Monday, August 17, 2020
I'm finally back to the cinema after 5 months 1 day. How did I recall the exact time I last watched a movie? Well the last time I watched a movie in a cinema was on my birthday and it was Little Women. Then they closed the cinema and then they opened it back to many people's excitement but I guess that was short-lived because we then realized, there are not many new movies out there; the selection was uninspiring.
Then on my way to class one Saturday, I saw the movie poster for Fukushima 50 and I was like, ah I have to watch that then. You see one time in class, we had a chapter about nuclear plant. Then for the homework essay, I wrote that I learn most thing from movies or TV series and I wrote about HBO's Chernobyl which I thought to be very good. At the end of my short essay, I wrote something along the line that the story of the people of Chernobyl was extraordinary and if there's a drama about Fukushima, I would really like to watch it. So since I wrote it, I guess I have to do it.
I'm gonna admit that I don't watch a lot of Japanese movies and one thing that struck me in Fukushima 50 was listening the interaction between the workers in that stressful time - there were a lot of yelling. The english phrase, barking order, was aptly illustrated. It's weird because the Japanese are like very polite and tend to be soft spoken but in that work environment, a lot of people were yelling, and I just felt it's unnecessarily adding to the stress. Also pictured in the movie was how sucky the higher-ups can be. You know how we hate these people who don't know the reality or facts on the ground and just want things done so that they can look good. Everywhere in the world, those people sucks.
Watching the movie made me realize that at the time of the disaster I wasn't aware how scary the situation was. Things could have gotten really really bad. The movie shines the light on the workers there, many of whom were risking their lives but it's good to see it's not as bad as what happened in Chernobyl. That being said, it's still a suicide mission. The title Fukushima 50 actually refers to the 50 workers who stayed to make sure all was okay even after the rest of the workers were evacuated. I get that the movie needs to show what happened in Fukushima from the second the disaster hit, but I would actually love it if the movie highlight these 50 people more because it's unclear from the movie. Only towards the end we saw that only a few people were staying, while the rest were ordered to go. Like I want to know how long these 50 people stayed on. It was a very touching movie especially because from the get go, everyone was like knew that the younger ones would have to be spared from doing the dangerous stuff. So it's up the older workers who were all very brave. One of the main character was like the manager and he was very nice because he volunteered himself above his workers and everyone was like no, you stay. Of course you want a manager like that right, unfortunately as mentioned in the previous paragraph, many people in higher position often sucks so bad. Some managers would be so ready to throw you under the bus. Anyways, if you have watched HBO's Chernobyl, do watch Fukushima 50. If you haven't, but have time to spare to learn about things, do watch both.
By the way, good God, because of the restriction, getting to the cinema was like being tracked on every level. You have to show your Safe Entry check on getting inside the cinema. Then when you buy the ticket, the staff asks for your name and phone number! This is despite of you already getting tracked by your ID through Safe Entry and then when you are passing the ticket checker to go to the hall, the staff asks you to do a Safe Entry check again specific to the hall you're going into. Things like this make me think of the Americans or people who don't want to wear masks; how will they handle being tracked on every single thing? I wonder if it's the same in other cinemas in Singapore. Inside the cinema hall, I took off my mask. I don't know if the other people who sat distance away from me felt annoyed. I looked to my left, they were still wearing their masks. I think you can eat, I mean they're still selling popcorn, but it seemed no one in the hall with me ate. Anyways, the next movie I'm looking forward to watch is Tenet and I think I do want popcorn then.
:) eKa @ 10:14:00 PM • 0 comments
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