Magazine

2018  (Malayalam)  :  Movie review by Rajiv Balakrishnan

This is a film that reaffirms your faith in humanity and perhaps the fact that we may be divided by faith or belief and yet when we put them aside, we collectively triumph. Based on true life incidents, 2018: Everyone is a Hero outlines a series of events when Kerala was hit by a massive flood. When things looked bleak for the Government and administration, a group of fishermen and ordinary folks stepped up in unison to rescue hundreds of lives. Tovino Thomas as Anoop, Asif Ali, Naren, Lal and many others star in this wonderfully directed film that recreates the force of nature’s fury and the helplessness of humans against its impact.

The real Hero of this film though is Jude Anthany Joseph who other than directing this film, has also worked on a taut screenplay along with Akhil Dharmarajan. The film has so many beautiful moments that make u realize that once you cross the threshold of selfishness and self obsession there is a world that vibes like your heartbeat does with empathy. I would not be surprised if this film makes it to the national award category for the simple underlying message. Humanity above all other facets has helped us co-exist for millions of years and still does. The difference now is that for Humanity to surface, it takes a natural disaster to awaken it from its slumber! But when it does we realize that frankly there is no difference between you and another, even though the walls of difference seemed to be real just moments ago! Wish we have more films like these that celebrate the cooperation and empathy within us rather than films that show distrust and divide us from one another by polarizing the society!