When it all ends...

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Director: Sam Esmail

(based on the novel by Rumaan Alam)

A Tamil proverb goes like this. 'Never live in a town without a temple'. 

The main structure of a Hindu temple, specifically those from Southern India, which is placed above the central area, the sanctum santorum, is a gopuram. On top of the gopuram is a golden vessel containing nine types of grain. 

Besides being a lightning conductor, the gopuram is a storage area for various grains for use as a starter pack in the event of a major catastrophe, like massive flooding when seeds are destroyed or even a nuclear meltdown. These reserves are said to be good to use for 12 years, after which they have to be replaced. In temple nomenclature, the act of replenishing new seeds is a kumbabishegam.

With everyone in their comfort zone, having the illusion of being in control of it all, they built certain biases around them. They confirm their biases by reading materials reinforcing these preconceptions and hanging around people in an echo chamber who trumpet their sentiments. They say they are kind, care about the world and the poor, and recycle trash. Deep inside, are they really the same people they want others to be?

Others believe charity begins at home. Takers keepers, they say. And they have no qualms, showing a lack of social etiquette to get their agenda off into orbit. Life is a race, and they do not want to lose.

Then there are the doomsday prophets. They 'cry wolf' so many that crying had lost its sting. These are the conspiracy theorists.

Now, when the end of days really comes to our doorsteps, which by each day appears more and more inevitable, how would we react? Would we shed off our prejudices and go out to save mankind? Would we still be immersed in our bigotry and eyeball at our fellow brother with scorn? Will we still act so high and mighty and look down upon those beneath us?

Or would we be only interested in satisfying our simple pleasures rather than worrying about what tomorrow may bring? Like the youngest character in the film who is only interested in knowing what happens in the last episode of 'Friends'.

When the end becomes a reality, how will our fellow dwellers of Earth, i.e., animals, treat us? Will we be a threat to them? Will they depend on us for protection? Or, as per the Law of the Jungle, they would push the idea of the survival of the fittest? Even the docile of animals, e.g. deer, would turn against us with their alpha male turning up with daunting antlers. 

Life is so dear that species fight tooth and nail to stay alive.

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The end is nay, but when?

Knock in the Cabin

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Interestingly, the throb of the world's end and a man riding a white horse is a recurring theme in most eschatological studies. We all know of a leader with 666 tattooed on his forehead who would be the proverbial anti-Christ who would ride on a white horse. Then there are the four Horsemen who would be riding in to right the wrong of a decadent world on the brink of extinction.

In Kalki Puranam, the end of kali-yuga will be marked with events signifying the loss of piety and goodness the world over. It will be climaxed with the total annihilation of Earth. The Big Bang would have reached the point of entropy. The reset button would be initiated for time to restart. Lord Vishnu would assume his last avatar, Kalki, to expedite this process by slaying the terrorising asuras. Again, Kalki would be marching in on a white horse. Kali-yuga will be replaced with Satya-yuga. Graham Hancock's research suggests that time is cyclical. One major civilisation is replaced with another.

Most world belief systems have an eerie commonality about a nihilistic future where civilisation would decay and meet a fiery end. The trouble is that no time frame is given for this end, but many are cocksure that he knows that end is nay.       

Depending on which scriptures one reads, the rider on the white horse can be a saviour or a villain. And they had different names. The founder of the Ahmeddya sect may have proclaimed to be Kalki. In the Shia sect, at the end of times, they believed Imam Mahdi would unite the believers and help to rule the world. In Buddhism, Maitreya, a messianic-like saviour, would rule the world.

Some historians believe Kalki Puranam is a later production, unlike other Hindu scriptures. It is said to have been penned in Bengal around 1500-1700CE when a Muslim Sultanate was in power. Are they saying the Muslim reign was terrible and the ordinary people dreamt of a saviour on horseback to rescue them?

In modern times, many doomsday prophets sniff around for gullible souls to convince them the end is near. Like Chicken Licken, they holler around, yelling the sky is falling down, asking people to join in the reception party that greets the Lord when His Kingdom reigns after Armageddon. Every now and then, we hear cults interpreting certain everyday occurrences as proof that the end is near. Many are in the corner for fake news or a brush with the law, like in the cases of Branch Davidian under the tutelage of David Koresh in Waco, Texas, or Jim Jones 'People's Temple' in Jonestown, Guyana.

In the film, when a vacationing same-sex couple with their adopted young daughter is visited by four people talking about the end of the world, they think the four people are nuts. They insist that one of the couple must kill the other or the girl to stop the multiple air crashes and the raging natural calamities. Even though the plot is hollow and the script may not be the best I have heard of late, the movie managed to grab the attention of its viewers via its ability to create suspense. It makes one think.

