Spoiler
Alert: Like most Nolan films, it is at the same time yes and/or no. What do you
mean spoilers? Anyway, one does not understand the Nolan films. So, reading up
is actually recommendable before you go to his films.
A
friend of mine (goes by the handle of @VJ290481) on Twitter put it more
succinctly “One must make sure to read the movie’s Wikipedia plot section
before watching any of Nolan’s films. This way you can follow 50% of the movie,
to get it 100% you gotta be Nolan”
My blog posts are usually
ramblings of my wandering mind. They usually are not reviewing books or
films. But a rare experience comes along and triggers the write button. Nolan,
going forward, should do two options. One, the full-length film; two, a much
shorter version just capturing the essentials, a little longer than the
trailer, but much shorter the full length.
I will split my review also
to the same design.
The much shorter version:
Terrorists storming a swanky setting, people rushing into save, spellbinding
action, the action scene gets over. People conduct normal conversations in city
surroundings. (No, the city does not fold in on them or explode) The scientist explains time-bending science to the hero. The time-bending science is
continuously explained. More action sequences. Movie ends.
The shortest version (A
Bonus)
This one is not written by
me, it is already written within the film itself (Trust Nolan to do those
clever tricks, a loop inside a loop). This is an actual conversation between
the leads in the film
Neil: What
the hell happened here?
The
Protagonist: Hasn't happened yet
The full-length version.
The film starts in the usual
Nolan way. A grand opera. The conductor getting ready to start the proceedings.
You instinctively know the poor guy does not stand a chance. BANG. He is shot.
The opera is taken hostage by a bunch of thugs. Why, where – you must wait for
the police to arrive to find out. The police come. Our protagonist surprisingly named the protagonist, waits with few others, and after applying a
simple Velcro badge of the correct police logo, joins the team of police that
has arrived to rescue. Pulsating music, masked faces, the sleeping audience (in the
film, not in the cinema hall, I mean not yet, it is too early in the film for that to happen) and a fantastic action sequence
later (no one knows whether the rescue operation was successful or not) the
protagonist is tortured and bites on a cyanide bullet to end it all.
GOTCHA!
Not so soon, that was a fake
capsule; everyone knows it except the Russians who were torturing him. All bond
films ridicule the intelligence levels of Russians for ages, but this is
taking it to a new level.
From the opera house to a
ship, you suddenly find the protagonist (TP from now on) sauntering the streets
of good old London, recruiting the most handsome vampire (TMHV in short). TG
and TMHV are not the normal young people that you see on the streets. Listening
to their discussions, they remind you more of a Rutherford and Einstein before
August 1945.
Cue to move to some
underground (physically not metaphorically) lab, where a mandatory white coat
lab scientist explains the trademarked “Nolan and his time obsession” by making
the TG shoot to get the bullet back into the chamber. The ear-splitting almost
real-life imitation sound of a bullet is recreated by the Swedish composer.
(The Swedish composers are probably born with a secret DNA strain that makes
them the perfect fit for apocalypse films – Chernobyl & Joker and now
Tenet)
Jump next to the orgasm
moment for all Indians. TP and TMHV visit Bombay and we have Dimple Kapadia on
screen. Only Nolan can convert the eternally bikini-clad Dimple effortlessly
into an arms dealer. Bobby to Priya is a long road indeed. She is required to
look serious and utter more serious lines and she pulls it off. Not knowing
what is happening around you gives you an immense amount of confidence to
handle the proceedings. For all the troubles they took to travel to Bombay meet
Bobby err Priya, they get just one name. Could have been a simple zoom call.
Back in London, TP sees a
woman you initially mistake for Madame Olympe Maxime. Some mother-son tender
moments play out that makes you think maybe meeting Dimple in Bombay has
reduced Nolan to a Bollywood director. The tallest woman you have seen since
Goblet of Fire turns out to be the wife (estranged or still current is
immaterial as time keeps flowing forward and backward) of the person the name
of who TP and TMHV extracted from Dimple.
She has some background in
being a con artist. Some fake Goya sold to the man (goes by the name Sator) and
he was so pissed off he separates mother and son – much like an 80s Hindi film
villain. I tell you guys; Dimple has had more impact on Nolan than you first
admit. Now follows some typically Nolansque scenes where TP and TMHV crash
(literally and not just any mere crash, this is as big as it gets, how big? –
well, how about a 747 into a freeport?) into the safe, switch the fake and
engage in a fight where there are TP, TMHV, and what you think are two masked
men.
GOTCHA yet again. It was
just one masked man. and one even turns out to be TP himself. So were there 4,
3 or just 2 of them? My bet is on three! But who am I to decipher Nolan?
All is well at this stage.
