Argo(2012)

         Since, the film is about a true political story one of the most important events of 20th century, it is important to see the context in which this story happens. Of-course, this is explained in the film. But the problem is, the film skims through 75 years of history in five minutes and explains a two and a half month period in vivid detail. So, first let us see the 75 year history in some detail in Part1 and then go through the actual film in Part2. Please feel free to jump to Part2,if you are familiar with the Iran Coup of 1953 and Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Part1: The history

Till 1909

         Throughout the history, Middle East remains the active center for all action. Middle East is the pioneer in Astronomy, Algebra, Commerce and it is the birth place for three major religions of the world. It has been the center of all wars that were fought to control the Silk Route. Things could have calmed down after the advent of Sea Routes and Air Cargo. But the discovery of huge oil and gas reserves, put them right in center of all attention again in 1900s. This brought in wealth and tragedy alike to the people in the region and middle east still remains of center of activity in the world.

Till 1951

        Iran is doubtfully the greatest nation in middle east. It is one of oldest nations in the world and even today it is an land since, it has the third largest Oil Reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Canada. Oil was discovered in Iran in 1909 by a British owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company. This company would later become British Petroleum. Till 1951, for about 40 years, it enjoyed the monopoly in extracting and selling oil from Iran. Soon, Iranians realized that what they were getting as returns was peanuts. But most of the influential politicians and the Iranian monarchy was under the control of British Intelligence. But in 1951,the newly elected, Iranian PM Mohammad Mosaddegh decided the change this. He realized that the west wont budge to the Iranian terms over profit sharing and administration of oil extraction. So, his government nationalized oil. But, The British and USA did not have patience to negotiate with him. So, they decide to overthrow him. 
 

Mohammad Mosaddegh

Till 1953

After spending 4 million pounds and five plane loads of weapons, the CIA and the British Intelligence which operated from their Iranian embassies, injected riots in Iran.In 1953, things went out of control and the Iranian Monarchy sacked the PM. He was arrested and sentenced to death.(This was never carried out. But he was kept in house arrest till his death in 1967). During the trial he said:

"Yes, my sin — my greater sin and even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran's oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world's greatest empire. This at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property. With God's blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism .... I am well aware that my fate must serve as an example in the future throughout the Middle East in breaking the chains of slavery and servitude to colonial interests"

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Till 1979

           The CIA and British Intelligence,encourage the king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to take complete control of Iran by destroying democracy. They also seemed to have had a deal with him to get unlimited access to the Iranian oil. In return, he would receive a large sum of money for his personal use. Some historians believe that this is one of biggest blunders did by the West, that resulted in the raise of conservative powers in middle East and created a divide between the Islamic nations and West forever.

Ayatollah Khomeini

            From 1953 to 1979, Iran was under some form of rule that was under the control of CIA and British Intelligence. But for most part of the times it was ruled by the emperor Mohammad Reza Pahlavi directly. With the intend to revolutionize Iran, the emperor took a complete pro-western approach, disregarded Islamic traditions, oppressed and killed a lot of people using his CIA trained spy agency SAVAK. The western powers sucked oil out of Iran for 25 years .The negligence and corruption from the emperor resulted in a lot of angry citizens. The anger slowly piled and exploded as Iranian Revolution of 1979. It was lead by Ayatollah Khomeini, who pulled all people to streets and they all chanted "Death for Shah.Death For America"  This is where Argo begins.

Part2: November 4, 1979 - January 28, 1980 (aka) ARGO

      First, let me acknowledge that Argo is a fantastic thriller. It is excellently written and the pace in which the film moves is amazing. Secondly, it is extremely well made. It creates the mood for the thrill perfectly. The cast is also good and along with good character development for each and every person in the film, we can get the feel of anxiety and tension precisely. Not mention that , the film was nominated for a lot of Oscars and even received its  "Best Film" award from Michelle Obama. And this is an honor no film has ever received before, Academy Award from the white house.

 

      To me and to a lot of critics of the film, it seems very obvious, that the film winning the award and that too from the hands of the First lady of USA , is a merely political move. It is move done to reinforce a different kind of reality among public. The film does not present a different, but just manages to reinforce the existing ideas among public.That is why the film, skims through the part where the CIA is a villian causing the destruction of a country but explains in detail, how CIA acted intelligently saved a few innocent American Lives.

