Zoo City - By Lauren Beukes Page 0,21
been at the centre of the spread of HIV in the US, Baiyat was, in reality, simply the most high-profile case in an epidemic that had nothing to do with disease.
Initially suspected to be the eccentric quirk of a charismatic and self-indulgent sociopath, other theories postulated that the outbreak of the animal phenomenon in Afghanistan was a result of the fallout of Pakistan's nuclear tests in the neighbouring Chagai Hills in 1998.
Now, it's believed that cases of the animalled may date back to as early as the mid-'80s, based on anthropological reports coming out of New Guinea, Mali and the Philippines. The earliest recorded case, uncovered in retrospect, was that of notorious Australian thug Kevin Warren, who was gunned down by police during an aborted bank heist in Brisbane with his 'pet' wallaby in 1986. Coming out of the animalled closet twelve years later, Baiyat was not so much the start of it all, as the poster boy.
But who was Baiyat really?
The film interrogates not only the mythos that sprang up around Baiyat in the turmoil and chaos of Taliban-led Afghanistan, but also everything we understand about the animalled and the ontological Shift that happened around him.
Featuring interviews with embedded journalists, mujahidin leaders, British troops, Taliban fighters and the Baiyat family, the film is an unflinching portrait of a man at the public centre of the Shift.
QUOTES:
"Why did I come back from film school in America? [Laughs] Because my father asked me to. Because this is my country. Because here I am a rock star. I have 18,000 men under my command. People respect me. Whole villages come to pay tribute. Because here I can fuck or kill whoever I like." – Dehqan Baiyat
"Think of it as my mascot. Let's say you have your lucky rabbit's foot. I have my Penguin. You keep your rabbit's
foot safe in your pocket. I keep my Penguin safe in
customised body armour."
– Dehqan Baiyat
"This romantic idea you have of some, I don't know, playboy magician warlord is all wrong. He's a drug dealer, a rapist, a killer and a spoilt little shit with his own private army and a bunch of tribal hocus-pocus pulled out of his arse." – Lt. Corp. Al Stuart
VIEWER REVIEWS: (1218 total)
[Flagged for moderation]
20 March 2010
Username: JodieStar1991 10/10
AWESPOmE!
gr8 movie!!! IT made me hot for zoo s3x!!!! Found gr8 site for free zoo p0rn!!!! Check it out!!!! See for yuporself!!!!!!!!!!!! http://zoo.Ur78KG
[3 Comments]
[12 out of 16 people found the following review helpful]
14 February 2010
Username: Rebecca Wilson 7/10
An unflinching perspective on a troubled (&
troubling) icon
The third in Jan Stephen's Conflict Quartet (Israel / Liberia / Afghanistan / Burma) is perhaps the most harrowing for its no-holds-barred close-up of a man reviled, adored and mostly misunderstood.
Baiyat's role in determining public reaction to what the media called the Shift cannot be over-emphasised. Where some saw a romantic figure, a film school drop-out turned freedom fighter, others saw a symbol of the unknowable. For a time, before the animalled hit the tipping-point, Baiyat became the embodiment of the question of human morality.
But was the Penguin his Jiminy Cricket or the devil on his shoulder?
It's an issue the film skirts, or rather Baiyat skirts in the film, turning cagey whenever the topic turns to the bird, leaving this viewer wishing the filmmakers had… [MORE]
[9 Comments]
[126 out of 527 people found the following review helpful]
28 December 2009
Username: Patriot777 0/10
Give me a break
Get it together, people, apos aren't human. It's right there in the name. Zoos. Animalled. Aposymbiots. Whatever PC term is flavour of the week. As in not human. As in short for "apocalypse". This is part of the stealth war on good citizens disguised as apo rights.
It's in Deuteronomy: Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction. Also Exodus: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Do I need to spell it out for you? Familiars. Hell's Undertow. Destruction of the detestable. God is merciful, but only to actual, genuine, REAL LIFE human beings. Apos are criminals They're scum. They're not even animals. They're just things and will get what is… [MORE]
[1031 Comments]
[720 out of 936 people found the following review helpful]
23 December 2009
Username: TuxBoy 10/10
Cannibal penguin FTW! That is all.
[118 Comments]
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Recommendations If you enjoyed this, Get Real thinks you might also like:
• The Shift (2001)
• Des Anges au Bestiaire (1998)
• Zoologika: Perspectives from Chinese prisons to Chicago's ganglands (2007)
• Great White Totem (2003)
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