Hi there, I'm Jason Gatz, and you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.

They say Confucius said, before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

I did the research. Confucius probably didn't say that. But whoever said it was right,

revenge bites back.

Victor Headley's 1992 book, Yardy, launched a genre of Jamaican pulp fiction.

It's the story of a life driven and destroyed by revenge, from the Kingston gang wars of

the 70s to the international drug trade of the 80s, and it's the basis for Idris Elba's

directorial debut, a movie of the same

name starring my guest today, actor Amel Amin.

Yardy, the movie, captures a slice of Jamaican life and musical culture you don't often see on

screen, the clash of rival sound systems and DJs at dance parties, and as the main character

D, Amel captures the complexities of a man haunted by his brother's

murder and torn between the paths of righteousness and damnation.

Welcome to think again, Amel.

Thank you so much.

That was an absolutely wonderful intro.

Oh, thank you very much.

Especially with the Confucius thing.

I never thought about that, but it is true to dig two graves.

Or someone said to me,

you know, getting vengeance is like drinking poison and expecting it not to kill you when you seeking vengeance for so long. Number one, inevitably it's going to harm the person's soul.

Number two, it just, as we see in the movie, it creates this cycle. It just never end, you know, then you have, we see retaliation and then D is forced again, you know, back into the cycle. I have a question for you that we can't actually speak about, but can I say it? It ruins the movie. What is our attitude, by the way, we should decide towards spoilers here? Well, I'm interested in what you, without saying the ending then, I'm interested in what

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