I have been to the cinema. I know, not a particularly revelatory announcement, but for me something of a red letter day. I have a cinema card that goes woefully underused and on the rare occasion that I manage to rouse myself to go it ends up being somewhat of an event.
The Man and I went out to watch ‘Lucy’, a spectacular new science fiction thriller directed by Luc Besson. I won’t even try to give you a well rounded film review here, I liked it. It’s thought provoking and a measured performance from its central actors redeems many a flaw in the overall picture.
The basic premise of this film is a young woman unlocking the ability to use 100% of her cognitive ability. The film uses the popular misconception that humans only utilise 10% of their brain power, let’s not get into that, you can instead read about that here. She is then able to understand the fabric of the universe in a way mere mortals are incapable of. She bends time and space and manipulates the world around her at whim. Fascinating concept right?
What I became interested in was the idea that we as humans would evolve into distinctly inhumane humans, would unleashing all that intellect really cancel out thousands of years of empathy and consideration?
Scientists have theorised that the popularly held belief that only the strong survive and that the meek will not in fact inherit the earth, is wrong. Humans will instinctively band together to help those less able than themselves, whether that’s physically, fiscally or mentally.
I regularly avoid newspapers and the news on television because I honestly can’t watch it and not cry. Maybe that makes me a little too sensitive; I think it makes me aware of how bad things are all over the world. Suffering on a global scale is something we are all shown daily and can do very little about in our day to day lives. We despair of the state of the world and then order a latte. Things are changing I think though, this general unresponsiveness is ceasing and people are becoming more proactive.
To support this train of thought, Bedford was recently voted the most generous town in the UK by a justgiving poll. There was much made of this in the media and I shan’t go into too much detail about this, because frankly, I already knew that Bedford was an incredibly motivated town when it came to charity endeavours. What the recent media frenzy doesn’t take into account is all the amazing work going on in our town that has absolutely nothing to do with that site, knowing the justgiving is helping people is brilliant but think of your local pub or school, I can almost guarantee that they are raising money or donations. The church near you is doing the same, all denominations. There are so many charity shops in town that it’s almost easier to shop in one than not.
We have a perfect example again of a local initiative doing something for the greater good, Bedford Film Festival in collaboration with The Pad is screening ‘Dead Poets Society’ tomorrow evening at The Pad, with all proceeds going to Mind. A global news story, being honoured locally, by people giving their time and resources willingly.
So, humans are flawed and we haven’t evolved to be non violent, but we are selfless and infinitely complex beings capable of great kindness. We can be better and we will.
…now where’s my latte?