In this movie, Paris is basically a typical Third World nation in microcosm: You have a charismatic dictator (the Mayor) surrounded by yes-men and flunkies, an economy that has no real industry as such and forced to take "foreign aid" any way it can, a populace who is so dependent on the dictator's policies that it will support them whatever the moral cost--and not challenge him when times go bad, and the army (the kids with the hot rod cars) who do the dirty work but don't share the benefits and have no future. There is a perversion of civil society, law and order, and moral justice that is acceptable to the "Parisians" but wouldn't be acceptable in a "free" society.<br /><br />The protagonist comes to Paris as a refugee, accepts the situation, and witnesses the chaos when the moral cost of the Mayor's racket hits a tipping point and people start voting with their gas pedals. The monsters in this movie are the ones we breed in our own societies when those in power do what they want (even if they believe it is for the greater good) and enact unethical policies.