 Is that somebody talking on their phone? That's enough talking on their phone. They're talking on a frickin' megaphone. What was that? Is that a droid that just walked by? Hey, welcome back to our stupid directions of Corbin. I'm Rhett. And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Twitter, more juicy content. Dripping out your nose. And subscribe if you have not, and hit that like button, please. And today, we are right here, is because we are doing a movie review of the new film that just came out that no one has been yelling about. No one has been yelling at us for screaming at our faces. Anything like that. But obviously, the reason we're in the car is because we just came out. The theater is not really close to us. And to go back home, we passed Rick's house, so it was just like a pain. We've done this before. You're stupid, baby. I think it was right after Pushpa. That was the last time we did it. So if the shot's weird, or if the audio's weird, I'm sorry. What are you gonna do? But yeah, we just watched the new film, the Kashmir Files, that just came out. And I apologize. I should have pulled up all the IMDB info. But you guys know who directed it, who's in it, and all that kind of stuff. But should we non-spoilers? Yeah, we'll start with non-spoilers, because we know there's probably a lot of you who haven't seen it. And we'll start with non-spoilers. And also, since this is a film about Kashmir, we are not really doing a review on what was all accurate, even though Rick obviously knows more than I do. He did read a book before we did this, which I would love to read. And so he kind of knows a little bit. And I went completely blind, so all the information I was getting was basically off the film. And so that's the perspective we're going in with, just to give you guys a heads up. But Rick, your initial thoughts, please. Yeah, and that's the first thing I wrote down. And I thought about this earlier, was that I would probably the first time we've ever done this is I would give a disclaimer in the fact that we are the least qualified to make any commentaries about Kashmir. What we can make commentary about is cinema and the quality of filmmaking and whether we're impacted or not by the believability, the story, the credibility of the things that we're watching on screen technically. And so that being said, I think the biggest takeaway from all of this in the midst of this long disclaimer is the fact that you have two guys living in L.A. who a little over three years ago knew nothing about what happened in Kashmir who now we're watching a film about it. Reading books about it. And reading books about it. So that's wonderful. But I didn't have time to write a paragraph, so I'm just going to do this off the top of my head. But I do know that this is our 19th film of the year, our 141st Hindi film and our 226th film all time. My initial thoughts. Of the two things that I have just put into my mind within 48 hours of each other because the book that I read was Our Moon Has Blood Clots. And I read it in a day. I read it yesterday and then I saw this. I don't know that it was a good idea for me to have read the book beforehand because I had some expectations of what I was going to be shown. I don't know. Maybe it is because I learned a lot from that book. And there's quite a few things that were taken from the book that are in the film. We'll talk about the artistic side of things in a second. Overall, I felt based on what limited knowledge I have about Kashmir and the genocide and the exodus, the hysterosity of that and the actual truth and facts about how many people died and what was taking place in the villages. I felt like the film fell short of the largeness and the scope of what this thing is. I have a lot that we can say about that. But that would be my biggest takeaway from this. On the one hand, I feel like good grief. How can you tell people that how do you not see a film that's about Kashmir that could help people begin to become educated about the situation? And at the same time, there's things about it that we're going to talk about that I either didn't like or had question about. So that's my takeaway. Ultimately, I think it's great that we're talking about this and it was nice to see the theater full. But I'll share my larger thoughts as we talk. Overall, I didn't really like it. But that's not really for the story. I appreciate the fact that the story is being told. But also, I don't honestly think I learned that much from the film. Because obviously, right when the trailer came out, right when we said we were going to go see it, we got inundated with people just sending us information and all this kind of stuff. And obviously, it was books. Unfortunately, I was unable to read, but I'm going to go read now because I want to learn more about the actual event. This took a turn of following this kid whose parents... With no spoilers. Yeah, no spoilers, obviously. We'll get into it in a second. I had a problem with more of the filmmaking side and writing side of not writing in terms of this event was wrong, writing in terms of dialogue. I don't believe your dialogue that you're talking to me right now. Yeah, and I will say this because we'll talk about the two things I will say that if I was writing the paragraph, because the thoughts are coming to me, they're formulating, as is typically the case right after I see the film. The first thing I would say is that the biggest thing for me, I think this was a monumentally missed opportunity in terms of what it could have done cinematically. It could have done Star.Udam. And yes, and what it could have done educationally. I think it missed the mark in both respects and then there's some other things when we get into spoilers, we'll talk about that. I had some outright disliking of. So I'm with you. Ultimately, like I said in the beginning, people need to know about what happened and maybe this is a good starting point. Maybe. But other than that, I agree with you. Yeah. So if you've already seen the film, you're already probably writing hate comments at us in the comments. They don't even have to see the film to write the hate comments. It's fine. You can do what you want to do. This is not about them saying anything in the film about the events. Nor is this about our opinion of Kashmir, guys. This is literally we're just talking about the smooth filmmaking of this film. Correct. And that is what we were talking about. I want to clarify that even though I know the people that won't listen have already not listened. No. So that's what I want to say. So that's our non-spoiler