Submitted by zoom_zip in Films

  • the cops first instinct is nearly always violence or threat.
  • failing that, torture, lies, and manipulation.

the film doesn’t comment on this either way, but it just makes a point of showing that the process for these cops is usually find a suspect -> beat the suspect -> ask for a confession -> if no confession -> torture subject -> repeat

since we’re in the head of the cops, nobody explicitly criticises this. even the “good cop” who comes in from out of town just sits in the background while this happens. every time it happens he fades away into the unfocused distance, watching it happen.

the only time anyone does mention it as a bad thing is if the media are present. it’s not presented as “beatings and torture are bad”, it’s “don’t let anyone see you doing the beatings and torture”

  • their first instinct is usually to straight up drop kick anyone

it’s almost like a gag

  • the cops are entirely incompetent
  • everybody they get involved with has their life ruined

they never catch the killer. they just run around in circles grasping at straws, and… like a hurricane… destroying the lives of everyone they come into contact with.

the killer is never found, but:

  • the young kid who witnessed the murder is manipulated into giving a forced confession, beaten, and ultimately dies because of all their meddling

  • the guy who they catch wanking in the woods gets smeared as a pervert in the media and essentially has his family life destroyed by being outed

  • the guy who submits the rain song to the radio show loses his job, is shot at by the cops and nearly killed, and is essentially chased out of town

interference by the cops destroys the lives of all of the suspects, but at the end of the film the cops are fine. it even shows detective park in his nice house with the events of the film just being a footnote in his history.

  • the cops openly tamper with evidence, prime their suspects, collude, and so on

iirc detective park buys some shoes for the kid, but before gifting them to him, he goes to the crime scene to leave a footprint. then he gifts the kid the sneakers, and then he arrests him.

it would be easy in any other film to frame this in a way that glorifies it. think of the “bad cop” movies like dirty harry which gave all the cop lovers a real hard on for “look how we could tackle crime if we didn’t have all these regulations holding us back”. memories doesn’t do that. it is completely apathetic to the things the cops do. like it’s just shrugging it’s shoulders and saying “well, this is the world we live in, isn’t it.” and in framing it that way, it becomes critical.

i probably missed some points but it’s been a few weeks since i saw it

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