*Spoilers on the Malayalam movie 2018 ahead
2018 is not a movie... It’s an emotion!
The disastrous flooding of 2018 in Kerala is probably a ballad no one wants to re-live but the hope, resilience and victory in every person’s story who survived it, is a poetry that every Malayalee would want to reminisce about. And that’s exactly what Jude Anthony Joseph and the co-writer Akhil P Dharmajan carefully picked out and portrayed beautifully on-screen.
Each character and their respective storylines imbibe the essence of the tagline of the movie; “Everyone is a hero.”
I wouldn’t like to call 2018 a “disaster movie” (a movie revolving around a disastrous event), but a “survival movie” because that is exactly what the whole movie encompasses and entwines in a beautiful serenade.
For those of us who were privileged to experience the floods of 2018 only through television in the comfort of our homes, "2018" actually teleports us to that moment! Because even if we were away, either our loved ones, family or friends were physically part of the turmoil.
Every time someone wins, it gives you goosebumps, every time someone cries, it brings tears to your eyes.
Being a mother of a child with special needs and who needs support to walk, the scene of the gifted child with a broken leg, being stuck underwater and his parents both holding him up to save him, tugged my heart so much that I burst out in tears. It hit too close to home! Complete credit to the writers for the representation and the touching portrayal.
Reenvisioning a catastrophe and filming it can go wrong in many ways:
It can turn into a documentary and lose mass appeal in this process.
Representation of facts might go wrong.
The characters and storyline might underplay and not meet expectations.
2018 treaded safe waters quite literally.
They picked out only the positives of the whole disaster and presented it with utmost sincerity and emotion and that is why it hits the right chords!
Not relying completely on VFX and actually creating a set and filming the whole incident was a brilliant decision. But I have to admit that the VFX that was actually used was phenomenal!
2018 was liked by every Malayalee alike because it enfolds how every ordinary person ended up being extraordinary in their own way. Be it the main storyline of Tovino Thomas or the story of Vineeth Sreenivasan and Aju Varghese on the sidelines, all encompassed the goodness of hearts in a time of disaster. All coming through to support one and other in times of need, regardless of cast and creed. A beautiful thought transcended into a beautiful movie. That’s what 2018 is all really about.
There are very few movies that are appreciated more for the writing and direction than the actors. 2018 was absolutely balanced in both ways. But I would like to call it a brilliant director’s movie who envisioned and executed it to perfection.
2018 is a must watch, not just for Malayalees but for every human being around the world, because it’s not just a movie that surpasses experiences extraordinaire but also one that shows us that everyone is truly a hero!