review is that I think maybe if you like, I know I've actually had stupid babies. I saw this film, really, really enjoyed it. And they said the theater was full. They loved it and they were crying at the end. And that's great. That's great. If that was you, you loved it. I'm so happy for you. Me too. Me too. If this is cathartic for you, if you happen to be a Kashmiri Pandit and for you to see your story on the screen in this way for the first time, God bless you. That's magnificent. Yeah. Take people to see the film and share that experience with them. Yeah. But overall, we're going to get into the technical stuff and spoilers. Yeah, spoiler time. That we'll really get into the nitty gritty. Yeah. Overall, I mean I would say go see it. You're going to go see it if you haven't already because of the it's something that hasn't been told in terms of like a full fledged yet. But we do have some issues with it. And we will get into those now. Yeah. So, spoiler time. Yeah. My biggest issue with this film is most, and it was predominant throughout was the believability of writing. And I was reminded of Venom when you have these great actors on screen, right? Like let's say Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, right? Two phenomenal Oscar worthy actors, right? Right. And you're like, even though I enjoyed it, but the dialogue between them, it's like, oh my God, who wrote this? And it wasn't that bad all the time. Sometimes it was. But like it was like just, I knew what was coming. Right. I knew what was going to, they were going to say, and I knew what he was going to rebuttal to that and was going to say. Yeah. And great predictability in the dialogue. Yeah. And like for somebody who, I don't know this story outside of what people have argued at me on, on Twitter and their arguments that I've seen. That's what this film really felt like to me. This person's argument about Kashmir. As opposed to a telling of the event of Kashmir. Right. 100%. It felt like almost an argument of it, which is, I'm not debating his argument. I'm just saying that's what this film felt like. It felt like his argument. Yes. For Kashmir. Correct. And that's fine. And I'm not saying his argument's wrong. I'm just saying it didn't feel like this was, like Sardar Udam was about the event. Right. The genocide. Or Schindler is a story of the actual, the storyline of a person's trajectory through this experience. Yeah. So like agreed. Even like in Sardar Udam, we're like, we're so happy this story is actually being told. And like this thing and because it was done well, I would have been just as disappointed if that was filmed and shot this way. Because I've been like, I don't really feel like I learned anything. I don't feel like you gave the people that died justice to in the film is what I'm talking about. And I know this is a treachery subject that we're talking on. But once again, we're talking about the film, not the actual event or things in this that we think are wrong. We honestly, we honestly both, the only thing we have an opinion about regarding Kashmir is how sad and heartbreaking it is to know so much tragedy and anger and hatred and bigotry has gone on there for countless, countless centuries now. All we're saying is about that. But especially in the past, our lifetimes. What did you think about the writing? The thing wasn't so much dialogue, although I agree 100% about the dialogue. I had a problem with the fact, and again, this may be because of the framing of my mindset with Armun has blood clots. Man, turn that into a movie. Because Armun has blood clots is the personal testimony of a man who lived this. He was 14 when it happened. And so what you get is a little, in that book, you get backstory about Kashmir enough to educate you because it's such a complex issue with so many different things that have happened over so many centuries. It can be, you could get no joke, you could get a PhD in studies about Kashmir. It's so much information. But he takes you on a journey of his own personal life that's very similar in terms of like in this film with the going back to Kashmir with the remains of a loved one, where I had no emotional connectivity to the personal story of Shiva in this, the way I did. I was gutted with the book and what this man's family, which was the microcosm of the whole, which is exactly what Schindler's list is about that particular genocide. It's not the totality of the Holocaust. It's the story of Oscar Schindler and his people that he saved from the camps. And that small story gives you the microcosm of what was the whole. And the thing that was the most troubling to me in the writing was what seemed to be two things. One, a very particular framework. Like you said, it was almost like this is the director and writer's opinion of Kashmir versus telling us a story about the humanity and the tragedy of what happened to so many people. I don't particularly want to know your opinion and I understand and I appreciated that he said there's so many different stories about Kashmir. Where do you find the truth? But I found almost that, that became so big that the film itself became a metaphor for truth. Like pick your story of Kashmir and I knew it was coming. They went back to the rally. I'm like, okay, here comes Shiva's speech. It's gonna piss her off and she's gonna walk out and rather than him, which in reality what would happen is he would have been kicked out. There'll be people there who are gonna do what wouldn't happen in real life. They're gonna say, set up, let him talk. I want to hear the truth now. That's part of the predictability. It went through. Real sad because I actually thought he did a really good job. He did his speech. That was his best moment. He had a great moment there. He had a really good speech and he's a great actor. I think he was family man, right? He's a really good actor. People butt in and I was like, I know what you're gonna say and then you stood up. Okay, now I sit down. That was my line. And so there was stuff like that. Obviously there was technical stuff that I knew they didn't have money for and so I'm not really gonna harp on that. CGI stuff was pretty rough. Right at the end. At the end that was brutal. When he was shooting him and it looked like they just literally sat down. No, it was bad. They're getting shot and the actors are turning to look at where they're falling. Yeah. It was rough. It missed. That takes away from what it should have done. Unless, if you've never seen Schindler's List, if you've never seen Saving Private Ryan, if you've never seen I could go down a list of a bunch of films