Rock Paper Dice Enter

"In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess," – Dalai Lama

That is the opening line of Rock Paper Dice Enter – an independent film (if I could call it that) from a bunch of people who not so predictably call themselves Rock Paper films. Unfortunately, most of the audience is left wondering about the significance of the statement and the makers probably give a sneak view into what they meant right towards the end – too sneak a view for my comfort.

Words fail me as I try to describe what can only be called an extremely amateurish attempt.  It is director Shreela Chakrabartty’s (the numerology doesn’t help) first attempt at making a full length feature and to that extent one can probably say that there is hope at the end of the tunnel.  But one cannot ignore the fact that RPDE was a badly made movie.

Thankfully, the story is one that had potential and could have been made into a really solid first attempt like so many debutante directors we have seen over the years.  It is somewhere close to midnight in the fictitious city of Strathaven somewhere in Canada. An Asian guy seems to be running for his life through a sewer with 2 guys in uniform hot in pursuit.  The guys don’t seem like cops from their uniforms.

The Asian finds his way into a parking lot where he is ultimately apprehended but not before he passes on something to a guy in black who nonchalantly walks past the 2 guys as if nothing happened.  A few minutes later, an elderly gentleman gets woken up from his sleep and a robotic voice at the other end of the line tells him to initiate Phantom 6 – in other words “acute national security”.

Over the next few minutes, you are educated about Strathaven being North America's hub for cyber security.  The story is unraveled much like the dialogue – in stutters and pauses.  It is a method of dialogue delivery that I have never seen before and used probably because it was on a teleprompter that all the actors were finding difficult to read.

There are also random references to Tibetans immolating themselves and how America has to listen and of course the Dalai Lama quote.  While it does come together at the end, the journey is very patchy and appears more like a diamond heist with some agenda that the common man should never get.

The acting or the absence of it is quite painful.  No one in the cast comes up to a basic level of acceptability.  Even then names of the characters are quite corny like Chief Good Fellas or Dr. Will Smith and a Chief Medical Officer who is called exactly that – CMO.  Surely Shreela could have come up with some better names?

I give RPDE a 3 on 10 because it had a story that had a lot of potential and some psychedelic music that is quite enjoyable in parts.  But in all other aspects of cinema, it fails – and badly at that.  But it is a first attempt and I do hope that we see some justice being given to a good story – if they get one the next time.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRr9GKZ6ed8