When The waters rise

'2018: Everyone is a Hero' is a realistic, thought-provoking, and emotional movie that showcases the resilience of the people of Kerala in the face of calamity and resonates well with audiences, especially the Indian diaspora in other countries.

The movie was said to be an emotional survival story, a story of triumph against all odds, but proved to be more than that. Those who witnessed the ‘Kerala Floods of 2018’ as well as those who kept abreast of the developments, identify well with its pulse. A technically sound and thoughtfully crafted film, 2018, is a lucid cinematic experience that all Keralites will treasure.

The story starts in a village Aruvikkulam, where one meets a lot of people involved in petty quarrels. Among them is a youngster who left the Army with a fake medical certificate, played by Tovino.

We get to see their ordinary lives and later, in sharp contrast, how it gets overturned because of the flood. The absolute horror and the helplessness one feels when water goes up to the roof of their house is depicted well and director Jude Anthany

Joseph succeeds in doing justice to the sufferings of thousands.

While the first half was comparatively calm, in the second half, we see fishermen and their rescue efforts, the locals and the help they provided, the helicopter rescue operations, almost everything that we remember from the natural calamity.

The songs and background scores were not too jarring. Certain scenes deserved better treatment but, overall, the film did justice in depicting an unprecedented tragedy for the current generation.