misunderstandings

Last weekend my sister and I watched an unsubtitled Telugu film. We ended up enjoying the movie, for the most part, and we understood most of what was going on. We did misunderstand a few things, though, as became evident when we read the detailed synopsis on the back of the DVD cover.

For instance, after watching the movie we discussed how un-PC the portrayal of Africa was, and not just because of the actors in blackface.

Take, for example, the powerful traditional drugs the villagers share with our protagonists, which cause them to lose all their inhibitions and do things they wouldn't otherwise have done, being decent, civilized Indian people.


But then, my sister and I discovered that we'd gotten it all wrong. In the inimitable words of the DVD cover:

Srilata was [Sreenivas's] tour guide when he visited Europe. . . . As the day of the wedding is approaching fast, the thick plots unveils by Sreenivas suspecting that there is something fishy about Srilata. When he forces her to admit the story . . . then Srilata confesses that when Sreenivas visited Europe, they happened to get blown with the magic liquid that was given by tribals out there.

So this film didn't have anything to do with Africa at all. These were just your standard European tribals who live in the jungle and give visitors magic liquids. And that's why movies should have subtitles, so we don't have any confusion about things like this.

European tribals

See, it's totally obvious now, isn't it?