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The world is doomed?

Don't Look Up (2021)

Director: Adam McKay

That is the problem with the modern world, is it not? Nothing gets moving. Everything gets hijacked along the way by self-interests, personal agendas and public image. Trivialities are rewarded, and no one gives credence to knowledge and intelligence. Social media just gives an illusory comfort to the Joe Public that he is in control of everything. This becomes a fertile ground for conspiracy theorists and fringe movements that are hellbent that there is a higher plot to annihilate our civilisation as we know it. It seems that movie stars and singers are prerequisites to get public services messages across.

Slowly, these things are unravelled in how the world deals with the Wuhan pandemic. It seems that for every innovation that the scientific community comes up with, there is an equally opposite move to convince the public on the contrary. Science, which had saved mankind from major catastrophes many times before, is no longer held in high esteem. It is comical that comedians are viewed as making more sense than elected leaders in the modern world. In the meantime, businessmen, carpetbaggers and money peddlers make the world go round.

This film is a cruel satire of everything around us. Even when the bull is on a rampage knocking everything in its path in the china shop, it appears that people are more concerned with capturing the perfect Kodak moment, not the imminent danger that the rabid bull poses to the bystanders. 

Nobody gives importance to substance anymore. Everyone is more interested in superficialities, skin-deep appearances and self-gratifying desires. Pokemon, TikTok and Instagram are testimony to these. This is what Nietzsche had predicted about the future, anyway.

Diabasky, an astronomy PhD student, discovers a catastrophic comet that may soon hit Earth to the brink of extinction. She and her Professor, Dr Mindy, brought their discovery to NASA, the White House and TV shows. Instead of getting their hands dirty, working against the clock to save Earth, everyone thinks it is just another doomsday prophesy. They are more interested in their appearance and that they are on anti-anxiolytics.  

From a society that was curious about its environment and wanted to turn the tides and make Nature work for it, it has become conceited. The inquisitive zest has dwindled. Individualism and self-gratification had taken over universal progress. 

We dig our own grave?

The Eternals (2021)
Director: Chloe Zhao

The story is actually an amalgamation of many stories, folklore mainly. After all, most world mythologies have almost a similar theme. See how often babies are left to float in a vessel by a river to escape persecution. Moses survived Pharoah's persecution and was adopted by the Pharoah's daughter in a twist of fate. Karna was left off by his unwed mother in Mahabharata to escape humiliation, only to be adopted as a charioteer to fight his younger brothers later! And see how everything comes to an end, in Armageddon, or when Kalki descends from his horse at the end Kaliyuga.

Gilgamesh

So, how did Judea-Christian mythology get intertwined with Hindu mythology? Simple. After destroying the First Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, Jews were taken as slaves and brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and subsequent Persian conquerors. They spend 48 years in Babylon imbibing the Indus culture into their, hence, the cross-overs. King Cyrus freed them from Babylon and helped them rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. So, one can see many cross-over influences in the Judeo-Christian stories.

The Sumerians have their own past stories of glory. Annunaki was an extra-terrestrial king if we believe what our ancient alien theorists say. He thought homo-sapiens were not too intelligent workers and frequently fought amongst themselves. Annunaki decided to infuse extra-terrestrial DNA to make humans into productive workers. Gilgamesh, one of the characters in this movie, is a long-forgotten Mesopotamian hero. In the first half of his life, he was a king who fought fearsome battles and spent the remaining half pondering the meaning of life. His adventures are depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In this movie, the Eternals are a breed of near-immortal of ten alien superheroes sent to Earth around 500BCE by Arishem to protect the planet against Deviants. Deviants are Arishem's (The Creator) creations who have gone rogue. They are hell-bent on destroying Earth, and The Eternals are assigned to protect Earthlings from them. Periodically, the Eternals infuse knowledge into Mankind. With this knowledge, Mankind made periodical monument jumps in their civilisation. The Eternals were strictly told not to interfere with any conflicts that arose from within humans. The last of the Deviants were slain, so they thought, in 1521. And the Eternals awaited further instructions from Arishem, which never came.

In the present time, the Eternals had to re-group when a Deviant re-emerges. Their leader, Ajak, is killed, and Sersi assumes command. She communicates with Arishem telepathically to be told that their real mission was to save Earth from the Emergence (the End of the World).

Friction ensues amongst the Eternal for what they feel as being 'used' by Arishem. The rest of the show is about how Earth is saved and how they resolve crises.

