OUTLOOK — By Huda Al Jahwariya — I don’t usually watch any film twice, one has always been enough for me except when it came to the Click movie. This film has an extraordinary power that motivates me to watch it again and again.
It could be because the scenario of the movie resembles some points in our social and cultural reality.
Click is an American movie by the director Frank Coraci that talks about Michael Newman, an overworked architect who neglects his family and misses out on most of his life when he receives a remote-control device from his engineer friend, Morty, that enables him to skip over unpleasant events.
He uses the remote to fast forward events to his favour, even if it is at the expense of his life with his little girls, wife and parents. The thing that he didn’t notice is that he cannot rewind events, the remote can only fast forward things.
To Michael's amazement, he finds that the remote can control the actual universe, particularly time. Michael uses it to skip fights with Donna, his wife, and goes forward until he rids himself of a cold and skips a family dinner for work. Later, Morty reveals that when Michael fast forwards through time, his body is on “auto-pilot” — his mind skips ahead, while his body goes through the everyday life.
There are lots of things in our life that we wish to get rid of and pass it with a press of a button. Since 2011, we are dreaming of many wishes that has grown within us. We want jobs for our youths; we want tourist services, low cost commodities, increase in salaries, good education, hospitals without costly medical errors, increase in banking benefits and so on.
We want this magical remote control device that is called “government” to take us high over our problems although we certainly know that such actions take time.
While we were pressing the button, we didn’t see those furious reactions from some youths coming. We didn’t want to get to that extent anyway. We were only hoping for effective and constructive criticism. We wanted to build our dreams.
In the movie, Michael’s boss tells him that he is leaving the country, and in the course of the conversation, Michael reveals his desire to be CEO in 2007.
The remote reacts accordingly, but fast forwards ten years to 2017.
Michael is now the CEO, but he is obese, lives alone, his children are teenagers, he is divorced from Donna, and they all hate him.
Michael also discovers that Donna has an attractive boyfriend. Michael visits his old house and, after fighting with Donna, the new family dog pounces on him, and he falls and hits his head.
Today, we are busy with the stories of arrests. We are busy reading the things that are written here and there about the government and we forgot all about the purpose of the first demonstration of people on the roads.
There is a white flash, and Michael wakes up in the present day on the bed, believing that the events have all been “a dream.”
He makes amends with his father, and reassures Donna and his children of his affection for them and that he will never sacrifice them for work again.
Our youths need an opportunity like this. They need someone to listen to them and they need to feel the change and they need to get a chance to express themselves so that they can rearrange their thoughts and attitudes.
