So much for women empowerment

Suzhal 2: The Vortex
Season 2, 8 episodes

https://www.indiatoday.in/entertainment/ott/story/
suzhal-the-vortex-season-2-trailer-kathir-takes-on-
gripping-murder-mystery-with-aishwarya-rajesh-
2682271-2025-02-19

This is not a continuation of the previous season, even though the main characters resume their roles, but with a new mystery to solve. While the accused remains behind bars awaiting trial, her defence lawyer, a vocal activist, is shot in the head. While the police are investigating along the lines of suicide, new evidence emerges indicating that the lawyer must be part of a paedophile ring racket. Just then, eight young teenage college girls turn up at various police stations, admitting to having killed the lawyer.

In the background is a month-long local temple celebration honouring eight local deities. At the temple, the activist lawyer, a devout believer, had stopped some toes when running the temple celebrations. 

Further investigations suggest that a well-executed kidnapping and transport of young girls to international waters using local fishing boats may indeed be occurring. Additionally, the unhealthy liaison of a school principal with this entire affair adds intrigue. It is quite an interesting series, filled with plot twists, mind-boggling dead ends, and infectious emotions, set against a backdrop of symbolism that venerates the feminine power of the Universe, namely Amman/Sakti.

It is perhaps quite startling to see that in a country which worships feminine powers and has millions of temples in her honour, some of the members of the society treat their female counterparts. Even ancient Indian history abounds with tales of brave female consorts and queens who led armies against invaders. Literature is aplenty with the works of female writers and thinkers. In contemporary times, the brutal rape-killings of young women do not speak much of their civilisational development. And the existence of colonies, infamous centres of flesh trade in most big cities targeting impoverished females, is nothing to be proud of.

https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2022/07/like-whirlwind-story-swirls.html

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Could have done better?

Adolescence (2025)
Miniseries (4 episodes)

https://kinocheck.com/show/s23/adolescence

This miniseries has everyone buzzing. It is likely regarded as the most surreal creation to grace screens since 16-year-old Linda Blair portrayed Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. This is Netflix's latest blockbuster offering. The subject matter is undeniably dark, involving a 13-year-old student murdering a fellow female student as a result of cyberbullying. 

The miniseries features the filming of each episode in a single shot. While it may feel sluggish at times, this approach enhances the story's immersion as the case unfolds.

The essence of the story begins with a police raid to apprehend a teenager suspected of murdering another teenager. From that moment, it evolves into a police procedural drama as the legal system processes the accused. It showcases the overwhelming emotions experienced by everyone involved: the police officers, the supportive staff, the lawyer, the social worker, and the psychologists. For most of them, it is their first encounter with a young person embroiled in such a heinous crime. This situation is a devastating blow to the accused's parents and sister, who struggle to comprehend the idea that their beloved son could commit such an act.

As the series progresses, we learn more about the family dynamics and the atmosphere within the school. Much has changed since our own school days. Children now possess a private portal to the outside world, a realm filled with malevolence and deceit that threatens to ruin their futures. No matter how much strict discipline and guidance are instilled in them, they lead lives of their own. Cyberspace offers a secluded environment where anything goes. The thin line separating decency from insanity becomes increasingly blurred. What was once considered taboo has now gone mainstream. Children are vulnerable; they possess the illusion of agency and believe they can make their own choices. They misuse privacy for all the wrong reasons, constructing an impenetrable barrier around themselves. The adults' words of wisdom can sound harsh, digging them deeper into the abyss. With alien neologisms like incel (involuntary celibacy) culture, the manosphere featuring harmful gender ideologies, and themes such as the '80-20 rule', schoolchildren are lost in their quagmire of finding a place in their universe.

When the proverbial excrement hits the fan, everyone will be in for a shock. They will ask, "How did our innocent little child transform into such a monster?" Parents will start to question where they went wrong. Could they have done better? These parents faced greater hardships from their own upbringing and external pressures, yet they turned out fine. Why can't their offspring, with all the modern conveniences at their disposal, manage to be resilient and not easily triggered? No one seems to understand.

