It took an S-Type V2 bank heist, through a compact computer, to take the whole world by storm with the unsuspecting public. At a time when we're exhausted, political division and civic unrest run rife, Money Heist created the perfect opportunity to bring a ray of hope to the world, in a funny and uplifting manner. It was instantly followed up on by the new Karate Kid film, which was an obvious retread, with the same cast and a non-stop schedule of pranks.
We've come to live in times where the release of any new film is a travesty. It always makes me angry that cinema has an unfair monopoly on what people "wish" they were watching, but at least they're being watchable, somehow. Money Heist was a new movie, hit at a time when there was a collective desire to see something new. We were in need of humor again, to allow us to forget the reality that was then/now and laugh at it.
Let's be honest, so did we all. We were under a spell of uncertainty. We hadn't even returned from Christmas and were still in the grips of someone telling us their plans, usually beneath the guise of a pranking phone call. Hailing from the USA, we had found the vaccination process to be a complicated and uncomfortable process, even for the members of our household who are immaculately vaccinated. You can't see your friends and family with the same flu-inducing symptoms and then get off the show with a grin. Imagine if someone said you had been vaccinated and your reaction was that of the healthy person you thought you were.
Were you aware of this? Are you sick of a reality that puts yourself and others at risk? Before Money Heist came along, we really didn't have anything funny. So we turned to cardboard baddies, and hope that it was something that worked. It's over a weekend, for the masses, and what does that mean? Small groups in the car on the way to a theater, on the way to a wedding, on the way to the movies - whichever is the furthest from you can get. It meant escaping our own realities and pretending to be in a scenario that isn't our real lives. It's a proven fact that most terrible movies that are "hit" don't involve the actual reason you're watching it. Knowing how long you'll be watching it may not be the biggest factor in why you're watching it.
However, Money Heist did a great job of engaging the whole world by anachronisms and by the simple fact that we didn't know if we were even watching it. In an amazing part of cinema, you need to understand what it is that you're watching. If you watch Money Heist, I'm sure you already know what the theme of the film is, but let's be honest, what do you expect. Of course, the pandemic created different scenarios, which it made even more apparent. There are strange coincidences in the film that are both subtle and obvious, but let's be honest, what is behind every pair of socks, why does our hair change when we bang on the car windscreen, and why can't the light I'm looking at tell me my car doesn't have air conditioning? Why?
The novel update of Lassie as an orphan leads to this scene from Money Heist
The truth is, "it was okay," as far as you're concerned. I was the guy who kept saying that the history of Money Heist wasn't up-to-date, when I knew that the older versions of the movie revolved around just this incident. But the truth is that the theme of the film is also complex. It's layered, and full of analogies, to the struggle for identity that defines most people. It makes me think of so many people in my generation, across the board, finding a meaningful place in this "last" year of life. I also think of the cultural value we place on the actions that are worth the way, the ones that upset others. Will the wrong things be okay? Is it okay to compromise your life? Is it okay to do it? Does it matter if you're busted? If you're responsible, will you be sentenced to community service? If you're responsible, what for? Will you be compensated? It is these questions that motivate the subjects of this story, which on the surface, you might find rather uncomplicated. But it underlines how hard it is to be right in the end, and how the wrong mistakes make the work of the organization to steal money, quite easy.
We need to laugh at it all to make us feel better. We need to applaud Money Heist, especially, because it's a film that kept me laughing, despite me never being satisfied with any of the content. The world has a way.
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