The human race is meant to progress through the exploration of their intelligence. Their discoveries are meant to propel them collectively forward. Exclusive control of power and knowledge by alpha predators (leaders) seems unhealthy as they would steer the whole race towards a particular that would benefit them. Hence, the Deviants were meant to clip the wings of the alpha predators. Unfortunately, the wisdom handed to Earthlings seem not to civilise them but instead lead to their own destruction. The Emergence/ Armageddon/ End of Days is their own doing.

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A God of convenience or conviction?

The Story of God (Documentary, Seasons 1 - 2; 2016-17)
Hosted by Morgan Freeman


I do not think nobody will think differently after watching this documentary which was released by National Geographic. Everybody is too entrenched in his belief system to be swayed away just seeing the singular purpose of all religions as seen here. Perhaps, cognitive dissonance would come in the way.

I think the moderator took a very unbiased and non-condescending approach when it came to extracting knowledge from various other non-dominant world religions. Kudos.

He goes discussing many life questions that have no answers. Topics on death, the end of the world, the beginning of all, the mysterious God, the creations, the genesis of evil, divine miracle, the concept of God's chosen representatives, the notion of heaven and hell as well as proof of God comprise the nine episodes in two seasons.

The fear of death must have given the fear of death in humankind. Even with the available advances around us, our knowledge on this subject stays limited. We are still trying to understand death through many hopscotching explanations. The Egyptians had elaborate rituals for the Kings to spend their afterlives. Others, like the Hindus and their off-shoots talk about re-birth cycles and their purpose of life to attain Moksha to escape the pain of reincarnation. Science talks about consciousness that makes us aware of our surrounding and how everything stops at the time of cessation of brain stem activity. Interviews with survivors of near-death experiences relate their encounters with the realm of the other side. The nagging question remains how much these thoughts were brain hypoxia-induced or is malleable by individual's understanding of the concept of God.

Science has probably paved an avenue for Man, or least his thoughts to stay immortal. His writings, video presentation and more recently artificial intelligence, are used to predict his actions after analysing tonnes of data which can be obtained via his habits.

Interestingly, most religions talk about a tragic end to our civilisation. I wonder if this apocalypse is on induced by human's indiscriminate destruction of our planet or by religious bigotry started by Man to fight over whose God is the real true one. Perhaps, it is just a warning for mankind to fall in place. It is about now, not about a day of judgement. The Hindus may have a prosaic view - that the world we live in is part of the cycle, anyway. What will happen, will happen. There is nothing anyone can do anyone can do about it.

God is many things to many people. It may be an inner voice, a friend, music, energy, anything beautiful or awe-inspiring. The Sun, with its immense strength and its role of the nidus of civilisation, has been venerated as God. Many mammoth structures and monoliths have been erected to gauge its movement to aid in many of Man's annual activities.

The great driver of any civilisation is religion. Religion forms a mesh upon which purpose of life is wound around. Law and order enforced by an invisible force is more natural. As the earlier people centred their lives around agriculture, natural forces that ensured handsome produce were held in high esteem.

Are we inherently good or evil? Is evil an external force that is hellbent on wrecking the goods that we do? The ancient Egyptians believed that evil arose from the heart. The Hindus, however, do not differentiate between good and evil. Both are complementary and are of a continuum and forms a guide to good. Some spend their entire lives trying to purge the evil in their pursuit to steer their life paths on the right track.

The believers insist that divine miracles do occur. Stories of miraculous recoveries from seemingly certain fatal conditions are rife. Perhaps healing starts in our minds, and a positive attitude is vital. With so many chances in occurrence in life, our mere existence is a miracle by itself. Birds are flown, fishes are flown, energy is harnessed, the wind is ridden, anything possible.

It seems that mankind, quite often than not, goes off-track. This is when a Chosen Person manifests on Earth to help people to steer towards the right direction or to show an entirely new one. Maybe to remind us that Mother Earth is the source; not a resource.

Is heaven or hell a human construct, just to warn us of a possible life that appears to us if our home is not guarded well?

As mentioned earlier, no one is going to change his convictions to one that is inclusive or receptive to others' view of the Divine. Hopefully, somewhere hidden in the crypt of mind, stays the idea that professors of all religion are indeed the same boat. We are in the vessel of ignoramus trying to make a sense out of the world around and add on a feather or two, wisdom as we brave through the hailstorm and gales of life. Perhaps everybody's truth is the truth.

 

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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As if too much time to pass..

