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Extraction Bengali review

2:00 AM, April 23, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, April 23, 2020
MOVIE REVIEW
Of Extraction and Yellow Filters


yellow-filters.jpg


Adhora Ahmed

If you've been spending most of your days scrolling through Facebook, like most of us nowadays, chances are you have come across memes regarding the trailer of a Netflix movie called Extraction, which stars Chris Hemsworth and releases on April 24. Since it is partly set in Bangladesh, the action thriller has instantly gained a local audience. However, the trailer has also raised a question: why does Dhaka look so yellow?

One possible reason behind the use of a sickly shade of yellow to depict Dhaka is to increase discomfort and heighten tension. As Extraction's trailer promises suspense, using yellow filters seems like a logical choice. Yet, there are plenty of action-packed, adrenaline-fuelling blockbusters that make do without relying on jaundiced hues. Then again, in Breaking Bad, the scenes shot in Mexico are doused in yellow. A similar trend can be seen in Hollywood films and TV shows set in the rest of Latin America, Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent. These regions have one thing in common: "first-world" countries refer to these countries as "third-world" countries. Hence, yellow might be interpreted to represent poverty.

The movies set in these places, typically action-based, also follow other clichés. The protagonist, usually a white male, is sent on a mission to a foreign land to bust drug cartels or terrorist organisations, depending on his location. These movies always end with the hero defeating local delinquents and saving the general public, which is a fundamental trait of the white saviour trope. Extraction is no different; Chris Hemsworth's character is on a mission to rescue an Indian or Bangladeshi boy.

Furthermore, other colonial undertones enhance the foreignness of the protagonist's overcrowded and squalid surroundings. He is only fluent in English, or at most knows common phrases in the local language. Much to the hero's confusion, in some cases frustration because they don't know his language, most of the natives jabber incomprehensibly in their own tongue. This implies that the locals possess less intellect than him, except a few one-dimensional characters who know English and are therefore more refined. The overall picture is not very flattering, and conveys that these places and people are uncouth and unwelcoming.

The portrayal of third-world countries in Hollywood has always been formulaic, thus helping perpetuate negative stereotypes in Western media. This narrow mindset overlooks the dynamics of these cultures and the complexities of the lives of these people. Even though these trends might not end soon, active conversation addressing such issues can help overcome stereotypes and debunk myths. Additionally, films and other visual media from developing countries can provide a more authentic portrayal of their cultures, thus aiding in broadening one's perspective.
 
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There is some doubt whether folks in BD will even watch a sequel. Most folks are a bit pissed.

Some are talking about lodging a strong protest with NETFLIX and a nationwide boycott because of the portrayal of Bangladeshis and the country itself and making NETFLIX personnel persona-non-grata here.

It is not just the deliberate portrayal of Muslim Bangladesh as a slum-ridden poor country, there are ulterior motives to portray us in the media as backward and crime-ridden, which is far from the truth. We all know who is behind this. Figure it out.

If this was how India was portrayed (reality as the slums shown ARE in India)- Sanghis would be out on the streets crying 'Mera Bharat Mahaan!' and burning tires.

Although Indian Netflix Market is far larger than Bangladesh ($180 Million plus yearly), Bangladesh at $22 Million yearly is proportionally just as large (and going to get a LOT larger, it is just the beginning of the marketing curve). A Boycott and the bad press/media shaming is not something Netflix would relish a lot.

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/countries-netflix-cost/
https://www.comparitech.com/tv-streaming/netflix-subscribers/
 
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There is some doubt whether folks in BD will even watch a sequel. Most folks are a bit pissed.

Some are talking about lodging a strong protest with NETFLIX and a nationwide boycott because of the portrayal of Bangladeshis and the country itself and making NETFLIX personnel persona-non-grata here.

It is not just the deliberate portrayal of Muslim Bangladesh as a slum-ridden poor country, there are ulterior motives to portray us in the media as backward and crime-ridden, which is far from the truth. We all know who is behind this. Figure it out.

If this was how India was portrayed (reality as the slums shown ARE in India)- Sanghis would be out on the streets crying 'Mera Bharat Mahaan!' and burning tires.

Although Indian Netflix Market is far larger than Bangladesh ($180 Million plus yearly), Bangladesh at $22 Million yearly is proportionally just as large (and going to get a LOT larger, it is just the beginning of the marketing curve). A Boycott and the bad press/media shaming is not something Netflix would relish a lot.

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/countries-netflix-cost/
https://www.comparitech.com/tv-streaming/netflix-subscribers/

Not sure if Netflix really cares that much about BD market.
 
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https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/blowin-the-wind/news/the-extraction-attraction-1898761
Home Opinion Blowin’ in the Wind
12:00 AM, May 03, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:07 AM, May 03, 2020
The ‘Extraction’ Attraction
A still from the movie ‘Extraction’.
extraction-attraction.jpg

A still from the movie ‘Extraction’.

