The passion is real, but it has been divorced from any context. The camera weaves through a crush of traffic and crowds. Its movements are fluid, dreamlike, and nearly disembodied. Nighttime Los Angeles glimmers in subtle gradations of light. The city is a battleground.
Cops stand by in riot gear.
Tanks sit on street corners. Surveillance helicopters buzz overhead. Fires burn in garbage cans. Teenagers throw rocks at the cops, or smash the windows of cars. Some drag queens mug a Santa Claus, as the camera glides by in a long tracking shot.