A criminal demigod

Clark (Swedish; 2022)
Miniseries S1, E1-6

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12304420/

I came across this miniseries after reading about Stockholm Syndrome. Clark Olofsson is the man whom the bank robber at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm, in August 1973, wanted to be released from prison as part of the deal to free the hostages. We all know how it all went terribly wrong. The robbers were confined in the bank vault and were smoked out with poisonous gas. 

It was the heady time of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The generation had a rebellious streak within them. After witnessing the world annihilate itself in World War II and observing their contemporaries bomb Vietnam to smithereens, they became disillusioned. They regarded anti-establishment acts as heroic. Bank robbery and plane hijacking were seen as political expressions. 

Clark Olofsson was born into a dysfunctional family. His father is an abusive alcoholic, and Clark receives far more whippings than affection. He spends most of his time trying to stay alive amidst his father's beatings, scoldings, and occasional drownings. His mother is preoccupied with shielding him from his father and is ultimately institutionalised due to mental illness. 

Clark starts his life engaging in little mischiefs, stealing, breaking into houses, and cheating. He can be described as manipulative and narcissistic. He enters and exits the prison system as if he were entering a saloon. He also successfully escapes from prison. During his imprisonment, he wooed various ladies and sowed his wild oats. He ultimately achieved demi-god status after robbing a bank. The media went wild when his cellmate robbed Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg, and he was brought into the bank as part of the negotiation.

The entire story is narrated lightly despite the weighty subject matter. The six episodes explore his family dynamics, relationship with his parents, and troubled childhood.

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Delon, the clothing moghul?

Plein Soleil (Purple Noon, French; 1960)
Director: René Clément

Malaysians are more familiar with Alain Delon as a stylish clothing brand than as an accomplished actor. He was definitely an accomplished person, and he is synonymous with French cinema in the vein of Gérard Depardieu and Bridgette Bardot. Like his career, his personal life was colourful, with criminal investigations, multiple affairs, and offspring.

He died at the age of 88 in 2024.

In his heyday, he was a prolific actor with sex appeal who toured between French cinema and Hollywood. 

This is one of his early movies, which launched his career. It is a dark tale about two buddies who have a strange relationship. Delon, the poorer of the duo, is constantly bullied and ridiculed by his wealthy friend. Actually, they are not friends at all. Delon is just a messenger passing a message from his father for a fee. The rich guy has a yacht and a pretty girlfriend. 

Long story short, Delon kills the rich guy and assumes his identity. He then tries to woo his girlfriend by spinning a tale that the boyfriend left her for another. Meanwhile, the police are hot on his trail because they smell a rat. The rest of the story is a cat-and-mouse game, with Delon running from the police and the girlfriend finding her lover. It has excellent entertainment value.

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Wage war against God?

Prisoners (2013)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Sometimes, bad things happen to good people; conversely, good things happen to bad people. "Who are we to judge?" we ask ourselves. When things get too complicated, we end the conversation by saying, "God knows best!"

When an adult dies after living a fun-filled life with booze, drugs and flesh, we rationalise his demise by uttering words like 'he should have seen it coming' or 'he lived his life to the fullest'. When no vices are detected, the spot diagnosis would be 'God loved him more'. If the deceased is an infant, toddler or newborn, the standard answer is 'God, in his wisdom, had bigger plans.' We are too perplexed to think of a reasonable explanation. Invoking the name of God somehow seems acceptable. Washing hands the responsibility and passing the buck to an invisible force that does not justify His moves is legitimate. Nobody gets angry with God. Nobody can derail God's plans anyway.

This is what happens when people try to settle a score with God after losing their loved ones. A motherly lady, after losing her son to cancer, decides to wage war against God. To create demons out of parents, she abducts other people's children. The lady was on a mission to make God lose his followers. 

An intense movie narrating the tale of families whose young girls go missing. The parents, after finding that the police were not doing enough, decide to take the law into their own hands, acting on a hunch only.

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I need informed consent!

Golam (Sphere, Malayalam, 2024)

Director: Shamjad.

