The Call Out by Carlo Gabriel Nero

The Call Out by Carlo Gabriel Nero

                This is a short, interesting play

                It is both sad and amusing at times.

                The sacred deity of the film world and theater, Vanessa Redgrave has a role in this television work.

A list of the remarkable performances of this divinity is too long to be included, but some would just be mentioned:

Blow-Up, A Man for All Seasons, Julia, Howards End, Mrs. Dalloway, Atonement, Mary Queen of Scots and many more

Having said this, this cinephile must add that the political views of the actress seem extreme to him.

Nevertheless, it seems that actors and actresses have a penchant for preposterous, Bolivarian like “revolutions”.

                Alas, that is repelling.

                Furthermore, it has an impact on the viewing of the work.

As one cannot help but be biased when watching a film with Kevin Spacey or produced by Harvey Weinstein now, the same applies for others.

                At least from this movie addict’s perspective.

If Oliver Stone and Ruffalo – surely others, but unfamiliar- embrace Melenchon and the said Bolivarians, well, too bad!

                Some movie buffs will take a bleak view of their work.

                This moviegoer does.

                Returning to the charming play:

                It has plenty of good moments, if not all.

                The police are called on the scene.

                Only here, the only crimes are of abandoning people to their isolation.

And that is serious!

Indeed, psychology studies have demonstrated that isolation is much more dangerous than other risks.

                Smoking is better known, but…less deadly.

                Some research reveals that isolation is…twice as deadly as smoking.

Vanessa Redgrave plays an elderly woman, whose name is unknown, who calls the police because…

                She has a…plumbing problem.

True, that is just on the surface and Len aka Stephen Graham helps her fix the flushing of the toilet.

However, the deeper trouble is the aforementioned solitude, which takes its toll on the elderly woman.

There is also the indifference of people, for she tells the story of her falling on the street, where no one helped.

They all continued their walk and never thought of stopping to help the injured, fallen old woman.

Well, until one stopped and helped her up, insisting that he needs to call the ambulance, given the injury.

She refused, knowing that people of her age would then be admitted to the hospital and statistics show that they tend to die sooner, once in there.

One thinks of the Bystander Effect, which is explained by the brilliant Robert Cialdini in the phenomenal book: Influence, where the tendency to walk away is shown to be an expression of the Conformity Principle more than just callousness, with people tending to follow the example of others, especially in unusual situations where they do not know how to react and tend to think- I am no doctor, perhaps someone else is already involved, they surely have called an ambulance, etcetera.