the people in their protest unity are not able to directly influence the resolution of the problem or come to any single consensus, and at the same time they naively believe that the actions of mass pogroms will somehow contribute to the achievement of public justice. They say that since we show our discontent, the tops will certainly think about how to calm us down. However, it should be accepted that any use of force must be based on the principle of “action-counteraction”. As long as the action proceeds in a peaceful manner, without pogroms of private property and mass riots, it has the right to exist. When it develops into an outright rebellion, the authorities and law enforcement agencies have every right to use force to pacify and further prevent, otherwise the consequences can be the most catastrophic. It is not necessary to demonize the image of people with helmets and clubs as some chain dogs of the regime – they are people like all of us, and they are just doing their job. The work is difficult and not always noble.
However, the example of the Diaz school is exactly the case when everything went wrong. At that time, the punitive machinery of the law enforcement agencies equally hated everyone, guilty and innocent, women and the elderly, physically maiming and humiliating morally. The police here did not act as a preventive body - it became the most natural means of suppression. And even after its action of demonstrative lawlessness, it did not leave alone those who somehow managed to survive, continuing the abuse already within its walls, for there certainly no one will interfere. “Diaz School” is not even a story of a specific violent lawlessness of power over its citizens, it is a story about people’s belief in their impunity, that once the state machine is on their side, it gives them full moral right for any cruelty.
Ultimately, your conclusions depend on your “civilian” positions – who you sympathize with more, the “opposition” or the “regime.” As always, I prefer neutrality: everyone is equally guilty of this story – both the provocateurs who did not know when to stop, and the special forces, who believed that they had a legal right to physically harass the undesirables. Against the backdrop of frankly absurd notions of antagonism, like the hipster "Hunger Games," cinema looks soberingly harsh. It is highly recommended to watch.
8 out of 10