Review

THE MODERN — DAY ZOMBIE

Zombies. Zombies. Zombies. Zombies. Nowadays there are many movies about zombies. In fact so many that we start forgetting what really zombies are. They are these gruesome creatures with one wish and one wish only — eating your brain, your guts and all in between. Somehow the culture often makes them funny. Even if on the big screen we see a freaking killing machine there will most certainly be some scenes when a zombie is shown in a humorous way. At some point they are funny. They are awkward, clumsy, not very intelligent, just some guys hanging around in hope of finding some fresh bloody victim for lunch. But that’s not all what they are.

Behind the image of a zombie there is actually an idea. Dead, rotten, soulless. How many people who feet this description we meet every day? Quite a few, I guess. That’s right — zombies in the movies they simply represent what we, who consider ourselves being human, don’t want to be in the end. But actually there is a big sad piece of news for you. You are a zombie, as well as I am a zombie, and another several billions of people around the world.

That is just what we are. Yes, we don’t eat anyone’s brains literally, but speaking about metaphors… It’s whether you eat someone’s brain, whether someone will eat yours. But let’s not dramatize. By saying so nobody means to insult anyone. It is just like stating a fact. People are very prone to behaving like zombies. But that doesn’t mean that the world will end.

The world will end? Yes! It will! Because of us, zombies. Our brains are so much eaten that we actually start losing an ability to think, to feel, even to enjoy life to the fullest. Like these crazy kids in the “Invasion” all we want is a can of Coke, some bright colors, loud music, good sex, good food. And it is no surprise that by good food they mean somebody’s guts. The mass-culture crashes in our lives every day. Not even speaking about any conspiracy theories, but it is kind of obvious that all we see, hear, everything we are shown and told is made with one single purpose — to sell. Guess what is being sold? It is never about a single bad guy who wants to make you buy a bottle of cola instead of pepsi. It is a life style being sold. And it actually makes things worse. We dream about a certain mode of existing. No one can tell now who started all that, it is in the society itself. We are stuck in a vicious circle of our desires that are not actually ours, in symbols and artifacts that are so meaningful to us, but in fact having no value at all. We are being told what to like, who to love, what to do, what to wish for. That is the world we live in now.

Sounds like a very close apocalypse. Let’s find the guilty one. Who is that person who leads the humanity to an end. It is you, and me, and another several billions of people around the world. We chose this life. Just like a girl in the movie started all that madness happening by biting that cosmic shiny ball, we ate that whole apple of temptation. Now we think we know what the good is and what the bad is. But that is so not true. We end up being surrounded by dead zombies, we end up being one of them. And nobody is going to come and save us. All movies lie: there are no vaccines, no guns, no heroes who will put this zombie apocalypse to it’s end. Someone had to show how things actually work. Someone had to show what happens when zombies win. Everyone dies. That’s where we are heading. There is not much we can do about it. Just stop being a zombie. Just try. For a day at least. Might feel good...

That is probably the best thing about films in general: they have an incredible ability to provoke thoughts. A short movie about a zombie apocalypse… who would think that it can lead to some deep self-analyzing digging and putting on the surface some of our modern-day social problems.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with just watching a movie and having fun. After all movies are made for entertainment. But at least this one is worth spending some of your time on watching it for a second (or may be a third) time. It is very likely that under all the gore and excitement of the “Invasion” you will see something important, something that might actually change you and make you see the world in a different way.