The tallest woman and TP meet Sator and Sator immediately tells TP that he
plans to kill him. Nice bloke. I like no-nonsense villains. If only he had not
reminded me of Captain Haddock! I could not help smiling whenever he came on
screen. I was looking for TinTin and Snowy in all earnest.
TP and Sator agree to TP
stealing some Plutonium. An edge of the seat burglary and a car chase later the
stolen box of plutonium changes hand so many times that you just do not care
anymore where the damn thing went so long as the car chase ended. Cars sailing
backward, cars moving in formation, good old pass the parcel, some super heavy
fire engines to kick start the process and then back to some time-transition
scene – it is more like watching two channels on the TV at the same time, one
screen a dull grey and other a developing-room red- anyway the scene ends with
the clear conclusion TP does not have whatever it is that he was supposed to
have and instead, he only has the tallest woman to deal with.
Another pincer movement
tryst with the 747 crashing into the freeport and shortly after small
mumbo-jumbo they are all back, ominously deciding that the climax must be in
Oslo. However, Nolan decides it shall be another pincer movement with red and
blue color-coding, expecting that it will make it clear, ha ha ha, and then a lot of army-like people assemble and take off towards an Estonian old
industrial relic that is tailor-made for climax of films that have Armageddon in
their mind.
In between backward
traveling ships and other such visual clues tell you that all is well in Nolan’s
universe.
After that 747 crashing into
the freeport a second time, the tallest woman is back in the pink of her health
and three teams proceed towards the climax.
The Red and Blue team
planning a visually stunning but cerebrally draining maneuver in the above
mentioned Estonian industrial relic while the tallest woman sets out on a tryst
with Captain Haddock (Minus TinTin and Snowy).
Pardon me the overlook, that
I shall correct right now – there is the ever-constant Michael Caine meeting TP
in one of those posh English restaurants where he comments about the nice cut
of the suits that TP was wearing. TPs reply was supposed to be the one frame
blink-it-and-you-miss-it humor quotient of the film.
The said Estonian landscape
has some 9 kinds of stuff gathered by Captain Haddock, no relation to Horcruxes of the
Lord Voldemort, but almost similar, but not exactly the same, which TP and TMHV
must recover and deactivate before the universally accepted green timer clock
ticks down to zero.
No one knows what happens in
those frenzied last 10 minutes of blue and red forging ahead with bombs
exploding and buildings getting fixed in reverse of the explosions (maybe it
was actually 10 mins for blue and 10 mins for red but by this time no one cares
a fuck) and all ends well. TMHV rescues TP and a no-frills and fancy army
captain and they decide to go about their way.
In the meantime, the tallest
woman can’t bring herself around to do a simple sun lotion on the back of
Captain Haddock and shoots him dead.
So, you think the movie
ends!
GOTCHA yet again.
Bobby turned arms dealer
Priya and a mean-looking, albeit incompetent assassin waits outside this posh
English school to kill the tallest woman. Whoever plans a kill in the busy
streets when so much of alleys and empty apartments await?
BHAM! TP kills the assassin.
The assassin deserves that fucking bullet. What sort of an assassin does not
notice his assassin getting in the back
of his car?
This being a Nolan film you
do not dare walk out of the cinema hall before the usher drives you out. So,
you sit through the credits and nothing happens during or after the credits,
fooling you yet again. I have now lost track of the number of times Nolan
gleefully shouted GOTCHA!
Trivia – John David
Washington is the son of Denzel Washington
This is almost the “Who is
John Galt” of this book. This single question is pivotal to the entire theme of
the book. We are passing through one of the most politically volatile times in recorded history. I am making this statement with the complete knowledge of
the Third Reich that fortunately did not last the thousand years that was
promised by the Fuehrer. That regime was a one-off aberration. More
importantly, when that regime happened, and later spread like cancer, the rest
of the world collectively, for reasons that are various individually, decided
to stand up and rescue that nation as well as the rest of the world. But what
we see today is a different template. This is being played simultaneously all
over the world.
Philippines, India, turkey,
Hungary, Italy, Brazil, China, KSA, USA, UK…….
Her angst is currently
shared by billions across the world. The anger is palpable, the rage is
suppressed, and the sense of helplessness is reinforced each passing day. One
of the reasons why her book is so relevant today. Part of the remedy, if any,
again the sense of helplessness drives one to this point of cynicism, is in
understanding the malady, or the course through which the malady sets in.
Having studied, and
experienced, the events developing in Turkey, in a personal capacity she is
able to nail down the surprisingly simple process to the last detail. Her seven
chapters are spot on. She has chronologically elaborated the steps that the
regime, a synonym for the ruthless authoritarian, takes; one step at a time
with unerring precision and practice and reaches a final stage where a cure is,
almost, impossible. The book should not be read only as a documentation of the
degeneration of human values or as an exercise in finding out how low a human
being can fall, but rather as a boy-scout manual of how to avoid such collapses
in future or if we can reverse, I will come to it at the end, the toxic spread.