  

      Let us deconstruct the film now. First, Were those people who were taken as hostages were ordinary citizens or spies?. I think no body can answer that. But for Iranians, what matters is that the CIA played the puppeteer role from the American embassy. So, their argument in calling these people as spies is perfectly justified. We can also see that the embassy people are very keen destroying all records. Ofcourse, this is just circumstantial but in this circumstance, i think it is an important point to consider.

      Second, Iranians did not kill anybody from the embassy, they just took hostages. The situation was perfectly under control. They even released all women and minorities in a few days. Of-course,  they did put the hostages through a lot of trauma which is very very bad. But i think, they couldn't have had any means of identifying whether they are spies or not. I am not saying that the hostages were bad people and deserve it. But the fact the real identity of the hostages were not known the Iranians is not clearly explained. What we see is "Iranians took Americans", thats all.

      Third, Let see the portrayal of CIA in the film. The official account of the rescuing hostages from the Canadian Ambassador's house, says that the entire plan was orchestrated by Canada with the help of CIA. But the film takes an opposite stand and it even got criticisms from Canada for it. This painstaking effort of making CIA the hero of situation, is something we need to think about. But i think, it is not a big problem as it happens in a lot of films.

      But the last and the most important criticism, i have about this film is the portrayal of Iranians in the film. The only sense we get out of film is that they are mobs and they just want to kill the Americans. It is not entirely false because the revolution is a mob phenomenon and they did want to kill Americans. But one has to understand the reason behind the anger. They were genuinely angry because they were being exploited by the west for 60 years. But the film is not honest enough to put that forward. Yes, it does pass on a few dialogues about the reasoning. But the impact created by the visuals showing Iranians shouting in mobs is far more deeper.

      So to conclude, I think Argo is an excellent thriller. But it is a very bad dishonest political film. But it was deliberately chosen to be in limelight for re-affirming existing myths about Middle East in the West. I dont think Hollywood is entirely bad and they make only distorted films. They do make films with balls like Apocalypse Now, The Reader, Fight Club etc. But the mainstream films are always made to satisfy the general public stereotyping and Argo is an perfect example for that.

    

   

    

 

Paradesi(2013)

  Part 1            

          Before i write my actual commentary on Paradesi , i think it is important for to see the context or the time period in which this film happens.  So, let me present a quick recap of the time line of India from 1600 AD to 1947 AD. My basic intend is to stress over the fact that rule under British and other European powers resulted in death of over 60 million people due to famines.They were also responsible for the migration of over 1 million Indians as slave laborers to various parts of the world to work in their plantations.

History of India (1600 - 1947)

1600 - East India Company is formed
1605 - Akbar dies.
1613 - Jahangir approves East India Company's trade post in Surat
1627 - Jahangir dies.
1647 - Taj Mahal is complete
1666 - Shah Jahan dies.
1707 - Aurangazeb dies.
1764 - East India Company defeats Mughals.
1857 - First War of Indian Independence
1858 - British Crown takes over the rule of India from East India Company.
1869 - Gandhi is born
1885 - Indian national congress is born
1905 - Partition of Bengal
1919 - Jallianwalla Bagh Massacare
1920 - Non Co-operation movement
1930 - Salt march
1942 - Quit India movement
1947 - Partition of India and Indian Independence
(A better list can be found in Timeline of Indian_history)

Now, I want to add all the famines happened during this time.
Famine History of India (1600 - 1947)
1600   East India Company is formed
1707   Aurangazeb dies.
1764   East India Company defeats Mughals. 
1769   Great Bengal Famine
1782   Mysore Famine
1783   Chalisa famine
1791   Doji bara famine or Skull famine
1837   Agra famine of 1837–38
1857 - First War of Indian Independence
1858 - British Crown takes over the rule of India from East India Company.
1860   Upper Doab famine of 1860–61
1865   Orissa famine of 1866
1868   Rajputana famine of 1869
1869   Gandhi is born
1885   Indian national congress is born
1873   Bihar famine of 1873–74
1876   Southern India famine
1888   Orissa, Bihar Famine
1896   Indian famine(East and South)
1899   Indian famine(West and Centra)
1905   Bombay Famine   
1905   Partition of Bengal
1919   Jallianwalla Bagh Massacare
1920   Non Co-operation movement
1930   Salt march
1942   Quit India movement
1943   Bengal famine
1947   Partition of India and Indian Independence
Approximately 60 Million people died in all these famines.Again, a better list can be found in Major Colonial Famines.

