Spinning a movie from the havoc caused by the 2018 rains that lasted many weeks in Kerala and the human stories around it would have been demanding on Jude Anthany Joseph and team. The effort they took comes out in the meticulously captured frames and the sound and fury of the devastating rains and floods will keep ringing in your ears minutes after the movie has ended.
Though the scripting makes heroic moments appear staged, knowing the real stories behind them would still move you. It would also take you back five years and let you relive some of those experiences. 2018, the film, despite its staginess, deserves a pat for making you remember the forgotten sacrifices.
Stars keep tumbling out in the first few minutes – Tovino Thomas, an easygoing runaway army man, Kunchacko Boban who sits in a control room office, Aparna Balamurali, a television reporter on the go with a microphone, Asif Ali, a wannabe model and Vineeth Sreenivasan, an NRI whose marriage is in trouble. Tamil actor Kalaiyarasan also plays an important role in the film.
Their stories are briefly told, just enough to show their trajectories changing in the face of disaster. The script is almost jumpy here, in a hurry to set the background and the characters move in and out of the screen like props on a stage. Aju Varghese’s sequence, which revolves around a tourist couple in the torrential rain, is perhaps the weakest part of the plot. A few scenes still manage to touch you, the laugh of a child with disability and of a blind man joking with his young friend (Indrans and Tovino).
Watch: Trailer of the film
The sequence of events is eerily familiar to those who have lived through it – the initial indifference towards the rain and warnings that many didn’t take seriously, to the hard-hitting reality of people stuck on rooftops of their houses waiting to be rescued. The rescue shots are admirably done – Akhil George’s camera moving underwater and above it, letting the darkness of the time close in on you.
Jude takes to heart the message of the film – everybody is a hero – giving each of the characters room to evolve and do their bit. The celebrated heroes of the 2018 floods – fishermen risking their lives to save the stranded people – are given a tribute. The rescue of a pregnant woman by the navy, the huge number of young people who volunteered to help, the many relief camps where strangers supported each other, all get their dues. Though on screen, the claps and salutes and the rising background score for the big moments give the film an artificial touch on a whole, it works as a tribute to the many who risked their lives for humanity.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film's producers or any other members of its cast and crew.