The authoritarian figure is
at the center of all such pathetic regimes currently we see rampant all over
the world. Orban, Erdogan, Modi, Trump, Putin……
Not surprisingly, all are
men.
On the other hand, in an
unrelated statistic, there was an article that hailed the countries that
handled the Covid19 well; Germany, New Zealand, Finland….
All women.
Maybe, there is a simpler
way to avoid catastrophe when you go voting next time.
What drives the
authoritarian figure to, first grasp power, and then drive a country to a state
of coma where dissent is crushed, only “his way or highway” philosophy is
established, doublespeak becomes the official language, sycophants are
rewarded, educated and the intelligent are portrayed as a villain, and
discouraged continuously to the point of them deciding to leave the country
altogether is not entirely understood. The said leader on a couch will give a
psychoanalyst an instant orgasm, at the mere prospect. The findings of such a
session are not going to be useful.
Understanding and stopping
his methodology, however, shall be extremely beneficial on a personally
satisfying and globally meaningful way.
He, I shall stick to the
male pronoun as the female leaders have exonerated themselves by their
conspicuous absence, starts with a “movement”. A movement always gains
traction. You need nothing specific or concrete. On the contrary, the vaguer
the better. He makes sure he addresses all the poor, the sidelined, the lower
strata of the society and spins a story that this is NOT due to economic
and intelligent aspects, but because of an elaborate scam by the “others”
who had stolen from them systematically and systemically. He successfully
creates a conflict between “real people” and the “others”. Who gets bracketed
into which category is left entirely to his whims, his prejudices, his
idiosyncrasies. And bracketing people is easy – we have generated enough
categories to slot them into, over the years - intelligence, political leaning,
religion, caste, race, economic status…. Unfailingly the “real people” end up
in rural and the “others” in an urban area. The inherent trait to ignore any
grassroots uprising as symbolic and uninteresting, the urban dwellers, not
realizing that they have recently been labeled “others”, plays a great role in
creating the drift and divide and when the authoritarian ruler-to-be strikes
his final blow, as a culmination of a slow-burning process, it is already too
late. Victory is announced and before the shock of the venom and vitriol that
is put on, blatant display starts to register, subsequent waves of more
incredulous demonstration of disregard for basic human decency start numbing
one’s senses. In wartime and in serious accidents, the victim undergoes a stage
of “shock” where the sudden nature and the magnitude of the injury leave him
numb and the person can’t feel any pain. One reaches almost such extremes.
Once in power, the
authoritarian keeps his charade and the program on ceaselessly. Never stops. He
appears to live in a bubble. Reality is just a figment of the imagination. Armed
with his sycophants and paid trolls and the social media/print media, TV at his
disposal, he sets about dismantling all façades of truth. Nothing exists in a
realm beyond the one that has his blessings. His wish is the party’s command.
He can make any outrageous claim and his loyal bootlicking army shall make it
happen. Let the claim be, the earth is flat, Muslims are evil, the mosque was a
temple, the museum is a mosque, immigrants are the problem, the neighbor is evil,
economists do not understand the economy, WHO is lying, there is no Uighur…. (go
on, entertain yourself by filling it out, or use my comments section). Any sane
person who decides to question or oppose becomes the “elite” not the “Real
People”. To quote Ms. Temelkuran “And we all know what happens when
self-doubting intellect encounters ruthless self-evident ignorance". The
battle is won before you even enter the arena. You are not just defeated, you
are DESTROYED. The entire troll army, the judiciary, the police, and every
single establishment is unleashed on you with an unimaginable ferocity and in
relentless pursuit. Even the strongest are broken. Sooner or later. But in the
end, without an iota of doubt.
It is impossible to argue
with the followers either. The author beautifully describes it as “trying to
make a milkshake without the lid on”; a wonderful modern-gadget version of
“fighting with a pig, where you both get filthy and the pig enjoys it.
The leader is now unfettered
and marches on to accomplish all his ambitions and outrageous goals. Once the
movement is set in motion, the content does not matter (Example – After 1.5
million confirmed Covid19 cases, the Indian prime ministerModi said this on live TV-am not
exaggerating “Thanks to the timely and decisive actions taken by this
government, we are now in a far better position, globally, than any other country”
– India stood 3rd in the John Hopkins global list when this
statement was made). Like the judiciary that sentenced innocent men to
sterilization and death to keep Hitler happy, hoping it was just a passing
phase, soon Hitler would be gone and the country would become great and then
stood aghast while the passing phase turned into raging inferno sweeping across
the nation, many great people and the institutions that they represent start by
accommodating the mad man, nursing the same hopes; let us give in some and
harvest grander gains later, only to realize that the capitulation is complete
before they could regroup or reclaim. The media, the judiciary, the police and
the army is all compromised one at a time. The best route is diabolically
simple. Ridicule them, bypass them, let the “real people” start to feel that
these institutions are superfluous. There is only one truth. The supreme
leader. And nothing else.