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

When a virus enters a body, the body core temperature increases to kill off the invading offender. In that tussle, either the host or the virus dies. So when the world becomes over-populated, Mother nature tries to maintain equilibrium. She causes global warming and significant catastrophes. In that manner, people are killed, and homeostasis is preserved. That is the basis of a mad internet billionaire developing a SIM card which he distributes free to everyone. He preselects a set of people for his new world, and he then activates the SIM card for the rest of the world to whack the living daylight out of each other and virtually self destruct each other. In the end, the mad man plans to start a human civilisation all over again.

The storyline sounds outlandish. Well, it is cartoonish too. It reminds you of the 1996 flop 'Mars Attack!'

Kingsman is a brand of a custom-made man clothing line which also has a band of suave secret agents who are work tirelessly to save the world. In one of the endeavours in the Middle East, one agent is killed in the crossfire. His widow, who is crossed with his loss refuse to have anything to do with her husband's employer.

17 years later, she is an abusive relationship, and the son of the agent is a delinquent. When the son is incarcerated for car theft, he uses a particular phone to get his get-out-of-jail-free card. That slowly snowballs into his excellent self being recruited as a secret agent candidate of Kingsman Secret Service.

They came in contact with a mad billionaire (Valentine, Samuel L Jackson) and deadly double amputee sidekick with killer blades! With an array of head busting armamentarium guns and ala-John Steed type dangerous umbrella, the Kingsman's men and lady save the world.

Just another mindless time pass movie...

Decisions, decisions...

Noah (2014)
The forbidden fruit always taste sweeter, they say. This film is banned in many Muslim countries as it is not acceptable for a human being to portray a prophet.
From a production viewpoint, I think the film is of high quality with complex computerised graphic imaging. The main character, i.e. Noah, is made to appear very human and complexed. Even prophets do not know why they were sent to Earth for and which is the best path that they should take to be the correct path. There is no direct guide but decisions have to be made on hunches and signs which they would like to think as a nod from the Creator.
I remember hearing about Noah during my days in Sunday School. Of course it was very simplistic and was not layered or convoluted. Noah had a dream, God told him to build an Ark through a dream, get all the animals, people around him laughed at him, it rained 40 days and 40 nights and the bad people perished. Then we would all break into a song... "The wise built his house upon the rock...."
In this one, it is complicated. After being banished from the Garden of Eden, man leads a brutal life on Earth. It starts with the mauling of sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. Cain's lineage squandered God's creations, raped Earth of its beauty and wealth and changed it a place not fit for living. The other son of Adam, Seth, and his descendants were more God fearing and the countering force of Man's evil. Noah was of Seth's descendant.
He was living in a time of turmoil. Resources were scarce, all plundered by Man. Land was barren and food was so limited that they had to resort to cannibalism. Noah and his people were vegetarian.
Noah, after witnessing the murder of his father by Tubal-Cain, the bloodline of Cain, grows up to have a family of his own with 3 sons and an adopted daughter.
A recurring dream of him submerged in water and a springing of flower suggests to Noah (Russell Crowe) that it was a sign of God that he had to do something. A visit to his grandfather (Methuselah acted by Anthony Hopkins) in the caves, who gives him a seed from Eden, which springs water from Earth and sprouts a forest in a seemingly barren land.
The Watches, who are fallen angels, were cursed together with Man after their original sin, appear as mobile stone structures with multiple appendages. The Watches are basically frustrated with Man for destroying God's creations and were considered as not trustworthy. Seeing, the qualities of Adam in Noah, the Watches decide to help Noah to build the Ark.
Like clock work, all animals saunter in, beast, creepy crawlies and bugs, all in pairs.
The dilemma on board is the middle son, Ham. Since, the elder brother, Shem has paired up with Ila, (Ema Watson), Ham feels that he will be left without a partner after the floods recedes. The youngest son, Jaspeth is too young to worry about these things. Ham goes out to pick out a girl from the village but she had to be left behind as the rains started pouring in. Ham cannot forgive his father for that.
Ila had been diagnosed to be barren due to her injuries in childhood. Hence, Noah thinks that that is God's plan - after his family is dead and gone, the Earth is to be inhabited by no man. He thought God's decision to make Man in his image was a mistake and the floods was to give fresh new start.
Unknown to Noah, his wife, Naameh, approaches Methusalleh, the mystic grandfather, to use his powers to cure Ila of her infertility and it worked. Unknown to Noah too was the fact that an injured Tubal-Cain managed to make it on board the Ark. The disgruntled Ham nurses Tubal-Cain to health and plots with him to kill Noah.
Meanwhile, Ila gets pregnant to a furious Noah. He feels that his wife is interfering with God's plan and vows to kill the offspring if it turns out to a female child. Tension on the Ark is all time high. The animals on board are all in slumber land thanks to incense filled hypnotic fumes.
At the climax, a duel occurs between Noah and Tubal-Cain but Ham decides to stab Tubal-Cain at the right moment. Ila deliver a pair of twins - both girls. In a dramatic attempt to kill his granddaughters, Noah succumbs to love. Rain stops and sun comes out.
In the next scene, Noah is living as a recluse drinking himself crazy. He is unwanted by his family for his wish to kill his grandchildren. He himself is disappointed for what he thinks as failing to carry out God's duty. He is also puzzled by the silence of God. After Ila made peace with him, saying maybe God actually wanted him to do all the things that he did because that is the plan after all. The family reunites except for Ham who moves away.
It seems that the story of Noah is patchy in the scriptures and the screenwriters decide to use their artistic licence to fill in the gap and paint a very humanistic Noah who underwent a stressful time deciding on the things he had to do. The scriptures do mention that Noah was indeed in an intoxicated condition and naked and his sons had to cover him up. There is hearsay of what actually happened here and how Ham was sent off with a curse. His descendants became slaves and coloured people.
Now, even that is disputed. The fact that only white actors appear in this film is a bone of contention for some.
Overall, an intense movie with the message that life decisions are difficult to make. One does not really knows whether he is making the right. Only time will tell. 

