Cinema is often needed to inspire hope, resilience, and harmony. It’s about the optimistic values that movies help honor and endure in times of pain, suffering, and hardship. If any film fills you up in tears and then tugs you close to its heart to return you to serenity – it has to be Everyone Is A Hero (Officially titled 2018). A story of collective survival and forbearance of society amid the dreaded Kerela Floods of 2018, Everyone Is A Hero unravels as a two-faceted docu-drama comprising a wider emotional tangent that extends into more touching and character-driven insights into the ardent rescue efforts that brought Kerela together against an unprecedented calamity.
“…story of collective survival and forbearance of society amid the dreaded Kerela Floods of 2018…”
Director Jude Anthany Joseph begins 2018: Everyone Is A Hero with a soothing and comfortable introduction to the characters that, at the time, weren’t connected by any strand. Filled with a powering and commendable ensemble, an excellent one-hour of the film keeps you with these characters, Anoop, Nixon, Shaji, Manju, Narain, and Mathachan, among many others – subtly peeping into their traits, values, backdrops, and ambitions and gradually familiarizing us with them. The forthcoming danger is beginning to lurk in these moments as the government opens long-shut dam doors due to heavy rainfall.
Joseph’s plans to take his time in introducing the ensemble push back the film’s more thrilling part – the exhilarating rescue operations. However, nothing here goes without purpose, for Joseph perfectly payoffs every small setup he captures on camera during the initial hour of the film. Joseph’s minor non-linearity in the narrative leading up to the floods doesn’t have a significant impact; nevertheless, each loose strand meets its match by the end, with every character meeting a complete and conclusive arc and fulfilling their purpose. Joseph has done a commendable job of intertwining these stories and telling them simultaneously, for they indeed assist in sustaining a pause-less run – first as a heartfelt drama and then as a daunting rescue thriller.
"…fills you up in tears and then tugs you close to its heart..."