A South Indian family in 1878 by W.W. Hooper

Due to this famines, a lot of people enrolled as Indentured Laborers and were transported to various parts of the world to work in Sugar, Tea, Rubber plantations and in construction work. Here is the modified time line with Indian exodus.

Famine and Migration History of India (1600 - 1947)

1600   East India Company is formed
1707   Aurangazeb dies.
1764   East India Company defeats Mughals. 
1769   Great Bengal Famine
1782   Mysore Famine
1783   Chalisa famine
1786   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Malaysia and Singapore 
1791   Doji bara famine or Skull famine
1825   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Mauritius.
1827   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Srilanka
1835   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Guyana
1837   Agra famine of 1837–38
1839   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Carribean 
1857   First War of Indian Independence
1858   British Crown takes over the rule of India from East India Company.
1860   Upper Doab famine of 1860–61
1860   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in South Africa. 
1865   Orissa famine of 1866
1868   Rajputana famine of 1869
1869   Gandhi is born
1885   Indian national congress is born
1873   Bihar famine of 1873–74
1876   Southern India famine 
1879   First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Fiji.
1888   Orissa, Bihar Famine
1890's  First Indian Slave Laborers arrive in Kenya, Uganda , Zambia
1896   Indian famine(East and South)
1899   Indian famine(West and Centra)
1905   Bombay Famine   
1905   Partition of Bengal
1919   Jallianwalla Bagh Massacare
1920   Non Co-operation movement
1930   Salt march
1942   Quit India movement
1943   Bengal famine
1947   Partition of India and Indian Independence

A total of 1.1 Million moved as slave labors. A better list can be found in this list.More detailed records can be found in UK government's archives.

What is Indentured Laborer?

     Prior to 1833, the east india company did slave trading of Indian labours. However after slavery was abolished in British Empire in 1833, Indians were transported as contracted or indentured laborers. This new system existed till 1920 and it does not take a genius to figure out the contracts were namesake and they were still used as slave laborers. 

Indian Coolies in Trinad

Let me start my commentary on Paradesi with this background in mind.
                                       

 Part 2

About Paradesi 

               First and foremost, one has to definitely appreciate Bala for his efforts to bring out the voices of the people whose voices are not heard.There is no reason why he has to do that but he always goes on to do that. Sethu is about a mentally ill man, nandha is about a juvenile, naan kadavul is about beggars, pithamagan is about an undertaker. These are the people in the bottom of the society. We all stand on top of them, exploiting them and treat them as untouchables. But Bala is determined to make their voices heard. Of-course,that makes his films are raw and look dirty. What do you expect a film about beggars to look like?

               So, this film also talks about the people who are in the bottom of Indian society during British rule. The film is set in a village in Tamilnadu.The village is in famine and there is so much poverty that people see rice only during festivals and marriages.  This is a village of lower caste people and in which lives a guy who is considered to be fit for nothing. We are told about the story his life. He is bullied by everyone in the village and is truly the rock bottom of the civilization. He goes out of village for work but is beaten up for being a lower caste. But determined to save his love, he enrolls himself along with a many others, as a slave labor to a plantation recruiter.

               The film's intention is not to shovel a list of statistics (like what i have given above) or paint us with truth. But it intention is just to make us feel what it means to be oppressed and what it means to feel true helpless in this wonderful infinite universe. Being truly helpless is something most of us have not seen in life. So, film basically moved takes us towards that. As the story progresses, the doors closed one by one for this man. First he realizes that he is cheated. He has to work harder than expected. But he tolerates that ,so that he can save money and leave as soon as his contract his over. After 2 years of working his ass out, he is informed that  his contract is far from over. He is left with disappointment. So, he decides to escape but only to be caught by the guards who break his leg permanently. After a few years, he looses his relatives and friend to a Malaria(?). But he always has one hope left in life which is the hope that he can leave to his village one day and see his son and wife. But finally when he sees that his wife walking into the plantation with his son as a laborer, his last string is pulled and the film ends in true hopelessness. 