Shamsad Mortuza
My Face-book newsfeed has been experiencing a little tremor ever since the Dhaka-based action movie Extraction started streaming on Netflix on April 24. Surprisingly, the ground shaking "thor-thor" is not due to the much hyped presence of Chris Hemsworth and his marvellous reputation as an avenger; instead, social media is abuzz with Dhaka being misrepresented by Hollywood.

Not too often do we get to hear Bangladesh and Hollywood in the same sentence. There was a time when the popular BTV variety show Jodi Kichu Mone Na Koren featured a Hollywood based reporter to give media updates in the pre-internet era. There have been documentaries—such as The Human Scale (2012) dealing with the problematic expansion of megacity or The True Cost (2015) exploring the condition in which clothes are made for the fashion world—that shed light on Dhaka. Dhaka is mentioned in passing in TV shows such as "How I Met Your Mother" where Ranjit the taxi driver is said to be from Bangladesh. Evan Treborn in The Butterfly Effect (2004) worries about waking up in a "dirt farm" in Bangladesh. In Friends with Benefits (2011) we hear of Bangladesh in a sarcastic list of countries that tops America in work ethics. Zoolander (2011) mentions Bangladesh in the context of child labour. In Spielberg's Munich employs the comment: "enough food to feed Bangladesh". And in one episode of Simpsons, Krusty the clown finds an old record from Bangladesh and is kicked out of the house for playing it!I am sure there are a few odd references here and there that I have missed. Suffice it to say, the presence of Bangladesh in Hollywood films is far from flattering.

The fact that Extraction has gained traction in Bangladesh to become number one Netflix choice is no wonder. Never mind that it is a mindless action movie with endless spewing of bullets running through a ridiculous storyline.

The plot involves [skip if you plan to watch the movie] an Indian drug lord who is in jail. His son stays with his security chief Saju in Mumbai in a massive palatial house. The boy Ovi is kidnapped by a rival drug kingpin from Bangladesh. Asif is a dandy young man who runs a racketeer of drug-peddlers reminding one of the scantily dressed characters with invectives aplenty from Slumdog Millionaire.

Saju hires an Australian extractor Rake, a psychological wreck who suffers from the trauma of losing his son to cancer and ends up killing someone with a garden rake to live up to his name. Tyler undertakes this mission impossible to Dhaka with a death wish. Within 16 hours, the entire rescue team takes position in a launch in the Buriganga River, while he alone goes to pay the ransom to free Ovi. Killing spree, high speed car chase, road blockades, and door to door search in narrow alleys ensued as Rake rescues Ovi.

Meanwhile, Saju secretly comes to Dhaka on a chartered plane from Mumbai with an intention of double-crossing the rescue mission. He kills Tyler's rescue party. Don't ask why Saju, who could kill an entire international mercenary gang, bothered to hire secondary forces to deal with some street ruffians? Don't be distracted by the mindless plot—keep watching, and you may even end up being proud of Ananta Jalil.

Tyler and Ovi thus end up being chased by Asif's gang, Asif's pet police (a combination of DMP, RB elite and the army) and Saju. For the first time ever in the history of mankind, we get an insight into Dhaka's box culverts, "the world's worst sewage" through which the duo escaped and was later picked up by a western handler and taken to a safe house. Ovi had to kill the handler to save Tyler from his greedy friend. They are again on the streets in search of the pickup point. After hundreds of cars, CNG wheelers being destroyed, bodies being dropped, rocket launchers being hurled, a helicopter being smashed over Demra bridge, the hero and his foil being dead (Tyler will be dead unless a sequel is required), the boy is saved by Tyler's back up team. The final action on the bridge is conveniently watched by Asif from his palace with simple binoculars, while his lackey colonel goes in and out of action to coordinate the chase.

The movie has been hailed for its close encounter combats and the daring "oner". Sam Hargrave, the debutant director famed for his stunts in Marvel movies, straps himself on the bonnet of a car to film a long-form "one-shot" spanning 12 minutes to cover a car chase, a foot chase, another car chase, gun battles, knife battles, hand-to-hand combat, and plenty of explosions. Evidently, the "oner" failed to impress our sulky viewers who were in no mood to stomach the negative portrayal of Dhaka.

Some have commented on the yellow filter that has been used to present Dhaka as a sickly, exotic location. Others have been disturbed by the configuration of Dhaka as a failed state where a drug lord can employ a senior army officer to brew a cocktail of armed forces and spray them over the intruders only to be killed like mosquitoes by a wanton boy. There is no meeting of the Defence Ministry or call from the political leadership: a bunch of heavily armoured uniformed men engage in a wild goose chase while being killed by the dozens in the process. Since when are our national security decisions involving foreigners taken inside a criminal's den? Valid question.

