The Dead 2


Directed by the Ford brothers, the Dead 2 is a zombie movie with a twist it's set in India. The movie is a sequel to The Dead (2010) depicting two soldier’s attempts to survive a zombie epidemic sweeping through Africa. Howard and Jon Ford deliver the goods this time.
Nicholas Burton (Joseph Millson) is an American engineer working as a contractor on a wind farm, in love with an Indian girl Ishaani Sharma whom he impregnated. This affair of theirs enrages Ishaani’s stereotypical conservative father who wants her to marry a man of his choice. But disaster strikes in the form of an infected sailor returning from Somalia. Havoc ensues as he bites his way through quite a few bystanders. Nicholas has to be the white knight on a Royal Enfield to save Ishaani from the slavering hordes of inhumanity. He meets a lively, but over-enthusiastic orphan named Javed, who becomes his companion and guide through 300 km of anticipation and abject terror.
The movie is pretty average in terms of cinematography, but the novelty of a zombie movie in India is definitely intriguing. The plot sometimes feels like a waste of screen time with hints of good elements not realized, such as Javid and his soft corner for the girl. There is no reasoning with zombies, only a bullet to the head or a splattered skull makes sense to them, so the conflicts are only between humans here. There are three discernible conflicts here, the contention between Ishaani and her father, the conflict within Nick and finally, the conflict between the military and the zombies.
Ishaani’s father is a firm believer in karma and how all things that come to pass are preordained by Brahma. Yet, he cannot acknowledge a relationship between his daughter and a firangi , based on the reasonable fear of abandonment and unreasonable xenophobia. This is resolved by his infection convincing him that he can no longer protect his daughter and by Nick’s grit and determination in getting there. The second conflict is more a reminder of Nick not manning up when he impregnated a woman and causing her death due to the complications due to the abortion. He resolves this by choosing to protect Javid as his son. Finally, the conflict between the military and the zombies is of a collateral scale. Faced with imminent social collapse, the military does what it does best, blow stuff up, zombies and uninfected alike.
Ultimately the plot resolution is lamp-shaded by the tale of the king, his lover and son being buried alive. In this state of nature, the life of Man is nasty, brutish and short, though not solitary


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