Oscar Qualifying Short Film Review “Flight 182” The reality and remembrance of traumatic circumstances gets folded into a tale of unheeded warnings and near impossible choice
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
A feeling of trepidation. Do you ever have those moments where, when knowing some element of peril COULD remotely be a possibility when embarking on a particular journey, you experience the associated sense of dread and hesitation to go through with said plan? Is this more so the case when it more specifically impacts someone you love and of course don’t wish to see harmed in ANY manner to the extent of adamantly warning them off? And what if they don’t listen, or try to believe that everything will be fine?
An ominous portent has come across both the radio and T.V. stations in the Vancouver, British Columbia home of Jeet (Gurinder Sindher) and his wife Mandeep (Sundeep Morrison) as he prepares to return to his dying mother’s home in India, where political unrest is in full swing and an extremist group has promised retaliation. With Mandeep overwhelmed by an urgent fear about Jeet going and his unwavering belief that he will be fine, Jeet leaves her and their daughter Joban (Naysa Shokeen) to board India Air Flight 182. The date: June 22, 1985.
Next, my Mind:
It is very evident for me as a longtime critic that the independent cinematic universe is filled with artists who so deeply reflect the intrepid determination and wholehearted passion to create and send out into the world eloquent stories that mirror our contemporary realities while addressing real issues that raise awareness or, at very minimum, challenge US as the viewers to take a step back and contemplate what we’ve seen. It goes so far beyond (not saying exclusively so, but still a large majority of the time) just aiming for entertainment value, but rather calling to mind those things we should NEVER forget or lose the significance of. How much more does this become applicable when to top it all off, the film is heartbreakingly personal to the filmmaker as well? With this 17-minute Oscar qualifying short film from writer/director/producer Rippin Sindher, ALL of the above could not ring more intensely true.
In collaboration with producer Martin Russell Johnson, co-producers Shannon Aulakh, Desmond Faison, and Harpreet Nijjer, plus executive producers Ridley Scott (yes, THAT Ridley Scott!), Julia Gouw, Cape, Janet Yang, Cindy Huang, Jennie Wilkes, David Thies, and Corey Jackson, Sindher made the choice to take us back to a moment in our world history that did, and frankly still SHOULD, profoundly resonate within our very minds and souls, realizing the fragility of life and the precious nature of holding tight to those we cherish most, but then having to unexpectedly cope with losing them to the most jarringly saddening and tragic circumstances, then forced to face the associated pain and discover the ways to move forward while always keeping their memory alive. This forms the foundational thematic and affecting emotional nucleus of this film, based on the real events that took place on June 22, 1985, a haunting shadow of another date to come…09/11.
The narrative here follows a Vancouver-based South Asian family and the building tension and unease between a wife who sees and hears the signs of potential disaster and her husband who needs to travel back to India to see his dying mother and fully believes all will be well, leading to an ultimately fateful choice that will alter the family’s lives, and those of so many more, in the most devastating of ways. As Sindher herself lost an uncle to this atrocity, that alone lends such a potently stirring and compelling air to the film as it is. Then, what gives the film even more evocative force is that it doesn’t matter that we already KNOW the outcome of the story being presented, it STILL so profoundly strikes you to your very core, from the opening moments where we’re immediately hit with the foreshadowing of terror, to the unnerving and poignant atmosphere of the interactions between a family we KNOW is about to be torn asunder, to the very well-executed instances in both the airport’s baggage area and the flight controller’s radar. It all simmers and compounds, making the film’s ripple effect of intensity VERY effectively punch you in the gut.
And as should be the case (unless you truly have NO heart whatsoever), the final moments, plus the on screen statistics that follow, will absolutely cause the tears to flow as the culmination of events, the unavoidable weight of it, hits you full out. Folks, this isn’t remotely attempting to JUST make us HAVE to revisit tragedy, at least I don’t feel so. BUT, it IS so pertinent TO be reminded of what it is to have a sense about things, to actually pay more HEED to events occurring, that we might MAKE the kind of decisions that could very well, quite literally, save our lives. As stated earlier, life has no guarantees, no matter how much we might wish to try and find ways to make it so. If anything, it should cause us to take stock OF all that’s truly important, cherish and pursue ALL the moments we can with family and friends, and PRAY for the betterment of a tumultuous and inharmonious day and age that brought about this, 09/11, and FAR TOO MANY other calamities. We are in such desperation and necessity of a more unified, peaceful existence, but we have to be more aware and work TOGETHER to see it come about.
Morrison is simply amazing here, exuding such a believable, fervent, dynamic, and heart-wrenching performance through her role as Mandeep, a wife and mother who becomes aware of the possible dangers being forecasted when political unrest back in India is causing a threat to manifest that could impact her husband’s upcoming travels back to India for a few weeks. Already feeling like she’s the only one doing anything in the home even as her agitation and concern over the growing sense of dread she has begins to boil over, will she successfully be able to convince Jeet to reconsider his plans, or feel the full brunt of his insistence that everything will work out fine and that her worry, in spite of all that says otherwise, is somehow unfounded? Throughout this entire unfolding of events, Morrison conveys this stormy and acutely mercurial state of being the character is experiencing with precision, poise, and intent that draws you into it all with definitive emotional investment.
To a related extent, Sindher exhibits the equally building frustrations present, but from the perspective of resistance to believing anything bad will occur through his role as Jeet, a man bent on returning home to India to spend what could be the final days of his mother’s life. Fully committed to doing this, he’s packed, taking a video of his daughter to share with her grandmother, and all-out being convinced that everything his wife is worried about, even the literal “signs” that something is wrong that she has, is overly superstitious and won’t dissuade him from leaving. What it really does come down to is the actual impossibility of the decision he has to make, still torn between the necessity to visit his illness-stricken mother and the legitimate warnings about the wholly feasible dangers he might be opening himself up to. There’s a wonderful and impactful steadiness to Sindher’s performance, a decidedly formidable, tangible, and credible degree of keenness to his portrayal of a man caught between actualities.
The primary supporting turn here is made by Shokeen as the couple’s daughter Joban, who in her own, and understandable right, is simply not wanting her beloved father to leave. The innocence she possesses in not even having knowledge of the danger her parent is about to step towards combined with the endearing charm she has as well is palpable and touching, a credit to this young actor’s talents. Additional supporting turns arrive from Yuvi Grewal and Rupak Ginn. So, in total, “Flight 182” rises with purpose and strength on the vigorous magnitude of its authenticity, respectful and heartening tribute to those that were lost, and its underlying cry for events like these to be stopped from occurring while also giving credence to have the willingness to take life into consideration in a whole new way, NOT living in fear, but with due caution, even when the outcome is never a certainty. May we just VALUE LIFE, remain cognizant of what’s happening around us, and strive to see this world be free from hate, anger, violence, and undue tragedy.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