Well, mindless action genres set in Bangkok, Lagos, Somalia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil and the like need these poverty-stricken slums to catch the imagination of the west. We, the people of The Third World, offer an ugly canvas against which the conflicted hero's moral dilemma can be portrayed. I do not think we have objected to such stereotyping of other countries and races earlier. So what makes us become so sensitive now?

This reminds me of a particular scene from Rush Hour in which Jackie Chan greets a black man as "Whats'up my nigga" and gets attacked. He was trying to be "kool" like his black partner Chris Tucker. I guess it's alright for us to ritually disown our own city, discredit it, make fun of it, keep it untidy—but the moment an outsider does so, we become defensive.

Let me be very blunt: don't expect Dhaka to be portrayed beautifully unless you can make it beautiful. Admit the fact that the part of the city that has been portrayed is dusty and dirty. The aerial shot at the beginning does capture the essence of the concrete jungle in which we live. The simulated sets in Ahmadabad or Bangkok are no different. This is how we are: unless we change our city, we will look like the way we are. Stop expecting "edit options" everywhere to make yourself unrealistically attractive.

I think a more important question that we can ask is why a film on Dhaka is devoid of Bangladeshi actors. The Dakaiya accents attempted by the Indian actors were gibberish to say the least. Even the way Chris Hemsworth demanded, "proman dao" was better Bangla than any one of those Indian actors. The Hindi songs and cabaret dance too were also out of joint.

We understand the film had a local partner, but their involvement is very hazy. The credit-line shows few locals in the technical team. Indeed we need to ask why the film was not shot in Dhaka except for the footages needed for chroma key compositing. The involvement of our local actors, agencies would have made it a much more credible production. We need more efficient translators, creative writers, bi-lingual actors, film critics so that the west takes us seriously. The anthology Sincerely Yours, Dhaka (2018) on Netflix and some other non-mainstream movies are slowly generating a trickle of cultural capital that we need for future ventures.

There is no point in being angry at an angry movie. Let us take a step back: think of better ways of branding Dhaka. I think Turkey can be a good role model. Turkish Airlines has used Ridley Scott to make The Journey, which is now being used as a promotional video for Istanbul. Then there are some wonderful Turkish movies and serials on Netflix that show the modern and urban sides of the country. If we think that the only way we can represent Bangladesh before the western world is by presenting our villages and poverty at the Cannes film festival, then the west will also not think of us as anything more than an exotic location caught in a time-warp. Finally, a note on the market. If we are mindful about what we consume and patronise, the market will yield a different representation. Mind it, it is our custom that has made Extractor the number one Netflix choice in Bangladesh. If we can prove to the world that we have a sensible market large enough to patronise Hollywood, surely there will be substantial change in the way we are represented.



Shamsad Mortuza is a professor of English, University of Dhaka (now on leave). Currently, he is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of ULAB. Email: shamsad71@hotmail.com
 
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Believe me, the Russian had it enough to be portrayed as the evil, the second rank is China then some Mullah country based in Middle East and some tropical country with all gory fights, gangsta fight and corrupt officer and cops 8-)8-)
 
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Watched it today.....mildly entertaining garbage with indians murdering Bangla with every word.

Zero plotline, bad acting nonsense to pass some time during lockdown. I wont pay too much attention to it.
 
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"If we think that the only way we can represent Bangladesh before the western world is by presenting our villages and poverty at the Cannes film festival, then the west will also not think of us as anything more than an exotic location caught in a time-warp."

This is sane advice for Sharmeen Obaid Chenoy as well!
 
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Don't be distracted by the mindless plot—keep watching, and you may even end up being proud of Ananta Jalil.

There is no point in being angry at an angry movie. Let us take a step back: think of better ways of branding Dhaka.

I think these two statements are very good indicators on how to deal with the piece of garbage this movie is...
 
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So I saw the movie today and Here are my thoughts


  1. Expected to see a good mix of Hollywood + Bollywood , but rather seems to me that it is just another South Indian movie starring Chris Hemsworth . A couple of dance number was missing
  2. I wish they would have shot the movie in Dhaka, much better scenery than the Indian city where it was shot . It would have been a good learning for our local producers also .
  3. If it was originally Dhaka then there would be no car chase scene .... too much jam .
  4. It’s a movie guys . That’s why it’s not accurate in naming conventions of forces and procedures and other stuff . Don’t take it personally .
  5. 926D0A19-D397-43FF-86EF-0FA191DCC504.jpeg

    the name spelling are all incorrect and look at the bus name ! Really ! I wonder if they googled and tried something similar or whichever people were in charge of this sucked so bad or both .
  6. 43733F42-E320-4B87-A00F-6811A7F3E205.jpeg

    the name printed elite on helmet is on reverse . You need mirror to see it properly . I guess it was last minute work . This scene reminds of a sequel of Mission Impossible .
  7. they tried very hard to put Bengali everywhere and even had a mixed plate scene then switched to India for the real scenes to make it seem that it is happening in Dhaka . Nice try but it will clearly be obvious to anyone k guess .
  8. What makes a movie great is originality . I hope if they make a sequel they will remember it .
 