               

About its Criticisms

              Why so much of hopelessness? A lot of people are comparing this film to Schindler's List and Pianist. They say Schindler's List ends with a hope. There are two problems with this comparison. First, even though ,holocaust is an extreme tragedy, it is over now and Jews in the modern world are mostly doing good. After the war, Israel is formed and a lot of Nazis were punished in Nuremberg trials. But the agony of the oppressed worker class people of the world is far from over. It happens today for workers in Arab countries. It happens today in china in the hardware manufacturing units. So, it will be an injustice to all these people to end the film hopefully. Replace tea with smart-phones and tea plantation workers to Chinese workers, one can realize that it is still a hopeless situation. Second, this film is attempt to make us realize that. So, it cannot end with hope which is defeating the purpose.

        

             Are we so dark after all? A lot of people have appreciated this film. But there are a good number of negative criticism also. I am not saying the film is beyond criticism. I myself have a few criticisms and it is very important that we should be talking about this film. However, i did read a few reviews which complained about the quality of cinematography, quality of village sets etc. Of all criticisms one can make about this film, there are people complaining about its editing and script nuances? This is like complaining about the someone's teeth while they are screaming in pain. This simply shows how dark people can be.

My Criticism

           First, let me acknowledge that this is awesome film. But it is very very dark and i don't think i can watch it again. It does not mean that film is bad. It simply means that I am not matured enough to process the emotions it invokes.  I sincerely hope one day i will be well balanced to watch this film and talk about it even more rationally.

           However, i do think that there are a few weak points in the film. First, the deliberate atheist message. Bala is an serious atheist and In this film also, he makes a few subtle criticisms on religion. There are three people who share the exploits of the workders a hindu sadhu , a christian compounder and a muslim stock keeper. I can see how Bala wants to stress the exploiting nature of all religious organizations. But what i think is that religion is one thing that still gives hope to a lot of people. Of-course, we see that for a moment in the christian song where, in the end people scream their hearts out and we all can feel how elated they are. But i think the stress is not enough. 

           Second is the black and white description of British in the film. They are simply shown as irresponsible exploiting drunkards. However, it is still not a big problem considering that at the end of day they exploited the workers. But still i think we need to give due credit to a few kind hearted Europeans who have helped us through out.

          But, i want to stress that the above points does not make the film any less valid. I am going to assume that they are just there to make things simpler for the story especially, the depiction of British.Otherwise it would have made the film a far more complex to comprehend.

Part 3

Final Note

          Obviously, Bala has made this film as a response to Eelam situation. And in the context of it ,the film makes perfect sense. The film takes us to the basics and stresses on the importance of lives of ordinary people. 
 
 (This section used to be a little bigger. As a few people in mayyam pointed out its lack of clarity and my dear friend Hari explaining its shortcomings, i removed it .Now,i am undertaking a deeper learning of it and I will be writing a seperate post about it. In the meanwhile, you can refer to this link for better information)

Flying Fish (Sinhalese)

                I saw the Sinhalese film, Igillena Maluwo(Flying Fish) in 2012 Bangalore International Film Festival. I had registered for the film festival months back and received my pass weeks before start of the film festival.But, somehow got stuck in a lot of work during the week. Desperate, i wanted to see at least one film. So,after spending some research on various titles listed in the festival calendar, i chose to see this. So, i went to see it in an afternoon after skipping my work.

                     The reason i wanted to see this film is that, it is a film made by a Sinhalese director in the backdrop of Srilankan civil war. I wanted to find out how unbiased the film is based on my understanding of the crisis. But when i came out of the theater, i realized that not only the film is very truthful to its intentions, it also made to reinvent my understanding of the crisis. It also reaffirmed my views on war. It even got a standing ovation from the audience. I am not sure whether it is a usual thing with all the festivals. But i think this film totally deserved it.

                                                          [TRAILER]

                      I want to mention a few thing before i explain the story. Flying Fish is not a usual film. It is an amateur movie made for film festivals. In-fact, there is a very good chance that you(and me) will never see this film in the future. It makes me very sad, because i think it is a very very important film. Also, i must tell you that even if, you ever get hold of this film somewhere be very prepared for the slowness of the film. Since, it is not made with commercial interests, the director takes liberty of deciding the length of the scenes in whatever way he wants. Every scene is slow,long and tedious.  Also, it is a very very sexually explicit and violent film. So, it is not ideal for your hall viewing.

