"Nicia" is adapted from a real story. It describes a 23-year-old young woman, Nicia Ballot, who changed her job to a flight attendant after breaking away from her ex-husband’s domestic violence and a glamorous female model. She was quickly promoted to cockpit captain because of her outstanding performance. . On September 5, 1986, she boarded a flight from Mumbai to New York, but unfortunately, she was hijacked at the airport by four terrorists when the plane was transferred.
The seventeen-hour confrontation and the safety of hundreds of passengers impacted human nature and severely tested Nijia's wit and courage.
This masterpiece, jointly designed by the "Poor Millionaire" distribution team, auditioned thousands of actors, and selected about 250 "passengers" with the right appearance-different from the usual disaster movie extras. Yes, the roles of this group of actors and their divisions all have a solid "prequel" foundation. The protagonist, Nijia, is played by Sonam Kapoor. Although she is a new face, her appearance and even her acting are fresh, focused, and dedicated, showing that this beautiful star has both inside and outside, and her popularity is not accidental.
But here comes the problem! The catastrophe that happened on the ground plane, on the physical level, does the audience regard it as an air disaster? Will they cast the wrong expectations for entertainment?
This was made very clearly thirty minutes before the film took off. Compared with previous air crash movies such as "International Airport", the relationship between passengers who boarded the plane is always complicated at the beginning. On the other hand, "Ni Jia" unusually focuses on the life outlook and inner landscape of a single protagonist. From Ni Jia’s unsatisfactory family gathering the night before, the tender details of getting along with the family, to riding in the lover’s car and going to the airport to report. The love and affection that came and went was beyond words... Until the gangster appeared on the scene, everything changed.
To put it bluntly, the familiar context is reminiscent of "United Airlines 93" and "Munich", which are both based on real people and real events in recent years. In addition to the high fever and tight narrative rhythm, the highlight is the clever connection of life hanging by a thread. , To blend the glory of human nature on the love of courage and sacrifice-should it be said that the more feet from the ground, the more divine sentiment?
Intriguingly, the word "sentiment" also made "Nicia" unable to refuse the desire to wear music and rain...
Most of the movie fans who are fed up with Hollywood milk face the wild road of Indian Bollywood, which is full of singing and dancing. If it were not for the lack of interest, at least the unusual length of the film would be discouraged.
However, the narrative arrangement of "Nicia" and even the transformation of physique obviously intend to move closer to this group of European and American audiences who were not the main and objective groups in the past. The oracle-style gorgeous music will still jump in the queue very badly. The gentle strategy based on the premise of "creating gods" is also in a big Indian country with such a strong religious belief. The overwhelming penetration of music has become irremovable and unnecessary. Take off the mark.
The problem comes again. Behind this flat-land air disaster are many considerations of the country's image, shipping appearance, and moral bottom line. It is very difficult to let go of an "in-flight adventurous" adaptation. Nicia is not the Ripley of "Alien 2", and her advancement and retreat on the way through the barrier can neither be too like a superwoman, nor can it be against the logic to kill terrorists with her bare hands. Coupled with the absence of the captain, captain, and technical staff, the fun of wit that movie fans can obtain from the space of mechanical equipment can be said to be reduced to a very low level. In this case, the existence of music is not so much overwhelming, as it is to cleverly fill in the emotional failure of fans to decrypt and explore. This also makes the movie no longer like the "orthodox" disaster film that you and I know. A two-hour redemption march.
In addition, it is known that India’s national and ethnic conditions include too many bad habits and prejudices, especially the caste system and the inferiority of men and women, which have long been criticized by the international community. In addition, the story took place in the 1980s. In the end, what the film will strive to catch up with is the universal value of equality between men and women. Just imagine that the existing value of the time and place should be used in modern aesthetic language. How easy is it to retouch, and even output a film that does not touch the advanced social perception and is acceptable to Indian officials? Therefore, compared with the catastrophic model, I think the yardstick of national introspection is the real internal worries of "Nika".
Let’s put it this way, as a catastrophe movie that is not frantic, does not explode in the bridge section, and is difficult to make out of nothing, so as to avoid disrespect to the deity, this film assumes that the past and the past are intertwined, one table and one inside, overlapped and crossed out the protagonist. The suffering of the inner world. The fusion of narrative lines does not conceal the brilliance. However, in dealing with Nijia's ex-husband's domestic violence, his understatement, avoiding the important and the slightest brushstrokes, thinned out and slightly inclined, is precisely the "framework."
If it was Nijia who saved the passengers, then the great hero who pulled the structure can be said to be Nijia's mother. Sabana Azmi, who played the role of Nijia's mother, strongly supported the secondary line with maternal love, and her dense and thick tear-gas performance was like laying a magic carpet for the movie, and the flight 73 failed to take off.
Is it sensational? Of course. Compared to Hollywood's many spoiled works, I even think that this is a lightly dressed air crash film that easily traverses intangible loads such as "nationality" and "identity" with tears. Going back to what I said before: "This film is in the top three of my summer vacation must-watch list." Does it fail my expectations? When I walked out of the theater, I had it at the beginning, and then it settled down. It doesn't even count. It originally adopted a deviating method of shooting, just like "The Confidential Truth" Danzo Washington used his excellent driving skills to make the crashed plane land upside down, weighing various obstacles and difficulties, and choosing a specification that no one can sin against. If an audience wants to criticize it for not being compact enough, or even saying that it was smashed, I can only say: "Perhaps you should take another flight."
In other words, instead of asking if a disaster movie is not enough to be exciting and thrilling, it counts. Missed? I would rather say that "Nicia" is a lightly painted watercolor painting, although from time to time the powerful music will take advantage of it, and it is so light that it rises as soon as the wind blows-but its light posture makes it difficult to sit and sleep. The plane on the side has a subtle smell of decompression.
This is why, as a sensitive disaster film, "Nika" can still easily extract the intricate divisions and feuds of India and Pakistan, and eliminate it under a safe skin based on love and courage.
It is rare for an Indian film to climb into the domestic summer strong film schedule. This confidence, of course, is in line with the topic of China Airlines strike, which makes it rare for Nijia to catch the "shun fan." As for Taiwanese distribution company Fox’s marketing of a humane film as an air crash film, it is a stopgap measure. It earns more tears than screams, and it can be regarded as a scratch!
This article was published in the August issue of New Audiovisual Magazine
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