Tuesday, 19 May 2020

Start a revolution from my bed?

Hunt for Red October (1990)

Many keyboard warriors are so convinced by what they see online. They fail to understand why others are so dumb (in their eyes, of course). To them, truth our there is as clear as day. And everyone else just ought to follow, no questions asked. What these modern warriors or influencers, as they are referred to these days, need to know is that sometimes we become too blinded with our beliefs that we fail to practice mindfulness. They should wear another hat and maybe a different colour lens, other than rose, to get a different perspective on things. A revolution cannot be started by an army of one. It begins with the revolution of the collective minds and hearts of the people. This change is difficult, more so in modern times, as we are so divided by ideologies, cultures, faiths and identity.

This film is based on Tom Clancy's 1984 novel which in turn was loosely based on Soviet Union's 1975 attempted mutiny aboard a warship. In the 1975 revolt, a brand-new Russian frigate, Storozhevoy, is hijacked by its Third Rank Captain, Valery Sablin. He was convinced that Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union had lost its original Leninist's visions. The system was plagued with corruption and lies. Sablin wanted to use the hijack as a political statement to stir the Russian to engage in its Second Revolution. His plan fell flat, and he and his fellow men were incarcerated.


Storozhevoy
In the book and the film version, the warship was changed to a spanking new state-of-art nuclear-powered radar-escaping submarine. A rogue Russian Captain uses the invincibility of the sub to defect to the USA. The problem is the US Navy does not know of his intention and are wary of the intrusion of a Russian submarine in international waters. At the same time, the Russian authorities realise the rogue Captain's plan. The Russians are at wit's end to stop the Americans from laying their hands on Russia's highly advanced submarine. 

The highly suspenseful drama describes how the US Navy manages to save the day. They help the Russian crew to defect, rescue the submarine and embarrass the Russian at their own game.

It is naive to believe that truth will always prevail in the end. Things in real life are much more convoluted than that. The power brokers, financiers, the leaders, big pharma companies and the media moguls have the final say of how history ought to be written. Poetic justice and honesty are left to pacify the romantics. It is the rule of the majority. Annoyance from the minority can be easily boomeranged back to the senders by the powers that be (spoiler alert). 





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Against the grain