                  Now coming to the story. This is not a film that deals with the politics of the crisis. But, tt is about the common people who struggle to live their lives in the crisis. There are a lot of characters but overall it depicts lives of three women from different background and their families in Triconamalee in Northern Srilanka.

                      First is Upanasana who is a Sinhalese teenager who has fallen in love with an army man posted in her village. Her father knows about their affair and he despises it, but afraid to do anything because he is an army man.

                      Second is a Sinhala widow, who has lost her husband to the civil war and struggling to support eight of her children alone. Her eldest son is a teenager who studies in local school and is in love with a classmate.

                  
                      Third is a pre-teen tamil girl who studies in a local school and her father is a clerk. He is seriously thinking to send her to Canada because he afraid that one day or the other he might not be able to pay LTTE and they might confiscate her.

      
                We see their lives moving slowly amidst the peace time that existed between the LTTE and the Army. The LTTE is actively recruiting people and the Army is keeping their men posted in all the places. Upasana and the army man are walking around the village and forests carefreely. They make love in the forest, visit monasteries and discuss about the future. The widow is trying to earn money and support her children.She is desperate in need of a support. Her teenage son is walking around the mountains with his classmate. They also discuss their future and lives after war.The Tamil Girl, goes to school and listens to the lectures of LTTE cadres who visit the class. Her father goes to work and faces racial slurs from the Sinhalese shop keepers. He also faces threat from LTTE who warn to take his daughter away, if he does not pay 2 Lakhs by the end of the month.
                      
                      When life is taking a shape slowly in Triconamalee , the peace time breaks down. Upasana learns that she is pregnant. The army man promises to marry her. The widow, in desperate need for support and care, starts an affair with an young shop keeper. His son is punished in the class for seen with a girl in strange places. The LTTE invades the Tamil Girl's home where they kill their dog and give an ultimatum to the father
              
                      Finally one morning, Upasana finds out the army has moved out of the village and her lover has deserted her. In rage she takes a bus ,goes to place where he is posted newly. When he meets her, she unzips his pants, takes out his penis and pretends to give him oral sex. He closes his eyes in pleasure.She then stops ,takes out a knife and cuts his penis. Blood splatters and she walks away in the sunset. She then boards a bus to come back. Meanwhile, the son of the widow, sees her having sex with the shopkeeper in a deserted place. Humiliated, he goes home waits for her. When she returns, he stabs her in front of his siblings and runs away in the sunset. He then boards the same bus in which Upasana is in. While this is happening, LTTE enters the Tamil Girls home and have an argument with her parents. When things go out of hands , they shoot her parents in rage, while she somehow manages to escape. She runs away in the dark and boards the same bus. The bus keeps on going in the night. Finally, when the sun comes out ,we can see that the girl is sleeping on Upasana's lap and the bus is actually running without a driver. Thus the film ends. Such is the power of the last fifteen minutes of the film , we completely forget how slow it was for the first two hours.

                         Everyone, these days talk about the greatness of the armed troupes. Srilankan supporters are happy that the army has won the battle. LTTE supporters are proud of the matyrs. But is there any one, who cares about the people? No body. Not the UN, Not the Srilankan government, Not the LTTE and definitely not the people who talk about the braveness of the war. The message in Flying Fish is very evident. It is an anti-war film. It makes a very clear statement that war does nothing good for common people. You may be in the winning side or loosing side, at the end of the day you loose something. Either you are persecuted or you face the side effects of handing over power to the army. War also brings out huge economic drain in the society.