When this becomes evident,
the stalwarts of the judiciary, the system, the police, and the army (maybe
others too) stand dumbstruck, wondering where it went wrong. It went wrong the
very first time you sold or compromised your conscience, your intentions are
irrelevant. This is summed up beautifully in the last scene of that poignant
film, to which I have referred to in the preceding paragraph. When Dr. Ernst
Janning, the learned, much-respected judge tells Judge Haywood – “I did not
know it would come to this. You must believe me”, more a soul consoling cry for
recognition and the anguished appeal not to judge him harshly as a person, the
reply of Judge Haywood is probably the finest piece of that film, a film with
multiple scenes vying for exhausting your superlatives.
This is the answer to all
those who have accommodated and made the authoritarian leader a monster. No
evil can ever triumph in a vacuum. It needs collaborators. Their intentions do
not exonerate them in the end.
The next arsenal in the
supreme leader’s repertoire is a diversion. White noise. Whenever there is a real
national crisis, make an incredulous statement, and send the entire nation
running after the red herring. And the best diversion is always to target
women. Again, quoting the author here “periodically say something outrageous
about women's issues. Let there be a shock. Keep the controversy going until
whatever you're doing behind the white noise has been accomplished”. I know,
you the intelligent smirk, and think this is not possible. Hello, wake up.
A case in point is the
uniform reaction of almost the entire Twitterati yesterday, 29th
July 2020, when India announced a NEW EDUCATION POLICY! The policy is so
outrageous, that the only sensible reaction appears to be humor and/or laugh. A
point repeatedly hammered in her book. Given that India is a land of several languages,
with many languages spoken by a population equal to entire Europe, the
reaction is just a stunned incredulity, and the only way to channel your
astonishment is through sarcasm, wit, and humor. A set of armories wasted on the
megalomaniac and his mad disciples. Even as the nation reeled in shock, the
trolls set about hailing it as a masterpiece and the same old fundamental
fulcrum – “the real people are now reclaiming what is rightfully theirs” – so,
all you elite, you can go shove your grievances up your derriere.
Another distinct
possibility, rather unlikely as this is not just an outrageous claim but a
policy introduced, is that this is another white noise to divert and suppress
yet another development that the leader does not want the nation to
acknowledge.
Right in front of you, for
all to see, except to those “real people”, the country falls apart. The
Orwellian nightmare is a reality in your day to day life. Big Brother is
watching you.With a digital leash, the
watching is so must simpler. The author expresses the outrage of her friend who
goes for abortion and finds out the “forces” have informed her father! This
particular part of the book reminded me of the seminal film of Cristian Mungiu
“4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” which describes the harrowing reality of a girl
seeking an abortion in Nicolae Ceaușescu era Romania. I watched
the film during the first winter that I lived in Romania. Stories told by my
friends about those days and if anything, the stark depression in the film was
only an understatement, sent shivers down my spine.
Nothing sums up the full
essence and the horror than this single statement from the book.
THE TIME HAS COME THEY WILL
NOW DO THINGS YOU THINK THEY CANNOT.
There is nothing in the
realm of improbable or undoable for the supreme leader. The whole country is a
puppet and wrapped around his finger. Any meaningful opposition is crushed.
Dissent is wiped out. Any threat is neutralized. Slaves are rewarded, so long
as they know their limits and keep their ambitions in control. Intelligence,
independence, empathy - each is discouraged and those who practice the same are
driven to the edge of insanity or simply incarcerated. The assumed Dr.
Jekyll has completely transformed into the evil Mr. Hyde. He was never the Dr.
Jekyll; it was just your complacence.
The author mentions more
than once, one of the first questions, invariably, after all her speeches,
after the first few minutes of stunned uncomfortable silence that marks the end
of her speech, “Is there any hope?”
She answers them playfully,
truthfully, frankly. It usually is “we should not give up” or “no, there is
none”.
Hope, triggers in me, with
Pavlovian certainty, the recollection of the quote from Matrix
“Hope. It is the
quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest
strength, and greatest weakness.”
With that hope, I request
Ms. Temulkuran to write the next book “How to reclaim your country. The seven
steps from dictatorship to democracy”
Footnote: This is the first
review I have written for a book. This book is timely, relevant, and full of
rightful anger. The review of mine surely does not do enough justice to her
book. If you feel excited after reading this blog of mine and go ahead and buy
her book, I would feel that my post has served its purpose. But, please do not
stop with just reading the book, spread the word, raise the concern, let us
create a movement of the REAL “real people” and save the world if we can. We
owe it to the next generation.
