Beastly! Reviewing "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple"

I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time now and have been postponing, then came the FFF White Nights, and then Berlinale, and also lots of work, and yada yada yada, and it's kind of late, but finally here I am scribbling something, because I don't want to keep putting off reviewing this movie to the point that it's too old to be relevant, and the second part of the 28 series, The Bone Temple, deserves it. It is such, such a good film all around.

Let's analyze it then! (OBVIOUSLY SPOILERED REVIEW)

For a change, I want to start with the ending of the film, notably the scene in which Jim, the character played by Cillian Murphy, teaches his teenage daughter about the outcome of the second world war and they have a little Q&A about how it was intended to stop fascism once and for all. I have already mentioned, I think in the context of Hereditary, how much I enjoy the classroom lesson trope in which the lesson taught at school basically foretells the movie's ulterior motives, and that's what is happening here too, albeit in a very small classroom. So, why would this movie even mention fascism, and is it connected to the budding movement, or rather cult, of the Jimmies?

 

 

It was clear from the first installment of the new 28 series that this group of people, young survivors of the Zombie plague assembled around the pastor's son Jimmy, is a melting pot of symbolism; from their garments to their leaders to their wigs - nothing is coincidental here. Up until the Zombie virus outbreak, Jimmy Crystal grows up in a religious household as the son of a pastor, and, as becomes obvious from what he says to the doctor when they meet in person (an atheist doctor for explaining the Zombie outbreak in scientific terms), his thinking, maybe due to the fact that his cognitive development was interrupted in such brutal way, is quite childish, and he tries to explain the world around him in terms of the ideas that he was fed as a child. So during the twenty eight years he was surviving and working on his career as a cult leader, he created his own mythology, in which God released his demons unto this world, and he rebelled to his father, a representative of religion, and became the favorite son of Old Nick (the Devil) who gave him seven fingers who will fight for him. Like any good prophet, his father communicates with him through the voices in his head and orders him to inflict utmost brutality unto his fellow humans. Jimmy dreams of a reign, an army to expand and bring even more suffering and pain to people all over.

On the other end of the scale, and in a second storyline that runs parallel to and intertwined with that of the Jimmy cult, we have Dr. Ian Kelson who stands for reason and science. In Alpha Zombie Samson's vicinity, he not only finds a friend he can sing, dance and enjoy nature with, he can also patiently, peacefully, and curiously observe him and try and find out what the Zombie virus does to the human mind and body. He also has a vinyl player and a baller soundtrack for the post apocalypse. He is a happy man, what more can one ask for?

With everything going on, the drama between the fingers of Jimmy, including Spike, and the budding idyllic friendship between doctor and patient, the discovery to a solution to the pandemic seems almost backhanded, even though so seminal to the main film plot.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out (I haven't done any research on this) that the makers, notably Boyle, decided to relaunch the 28 franchise in the aftermath of the real-world COVID19 pandemic and in the face of the disintegration the world experiences ever since. Hence, the climactic conversation between Jimmy Crystal and Ian Kelson feels so eerily familiar to today's audience - on one side a conservative-religious movement on the brink of becoming expansionist, not shying away from violence, and on the other hand scientific observation and hopefully relief. Jimmy is more than ready to tip into fascism, and Kelson almost helped him on his way there - until he realized what he would be complicit to. On a side note, unfortunately, I'm not talking about only US as is the case with most movies, a big part of the world experiences such a duality right now.

There are conditions that facilitate that kind of transformation into fascism, historically in real life as well as fictionally in this film. The ongoing stressor in the 28 series is the breakout of the Zombie virus, and we can start hoping that it's coming to an end. A world without Gestapo-like groups walking around ambushing people in their own homes is on the horizon. A new order can arise. And the secret is inside Samson.

At least I hope so, I interpret the ending of the movie as an utterly optimistic one, but who knows?

I don't want to finish this post without mentioning director Nia DaCosta: I like the way she overtook small details from the predecessor film (like that freeze-frame shot I mentioned in my 28 Years Later review, Boyle's signature) to ease into the second film of the series, but totally did her own thing which turned out glorious. Also Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell literally carry this movie on their shoulders, especially Fiennes does a lot - notably delivering a mean, ecstatic, monumental Iron Maiden show that makes you wish you were there in person. 

I am not at all a series person and the number of series I watch in a year is practically zero, maybe one, but I love this franchise so much that I find myself wishing it wouldn't end and turn into a show - that good.