                      I am very happy that such an anti-war film is made at this juncture.Because history tells us again and again that nothing good comes out of wars and especially ethnic wars. No body wins and every body looses. Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, Afghanistan, a lot many african nations, there is a huge list of examples.Srilanka is a new addition to it. Everyone thinks the war is over. But it is not. As long as there is hatred among people, the war is far from over. This is why Gandhi is a great man. He averted a huge crisis in India. Without him, we would have killed each other and disappeared from the face of the earth. Because he is a wise man who realized that "an for an eye will make the whole world blind". Sooner or later, every one has to realize this and as of now.Now, i can only hope that somehow the hatred among Tamils and Sinhalese disappear in Srilanka. Peace!
                                          

Jussaric Park(1993)

                Most of us, will have very fond memories of Jurassic Park. It came out when i was a school boy. It was one of the rare films,our otherwise orthodox Christian school took us to. The only other film we were taken to was Ten Commandments,without the kissing scenes. Jurassic park even managed triggered a small evolution Vs Creationism debate in my class. I was asked the most famous question "If humans evolved from Monkeys, why are monkeys still monkeys" by a fellow class mate.Nevertheless, it will be always part of our school days memories.

                 
                      It had dinosaurs of all sort. The gigantic plant eating ones, the cocky venom spitting one, the TRex and the Raptors that chase the kids in the kitchen. Not just the dinosaurs, even people in the film are memorable folks. The old, fat, white and white John Hammond. The lovable parent like paleontologist couple.The uncle like guy in glasses who we keeps on rambling things we did not understand throughout the film. The little girl who knows computers and the little boy who is thrown from the electric fence. Also, last but not the least, the bald lawyer who gets eaten by TRex after he runs into a toilet. It had a lot of memorable people and scenes we will cherish for a long time.
                 

                   But, have any of you seen the film lately? I stumbled across the film last year and  found the film is still very engrossing. But i also realized that it has much more in it. It is not a simple science fiction thriller film. Sure, the film is very engaging and has a lot of thriller moments. But overall, the story has a lot of different dimensions.
             
                    To begin with, this one of the rare sci-fi Hollywood action film in which the human race accepts defeat and retreats. Think about every famous sci-fi film you have seen. Mummy, Godzilla, KingKong, Independence day, Predator etc etc...In all these films, in the end, the sci-fi creature dies and the main characters will survive. Of-course, there will always one supporting actor who sacrifices his life to save others. But apart from him the protagonist, his girl friend or wife, their family and every one of them will survive.Sure, in Jurassic Park also every one survives. But they don't win the fight. They will barely manage to escape and the dinosaurs will live on. They will just leave the island and in the end we even see the "When Dinosaurs ruled the earth" banner falling on the victorious T Rex.

                    But, why it ends this way? Even, in the subsequent parts we see that people barely manage to escape the island and retreat. To understand this lets go to the start of this story. John Hammond, who is the owner of the park explains the ambition he had in life and tells how it all started. He says he wanted to create the most amazing show in the world. So he funded a chinese genetic engineer and his team(not explained in the film but explained in the book) to clone dinosaurs. Together they succeed in recreating the most dominant creature of past. He says, he wanted to create a controlled environment inside electric fences, so that these magnificent creatures of nature can be show cased for the viewing pleasure of the people.

                   When paleontologists Alan and Ellie come on board to inspect and certify the park, then are amazed by what they see. Even though they are astounded by what they see, they do share their concerns about the park. However, Ian the mathematician, outright rejects the idea. He says, humans cannot control nature. We think we can but we cant. We are too small to do that and nature will always find a way. He also says that they are building a system which is too complex to control and it can break down any time. But the lawyer is thrilled about the park and he is happy that a huge fortune can be made out of the park.

                  But,when the storm comes in and the same time the IT guy who controls the park tries to a hack , everything crumbles. The predators break loose, follow their instincts and being to hunt. And the most advanced park in the world with all amazing technologies reduces to an uncontrollable jungle overnight.Nature subsequently expands and finds its way into all nooks and corners of the park. This we see in the subsequent parts of the film.
   
                  So, the story in my views is kind of a warning message. It warns about the ever expanding commercialization of everything. From drinking water to education to entertainment, everything is getting commodified. The world is now controlled by the big corporations and we think we are doing amazing. But what we forget and what the scientific community is warning us is, we are screwing up with the nature. We have increased the temperature of earth, we are cutting down trees at alarming rate and we are running out of fossil fuels. The world is getting complex and complex everyday. And as the mathematician suggests, complex systems are too difficult to control. Everything might just flip. This i think is the core message of the story.

                   But what can we do? we the common folk are like Tim and Lex in the film. All we want to do is to live a peaceful life and we cant do much except probably actively talking about. So, we have wait and see if the adults take any action about the distress signals we see. Till then ...."Hold on to your butts!"