Sodium Day is a teen south African movie released on Netflix in December 2022. The film has comedy as the main genre and runs for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Sodium Day shows us a day in the life of grade 12 students at John Shelby High. It’s a normal day just before their final exams. The normal day in school changes a little bit when a group of students from privileged backgrounds visits the school for an exchange program. The school goes through a lot of trouble that particular day with unexpected exchange students, a missing girl, and some gangsters trying to invade the school.
The movie opens with three boys using sodium and bringing in an explosion near the school. The explosion sort of resembles the chaotic events that occur in school. 12 Y is the class that the movie focuses on and there are hardly more than ten students present in the class. The story does not focus on any one particular student but brings us the story of all the students of 12 grade along with the students that join them as part of the exchange program. All the students are so different from each other that we get to see a variety of school students.
The students are almost near the exam period but they do not have proper teachers nor do they have their syllabus covered. Through this angle, the movie has tried to show how the ill functions of a school can affect the future of the students. The movie draws a clear difference between the students of government-aided schools and private schools. When private school students get accepted into top colleges government school students struggle to get their syllabus completed.
Other than the students we are introduced to John Smith an English teacher who comes to take a substitute for maths class trying to teach them some calculus which has learned during his school days. His character struggles to keep the kids together and also fails in answering some of the basic maths questions. John is a great example of how government schools are treating their students by not giving them good teachers or education, which is one of their basic rights.
The private school kids bring in a lot of reality checks for the students in 12 Y. The dreams of certain students of 12 Y are a reality to the students of the private school. These kids, therefore, try to seek help from those students instead of their teachers to take the first step toward the life they want to live.
The main genre present is comedy, which is delivered through brilliant and natural dialogues. The comic element is present in almost every scene of the movie and makes the movie fun to watch. The comic elements are mostly delivered through situational comedy and it sits perfectly with the whole vibe of the film. The film has tried to show the different behaviors and characters of students that we usually get to see in a school.
The movie has quite successfully been able to reflect the problems that might affect the student, especially students belonging to the underprivileged pr the government schools. Be it the challenges faced by the education system or problems like racism, underqualified teachers, students who indulge in alcoholics or smoking, or basic disciple – Sodium Day has been able to focus on all of these aspects.
The film will be a different watch for the viewers. With the good quality acting of the actors along with the interesting characters and storyline and concepts, the movie is a breezy watch.
Final Score – [7.5/10]
Reviewed by - Poornima Balsu
Follow @BalsuPoornima on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times