Aaliha Taveras

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This finna be a lengthy review so bear with me ya’ll 👀. For the short version just scroll allll the way down for them last two sentences 😂. Lemme just start by saying the cast’s performance was absolutely spot on. They did such a great job portraying their roles and that deserves to be acknowledged first and foremost 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽. Now the movie: I am absolutely inspired. It’s really tough to approach such a topic, especially in film. There’s so much that can go wrong in tackling the issue of school/mass shootings and a part of you just doesn’t wanna see it tackled at all *because* it could hit too close to home. I live just 15 minutes away from the Walmart that got shot up in El Paso a year ago. I had friends who were on their way there when they were called, as I was, by their Army leaders and urged to return to base. I frequented this Walmart more than I can comfortably imagine now that a mass shooting that took the lives of 23 beautiful and undeserving people took place there. I can’t bring myself to shop there anymore. The two times I did, after the fact, I was overwhelmed with anxiety. I share this personal experience to say this: I found myself many times after that incident questioning what I would have done if I happened to be at *that* Walmart on *that* day. I walk down the aisles of the Walmarts nearby now marking my exits, mentally pinning possible places to hide, and imagining ways I could escape from the spots I stand on. The thought, however, that most captures my attention is the one where I entertain the idea that I’d fight back. We’d all like to believe that in such a scenario we’d be willing and bold enough to be the heroes despite our instincts to be selfish. It’s nice to be reminded, though, that we are also at our core innately compassionate. We DESIRE to be good even if we don’t WANT to desire it or are afraid of whatever challenges/repercussions may come with being so. This movie speaks to that side of us that, above all, wants to overcome the evils of our world. It presses you to root not *just* for Isabel’s character as Zoe, but what her character stands for. Selflessness, empathy, integrity, bravery... All the things we struggle to be but wish we were every day. This movie is a reminder that, yes, some people are evil but in the midst of that truth there are also many that are good. The lunch lady who sacrificed herself, Zoe’s friend who, without question, tagged along to help her warn others of the attack, the science teacher who got students out, the spanish teacher who didn’t even hesitate to degrade and humiliate herself as many watched for the sake of protecting her students, and, though the list goes on, Zoe who was unrelenting and witty in fighting back to the very end despite this being a situation where both wits and courage could *easily* fly out a window. The film was captivating because it appealed to all of our natures, good and bad, but in the end pushed for more reasons to keep fighting than it did to give up. That idea is encouraging, inspiring, and in light of our self-centered world, refreshing. Allattt said 🥴, go watch it 👀😂. It slapped 🙂👍🏽.