Taken: A Confession of a Paranoid (also on The Disappearance of Alice Creed)
IT is just so easy to be optimistic about the world, how the world is safe and the headlines on the newspapers are things that happens to Other People. Other People with whom we, Ordinary Ones, do not know even via six degrees of separation. The Glamourously Rich, the Immensely Powerful, the Whatever-We-Are-Not.
Sometimes, this unspoken assumption took a turn and Headlines would involve one of us Ordinary Ones. We comfort ourselves by considering these the exceptions to the rules, rightly so, because we often find narratives about the Other People, much like fictions, leave us comfortable with our Ordinariness.
Of course, they were almost meta, the stories of Taken or The Disappearance of Alice Creed. They narrated a story of What Can Happen to Anyone - in one case a tourist, in another a random girl from a rich family - fell victim to pre-mediated violence.
It is impossible to see the irony of it - in order to keep a coherent narration (and plot), both film effectively failed to convey the erroneous message of "Horrible Things that Happens to Other People" instead of "Horrible Things that Happens to Ordinary Ones". But I am, of course, talking ahead of myself here, now.
Besides the theme of the films, there's the sequences of Crime In Action in both films - the preparation of the holding cellar in one and how easily unsuspecting victim gave away vital information to complete strangers within seconds of acquaintance in another.
Not meaning to blame the victim, but seriously. The f-ing attitude of "ah it's okay" or "bad things are what happen to Other People" is so vexing that I cannot possibly be more annoyed. I felt like such a moralist or ethicist or perhaps, just another passerby with a broomstick known as moral high horse stuck to my backside, to be saying this. But it was just impossibly (and equally) silly to be letting people know of your helplessness in any kind, shape or form. Particularly in an unfamiliar setting (e.g.: when traveling abroad).
I know, most of us would have met really nice people on our travels, or everyday life. But the question is, if something really dreadful happened, would you, me, or anyone be able to come back alive and tell the tale? One could be divided and live on as organs in people who pays enough at the black market; or one could be in such captivity known as sex trafficking; or one could be just gruesomely murdered; or one could just vanish without a trace or lines for anyone else to pick up and follow. The possibilities are endless.
Of course, I sincerely hope that I am wrong in assuming the capability of Others to do evil. But heck, I'd rather be proven wrong, time and again, and be pleasantly surprised than to become a headline of affirmed belief.
As a result of my said paranoia about other people (read: the capability to do evil, and act upon such), I find getting drunk in public places to be morbidly fascinating, like a highway accident waiting to happen (or witnessing its occurrence). Risk-taking is possibly the least favourite activity I can imagine to have - the feeling of beating the odds may be exhilarating, but the price to pay when one fails a risk can be very steep.
Ah well, enough is not said about the aforementioned films, both were great thrillers of different tones and intrigues - definitely recommended.
Sometimes, this unspoken assumption took a turn and Headlines would involve one of us Ordinary Ones. We comfort ourselves by considering these the exceptions to the rules, rightly so, because we often find narratives about the Other People, much like fictions, leave us comfortable with our Ordinariness.
Of course, they were almost meta, the stories of Taken or The Disappearance of Alice Creed. They narrated a story of What Can Happen to Anyone - in one case a tourist, in another a random girl from a rich family - fell victim to pre-mediated violence.
It is impossible to see the irony of it - in order to keep a coherent narration (and plot), both film effectively failed to convey the erroneous message of "Horrible Things that Happens to Other People" instead of "Horrible Things that Happens to Ordinary Ones". But I am, of course, talking ahead of myself here, now.
Besides the theme of the films, there's the sequences of Crime In Action in both films - the preparation of the holding cellar in one and how easily unsuspecting victim gave away vital information to complete strangers within seconds of acquaintance in another.
Not meaning to blame the victim, but seriously. The f-ing attitude of "ah it's okay" or "bad things are what happen to Other People" is so vexing that I cannot possibly be more annoyed. I felt like such a moralist or ethicist or perhaps, just another passerby with a broomstick known as moral high horse stuck to my backside, to be saying this. But it was just impossibly (and equally) silly to be letting people know of your helplessness in any kind, shape or form. Particularly in an unfamiliar setting (e.g.: when traveling abroad).
I know, most of us would have met really nice people on our travels, or everyday life. But the question is, if something really dreadful happened, would you, me, or anyone be able to come back alive and tell the tale? One could be divided and live on as organs in people who pays enough at the black market; or one could be in such captivity known as sex trafficking; or one could be just gruesomely murdered; or one could just vanish without a trace or lines for anyone else to pick up and follow. The possibilities are endless.
Of course, I sincerely hope that I am wrong in assuming the capability of Others to do evil. But heck, I'd rather be proven wrong, time and again, and be pleasantly surprised than to become a headline of affirmed belief.
As a result of my said paranoia about other people (read: the capability to do evil, and act upon such), I find getting drunk in public places to be morbidly fascinating, like a highway accident waiting to happen (or witnessing its occurrence). Risk-taking is possibly the least favourite activity I can imagine to have - the feeling of beating the odds may be exhilarating, but the price to pay when one fails a risk can be very steep.
Ah well, enough is not said about the aforementioned films, both were great thrillers of different tones and intrigues - definitely recommended.