Let the strongest prevail, but what if the strongest is evil?
How often do you find yourself in an empty platform of a subway station situated in Brooklyn? Or when you’re heading out towards the exit of the same station? Well, that will never happen in Brooklyn at least, at day or night time as long as it exists. But thanks to “BUSHWICK”, co-written by Nick Damici and Graham Reznick, co-directed by Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott, in the world they have created for us, what you will see outside of Brooklyn is what perhaps happens in the mind of every Republican or Democrat in the Divided States of America.
How does it starts?
Set in Brooklyn’s empty subway station, Lucy, wearing a red coat as if she was a red-hat from beloved fairy tales, walks calmly with her boyfriend towards the exit to introduce him to her grandma, who lives a few blocks away. Seconds later, a man on fire in agony and still able to plea for help runs down the station. Lucy stops her boyfriend from any action as they swiftly run up to that long-awaited exit. Then they hear the sound of bombs, shooting and even some voices. Her boyfriend bravely asks her to wait, as he runs outside to check out the situation, but only to find himself being cooked and bombed at the same time.
Lucy, still in shock not realizing if everything that just happened was a dream or a nightmare, learns the true meaning of Hell on Earth but in a very hard away. Chaotically running around (don’t ask me how she did not get killed somewhere in between), Lucy finds shelter in the house of Stupe (Dave Bautista), who she meets right after when he rescues her from two local guys willing to rape or even kill her. In him she finds a little hope for survival as they have nobody else to rely on… But that truth quickly changes when halfway through the film, we meet Lucy’s drug addicted cousin and a group of people whose house is full of guns.
So what really happens in Bushwick, and what kind of attack was that?
What appeared to be an attack turned out as an invasion of a self-declared Nation of Texas, a so-red-state who attacks mainly Democrats and chooses a wrong target to mess with. And that is Bushwick. Captured and wounded Lucy and Stupe are told that, according to their intel, Texas army did not expect any resistance from the city that’s full of illegal immigrants. But it turned out to be false hypothesis as the same illegal immigrants, but still as brave Americans, fight against the redneck state who seemed not so good at estimating its potential targets.
I can of course go on and on about what happens next. But one thing is quite clear in Bushwick and you must be aware that everything happens in the movie before it even begins. With that fact, the viewer must learn to deal with, as everything after that is pure struggle before reaching the evacuation zone of US Army, who still kept the unity of the nation and protects the people of Bushwick from angry Texas.
What about the conclusion?
Given the conclusion is not what you usually get from Hollywood movies, “BUSHWICK” manages to tackle the subject matter, a dystopian future that is not too far from reality. It clearly states who is good and who is the bad guy. Surprisingly, not many are as nice as you might expect. After all, they all want to survive at any cost. And if that cost is to shoot left and right, who cares, right? Well, when you find yourself in the situation Lucy finds herself in, you won’ t have much choices left but do what you have to do in order to stay alive as long as it’s possible. And she will of course because that’s her fate, don’t you think so?
An extended conclusion.
Having said that, it took me another half an hour to think over before penning my review. As I tried to process everything my poor eyes had witnessed, I finally found “BUSHWICK” as an intelligent movie turning drastically towards America where the war can start by itself. The movie will allow you to analyze its rare concept, which I must say I would prefer not to know about. The story is dynamic. We learn quickly about the characters and even the reasons why Bushwick is being invaded. It means, there are no answers to what happened but gives an open ending as a great turn to your imagination to play with it as much as you can. Because if you allow yourself to fantasize more about the world the Americans finds itself in Bushwick, trust me, you and me and the rest of the world would like to stop the Earth to get off. Let’s just hope it will never happen as Bushwick is more than enough to have it pictured.