Through an intercom in a classroom, the headmaster
announces that there will be ongoing changes in the school, and that the
students are to follow to all instructions from their teacher. The teacher writes
‘2 + 2 = 5’ on the board. When the children protest, he immediately silences
them, calling for order in the classroom.
The teacher continuously commands the students to repeat
the equation after him. One timid student raises his hand and carefully
suggests that two plus two is four, not five. The teacher calmly commands him, ‘don't
think, you don't have to think!’ The teacher demands the class to copy the
incorrect equation into their notebooks.
Another student stands up to insist that the answer is
four. The teacher asks him, ‘who gave you permission to speak?’ The rebel holds
his ground. The infuriated teacher brings in three senior students, bearing red
armbands and an army-like stature.
The rebel remains determined, and is felled by the seemingly
invisible rifles held by the three senior students. The rest of the class is
silent, stone faces processing what they had just seen. The teacher orders the
students to write down ‘2 + 2 = 5’ in their notebooks. One student is seen
scratching out ‘5’ and replacing it with ‘4’.
This
plot is from the 2011 short film – ‘Two & Two’ directed by Babak Anvari. Similar to George
Orwell’s 1984, the film is an allegory for the absurdness of dictatorship and
tyranny. However it also showcases the resilience of the human spirit of the
two rebels who defy – one in an outspoken manner and the other quietly but
surely.
Check out the film https://youtu.be/EHAuGA7gqFU
We must ask ourselves whether
we easily accept blatant absurdity just because it comes from the mouths of the
powerful. We must ask ourselves why we succumb to the obnoxious when we should
be in defiance of it. We must choose to stand out when forced to line up in
unacceptable uniformity based on obvious irrationality.
Two & Two is about the brave two:
One vocal… the other resolute too
Which one is me? Which one is you?!
~ Pravin K Sabnis
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