Crisscross: Idiots, COVID-19 and a Film About Apartheid.

In the last few days, 3 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in my country. I live in a country near ground zero, we have Chinese investment all over, many of them are transiting through every day but yet we are almost in last of the list, how come? Is it that We are blessed by God? Or we all are generic idiots. Why is that if you might ask? let me tell you. Because we "are" idiots

A representation of COVID-19

My country is full of lush vegetation, river lands, greenery, beautiful countryside and money-hungry corrupt MOFO’s. Every country which has the potential risk of being affected is taking serious measures to prevent the virus from spreading. State of the art tech, highly skilled personals and efficient methods of diagnosing. Idiots from my country broke all the SIX scanners that were put in airports to track if anyone had a higher body temperature. We only had just six. No more no less. Only six for all the 2 million people transiting through the airports every week.

When a reporter asked an official from one of those airports, his reply was-

-We heard that the six scanners are broken now. What are you doing to stop the infected from freely entering?

-We are doing everything we can and no one did, can or will enter without being checked and we are 100%efficient.

-But the scanners are broken aren’t they? So how are you doing so?

• We are taking their temperature with our HAND.

What a joke. You find it funny too? But it is true. This is a news report where you can read about how frail our authorities are-https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/national/coronavirus-countrys-only-thermal-scanner-at-benapole-faulty-1581079520

This virus claimed the life of more than 4000 people to date. And more than 100,000 infected. The image above shows that. Even with the most advanced state of the art medical technologies, developed countries are till now one step behind. Italy, both Koreas, and China are fighting tirelessly.

Yet our government is more serious about investing millions of dollars in “GOVERNMENT officials” learning how to farm and grow fish properly and to train they are sent to Uganda and Cambodia with the budget of 50G’s per head. Yes, you read it right. Not even the sunburnt, hand to mouth, poor farmers, the officials sitting in comfy chairs who might have never held a fistful of dirt in their hand in their entire life. But they cant buy scanners or kits to diagnose worth the fraction of that money and that is just one example.

Whenever an epidemic falls upon us we either troll about it or try to get rich. For example, it is natural that among such an epidemic, a wearable mask to breathe safely is an essential commodity. What has once been prized 15 cents now it might be worth dollars. But our idiots are selling them at more than tenfold profit. Once which was worth 5 BDT is now worth 70.

Enough about these idiots. Even in this chaotic situation, I had nothing to do of value. So I watched a film(Cause I’m also an idiot and a film freak).

Escape from Pretoria Starring Daniel Radcliffe.

Source:

IMDb Rating: 6.1/10.

My Rating: 5/10

Director/Co-Writer: Francis Annan

Writer: L.H Adams

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Ian Hart

Genre: Thriller

It seems like once the Harry Potter superstar now an “average” b grade stars film career has been going only downhill. I actually watched two films. The other one was Guns Akimbo and that was even more disappointing.

The movie is based on the biography of, the same name, Tim Jenkin(Daniel Radcliffe). He is the white Nelson Mandela. Or at least that’s what the film states. In the apartheid era where blacks were been devastatingly discriminated, Tim Jenkins chose to join the rebels and took upon himself to deliver ANC materials with leaflet bombs. And while doing so he was caught and was jailed with 12 years to serve. He was accompanied by his partner in the bombings and friend Stephen Lee(Daniel Webber).

In jail, they think of breaking out and find a way where Tim Jenkin create keys with wood and levers that allow them to escape. And they do escape but in not so grand “Shawshank” way

The movie about a political movement should feel like a revolution. Instead, this felt like a cheap thriller where every twist and turn is filled with overwhelming suspense. In doing so they made the whole movie fast-paced but equally underwhelming. The nerve breaking camera movement, always pointed at the butt of characters, the characters always sweating and panicking made the movie only a disappointment.

The director and co-writer Francis Annan though over the top chest-thumping background score might build the tension. It did build tension. On the rise of his career. The faster the audience forgets about this movie the better for him to get a chance again at directing something worth mentioning.

I have bitched and crapped enough on things for today. If you’ve read and have an opinion on something please leave a comment. I love a constructive discussion. An upvote would help too. And as always, Thank you for reading this.