This is an exciting whodunnit that fans of Agatha Christie would love. The only thing is that the story is not told in an investigative manner. True, it starts off as a perplexing case where a high-flying entrepreneur is found dead in the office washroom. When the inspector tries to write it up as an unfortunate accidental death, the young investigating just-out police-college ASP, Sandeep Krishna, is cocksure that he smells homicide.  

The ASP finds it difficult to understand how the victim could slip and fall to get a fatal head injury on a dry floor. Forensics do not discover any toxins or foul play. 

The initial interview with the office staff, CCTV, and good old police work failed to go anywhere. The only thing unusual is a box of tranquilisers in one of the staff's handbags. She claims she has insomnia.

An interview with the doctor who prescribed the tranquillisers shows that all the workers in the office suffer from some kind of ailment one way or another - miscarriage, alopecia, deteriorating eyesight, memory loss and others. After looking at their cases, the doctor proposed they could be guinea pigs for the Pharma company they work for. In collaboration with their US partner, the Pharma company developed a virus. At the same time, they were creating an antidote. The good doctor suspects that the workers were fed with vaccine-laced drinks. Skin sampling is done to gauge their response to the vaccine when they fingerprint themselves and report to work. The fingerprint has an adequate DNA sample for the scientists to analyse their response to teh virus, codenamed Red Virus.

The ASP came up with a complicated plan how all the ~14 workers could have devised a devious plan to kill off their boss for vengeance, dodging the CCTV camera, locking the boss in the washroom, fuming the washroom with CO₂ gas, drowning his COPD-diseased lung, falling and succumbing to hypoxia. A clever plot! 

What happens next is the clincher. The protractor is apprehended, but instead, the ASP goes on a witch hunt against the Pharmaceutical company. He goes solo, in commando gear, to infiltrate their high-security plant in the interior to expose the company's shenanigans. The filmmakers decide to end the movie, paving the way for a sequel.

The building where yellow fever experiments were

conducted to prove that it is not transmitted using 

infected clothing (fomites). Camp Lazear.

The story of avoiding infections is the story of mankind. As in HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', the only thing that protects the human species from total annihilation is their protection against common pathogens, not modern weapons. In the process of developing this immunity, many have to sacrifice. The story of Yellow Fever in the 1900s comes to mind.

Yellow Fever was a pressing problem in southern tropical areas of the USA. Although it was common in Cuba, periodically, epidemics broke out in the US. It was thought it was brought by bad air, poor sanitation or infected bodily fluids. It is said that a Confederate Officer tried to assassinate Lincoln by sending him old, dirty garments of patients who died of Yellow Fever, hoping that he would die of Yellow Fever. He obviously did not.

Dr Carlos Finlay of Cuba toyed with the idea that Yellow Fever was spread by mosquitoes, but he was laughed at. In 1900, Dr Walter Reed of the US Army introduced the idea of controlled studies. By using human volunteers who were willing to endure being bitten by mosquitoes for science, he proved that Yellow Fever was transmitted by certain mosquitoes. An army personnel, Jesse Lazear, died from Yellow Fever after contracting the hemorrhagic form of the disease. 

Now, would anybody make such a sacrifice in this age and time? Is it even legal? The Pharma is more than willing to conduct these experiments for us, all in the name of saving mankind. The reason, however, which is not even printed in the fine print, is that of monetary gains. Sure, they would pay off their guinea pigs handsomely. This is, however, just a drop in the ocean for these conglomerates. It would hardly jolt them.

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What goes on beneath the skull?

Mindhunter (Miniseries, S1-2, 19 episodes)
Director: David Flincher et al.

Growing up, being exposed to all those Hollywood movies and T.V. crime dramas, I used to wonder why was it that they were so many serial killers in America. Fast forward to the present, not necessarily much wiser; I think this type of crime is evenly distributed worldwide. As people become aware of such psychologically-related killings, more get exposed. It used to be that crimes and murders happened because of money, women, power and anger. Now we have another component to feed, our unexplainable inner desire to inflict pain, destroy and gloat in the joy of executing, planning, reminiscing, reliving the moment and being in the limelight dodging it. 

One reason why serial killer murders can be extensively investigated in the USA and Europe is the availability of funds and manpower. Even years after the cases have turned 'cold', there is a push from society to continue investigating these cases. The State has the finances to invest in newer forensic tools and mobilise resources as the situation warrants.