that depict brutality with realism. It started out dumb. Yeah. If you've never seen that and this is the first time you've seen it it would be impacting. I can see how there would be people who if they've never seen anything of this magnitude and this is their first exposure to it it would be tough for them. But for those of us who've seen this kind of story where there's a human tragedy or there's a holocaust type of thing that was difficult technically. And it seems like in the writing or in the direction, whatever that this director wanted these actors to do certain things and they became a shtick for a lot of people. The bad guy in this might have had a lazy eye. You guys could tell me if that's true or not. But what the actor did it just became a shtick. Anytime he said something menacing it was the evil eye. I agree. It was really rough. This person I just find it hard to believe if he actually did even if he did let's say the person he was portraying did have a lazy eye it wouldn't act like that. It was intentional. It was 100% This is a cool moment and then he did it a thousand times. It was so over the top that it became almost comical and that's the last thing you want. And one thing I actually thought most of the main cast did a really good job they're all good actors I think they've had to overcome an obstacle of dialogue a lot of times or certain things that obviously the director wanted. It happened to our lead a few times and so it just goes to show you how important writing is and maybe like if I was a Hindu or Kashmir pundit or something I'd be able to over look all this and be like I'm just so happy this is being told and I am happy this is being told but I don't think it was it didn't have the impact like even another Indian film of another genocide Sardar Udam did that didn't have that impact on me and I actually was hoping even though you know it was an awful moment that happened I'm hoping that like I'm sure that happened obviously he shot 25 people in there oh and things like that's the thing things like that and did happen all of the time the saw thing happened yes that happened and there were those are actually in the stories of people getting lined up by the hundreds by the river and just getting mowed down by the hundreds that's what I meant by the scope of this thing yeah but that wasn't depicted and the camps the technical aspect the scope of the camps and the thousands in the camps the technical aspects of it and the unbelievable of like him doing his big bond speech before he kills them it's just it takes me out of it like crazy because I'm like I'm an actor I know what he was told I know what he's doing and 100% takes me out of the moment this is the crescendo yeah I'm supposed to be like sobbing that he's murdering these people in front of me women children sawing people in half hi sorry and Johnny's gonna you're gonna see somebody coming she's got some cappuccinos but yeah so those are the things I'm most frustrated with the film about is the technical side of the writing the dialogue there wasn't a ton I liked that the director kept a lot of it no score some moments but even some moments of those dragged on the larger thing for me as much as the technical aspects were and I think it's because of the book well I didn't read the book right and I at one point another part of this that I have a concern about and again it's a concern based built from a platform of ignorance guys my concern might be completely taken away in one educational moment where I understand oh okay but there's there were moments where I was concerned with the woman who is the person who's connected to our main bad guy and she's recruited him and when they were playing the songs right before the speech I thought there's a potential for people to watch this and if they already have come into this film with an opinion not about the specificity of Kashmir but if they have a particular bias toward a Muslim person I'm really concerned that this is going to help them point to the places where they have a particular hatred and it's going to fuel it because of some of the ways it's depicted throughout this and it's not taking anything away from the reality of what happened and I just that really concerns me and I have heard about some things that have been taking place in that regard and some of the framing of things I'm glad at the very beginning of the movie I don't know if you saw it he put up at the very beginning that this is dedicated to people being persecuted everywhere and he also had a disclaimer where he said this is not supposed to be linearly factual I'm incorporating things that have happened over many years I'm also changing the names of some people so he gave us that liberty but there was enough framing of some things that it's for example you don't want people walking away from watching Schindler's List which is the example I can give you want them walking away with a hatred for the Nazi evil that took place in the Nazis you don't want them walking away with anger for the Germans obviously we never want bigotry and hatred that's what concerns me those tensions in India are ridiculously high and we know nothing of it we know nothing of it it's just the little we've been exposed to that's where our hearts go in empathy overall even though I think there were a bunch of good moments I think a lot of the actors had some good moments but I think the overall wise I was a bit let down at the impact that I was hoping to get from this film especially from what I've heard be like grab my heart like even the most recent Sardar Oda I was hoping for something as impactful as that Indian film not even comparing it to a Hollywood film just a recent Indian film of another genocide that happened I just didn't feel I got that and that was a little disappointing but at the same time look at what you got you got two American dudes ignorant to stuff that's gone on in this part of the world wanting to learn about it and talk about it so if you can take that away from it then that's a wonderful thing I would very much like to read that book yeah you really should it's 200 pages just over 200 pages it would ordinarily do that for me but I couldn't stop reading it anyways let us know what you thought about the film and why you hate us and why we're Bollywood bootleg falling in that category so it still supports the theory anyways please let us know what you thought about the film and what should be the next film that we should watch and other if there's more informational books articles that we can please send them to us so we can give them a read down below