The same law which punishes others will punish you too!

One Summer of Happiness (Hon Dansade En Sommar;1951, Swedish)

I do not know how I landed viewing this film, but this is one of those films that earned Sweden the reputation of being very liberal in their outlook. Its release met many resistance and controversies because of a scene of skinny dipping and exposure of the mammary gland. As controversy also courts publicity, it was feted with a few international accolades.

A tearful young man arrives at a funeral where the pastor admonishes the seducer of the dead lady to be tied a millstone around his neck and cast into the sea. The tearful man runs into fields and reminisces the last summer that ended.

Not your typical farm girl with rotten teeth

and stinking like a cow as described by the

protagonist's city friends!

Goran, a university student, a town boy, returns to his uncle's farm for summer to spend some time there. He befriends Kerstin, a 17-year-old girl at the farm. Goran gets close to the youths in the countryside and helps to organise recreational events for them. The local school is closed, and the powers that be (controlled by the village holy man, the priest) decided that they will not be any more youth activities as they do not appease their belief and the teachings of the good book. The village is conservative, with a minister of the church taking charge of village matters. He seems unhappy with the youth's lackadaisical attitude towards the church's activities.

Goran's uncle, feeling the plight of the youth, loans his old barn to the youths to organise their own dance and drama activity whilst repairing the debilitated barn. The youth also help the uncle with his planting and farm work.

The minister is not happy with the uninhibited mixing of the sexes during one of the meetings.

Once, the holy man sped past the uncle in his car, the angered uncle gave chase on his cart but went off course and broke his leg.

Summer love?

Another single lady, an aunt, Sigrid, seem to be frowning all the time as if as she is carrying all the world's problems on her shoulder blames the accident as a punishment. Goran and the young ones help to finish off the work as the summer almost reaches midsummer. Midsummer calls for dance, and Goran and Kirsten's love blossoms and flourishes.

Another crisis sets in when Goran decides to stay back in the village to be a farmer. His father knocks some sense into him and coaxes him to continue varsity.

Amidst all this, a village bumpkin, a side character, sets fire of the barn either under the purview or full view of the priest. We are left to wonder whether he is privy to the fire as he always opposed the youth movement. Again, people are murmuring that it is God's punishment.

The controversial scene

The memories of Kristin and his summer love kept tormenting Goran. He leaves university to rejoin the simple village life.

Despite hardships, the young ones managed to put up a stage show to all audience and performers' joy. After a satisfying performance, the lovebirds speed against the wind, two bodies as one, clung together on the motorbike. Speeding along the pebbled country road is what appears like the pastor's car knocks them off the road. Kirsten is mortally wounded and dies on the spot.
The film rolls back to the beginning of the film, of the funeral scene...

As the priest goes on and on, implying that death was just for the immoral activities done, Goran's uncle, in his eulogy parts saying, "The same law which punishes others will punish you too!"
A simple story. Times may change, but the issues remain the same; the youth are immoral through the ages, and the law of nature will punish the wrongdoers. We talk and talk, but the sinners and wrongdoers go on doing what they do best, but no thunderbolt of lightning seem to be striking their evil deeds. We pacify by saying that our mind is too simple to understand God's elaborate plan for the children he loves. And time throttles on through the universe...

NB. Every generation proclaims that the nay is near... Kaliyuga, Kalki, Armageddon, all fancy names to denote the same endpoint!