The Mandela Effect(2019) **/*****
A short-length movie circulating around the paranormal phenomenon of the same name, unfortunately, left little to be desired.
Periscope Entertainment’s The Mandella Effect has been heralded by many a Tiktok user as one of the best psychological thrillers available on streaming platforms currently (Hulu). I finally decided to give the 2019 film a shot and I have to admit, it was a letdown. Luckily the film is only slightly over an hour long so it wasn't too much of a time investment.
For those unaware, the Mandella effect refers to the phenomenon of collective forgetfulness regarding a key detail of a widely shared fact or event.
Facts and events that are widely public and seem to be remembered a certain way by a large group of people, but in reality, aren't what actually occurred.
The Berenstain bears being spelled with an ‘a’ instead of an ‘e’ is a common example and the first one that drives Matt(Robin Lord Tailor)to near insanity. Poor means of justification, a contrived plot, and a loose explanation of String theory and Quantum computing made this a really tough watch.
Matt and his wife Clair(Aleksa Palladino) fall into a downward spiral following the death of their daughter Sam(Madeleine McGraw). Drawing relevance to the Mandela effect but not to the benefit of the storyline at all their daughter's favorite toy is a curios George monkey with a tail(contrary to how the cartoon monkey actually looked).
As mentioned before — while going through some of his late daughter's belongings Matt finds a Bernstain Bears book (Specifically spelled with an ‘e’)which tips off his crazed pursuit of finding “the truth”. The problem is that far too much of The Mandela Effect’s sub-90-minute plot delivers to its audience a boring and confusing internal conflict for Matt's character.
Eventually, he begins to see a fuzzy version of his daughter throughout the house and his wife and best friend Brendan(Charlie Hoffmeir) begin to worry about him. Matt eventually finds refuge in Dr. Fuchs (Clarke Peters), a shamed scientist who previously preached the same sentiments that Matt is obsessing over. Begrudgingly Mr. Fusch begins to entertain Matt's ideas and the two surmise a plan to infiltrate an all too convenient and easy-to-access quantum computer to try and expose an ill-defined ‘simulation’. It sounds like a mouthful because it is.
All the while Clarissa is beginning to fall victim to this universe's all-imposing Mandella effect as well and begins to share the visions of their daughter.
A major hole in this is that Brendan begins to see the couple's daughter too, yet he is the only one who doesn't question her sudden reappearance and acts as if everything is normal. Is this because he never chooses to seriously commit to researching the mandella effect so therefore he isn't affected by it? Can't be. He humors his friend Matt early on and looks into it with him, in fact, he’s the one to tell his wife about what they've been researching.
So why doesn't some version of him get freaked out by the daughter's on-and-off appearance as well? The only justification is that he chooses to reject the larger conspiracy of the Mandela effect completely.
So if denial is going to be the reasoning for not being affected then give some sort of consistent infrastructure for believability. This is a revelation that thousands, if not millions, of people believe in. Matt can't be the only parent in the world to have lost a child either. The movie focuses solely on the conflicts of Matt and his small family, the only other person to share these beliefs is Dr.Fush who we learn stops contacting Matt because he committed suicide.
Even this begs the question of why. Was it an alternate-universe Dr.Fuchs who never found a Matt to support his theories?
We never find out. Nor were we given any evidence or further justification of what exactly the “simulation” is, who or what is in control of it, and if the who or what has any motivation for thwarting Matt from finding out the truth.
Just a rude scientist who works in the building housing the quantum computer who gets killed in thirty seconds. He was almost so outwardly miserly to Matt and Dr.Fusch that one would think he has some sort of involvement in the simulation. But nope he just gets tackled to the ground and dies.
Thats it. Literally no other third-party resistance to hinder potentially some of the biggest miscalculations in human history being found out. Just one grumpy scientist.
Why not tickle the fancy of most Mandela Effect advocates and tie it into some sort of grander conspiracy? I mean the Mandela Effect involves some of the most notable figures and pop culture icons in history, things of significant cultural importance.
The phrase itself originates from the Great Nelson Mandela, whom many were under the assumption died in prison amidst the perils of Apartheid.
Instead, the movie adaptation of one of the most interesting phenomenons of modern history is reduced to an average Joe who just wants “the truth”. Additionally, Quantum and String theory isn’t something you can just loosely explain in the lesser part of an eighty-minute-long sci-fi movie and expect to hold water.
Matts redemption? He runs a yet again ill-defined code through the Quantum computer that shreds the fabric of reality.
In an unsatisfying closing scene, we see Matt and his family on the same beach this time, his daughter's Curious George plush doesn't have a tail. The point of this I'm not sure considering the scene before Matt and his family are consoling one another in the backyard amidst a CGI jumbled meltdown of reality. Did the family uncover any answers? Or did the simulation prevail?
It was just really hard to pinpoint what exactly the main characters were trying to overcome.
