S Poddar
In his new film, Asif Kapadia dives head-first into some of the most urgent concerns of our times with a fervent documentary-drama hybrid that runs a full 85 minutes. “2073” tackles subjects as monumental as climate change, corporate authoritarianism, and the erosion of global democracy. Passionate in tone, urgent to a fault-the stridency is perhaps inevitable given the gravity of the issues at hand.
Kapadia-whose nuanced documentaries about pop culture icons Diego Maradona and Amy Winehouse caught the world off-guard with their sheer brilliance-adopts an altogether more stridently political tone in “2073.” The leap from his earlier more insinuating style to this graphically bold polemic may be a trifle jarring. Given the overwhelming import of the subjects he addresses, this change in style is likely necessary. Possibly, this lack of subtlety is the real trade-off to the film directly confronting the pressing crises that face our world.
The storyline is very bleak, rather futuristic-very Chris Marker’s “La Jetée.” Samantha Morton plays the part of a sole survivor in an annihilated world, making her way through a land that has been torn asunder by some cataclysmic shift. Her character is an exceedingly poor woman who periodically flicks on a wind-up torch to sit and consider in quiet what events in history might have led to this drear future. The movie quite eloquently provides a sense of her brooding as she considers the end of human civilization.
The current news footage weaves in and out with archival material to drive the climate crisis and the clampdown on dissent. It’s interspersed with dark depictions of today’s leaders-Modi, Xi, Trump, Putin, Orbán-their tech-savvy counterparts such as Bezos and Zuckerberg. This is effectively how the entire film explores the nexus between the rise of authoritarianism and environmental damage, depicting billionaires and nationalist leaders in tandem as business partners who use powerful means to stay in control of a rapidly heating world.
The voiceover in the film reveals the contributions of such political commentators as George Monbiot and Anne Applebaum. Despite the powerful critiques, one could have wished that more time was given to elaborating their points. Nevertheless, their contributions reflect the very core of the film: a serious accusation against the forces of an anti-democratic and environmentally destructive system, and a critique of the passive stance that allows these things to keep happening.
“2073” is a powerful scream of anger against the main authoritarian and environmental threats of our time. Less veiled than some of Kapadia’s previous work, its emotional intensity underlines the extent of the challenges we face. The movie forcefully brings home how fragile our planet stands today and how immediate this struggle is.
