Athena 2022

I am really amazed by how smoothly the long, continuous, uninterrupted takes were staged. There is an insane amount of chaos and commotion happening in the background. Kudos to the crowd coordinators. The sheer number of extras is insane. What scale! I don’t know if they used invisible stitches because everything runs so smoothly. The momentum never breaks, and of course, the drama and acting feel uninterrupted too. I think there were a lot of camera handoffs between operators, and probably some crane work too. Solid direction! I was thinking the entire time, how the fuck did they do that? Especially during the opening scene. Coincidentally, the way they pronounce Athena sounds like “Atin na” to my Filipino ears, meaning “Ours already!” Quite fitting for a rebellion film. So much rage. The score, dramatic lighting, and texture of the smoke gave me goosebumps. Abdel’s transformation is one of my favorite examples of why the long take approach works. I can see all the emotions shifting across him. He starts as the more controlled and reasonable brother, someone still trying to operate within the system, but eventually the anger, grief, disbelief, and betrayal begin taking over. By that point, he finally understands what Karim has been feeling toward the police all along. The ending feels like what was said in The Dark Knight: you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Someone who was once a savior, upright and moral, becomes completely broken and eventually turns into an enemy of the state. And I think the conclusion is that there will always be people willing to manufacture hate and push things beyond the breaking point just to trigger conflict between different factions.