‘We’re the bloody grown-ups!’ ...Middle East

2073 is in cinemas from New Year’s Day. Add it to your watchlist.

It was during the U.S. election cycle of 2015–16 that Asif Kapadia first had the idea for his terrifying new drama-doc, 2073. The director behind the Oscar-winning Amy Winehouse documentary Amy was in Pittsburgh, shooting an episode of Mindhunter, Netflix’s David Fincher-produced serial killer drama. As Republican candidate Donald Trump went to war on his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton, Kapadia was aghast. “All the local people loved Trump, hated her, wanted her to go to prison,” he explains. “Before that, I was telling all of my American friends, ‘I think Trump’s going to win.’ And no one believed it would happen. And then it happened.”

It wasn’t the only political earth tremor back then, as Britain voted to leave the European Union. “I was like, ‘What the hell is going on? Has everyone gone mad? Why would you vote for something to make your life worse? Why would you vote to take away your own freedom? Why would you vote to be poorer? Why would you vote to restrict yourself?’ I was looking at it, going, ‘This is mad. Everyone’s gone mad.’” What with the rise of far right politician Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vladimir Putin’s continued grip on Russia, it was a period of great uncertainty. “That is where all of these populist leaders started to kind of pop up.”

Firing its warning shot loud and clear, 2073 isn’t strictly about Bolsonaro, Trump or anyone else you care to name. “They’re narcissistic psychopaths. They want people to make films about him. I don’t want to do that,” says the British filmmaker, who began by talking to friends in India and Brazil and realising that they shared the same concerns about the state of the world as he did. From this seed, 2073 mushroomed into a drama-documentary that not only takes on political upheaval but looks at climate change and the pernicious influence of tech moguls like Elon Musk.

“There were so many themes that we simplified it to a triangle: to the breakdown of democracy and [the rise of] authoritarianism; tech and the climate, and it really is like a triangle.” Or maybe the world’s most disturbing Venn diagram, with everything interconnected. The way Kapadia describes it, you can’t understand what’s happening to the climate, for example, without understanding who is in power, and their policies towards the environment. And you can’t understand who is in power without appreciating the relationship the politically powerful has with Big Tech.

As if to prove the point, Trump’s return to the White House has seen him appoint Musk, who donated $277 million to the politician’s election campaign, to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency as a means to control state spending. Moreover, Musk owns the perfect social media platform for his ambitions: X, formerly known as Twitter. “When I started this there were loads of people that quite liked him, and then he bought Twitter and I remember thinking, ‘That’s interesting.’” Ever since then, Musk has been lusting for power, Kapadia suggests.

While 2073 has its share of experts (“people who know their country and their field”, says the director, proudly), it’s not just a talking heads documentary. Part of the film is set in the titular year, with actress Samantha Morton play a lone figure, who must scavenge to survive in this dystopian future, and is left wondering how the Earth decayed so rapidly. “It always felt like, in my head, this is going to be my excuse to make a sci-fi film,” says Kapadia, who feels his earlier works have all played with genre – like his 2001 feature debut The Warrior being a western set in the desert plains of India.

Kapadia, 52, is a buoyant personality when you meet him, but even he admits that making this film has left him in despair. “What am I meant to feel hopeful about, unless someone does something, unless things happen and change? Me as a person, I have my health, I have my family… but then I look at a big picture. I’m not particularly hopeful about the people in power. I’m not particularly hopeful about what is happening on a grander scale, of which I have no say or control over.” Nor does he want it left to the generation that his teenage kids belong to.

“We’re the bloody grown-ups,” he sighs. “We should do something and speak up, because all you can do is deal with yourself, the people around you, in your home, your family, your circle of friends, and then your industry.” Kapadia says that the Far Right target the youth online. “They’re going straight to these kids, and that’s why they all know who [misogynist influencer] Andrew Tate is. Before I knew who Andrew Tate was.” No wonder Kapadia can’t shake what he calls his “feeling of unease” about the world right now. When you watch 2073, you’ll feel the same.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘We’re the bloody grown-ups!’ )

Also on site :

• Former Girlfriend of Elvis Presley Makes Super Rare Red Carpet Appearance
• Pabst Blue Ribbon Debuts 'Unmatched' Collab That Took Months to Perfect
• Trump's meeting with Sharaa, unthinkable just months ago, boosts Syrians' hopes