"Armageddon Time" Sunbeams filtering through the trees in autumn 1980

“Armageddon Time” synopsis

New York in the 1980s. Born into a Jewish American family, Paul is a 12-year-old attending public school. With a mother who is passionate about education, a hard-working father, and an excellent older brother who attends a private school, he lived a comfortable life. However, as he befriends the black student who is the most problematic child in his class, he learns about the complex social situation.

Index

• childhood mistakes
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• Courage to walk with failure

childhood mistakes

“What unites us all is the fact that we were all children once.” (Anne Hathaway)

``Armageddon Time'' (22) begins with sunlight filtering through autumn leaves in New York. In 1980, Ronald Reagan threatened nuclear war and John Lennon was killed by a bullet. The light that shines in this autumn. This film, which has a similar sound to `` Apocalypse Now Now,'' the original title of ``Apocalypse Now'' (1979), depicts the end of childhood.

For Paul, the main character of this work, the final war = Armageddon means various farewells that occurred in his innocent childhood, regrets about the words he could not say at that time, and fear for his father. At various points in his life, an adult Paul will remember the events that took place in the fall of 1980. However, what James Gray focuses on is not the bittersweet nostalgia of childhood, but rather the "limitations" of childhood. Anne Hathaway, who plays Paul's mother, wraps the harshness of the film with a sunbeam of mercy.

“Armageddon Time” © 2022 Focus Features, LLC.

Paul, who grew up in a middle-class Jewish American family, becomes friends with his classmate, Johnny, a black boy. Paul is an artist and Johnny wants to go to space. What the two have in common is that they are both rebellious and dreamy. Paul makes fun of his classmates by drawing a picture in class that makes fun of the teacher. When Johnny sees Paul getting angry at his overbearing teacher, he immediately follows up with a joke. The two of them are forced to stand in front of the blackboard. Paul acts silly behind the teacher's back as he resumes class, making his classmates laugh again. The teacher assumes that it must be Johnny who is acting playfully and, without checking, unfairly assumes that Johnny is the culprit.

Lack of courage to resist injustice. This class scene contains a big element that supports this work. Paul has nothing to say about the mistreatment of his guilty friend. Various layers of injustice and discrimination are glimpsed and hidden in the scenery that seems to be everywhere. Unfair treatment by a teacher hurts not only Johnny, but also Paul who is next to him. But Paul overlooks discrimination. Paul is beginning to feel terrified of the world he lives in.

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