This miniseries was set in 1997 and the years after that. It was a time when the FBI was trying to make sense of the nonsensical killings that happened in the 1960s all through the 1970s. They had started a unit, Behavioural Science Unit (BSU), to look into these crimes and the killers' minds and make sense of it.

If one is expecting swashbuckling police-and-robbers car-chasing drama in this one, he will surely be disappointed. The series is quite cerebral, with a lot of talking and mental gymnastics. The characters are complex, and their life stories form part of the storytelling drama. It revolves around three FBI agents and a psychology professor. They interview convicted serial killers (the name that they came up with for these killers who kill in a particular pattern and leave specific signatures). The initial name was Sequential Killers. They were to build a rapport, map their mind and hopefully use their knowledge to catch future serial killers.

Good casting and makeup of serial killers' lookalike

Some criminals they interviewed include David Berkowitz (Son of Sam), Ed Kemper (Co-ed Killer), Ted Bundy and Charles. Manson (who influenced hippies to do his killings). In the second season, a good portion is spent investigating and catching the Atlanta Child Murders. In real life, the Atlanta murders happened in the 1979-81 bracket, involving up to 26 child murders and two adults. A person was sentenced for the murders of the two adults, but no one has ever been charged for the 26 black children. It has a sore point for the black population in Atlanta in the State of Georgia.

An engaging watch, 4.8/5. Even though everyone knows that the show was left hanging with the story of a man with an ADT uniform acting funny, probably itching to murder someone, begging to be told, the filmmakers have said they have no immediate plans for a third season because it is too expensive.

(P.S. A question often asked is whether criminals are born or are they nurtured? Are the parents to be blamed for their children's murderous malfeasance? Can upbringing mould a wrong design into a useful one? Children's lousy conduct has often strained husband-wife relationships. The desire to give the best for the children has frequently given just the opposite effects. Growing in the same environment, even siblings follow different trajectories.)

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Because the clairvoyant said so?

Zulfarhan Osman

A news report piqued my interest recently. The parents of a murdered college student prostrated in prayer right after the verdict was announced by the court of appeal that six accused would be hanged. Later, they told reporters they were showing their appreciation to the Almighty as justice was done. 

These types of news often leave me more perplexed than I already am. An overseeing Almighty who was cognisant of all the things going on with their loved one but procrastinated would typically get a cold shoulder. If He were a mere mortal, He would get a notice of professional negligence for napping on the job. His nemesis, the horned and tailed one, through His proxies in robes, would have a field day trying to act smart and reenact all the fraction of seconds when danger could have been averted. But deep inside, these Satan's representatives on Earth thrive on maladies like these. 

On one hand, we are products of the Original Sin, imperfect in every way and prone to being tempted to wrongdoings. However, we are still expected to bear the effects of our misdeeds. 

We are expected to forgive and forget like He forgives us every time we commit a sin. And we claim that the justice He metes is just. Yet we investigate, leave nothing unturned, exhume, and do a forensic investigation to the last foxhole to pin down the perpetrator and hurl the whole might of the law against him. We gain joy in seeing the accused squirm and hide in shame. We call this justice prevailed. 

On the other hand, we have an abundance of examples of the victims' families forgiving their aggressors. I covered this in another post. (See here.)

(P.S. For the curious, the abovementioned case happened in a military college in Kuala Lumpur. In 2017, six students, then 21, accused a 17-year-old junior of stealing a laptop computer. A seer had earlier identified the 17-year-old as the thief. The six students, together with 12 other friends, try to beat and torture the young boy to confess. They burnt his body and privates with hot iron. The perpetrators concealed him from the hostel warden, and delaying medical attention, the 17-year-old succumbed to his injuries two weeks later. The six accused were found guilty and sentenced to 18 years of jail. The accomplices were jailed for three years. The six were given sentences to hang at the Court of Appeal.)

(P.P.S. Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rope', based on an actual event, comes to mind. How two students of Chicago University in 1924 thought it was cool to snap the neck of a 14-year-old boy!)

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