Think of all the high-octane action stunts in George Miller‘s Mad Max: Fury Road. Quite a few and all of them eye-popping in this or that way, but none were as insane as this tragic real-life incident that happened a few days ago in Thailand. I’m not trying to turn this into some abstract discussion because the poor guy (his name was Yuttapong Hawilee) died, but this dashcam footage has a “holy shit!” factor that nothing in Miller’s film quite captured. It sounds cold to say this, but real-life stuff always hits you harder than movie fakery. Think of the aesthetic gap. Audiences can whoop and cheer at all kinds of grotesque violence as long as it’s “performed,” but we’re expected to dial it down and speak only of regrets when we see the real thing.