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Netflix blockbuster ‘Extraction’ draws criticism for portrayal of Bangladesh's capital



American action thriller and Netflix original “Extraction” (previously titled Dhaka) debuted on April 24, and quickly became the topmost watched title with 90 million views in its first 4 weeks. The movie drew a lot of interest from viewers in Bangladesh because the plot is based in the capital, Dhaka. However, it wasn't long after the film began streaming that it attracted criticism and debate for its inaccurate and stereotypical portrayal of Bangladesh and Bangladeshis.


What went wrong
Extraction stars Chris Hemsworth of Avengers fame and is the directorial debut of famous Hollywood stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave. The film's protagonists, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) and Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) take a mercenary job to rescue the son of an incarcerated Indian drug lord who was kidnapped by a Bangladeshi drug lord and smuggled somewhere in Dhaka. The movie was based on Ciudad, a graphic novel written by Ande Parks which is set in the real-life Paraguay town of Ciudad del Este. Joe and Anthony Russo adapted it for the screen, basing the story in a South Asian city instead.

Although the movie takes place in Bangladesh for most of its duration, it was predominantly filmed in the Indian cities, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, and also in Ban Pong, Thailand. However, some real images of Dhaka were used in the film, as Hargrave shared on his Instagram account.


Bangladeshi film critics complained about the lack of research into the local culture and the yellow filter used to depict Dhaka as a sickly, exotic location. They also criticized the portrayal of Bangladesh as a failed state as the storyline involves a drug lord who makes a senior Bangladeshi law enforcement officer deploy his army against Hemsworth's character.

Aminul Islam Emon, an architect based in Dhaka, commented on the movie after watching it:

Too much violence. There is no compelling story. The stunts and actions tried to compensate for this.
I watched the movie with interest to look at Dhaka city in the eyes of foreigners. Most Bangladeshis will dislike watching this movie. Because Dhaka has been portrayed in a very bad way.
Banker and film buff Muqit AL Rahman sent this review to Global Voices, highlighting the fact that the local casting was inaccurate:

How Dhaka has been portrayed can certainly irritate any Bangladeshis without a doubt. There are certain details which are at times annoying and at times funny e.g. many Bangladeshi characters speaking in Kolkata (from West Bengal, India) accent. Characters based in India having generic Bengali names such as Ovi and Saju is also unacceptable and last but not the least, the way Bangladeshi defence forces were portrayed in the movie was far from the truth.
Honestly speaking, in such movies over-exaggerated ultra-fantasized portrayal is definitely not something new. For a movie, with such a simple storyline, Dhaka could just be any random city from certain countries in Asia, South America and Africa. But, I would like to look positively at why Dhaka was chosen.

I could only watch the first 20 minutes of Extraction. The Bangla accents are pathetic… enough for what I have seen…
However, the reviews weren't all bad. Global Voices also interviewed copywriter and movie critic Reza A. Rabbi via email, who saw the film as an enjoyable action movie:

Screenplay, Actions and Locations are the areas where the director could show his magic and I think he did it pretty well. Especially the action sequences.
I did not see such raw and vibrant action sequences in any other Hollywood movie in recent past. Hargrave changed the original region – a city of Latin America where the events in the graphic book took place and replaced it with Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. If you are a Bangladeshi, you will spot the discrepancies in a minute. From the accent of local people to the details of the police forces and everything in between will be unsettling for you.
But if you look at other Hollywood movies set in an international location, you will see that lack of proper details and resemblance is not a new thing and you rather have loved those movies if they were not set in your own backyard. Apart from some drone shots, the whole Dhaka part of the movie was shot in India and Thailand.
And here I have to give full marks to the team. Although it had its issues, the details of their portrayal of Dhaka was eye-catching. Even in a 5-second shot, there were both static or dynamic things happening in the background that reminds you that it's Dhaka that you are watching.
So, as per story and screenplay goes, ‘Extraction’ is just another enjoyable action film from Hollywood which had a pretty much cliche story – Mercenary, Kidnapping, Extraction etc. But all in all, it was enjoyable and you got a previously undiscovered location.
The inclusion of this Bangla rap probably did bring some authenticity to the movie:


In view of the success of Extraction, Joe Russo has announced that a sequel is already in the works. However, Rafeul Hasan reminds Hollywood to take authenticity seriously the next time around:

Next time Hollywood centres a movie around Dhaka, they better get everything right down to the last details.
 
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